over in Titus, the book of Titus, chapter 1. The book of Titus, chapter 1. I want us to read verses 9 through
verse 16. Holding fast the faithful word
as He hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine
both to exhort and to convince the gang sayers, those who contradict. For there are many unruly and
vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision, whose
mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things
which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves,
even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always
liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true, wherefore
rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. Not
giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that
turn from the truth, unto the pure all things appear, but unto
them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. but even their
mind and their conscience is defiled. They profess that they
know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient,
and unto every good work reprobate." We looked here in this text in
verse 9 last week and we considered a couple of things here that
the Apostle Paul made the statement concerning. And one of them was
how Paul described the Word, how he described the Word of
God. And he said, You are holding fast the faithful Word. And you and I considered that
and the meaning of that, and it means trustworthy, worthy
to be absolutely trusted. God cannot lie. What God has
said for sure and infallibly, He has written it down in His
Word, and He cannot lie, and He will not lie. And what He
has written, we could say it like this, and we often make
this statement, it's settled in stone. But it's more than
that, isn't it? It's more than just settled in
stone. It's settled in heaven. Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is
settled in heaven. And the wise man said it like
this, Every Word of God is pure. It's just like silver that's
been refined seven times, made it pure. Every word of God is
pure and He's a shield to those who put their trust in Him. And
the Lord Jesus said this about it, Till heaven and earth pass,
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till
all be fulfilled. Every threatening will be accomplished. And not one single promise will
fall to the ground that God has made. Everything is going to
be fulfilled. He said, Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but My Word, and what He means there, the fulfilling
of My Word shall never pass away. So it is trustworthy. We saw
that last week. And the other word here in verse
9 that the Apostle Paul used to describe the Word is sound
doctrine. And that word means wholesome. It's healthy. It's milk. And it's meat. And it's honey. It's words of life. And it also
means uncorruptible. The uncorruptible Word of God. Sometimes men are said to corrupt
the Word of God when they twist it. They twist it and they get
meanings out of it. That's not true. They're said
to twist or corrupt the Word of God. But you know, in reality,
the Word of God can't be corrupted. It neither corrupts, neither
can any man corrupt it. It's incorruptible. Sound, sound
doctrine. The Word of God is said to be
a begetting Word. It begets. and what it begets is incorruptible. Everything that it begets is
incorruptible. What's our whole problem? Do
you know what our whole problem is? The way we were born. That's
our whole problem, isn't it? We were born of corruptible seed
and corruptible seed cannot produce anything that's anything but
like itself. It can't produce incorruption.
But you know when we're born of the Word of God, we're born
of incorruptible seed. Listen to what's said about the
new birth and the Word of God. Peter says it like this, being
born again, born of God, of His own will begot He us with the
Word of truth. being born again not of corruptible
seed but of the incorruptible seed, the Word of God which liveth
and abideth forever. Listen to another place, put
off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust
and put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness. And listen to another place,
put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of Him that created Him. Now what does those three passages
of Scripture tell us? The first one tells us that when
we're born again, we're born of incorruptible seed. There is a new creature down
withinside us, if you could say it that way, He's born of God
and He's born of incorruptible seed. The reason we know the
new creature is born incorruptible because He's born of incorruptible
seed. And the second passage tells
us that He's created. You know, being born again, it's
not turning over a new leaf, is it? It's a new life. It's a creation made in the image
of Him that created Him. And He said here that He's created
in the image. So He's incorruptible. He's a
creature created of God and in the image. of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the Bible says He has predestinated
His people to be conformed to the image of His Son. And where
does that begin? In the new birth, doesn't it?
It begins in the new birth. The Word of God is that incorruptible
agent by which this is brought to pass. Sound doctrine. Incorruptible doctrine. And Paul
tells us here in verse 9 to hold fast this Word. Hold it fast. Be convinced of
it in our own hearts. And hold it for ourselves just
like a man that was going to drown if he lets go of his life
preserver. It means to cling. Cling into
this incorruptible Word. Being convinced of its validity,
of the quality of it, the integrity of it. the justice of it, the
purity of it, the power of it, the strength of it. Where the
Word of the King is, there is power. And we looked at this
last week and we said the reason that we need to be convinced
of this in our own hearts and hold it forth to others is because
of verse 10, because of the opposition. We have to be convinced that
we have the pure Word of God because we are going to face
opposition from this world and we are going to face opposition
from the underworld, satanic opposition. That is what he said
there in verse 10, For there are many unruly and vain talkers
and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. And these
verses show us, verse 10 shows us the opinion this great Apostle
of Christ had for religion outside of Christ. He didn't have a very
high opinion of it, did he? He didn't have a high opinion
of those who pervert Christianity, who pervert the doctrine of Christ.
You know what he told them in Galatians chapter 1 and verse
6? He said, let them be accursed, didn't he? If they introduce
another gospel that's not the gospel of Christ, let them, he
said, be accursed. He wasn't bashful about exposing
these false religionists. And you know, if you and I love
the truth, there's going to be times when we're going to have
to take that word and expose false religion. You can't help
it. Look here at how he addresses
them. He exposes them in verse 10. He said, there are many unruly. That's the first thing he says
about them. They're unruly. They cannot be ruled. They are
disobedient in their hearts. They are insubordinate. They
won't be ruled by the law. They won't submit to the law.
They won't submit to the gospel. They won't submit to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul said of the Jews that they
would go about establishing their own righteousness, didn't they?
And they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of Christ.
They have not thrown up their hands and give up on their own
righteousness and submitted to the righteousness of Christ.
Those Jews sent a message after the Lord Jesus, and here's what
they said, We'll not have you to rule over us. We'll not have
you to rule over us. We're not going to submit to
you. We're not going to hear you. We're not going to bow.
And they won't submit to the rules of His kingdom. They just
won't submit. They're unruly. were like the
passage that somebody read here the other day in The Last of
Judges. They do that which is right and
they are on ice. The Word of the Sovereign Lord
has no place in their heart. They are unruly. And look what
else he said. They are vain talkers. This word
vain means empty, worthless, having no substance or value
or importance. Paul told Timothy that it was
vain jangling. That means just a noisy dispute
of no value. In Titus chapter 3 verse 9 he
says it like this, ìAvoid these foolish questions and genealogies
and contentions and strivings about the law, about the ceremonial
law, and can we be saved by it?î And getting involved in that.
We can't be saved by the law, can we? And they kept arguing
that we could. And Paul said, For they are foolish
and vain. These noisy disputers, men who
love to strive and men who love to argue about things of no value. If you ever want to see some
things, get on the Internet sometime on some of these websites and
look at the silly things that men fuss about. and cause division
over. It has no saving value in it
at all. They'll fuss with each other.
They're sort of like Arabs. They'll get their little click
and they just love to talk and condemn everybody until there's
nobody to condemn and then they fall out among themselves. They're
contentious. They're noisy, vain janglers. And Paul says you're their deceivers,
didn't he? They're deceivers. They're unruly. They're vain talkers. They're
disputers. They're strivers. They fuss among
themselves all the time. And he said, they deceive. If
you listen to these folks, you'll get so confused. And I'll tell
you what will happen in the end. You'll be deceived. you'll be
deceived. It's of no profit to get on the
internet and listen to some of these guys. And some people that
don't, it's not on the internet. We know some of them. This confusion
all the time, keeping stuff stirred up. And look who he's speaking
of here. He says, especially they of the
circumcision. That's who Paul had a lot of
his trouble out of, the Jews. This word circumcision is the
Jews. You remember Nicodemus when he
came to the Lord Jesus. And don't be too sympathetic
to that man. Don't think that he was coming
to the Lord for information. The reason he didn't come to
the Lord Jesus during the daytime, he was ashamed to. He was ashamed
to meet with Christ and a little bit afraid of it. But Nicodemus
wasn't a humble fellow coming seeking for salvation. He was
a self-righteous Pharisee that had just left the temple praying,
God, I thank You that I'm not like anybody else. I'm better.
And he goes over there to the Lord Jesus and the first thing
he does is start a fuss with Him. He starts to commend Him. He
starts to flatter Him. I know that you have God. I know
that. Nobody could do these miracles.
But the Lord Jesus is not anybody you can flatter. Boy, He can
see through the words, can't He? And He said, Nicodemus, you
must be born again. And boy, there's where the fuss
started. What are you telling me? This is the silliest thing
I ever heard of. You're telling me I've got to
go back up in my mother's womb and be born again? Is that what
you're saying? Are you that ridiculous? Are
you that beside yourself? He was one to fuss, wasn't He?
He was unruly. He was an unruly man. He taught vain things, empty
things, vain jangling. What did he teach? He didn't
teach the new birth, did he? He didn't know anything about
it. He didn't teach the serpent on the pole that you have to
look to to live. He knew nothing about that. And the Lord Jesus
looked at him and said, Listen, you rebel, you don't know anything. You're a master of Israel and
you know nothing. And Nicodemus, if you're not
born again, you'll never see and you'll never enter the Kingdom
of God. And I think that message went
home to that unruly fellow's heart. And you can see in the
Scripture if you read the Gospel of John where finally he submitted
to Christ. He submitted to be saved by the
Lord Jesus Christ. But he was an unruly. He was
a vain talker. a fusser, a confuser, and a deceiver
of men. But he's speaking here not just
of these Jews, but he was speaking of these, we call them Judaizers,
Judaizing Christians. They mix Moses and Christ together. And they brought the law and
the gospel and said you've got to have them both to be saved.
We call them Judaizing Christians because they tried to hang on
to the law and Moses and bring Christ together with them. And
you know that's the most dangerous kind of man in the world, isn't
it? That's deceivers. Somebody was telling a little
example about rat poison. And it just has like two-tenths
of a percent or two percent or something of poison. in the whole
bag of rat bait. Ninety-eight percent of it is
good. You could eat it. But two percent
is poison. And that's what makes it so dangerous,
you see. And that's why these men were
so dangerous. And Paul said their mouths got to be stopped because
they're bringing Christ and Moses together. And therefore, when
you do that, you defile the Law and you defile the Gospel. The
Law is for one thing. The ceremony law is for us to
see Christ and redemption. The moral law is to shut us up,
to shut our mouth and show us our guilt. And when we put that
law in its place, then that's the rightful place for the law.
And then when we say Christ saves us by His grace, Christ saves
us by His merit, then we establish the law and we establish grace
in Christ. But when we try to bring those
two together, boy, we deceive people. We deceived ourselves
and we deceived others. But these unruly and vain talkers
were not limited to the Jews only. Paul said especially they
of the circumcision. But false religion was just as
bad, if not worse, among the Gentiles. Paul said the whole
Gentile world was led away into dumb idols. So they were bad
too. So here he's speaking not only
of Jews but Gentiles. The Gentiles have their cults
and they've perverted the Gospel just like the Jews have. And
Paul makes mention here and he said, look back here again in
verse 10, he said, There are many, there are many, many of
them. Many means more than a few, doesn't
it? Many of them. You know you and I are living
in a time of universalism, universal salvation. You know just about
it. Who talks anymore? Go to funerals. Go to weddings. Go to your average
worship service. And who talks about the necessity
of being born again? Who talks about the necessity
of being saved? A fellow told me not long ago,
he said, I just, I don't even like that word, saved. And I
said, you need to read your Bible. You need to read your Bible.
But see, you hear this today, and they give the impression,
if they don't say it outright, they give the impression that
everybody's okay. You know, oh, there's a few.
We have our Hitlers, and we have our Charles Manson, and Miles,
and those guys that slaughtered so many people, they're mean
and cruel. Those kind of people ain't going to make it, but there's
not many. Everybody else in the end is going to be okay. Just
a few ain't going to make it. But you know, when we go to the
Bible, we see the word that Paul used here, many, many. The Lord Jesus said, Strive to
enter in at the straight gate, didn't He? For wide is the gate,
and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there
be that go in there. Heaven is the straight gate,
isn't it? Destruction is the broad way. Heaven is few on it. Destruction is many on it. Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, have we not prophesied in your
name, in your name cast out devils, in your name done many wonderful
works? And I will say to them, depart
from me. But Lord, wait. Wait a minute. Look what a crowd that is. Look
at the masses of people. Surely, not all of them are going
to be said to depart. Every one of them, the whole
bunch of them, depart. All you many depart from them. And as you go through the Scriptures,
we see this, don't we? Many, many. Many false prophets shall arise
and shall deceive many. even the elect, if it were possible. And John said, even now are there
many antichrists in this world. Look over, hold Titus there just
for a second, and look over to your left in Philippians. Look over in the book of Philippians,
two or three books over, and look in chapter 3. Look what he says here in verse
17. Look here how he says this. Brethren,
Philippians 3.17, Be followers together of me, and mark them
which walk so as you have us for that example. For many walk,
and look at this, of whom I have told you often. Now what would
you think about me if I got up almost to have a service And
I had about five or ten minutes to say something about false
religion. You may get a little bit weary of me doing that. But
listen, Paul said, I told you often. I told you often. And he didn't brag about it.
It wasn't that he was bragging about it. Some people use false
religion to build up their own confidence. They love to expose
false religion because it makes them feel so right. That fellow's
so wrong, I must be so right. That fellow's fallen, but I tell
you, I've never fell. I may be bad, but I ain't as
bad as he is. And they get confidence from that, you see. He don't
believe much truth, but boy, I got truth. I believe the truth.
Paul wasn't like that. He wasn't exposing these people
because he rejoiced in it. Look what he says. I have told
you often, and now tell you even weeping." He was heartbroken
over this, wasn't He? Heartbroken over them because
He said they are enemies of the cross of Christ. And look what's going to happen
to them whose end is destruction. Many walk whose end is destruction. whose God is their belly, whose
glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. But they
walk Him, they profess to be on the road to heaven." And Paul
said, I weep for them, my heart is broken for them. He said in
one place in Romans 9, he said, if it would bring about their
salvation, I would be accursed from Christ. Now that is a burden,
isn't it? He said in chapter 10, I pray
for them, and it's my heart's desire for Israel that they might
be saved. That's the way we ought to feel.
We don't glory and gloat when we have to preach on things like
this. We ought to preach on it with a nod in our hearts and
a sob in our throats when we do it. I was watching a little
video. I think Wayne and Colleen may
have watched it, or one of them may have watched it. Worldwide
Church of God. Herbert W. Armstrong. I think
it's awful strange that I was raised on him and got two people
here in the congregation that was mixed up in that, but my
dad raised me on Herbert W. Armstrong, Post Office Box 111,
Pasadena, California. But there was an incident that
took place out there in Ambassador College. Wasn't that it? Ambassador
College. And there was a preacher. This
woman was telling this every day. She saw this preacher. He'd walk around that campus
and he'd stop every so often. And she saw he was praying. And
she didn't know then what he was praying for. But it wasn't
long until God sent some light in that place and tore it all
to pieces. And I think he saved some folks
right there out of that mess. Got you guys out of it, didn't
he? Then this woman saw that preacher and asked him, said,
why all of this time have you been walking around this campus
and stopping and praying? He said, I've been praying that
God would send light into that dark place. That's the way we should feel,
isn't it? I can get up here and condemn everybody to hell and
tell how false and how wrong they are, but oh, I should go
home and pour out my heart, Lord, send light into that dark place. And that is what Paul was saying.
I tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And why did he confront them?
Look back over in our text. This is why it was so important
to confront them. Look what he says in verse 11.
This is why he took this word and held it forth and why he
told the pastors to do it. "...whose mouths must be stopped. They are subverting whole houses,
teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake."
They creep into houses and they lead whole families astray. Whole
families. You go by some Mormon church
or some Jehovah Witness church and some other churches and you
see a car pull up and you see dad get out on one side and mom
the other side and they open the two back doors and three
or four children come out. And the whole family goes inside
and sits and are deceived. And if God don't have mercy,
they all go to hell together. Paul said the mouths must be
stopped. It's important, isn't it? You
and I believe that when the Lord saves a man, He saves one individual
at a time. Every individual must be born
again. And usually what happens to us
when we see one individual in the family saved, sometimes the
whole family turns on him. I know a fellow now that the
Lord saved him and his wife turned on him, wouldn't even let him
pray with his children. She got so upset, tore the whole
family up. They of a man's household shall
be his enemy. That happens, doesn't it? We
go after one poor soul at a time. But these deceivers, they get
the whole household. They deceive mom and dad and
all the children. We can't even get one. And they
get them all. And it's heartbreaking, isn't
it? It's heartbreaking. And that's
what the Apostle Paul is talking about here. There's going to
be whole families in hell. Mom and dad and their sons and
their daughters in hell, whole families. Jeremiah said, Lord,
pour out your wrath upon the families that know not your name. upon the families of those who
call not upon thy name." And why aren't they calling? Some
unruly, vain talker has deceived them, and they went along with
it, and the whole family has wound up in hell. Now, that's
sad, isn't it? That's sad. The world may accuse
us of being too strict, Oh, that man's too Naira. He's just too
Naira. He's too dogmatic. He's got to
the point where he's hateful. Don't even want to hear him anymore.
But you know something? If we love the Lord, and we love
His Gospel, and we love the souls of men, let us take this book,
this sound doctrine, this incorruptible seed, these words, and let us
confront the devil's kingdom. And let us confront our fellow
man with the truth in the prayer that the Lord in mercy will send
light and deliver them as brands from the burning. And I think
if we love, as we should, we'll do that. We'll do that. That's
what Paul says here, wasn't it? Confront them. Be convinced that
this Word is faithful and sound and take it and confront them
with it. I've talked to some people in
this congregation and I bet some of you are like this. You say,
well, I don't know how to deal with them. I don't know how to
answer that. You know the best thing that we can answer people
with is the simple Word. It's not the depths of your understanding
of things. It's just the simple Word. We're
the Word of the King here. Use the King's Word. And one little Word. One little
word from this book will fall the devil. It will. I think I told you about old John
Bunyan when he got religion. And he said, man, I quit my cussing.
He said, I was amazed that I quit my cussing. He said, I was an
awful cusser. But he said, I got religion.
I quit my cussing. And he said, I started going
to hearing the preachers. And he said, all I did was got so
self-righteous. And he said, I was out on the
street one day and I heard two old ladies behind the wall talking
about the love of Christ. And he said, as I sat there and
listened, I realized I know nothing about the love of Christ. I know
nothing about the love of Jesus Christ. But boy, the Lord took
from those old ladies' hearts, they took it on to His heart.
And he began to seek the Lord to know Christ and His sins forgiven
and life eternal. That's all it takes, the Word
of God. It takes the Word of God. Brothers and sisters, hold
it forth as God gives you grace to do it. Hold it forth to everybody. Let the battle turn towards the
gate, as they used to say. Turn it to the gate with His
blessed Word. Well, we'll pick up there next
week, okay?