Faithful Leadership Pt 2

all right good morning morning church family it's good to see you guys i'm glad you all are here i just want to invite you to stand with us we'll pray and we'll get started father god we thank you for another opportunity to be in your house this morning god help us to lift a joyful noise to you would help us to focus on you this morning give you all honor and glory god because you are worthy of it all what may your word go out with power this morning will give us ears to hear and hearts to receive it we love you and we praise you in jesus name amen and have a seat if you like we just want to take a moment i just want to lift up what everything that happens in our life is because of you lord because because your blessing and because you

allowed it doesn't always go the way we think it should you are still on your throne you're still very much in control you're working everything out for your glory and our good god we just want to give you all the glory this morning god you are worthy of it all don't stop the light from getting through no selves of judah just stand with me

lord god we just praise you for how good you are to us lord we were still sinners lord you died for us lord god that's how good you are to us knowing that we were still in our sin you left your throne in heaven and come to earth to live among us lord god as a suffering servant and then to go to the cross or that's how good you are to us and lord god we just thank you for how good you are and if there are any here this morning that have never experienced your goodness i pray that today would be the day lord god there's no better day than today than right now so i pray that your holy spirit would move mightily this morning god pray that you would overflow pastor ryan with your holy spirit with your gift of teaching give him the words to speak

give us ears to hear and hearts to receive in jesus name amen let's uh let's have some fellowship good morning if you could begin the process of finding your seats grab a bulletin we'll get ready to go over some announcements welcome to calvary chapel i'm glad that you have joined us this morning a handful of things to take note of in your bulletin um over on the left hand side are the things that go on throughout the week uh different studies to be involved in the only change to that is that the monday night men's and women's studies are canceled for this week just because it's labor day and so it says here that you can ladies you can pick up your lesson

to study on the media table so i assume you know what that means that's what you need to do um also we are still needing some children's church teachers if you're interested in that been around for a little while and would like to get involved in that please come see me actually we could use help in a lot of different areas if you are interested in getting plugged in we could use help in the sound booth we could use help in the video booth we could use help with ushers we could use help with children's church it's a growing church and there's lots of needs and there's lots of people here so that's lots of people to meet those needs so that's fantastic if you want to get plugged in one of those places please come talk to me i'd love to get you plugged

in um the thing and there's one other thing that is not in your bulletin um it is uh we decided it's time for a new church directory now we put one out about three years ago two years ago it was pretty well outdated about two weeks before it came out so um so we need to do another one and so uh we're going to handle it the way we did last time which we have some signups out in the hallway out there it's going to be a picture directory so you sign up for a time slot starting september the 14th for three sundays we will run this sign up for a time slot moms you do not have to get matching outfits for your fam okay just keep it chill right just show up in what you

normally wear to church we want to recognize you and uh we'll go back here there's a little place set up back here sign up for your time go get your picture taken there will be a little slip of paper that you fill out with all the pertinent information that we need for you on it and so so those sheets are out there and i think lauren is going to be out there afterwards giving you all of the proper direction so those are the things that are going on if you would make sure that your mobile device is silent and for our responsive reading this morning we are going to be in psalm one psalm one looking at the new american standard for this part so that hopefully we all sound the same

if you need a copy there should be one in a row around you and as you are turning to psalm one if you are able please stand in the honor of the reading of god's word i will read the odd verses if you will follow along with pastor jared and the even verses psalm one how blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked o standing not in the paths of sinners nor sit in the seat of scoffers but his delight is the law of the lord and in his law he meditates day and night he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither and then whatever he does he prospers the wicked are not so but they are like chaff which the wind drives away

therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. And Father, we come to you now, and Lord, I do thank you for your word that is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path. And Lord, I pray that as we take time here this morning, that we would meditate on it deeply so that we can become those trees planted by streams of water, not moved by every wind of doctrine, Lord, but standing strong on the truth of your word. And so, Father,

speak to us this morning in the areas where we need spoken to, Lord. Comfort where we need comfort, conviction where we need conviction, and Lord, instruction in everything that we do so that we can walk properly with you. So, Father, we just pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1.

Well, to kind of get us all back on track here, because it's been a heck of a couple of weeks, let me do a little bit of updating, kind of bring us back to where we were. So, Titus a few weeks ago, and the first thing we looked at, of course, was a little bit of an introduction to Titus, and we know it's another one of the pastoral epistles, and it's going to carry a similar theme that 1 Timothy carried with it, the theme being faithfulness. And so, we said that the first chapter of Titus chapter 1, of the book of Titus, really is focused on faithful leadership, faithful leadership. And we said that there were three things that he was going to cover in chapter 1. We covered the first two a couple of weeks ago. The first is he told

us what his purpose was, that his purpose was to set in order the things that were going on there in Crete. In other words, to establish godly leadership on the island of Crete for the churches that were there. So, that was his goal. That was his purpose, was to establish that godly leadership. The second thing that he gave him was the qualifications of what one of those godly

leaders was supposed to look like. And that list that's in there of those qualifications, if you would like to go back and listen to that, you can either go to our website, ccrcity.org, and look up the messages, or you can go to YouTube and look up the messages there if you want to go back and listen to that. And then the third thing, which is what we'll cover today, is the necessity, the necessity of godly leadership within the church. And as he addresses this necessity, there's really something that we need to understand about the cultural church at that point in time that helps us to understand why he wrote these things. So, the church that Paul would have been writing to

was handled just a little bit differently than the church would be handled today. So, essentially, the church was a synagogue model, which is similar to what we follow today. The synagogue model is that there would be an individual, a teacher, that would stand up in front of a congregation and would deliver some sort of a message from God. But there was a little bit more of a freer spirit, maybe in a good way, sometimes in a bad way, in the early church. And that there would be men who would stand

up in the congregation and say, I have a word from the Lord, and they would deliver some sort of a word from the Lord. The only problem was, sometimes it wasn't from the Lord. Sometimes it was from the flesh or from some form of false teaching. And because there was sort of that open-ended, air, free spirit field to the early church, it led to a lot more false teachers having a platform to be able to deliver their message. And so, when Paul is writing this to Titus about the necessity

of godly leadership, it was that there was a necessity of there being godly leaders who would prevent false teaching from spreading within the church. And so, kind of the theme of this necessity is dealing with false teaching and false teachers. And so, to deal with that, it was going to require really strong leaders. Now, before we get into the topic of false teaching, I want to talk a little bit about false teaching and false teachers, because I feel like when you look at most of the false doctrine that's out there today, it can fit into one of, if not all three categories that I'm going to give to you right now. The first category that false teaching can tend to fall into is the

category of legalism. Legalism, which is essentially establishing of rules that are either extra biblical or add to what the Bible has to say about what salvation is supposed to look like. It's kind of a legalism. And oftentimes, false teaching is some sort of a works-based or legalistic sort of a teaching. And so, we have to kind of watch for that. And Paul will identify some of that within the

teaching today. But the second thing, the second category that false teaching falls into is what we call licentiousness. It comes from the idea of having license, the license to sin. And the idea is that a person can live however they want to, because after all, over the years, we've begun to have a much larger table. We've had a greater understanding of scripture, a greater understanding

of faith, and we have much greater understanding of this world, and we've come so far to live more religiously. And it's probably a bit more provincial in the way that we've handled things so far, and so it's very licentious in nature. You can live however you want to and still be a believer in Jesus Christ. The third form of false teaching is what I just simply termed as prosperity. It's oftentimes called the prosperity gospel. That Jesus wants you to be healthy. That

Jesus wants you to be wealthy, and that Jesus wants you to be happy. And all of your life prosperity gospel. And so that's a third aspect of what can often be termed as false teaching. Now, some false doctrine carries all three of those things. Some will just have one of these things. But what I have found is that while they're subheadings, these are the three main

ideas of what false teaching puts out there today. And it's a lot of what Paul addresses as he shares with Titus the necessity of godly leadership to deal with false teaching. And so we pick up in verse 10 of chapter one, and this is what it says. For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers, and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things that they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said,

Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. And this testimony is true. For this reason, reproving the Lord is not a sin. It is a sin. It is a sin. It is a sin. And this testimony is true. For this reason, reproving the Lord is not a sin. It is a sin. It is a sin. And this testimony is true. For this reason, reproving the Lord is not a sin. It is a sin. It is a sin.

And this testimony is true. For this reason, reproving the Lord is not a sin. It is a sin. It is a sin. severely so that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But both their mind and their conscience are

defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good work. And so we pick up in verse 10 of chapter one, now as he shares about the necessity and deals with false teachers there's three things again in the subheading of the necessity that he's gonna teach us he's gonna give us their description he's gonna give the action that Titus needs to take and then he's also going to talk about their character the first thing that we'll look at is the description and in the first set of verses here there's seven things but he's gonna tell us about false teachers seven things that are the description of the false that he needs godly leadership to deal

with number one they are rebellious they are rebellious again I didn't have them put all this up there but it's right there in your Bible so just go ahead and quote directly if you need to they're rebellious the word rebellious means insubordinate and the idea behind the word is this they will not submit to God's order or authority they will not submit to God's order or authority and I love the way that one commentator I forgot to write down who who said it but I loved it so much he said these are what we call problem people problem people these are what we call problem people right like I can every church is a problem person and if you don't know who the problem person is I'm not saying it's you I'm just saying you might think

about that but but there's problem people and they're rebellious and what they don't like to do is submit to authority they don't want to submit to the authority of a pastor they don't want to submit sometimes to the authority of an employer and they definitely don't want to submit to the authority of God and I know that they don't want to submit to the authority of God because they don't want to submit to the authority of a pastor because if you can't submit to one you're probably not going to submit to the other and they find themselves being rebellious and it's and it's kind of funny because in our culture today I feel like rebellion is almost looked at as like a really positive thing because

like hey oh you're being rebellious against against what's what people are telling you being your own person but do you know what the Bible calls rebellion the Bible says the rebellion is the same as the sin of witchcraft like that's pretty evil stuff right it's put it's put in the same list with a lot of really other very ugly sins and so rebelling against authority is a very a very big deal and and so as Paul begins to describe he says first the thing that you need to know about these guys is that they're very rebellious in nature number two they are empty talkers they are empty talkers I'm gonna read you a handful of other translations of this it says they are idle talkers they are

vain talkers they are senseless in their speech and my absolute favorite of all comes out of the Amplified Bible they are nothing but windbags that's right that's in the Amplified Bible so I think I feel like it's godly that if I hear somebody being a windbag I can be like listen in the name of Jesus stop being a windbag because nobody wants to listen to you spout any longer and if any of you feel like that about the guy that's on stage right now may the Lord rebuke you okay I'm just kidding but there are some people who are like that right they just they never stop talking and you're like oh my gosh why are you constantly spouting off useless empty things it's a similar word that's used in first

Timothy chapter 1 verse 6 when he talks about those who are called Mormon in senseless debates and what does he mean by that we see these empty talkers are caught up in nothing but conspiracy theories and endless debates that lead people away from Jesus now it starts to make a little more sense right listen I get that there's all kinds of things going on in the world right now and everybody has a new theory about what's going on in the world right now but the problem is when we spend more time on our theory than we do on Jesus you end up becoming nothing but a windbag and nobody wants to listen to what you have to say and listen to me clearly nobody should listen to what you have to say

because if it's not pointing people to Jesus then it's not needed to be said he says number one they're rebellious number two they are empty talkers number three they are deceivers and I found the definition of of a deceiver very interesting one who misleads another and I got to thinking about this you know there's a there's a difference between someone who is an outrider who is an outrider who is an outrider who is an outrider who is an outrider liar and someone who is a deceiver an outright liar just they just never tell the truth the problem with someone who is a deceiver is they're gonna give you 90% truth and 10% error that's what makes it deceptive that's what makes it hard to follow and that 10% of error is what ends up leading people astray

because you're lulled into a false sense of security in the fact that you agree with 90% of what they have to say it's that last 10% that's error that really throws you off do you realize that many false religions that are out there we're gonna agree with a lot of what they have to say because we might agree with them on morality we might agree with them on things like marriage and things along those lines but the problem is they preach a different Jesus than us and that's the 10% of error that's gonna throw everything else off because you can agree with them on all kinds of other things but if we're not right on Jesus then ultimately we're not right on anything and so they are deceptive they

are deceivers because they'll tell you enough truth to make you feel good but in a false to bring death number four they are legalistic legalistic I want you to look at verse 10 again it says for there are many rebellious men empty talkers and deceivers especially those of the circumcision now the legalistic people in Paul's day were people who added to the gospel of Jesus Christ by telling brand new believers that they needed to also adhere to the Mosaic law particularly the right of circumcision for men and they told them this because there were all of these who were coming to faith in Christ but they still had the background of the law and then there were all of these Gentile people coming to Christ who had no

background of the Mosaic law and all of the Jewish people were saying well if you really want to be a believer Jesus is great but you also need to keep the law we call that legalism you see once you say Jesus and then all of a sudden it becomes legalistic in nature because you have added something to what the Bible has to say you have added something to what what the what Scripture teaches us is true about salvation we have to understand something about salvation salvation is by grace through faith alone that's where salvation comes from right how can you declare that well because the Bible says anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved as a matter of fact in John chapter 6 when Jesus is being confronted with the people they ask him

tell us what me what what we must do to work the works of God and you know what Jesus told them this is the work of God that you would believe in Jesus and you would believe in Jesus and you would believe in Jesus on him whom he has sent indicating himself which is Jesus interestingly enough some legalistic ideas are taken out of John chapter 6 and I'm like you realize you just missed the entire point of John chapter 6 if you pull any legalism out of that because Jesus just said the one work you have to do is to believe listen I'm not saying works aren't involved at all in the Christian faith but in the Christian faith works are the fruit they are not the root faith is the root they ultimately produce fruit in our lives which are those works

but they are legalistic in nature they will always pile works on you they will always pile another thing on you that you have to do you know what the problem with legalism is it appeals to our pride because in our pride we say look at what I've done look at how well I've kept this look at how well I've kept this law and as we do that it appeals to our pride and no longer are we resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ in our life we are resting in my ability to perform but you know the biggest problem with our ability to perform is we don't have any ability to perform it's really good as long as you do it but what about the time when you screw up what then see that's why you need the grace of Jesus

Christ because you'll never be able to live up to a standard you'll never be able to live up to a law which is why the law was given so that we would find ourselves going man I'm a really big sinner and Jesus goes that's okay because I'm a really good Savior and so he says beware of those who are legalistic number five he describes them as disruptive disruptive again let's look at verse 11 he says who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families teaching things that they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain I think there's two thoughts when it comes into this idea of the fact that they are upsetting whole families in the first is this and I've seen this happen where a family has a very strong faith in Jesus

Christ and it's a strong faith in Jesus Christ and it's a strong faith in Jesus Christ and it's a strong faith in Jesus Christ and it's a strong faith in Jesus Christ and it's a strong faith in Jesus Christ and everybody's on the same page Christ and it's a strong faith in Jesus Christ and everybody's on the same page Christ and it's a strong faith in Jesus Christ and everybody's on the same page and one of them begins to believe Christ and everybody's on the same page and one of them begins to believe Christ and everybody's on the same page and one of them begins to believe something a little bit different and one of them begins to believe something a little bit different

and one of them begins to believe something a little bit different they've all of a sudden been a something a little bit different they've all of a sudden been a something a little bit different they've all of a sudden been a little more enlightened because they've all of a sudden been a little more enlightened because that's usually the feeling that most people have when they've been led astray by some sort of false teaching. They've been enlightened. They've been educated. You name the thing that they have, and all of a sudden they're led astray into that which is false, and now the entire family is disrupted. And pretty soon there's no family unity because they've been led astray by this

false teaching, and it brings about a great deal of disunity within the family. I think that's the first idea that he's talking about there when he talks about the fact that false teaching is disruptive. But I think ultimately the main point that he's making when he says that these false teachers are disruptive is the activity of somebody that teaches false things, because this is what tends to happen. Somebody decides that they are believing something different. They are

following a different doctrine. They've been enlightened, and so they start inviting everybody else from the church that they used to go to over to their house. Like, would you like to come over? I would just like to share with you this new teaching that I found. Sometimes they show up at your front door, right? Riding a bicycle and wearing a name tag. That's neither here nor there. That's a bad joke.

But usually they're inviting you over to their house. I would like to share with you this brand new teaching that I just found. I want you to understand why I left the church. I want you to understand why I left, and maybe you would want to come with me. And listen, if that starts happening, you need to be aware of that. If somebody's inviting you over to their house and telling

you about a brand new teaching that they found, you should probably be a little bit wary of that, because that's called disrupting whole families. And that's what takes place oftentimes when people begin to follow something that is false. Listen, if you decide you want to go to a different church, I have zero problem with that, as long as it's a church that teaches the Bible. As long as it's a church that's truly getting into the Word of God and you're being fed. I have no problem with that. But once you find a church

that isn't teaching the Word of God and is leading you astray, I have a problem with that. But I really have a problem if you want to take other people with you. That's when I really start getting upset, because at the end of the day, I'm a shepherd. And as a shepherd, I care for the flock. Whether it's my flock or somebody else's flock, if I find somebody being led astray,

it bothers me. If I see families being disrupted, it bothers me. And so he says they are disruptive by nature. The next thing it says is that they are seeking sordid gain. They're seeking sordid gain. Again, that's a phrase that I don't think I would ever use in a real conversation, because I'm not smart enough to use that in a real conversation. What he means is they love

dishonest financial gain. Dishonest financial gain. Let me put it to you this way. They're in it for the money. They're in it to make money off of money. They're in it to make money off of money. They're in it to make money off of money. God's people. Usually, they're in it to make money for themselves. And this is oftentimes the way that it goes. Dear friend, God has started a great work here. And in order for this work to

continue, it will require money. And I feel like God has given me your name and your name specifically. I don't know why there's always a southern accent with this, but it just feels right. Your name and your name specifically. And I feel like God wants you to pour a little seed money into this ministry. And I promise he will return it to you. And I feel like God wants

you to pour a little seed money into this ministry. And I promise he will return it to you. And I promise he will return it to you. And I think he will return it upon you tenfold. And he will promise he will return it upon you tenfold. And he will return it upon the ministry 100-fold. Please, sow a little seed money into this ministry. It's like, first of all, Jesus didn't tell

me that at all. Okay? I don't know what Jesus you're talking to, but I don't think he's the same Jesus. That's not how God works. God's not going to go broke anytime soon. Okay? And if somebody tries to tell you God's going to go broke, it means they're worshiping the wrong God. Because that's not going to happen. I remember when I was in Bible college, Chuck Smith would always teach about these guys that would send out these prayer cloths.

Um, he said, I received these prayer cloths in the mail. They said they've been prayed over. And if I will send in $25, it will activate the power of the spirit. And that prayer cloth will become healing in the name of Jesus. And I remember thinking, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard in my life. Is that really true? Do people really receive those? Well, after Bible college, I was like, man, I want to receive a prayer cloth in the mail

one of these days, not because I believe it, but because I think it'd be fascinating to receive one of these things. And I was so sad because I never received my prayer cloth. I was like, man, I must not be worthy for one of these things. And then one day I opened up the mail, Ryan Nichols. Oh, strange. It wasn't a prayer cloth. I got like the, I got like the Kansas version of it.

It was a piece of paper that looked like a cloth and had some tear stains on it. And I was told that it was prayed over for me. And I was just like, sweet Jesus, I got my prayer cloth. I should have held on to it. I ultimately threw it away. But, but can you believe people do that? See, that's being fond of sordid gain. And that's what Bible teachers will do when they care more about money than they care

about people. Is that they will say, well, I need all of your money to keep it going because they want to build their kingdom. They want to buy their private jet. They want to build their world. They want to build their bank account, their retirement account. You name it. They're building their own kingdom. This is prosperity gospel that only works for the Bible teachers.

But some of them are content for the prosperity gospel to work for you too. And they will tell you, listen, you just have to understand if you want that car, you need to claim that car. In the name of Jesus, if you want that house, you need to claim that house in the name of Jesus. because after all, God wants you to be wealthy, and God wants you to be healthy, and God wants you to be happy. You know what the problem with that is? It X's out an incredible amount of

scripture, because when you look at the Bible, you find that most of the people that God used were not wealthy, and they were not healthy. You can just imagine Job reading that, and he's like, well, that's not the gospel I read, right? Or Paul, or any of these other people. Now, don't get me wrong. There are people in scripture that are very wealthy. Abraham was an incredibly wealthy

human being. You know how I know that? He had an army of over 100 men that were well-armed, and that was just the army that he commanded, because he had so much wealth in his life. And yet, we look at Jesus, who lived homeless, basically. And so, there's examples of both in scripture, because it has nothing to do with your bank account. It has everything to do with your heart, and if your

heart is for dishonest gain, then that's what you're going to tell everybody else that they need, too. And so, he says, beware of them, because they'll give you a prosperity gospel, because they are fond of sordid gain. But then, number seven, he tells us that they are carnal. Again, I'd like to read verse 12 to you. One of themselves, a prophet of their own, who, by the way, was a philosopher

named Epimenides, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. I believe it was the Amplified Bible that put it like this. They are dishonest, they are indulgent, and they are allergic to war. Now, that sounds familiar, doesn't it? That feels like the 21st century in the United States of America. They are liars, they are indulgent, and they are allergic to work. We call that being

carnal. It means that you put the desires of your flesh above everything else. We'll also put this back with our term that we talked about earlier. So, we've seen legalistic teaching that we need to be aware of. We've seen prosperity gospel that we need to be aware of. This is licentious teaching that we need to be aware of. It was the people of Crete, but often, it was the people of

Crete, but often times enforced by the false religion of the day. Indulge yourselves. After all, we've been looking at scripture wrong all of these years, and the problem with that is we haven't been, because God is incredibly interested in the holiness of your life, and he's incredibly interested in you becoming like him. And so, as we look at all of these things, I would like to read for you a little quote that I kind of freely quoted from David Guzik because it took way too long for me to quote the whole thing. But I thought it was amazing. So, here we go.

the whole thing, but I thought it was really good. He said, Paul did not say that the Cretans are the worst people. Go look for an easier group of people. He said, I know they're bad. Go and change them with the power of Jesus Christ and for his glory. I love this because this is what we tend to do. We tend to look at people and we go, that's a really hard group of people. Let me find an

easier group of people to minister to. That's a really hard group of people. Let me go find an easier group of people to tell the gospel to. I remember when I came back to Ark City, I said, I was talking to a friend of mine that was in ministry and I said, here's the thing with Ark City. Listen, I don't mean to step on any toes. I'm just going to be honest here, okay? Here's the

thing about Ark City. There are more churches than street corners and there's a lot of dead religion. And he said, that's a hard place. I'd rather talk to him where they've never heard about Jesus. That feels like an easier place. He goes, you're going to a hard place to minister. And I said, I know, but it's where God's called me to. You know why? Because God sent me somewhere where

there's a lot of dead religion. And that's what I was saved out of. And so I want to see people saved out of it because it's really unfortunate to see people who go to church on a Sunday morning and live like hell the rest of the week because you've put in your two minutes, maybe two hours. You've put in your time going to church and now you're going to live however you want to for the rest of the week. I know that it's

hard, but that doesn't mean run. I know that it's hard, but it doesn't mean it's not where you're supposed to be. He said, instead, what you got to do is you got to lock in and you got to get out of the church while you're lost and inxes. So we say, all right, God's given me life. He's given me a plan for the passing away of the death of his son and for power of Jesus Christ.

He gave me life and for the glory of Jesus Christians. I didn'tère breeze on to a dead church, Because I knew it was going to happen. I knew I was going to have a life that would be adopted. I knew I was going to be part of the church. Why are you going to be part of the church? I talk back about it. Most people people is not going to be part of the church and they're not going to be part of the

God. the truth that's what's hard to minister to but still where Jesus sent me and that's what God does he sends us to hard places not so that we can run from them but so that we can lock in and dive into them he says this is how you're gonna do it so he's given the description and now that we know the difficulty he's gonna give him the action there's two things he tells them to do the first ones given to us in verse 11 in verse 11 it says who must be silenced who must be silenced that word silenced means to bridle to stop up the mouth or to muzzle in other words Titus is now supposed to do the difficult job of silencing the false teachers now I'm gonna tell you the same thing that I told first service

this does not mean now that you have a license to go out and put your hand over the mouth of everybody that you disagree with that will either get you written up at your workplace it will get you sent to jail or you know you name it it's it would be bad don't do that the idea is to silenced up the mouth of everybody that you disagree with that will either get them with the truth well what does it mean what is it supposed to look like to silence the false teaching well I've written down three things inside the church it means it needs to be met head-on inside the church it means it needs to be met head-on in other words if I come across the conversation or if I know that something's going on within the church where people are being led

astray my job now is to confront that head-on within the four walls of the church and to say you either need to find a new church or you need to stop doing what you're doing but we're never going to meet your needs because you believe something differently than us you believe something differently than than we do and we as leadership myself first take taking the first of the lead as the pastor have to meet it head-on within the church because you can't allow somebody leading a Bible study you can't allow somebody up on a stage you can't allow somebody spreading false doctrine within the church because it will ultimately lead the sheep astray just like a shepherd can't allow a wolf to roam through the forest

flock it has to be met head-on and it has to be dealt with that's the way it needs to be dealt with within the church but outside of the church it needs to be met when confronted and this is sometimes where you guys have to come in is because I can't confront every single individual that talks to you but you can and when you hear people trying to tell you something that's false trying to lead you astray would you get invited over for that dinner when you get invited over for that conversation when you end up in that conversation in your workplace you need to confront that head-on within the church because you can't allow somebody up on a stage you can't allow somebody up on a stage you need to

confront the truth the the false with the true and you need to silence the false with the truth it's okay to do that listen it's not easy to do but it does need to be done because I don't want to see people led astray but that's what needs to be done and then the third thing that I would say is the best way to silence the false is to know the truth for yourself listen I could come up here every Sunday and I've got it I got a book in my office it's called all the religions of the world it's about three times over a the size of this Bible that I have right now no bear in mind slimline Bible but whatever it's really big book of all of the religions in the world and I could get up here every Sunday and I could tell you this is what this religion

teaches don't do that or I could get up every Sunday and I could teach you the authentic so that you know the difference between the false and the authentic because you go well that doesn't sound like what the authentic says that doesn't look like what the authentic does that hasn't matched up with anything that the authentic has written in its book I bet that's not authentic I bet that's false that's what I think is the best way to give you to combat the false that's in the world but now you have to take the reins of it and you have to get into it for yourself because the more that you handle the truth the more you're able to spot the false I've always heard it said that that when they bring in a new investigator to try to investigate

whether or not money is counterfeit or or or real they don't hand them a bunch of cash counterfeit bills to feel they make sure that they know everything about the way the real thing feels so that they can spot the counterfeit a mile away and that's the way it needs to be with us in the Word of God you should handle it so well that when you see something false you go that's false I know because I know what the authentic looks like and so he says you have to silence that which is false but then he tells him a second thing that that he needs to do in verse in verse 13 he says this and this testimony is true for this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith not

paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth the second thing he tells them that he needs to do is you need to reprove them the word reprove means to rebuke to reprimand or to call them out and show them their fault to rebuke to reprimand or to call them out and show show them their fault. This again is not an easy thing to do because nobody likes to tell somebody that they're wrong. I hate it. Like a quick story. So when Walgreens used to still be in business,

still sad about that, a little bitter about that actually. But anyway, when Walgreens was still in business, I would go there all the time and we had the little Walgreens card that, you know, rewards card or something like that. It was in my wife's name, Aaron. So there was one guy who was always in there when I'd go in there and he'd say, hey, thanks, Aaron. Good to see you, Aaron.

I could never bring myself to correct him. If you're watching online, that's on me, okay? That's my bad. I could never bring myself to correct him because I felt so bad. But I'm, you're welcome. To this day, I saw him like a year ago. Like how long has Walgreens been closed? Really long time. I saw him like a year ago. He goes, Aaron. And I was like, hey. I should really tell him. It's bad. That's bad. But I don't like telling people that they're

wrong because I don't want to embarrass them. I don't want to make them feel less than or anything like that. But at the end of the day, someone's soul is worth it. Can we all agree with that? Someone's soul is worth telling them, hey, listen, this is wrong and it needs to be reprimanded. I want you to notice the adverb that he uses there for reprimand, reprimand them

severely. It could also be translated sharply. You know what he means by that? He means, you know, you're not going to be able to do that. You're not going to be able to do that. You're don't make it sound nice. Now I know, listen, you can still be a nice person in the way that you do this, but sometimes we can sugarcoat things so much, especially in this culture that we make it

not seem like that big of a deal. Like I'm really good at doing that. Like I'm really good at telling somebody something and it's one of my gifts, but it's also one of my weaknesses. Like I can tell you really bad news and I can tell you in such a way that it doesn't sound as bad as when it first started. But the problem is I've confronted people about false doctrine before. By the time I

was done, they were like, so basically what I'm hearing is I'm wrong, but it's not that big of a deal. And I'm like, okay, so I did that wrong. So I got, we got to go back and redo that again. You got to be able to put it in such a way that there's no question this is wrong. Again, how do we do that? Well, first of all, inside the church, it's got to be met head on. If you hear

it, it's got to be reproved. You can't just silence it. You got to say, but this is why it's wrong. This is why this is a main issue that we're dealing with. And outside of the church, again, has to be confronted on an individual basis. But once again, the best way to confront it is with the truth, to know the truth. And to speak the truth. And why do we do this? Why do we need to reprove? Why did Titus need to

silence and reprove these people? Well, there's two reasons. Verse 14, or excuse me, verse 13, for this reason, reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, so that they may be sound in the faith. That word sound means to be whole or to be healthy. In other words, rebuke, prove, and reprimand for the purpose of somebody being restored to a healthy place. You have to

understand something about confrontation. I don't care what kind of confrontation it is. I don't care if it's confrontation of false teaching, confrontation about sin, or confrontation about a broken relationship. Confrontation is always for one purpose and one purpose only. It's for restoration. If you confront for any other reason, then you need to keep your mouth shut.

Because we are told in scripture that we are to speak the truth in love. If you want to confront someone to just simply prove your point, don't do it. If you want to just prove yourself right, don't do it. If you want to prove them wrong, keep your mouth shut because it will do no good. It will ultimately push someone away from the gospel. But if you reprove and rebuke

someone with the purpose of restoring them, then the heart of love will be behind it and people will see the true desire that you have. I remember when, man, I'm going to get myself in trouble again. I remember when, same-sex marriage was made the law of the land. You guys remember that day? I remember when same-sex marriage was made the law of the land and I put some sort of a post on

social media about the fact that ultimately I feel like the church has some blame in this, not only because we have handled the homosexual community wrong by showing them hate instead of grace, which is what we should be showing, but also because we've not really stood on truth firmly enough the way that we should to the point where culture has eventually taken over and affected the church rather than the church taking over and affecting the culture. And I remember a friend of mine, beginning to debate me online, and I said, let's take this to messages because I don't want to put this out. So we started messaging back and forth. And I was very upset about how hypocritical I

could be as a Christian because Christians fail too and all these kinds of things. And I said, listen, at the end of the day, my greatest desire is to see everybody come to know Jesus. And this is not God's plan. This is ultimately going to lead somebody down a path of destruction. It's ultimately going to lead someone away from the truth. And it's not what God has intended for

them. And by the time I was done sharing a heart of love and a desire for restoration, he said, I see where you're coming from. Because that was my heart behind it. Now, if you come at somebody in a situation like that with all kinds of facts and figures, and I hate homosexuals, and they're an abomination to God and all this kind of stuff, then of course they're never going to listen to anything that you have to say. Because you just spewed hate all over them. But if you come at it

in a desire of love, like my ultimate goal is to see everybody come to know Jesus. And I said, you walk with Jesus, then it changes the entire conversation because you've just disarmed all of the anger that they usually use as fuel for the fire. Why do we rebuke for the purpose of restoration to see people made whole, to see people made healthy? I was not, I was young when this happened, but I was told stories about it at some of the pastors conferences that I've gone to that there was a point in time in the Calvary Chapel movement when a good number of Calvary Chapel members were pursuing a charismania sort of a way and a little bit licentious in their teaching.

And one of them came to a pastor's conference and during a time when there was like an open mic time started spewing his theology and Chuck Smith being as gracious as he was just put his arm around him and said, I understand that that's how you feel, but that doesn't line up with scripture and it doesn't line up with Calvary's teaching. And so if that's what you want to do, you have to go be a different kind of a church. And that guy went. And became a different kind of a church and went away for quite a while. And one day he came back

and he said, I was wrong. It doesn't line up with scripture and it's not how I should be teaching. And Chuck Smith welcomed him back and he ultimately ended up pastoring a very large church in Denver because that's the purpose of reproof is restoration. And so he says, he says, reprove them so that they can be restored so that they can be brought back to being healthy so that they can be educated. Notice what it says in verse 14, not paying attention to Jewish myths

and commandments of men who turn away from the truth, Jewish myths, mystical things, crazy teaching stuff that's way out there. But the part I really want you to pay attention to is the commandments of men. Why are we reproving these things? So the people won't just follow after the commandments of men. There's an entire church movement out there that puts the commandments of

men on the same plane as the teaching of scripture. They call it tradition and apostolic authority. And the problem is it doesn't always line up with scripture. And so you have to be careful when you deal with those kinds of things, because you can even confront somebody who feels that way. And you can say, you know, that doesn't actually line up with the Bible, right? They're like, yes, but tradition and church fathers. And it does line up

with what they say. I'm like, yeah, but if what they say doesn't line up with the Bible, don't we have a problem there? And the answer is yes, we do have a problem there because it should line up with what scripture has to say. And so I'm like, yeah, but if what they say doesn't line up with what scripture has to say, all scripture has been given by inspiration of God, it's God-breathed and is profitable for instruction, correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work. That's why it's got

to be the baseline, the standard for everything that we do, not the commandments of men. And so he tells them, he says, silence them and rebuke them, reprove these things so that people can be restored and so that they can follow the commandments of God. And so he tells them, once again, the word of God and not just the commandments of men. And so he's dealt with the description, he's dealt with the action, and now he deals with the character. Notice what it says

in verse 15. To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds, they deny him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. The character is the word of God. And so he tells them, he says, silence them and rebuke them,

because this, he said, to the pure, all things are pure. Now, this one has gotten a little bit of a bad rap. It's gotten a little bit of a false interpretation. Some people take this to say, well, listen, to the pure, all things are pure. Okay, so I can do whatever I want to, because I'm pure in heart. Therefore, I can live how I want to. That's actually not what that says,

because contextually speaking, what he's talking about there is Jewish legalism. You know, one of the biggest parts of Jewish legalism was dietary laws. In other words, certain meats you couldn't eat, certain things you couldn't partake in. And so they were trying to enforce these dietary laws upon others. And so they were trying to enforce these dietary laws upon others. And so

people, and he said, what you have to realize is to the pure, all things are pure, because the things that you eat don't defile you. Matter of fact, Jesus said this. He said, that which comes into the mouth is not that which defiles a man. It's what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man, because from out of the mouth flow all kinds of evil speaking and murders and adulteries and heresies, because from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. And Jesus said, hey, listen,

you don't have to get worked up with these dietary laws anymore, because everything that I have called clean, you should not call unclean. That's what took place in the book of Acts with Peter when he went to go preach to the Gentiles. And so to the pure, all things are pure. If you're pure in heart, don't get worked up with laws that are external only. But notice what he says next. He

says, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. What does that mean? It means if you're not born again, you can have whatever diet you want to. It's not going to save your soul. It's not going to save your life. It's not going to save your soul. If you're not born again, you can follow every law in the world you

want to, and it will not save you. You can, you can follow every sacrament. You can follow everything, every, you name it. You're still not going to be born again. I read this great article the other day, and it was a lady talking about all of the, all of the self-care stuff that's going on in the world today. And there's a lot of really good things out there. Get enough sunshine,

drink enough water, use some sort of a light that's red. I still don't get that one, but whatever. Do all these things. Self-care. And that's going to, what's ultimately going to make you great. And she's like, listen, there's nothing wrong with all that stuff, but that stuff never penetrates the soul. It's great for external things, but it doesn't make you holy. The only thing that will really

make you holy is Jesus. That's what you really need in your life. Otherwise you're as undefiled as anything else. And so he says to the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled, all things are defiled, even their conscience. And then in verse 16, he says this, they profess to know God, but by their deeds, they deny him. They profess to know God, but by their deeds, they deny him. Here's what you have to know about those that

preach and follow false things. Eventually they will prove who they are by the way that they live their life. Eventually they will prove who they are through their teaching. I've shared this before. I'm going to share it again because I think it's the greatest example of this that I can think of. And I started thinking about him yesterday because I listened to a song called Rob Hell,

and it's all about Rob Bell. And there was this Bible teacher that was around when I was first starting into ministry a couple of years ago. And it was actually 2002, I think, maybe 2003. And his name's Rob Bell. And he put out these Pneuma videos. And in these videos, he always had a backpack on that way. I always had a backpack on. That was weird to me. And in all

of these breathy videos, he'd be like, God just loves you. Just remember God loves you. I think it's because there were Pneuma videos of Pneuma's breath. And first of all, I was like, okay, that's really obnoxious. I really don't like listening to this guy. But second of all, I was like, what's weird about this guy? You know how you just get that feeling on the inside, and it's the Holy Spirit. He just gives you a little check. And you're like,

why don't I check on my spirit about this guy? And so I filed it under he's obnoxious. I'm not going to pay attention to him. But also something's going to come up with this guy at some point in time. And about 10 years later, might have been nine years later, somewhere in that range, around 2010-ish, so it'd be seven years later, he comes out with a book where he denies hell.

Where he says there is no hell. God just keeps loving us, and a loving God would never send anyone to hell. And we were all like, there it is. There's the false. Now we see it. He just proved who he really is. He's a false teacher, because he doesn't believe parts of the Bible. And that's what happens, is eventually they prove themselves by the things that they do,

and by the way that they live. But listen, let's apply this to ourselves a little bit, shall we? Let's not just talk about all of those false teachers out there, all of those people that follow false religion. Let's talk about all of those people that follow false religion. Let's talk about all of those people that follow false religion. out there. Let's ask ourselves a question. Do I deny God by my lifestyle?

Do I claim him with my lips and deny him with the way that I live? Am I that religious person that I said that I knew I came here to preach to, that goes to church on the Sunday morning, which is fantastic, I love that you're here, but then lives like hell the rest of the week? Because if that's the case, then you claim that you know God with your words, but by your deeds, you deny him. Is that us? Are there things in my life that deny the reality

of Jesus Christ, because I've chosen to live according to my flesh, rather than according to the things of God? It's a question we have to ask ourselves a lot. Listen, we are told in Scripture to examine ourselves to make sure that we're in the faith. Examine yourself to make sure that your heart is right with Jesus. And I think that that's what we're doing. We're not just

trying to make sure that we're in the faith. We're trying to make sure that we're in the faith. And that's a really important thing for us to do, because I would venture to say there's a handful of people in here this morning that have never put your faith in Jesus. You've started showing up to church some, and that's fantastic. I love that you're here, but you've never really put your faith

in Jesus. You've been following the idea that you're a pretty good person. You've been following the idea that you've got some success in life, and so God must be blessing you, but you've never really surrendered your life to Jesus. As a matter of fact, you're probably kind of rebellious in your life. And today's the day for you to commit yourself to him. Today's the day for you to fully

surrender yourself to Jesus Christ. And then there's some of you in here this morning who probably have professed Jesus with the words that you have spoken, but you're denying him constantly by your lifestyle. You're living a licentious life. You love to indulge yourself, and you're allergic to work. Maybe you're not allergic to work, but you love to indulge yourself,

and you're denying Jesus by your lifestyle. I'm here to tell you that today is the day for you to decide that's not how you're going to be anymore. That you're going to fully surrender yourself to Jesus Christ in every aspect of your life. Brothers and sisters, there is false in the world, and we have to pay attention to the false that's in the world because we don't want to be taken captive by false teaching. And there's also the

aspect of the fact that sometimes we can find ourselves denying Jesus by our lifestyles while professing him with our lips. And so what are we supposed to do? How do we keep ourselves right knowing that that's the case? Let me share a little story with you. A couple days ago, I was on my running playlist, and on my running playlist is David Crowder's version of

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Why do I run to hymns? I don't know, but I do. And as I was running, I was listening to the lyrics of that song. It's a fantastic hymn. And there's a great line at the very end of the hymn. And the hymn writer says this, Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. And every time I listen to that song, and while I was running,

and getting sweat in my eyes because I'm bald, I'm just thinking, man, samesies, right? Like, I feel the exact same way. I am so prone to wonder away from the truth. I am so prone to give in to the flesh. I'm so prone to wonder from the God who loves me so much and who I love so much. And so, Lord, here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Keep me close. Seal it as tight as you can so

that I don't end up falling away from you. If you've ever done any kind of a study on any of the hymn writers, it's kind of a fascinating thing to do. You'll find that there's a story about the guy that wrote this hymn. I don't remember his name right now, but the story goes like this. One day, two men were riding in a carriage, and one of them was reading the lyrics

to this song. And he said, oh my gosh, this is such a fantastic song. Can I read it to you? And he read him the lyrics to it. The guy said, have you ever read anything that great? And the man across from him said, yes, I have. I actually wrote that song. He goes, oh my gosh. So are you still walking with the Lord? He goes, no, I don't really believe that. He goes, no, I don't believe

that anymore. Tradition states that guy walked away from Jesus and walked away from faith in Christ. And it's interesting because he knew it was coming. He saw the potential that he had to walk away from the Lord. And that should terrify you. But it should also make you want to do something. You see, as I was listening to that, and as I was thinking about the story of

that hymn writer and the fact that he knew it was his tendency to fall away from the Lord, and he did fall away from the Lord, I found myself thinking, Lord, keep me as close to you as I possibly can. It made me think about my daughters. When my daughters were real little, if we were in a really crowded area, they would get nervous. And of course, I would get nervous too. I want to make sure that they were close. And so I would tell them, well, just grab one of

my back pockets. So each one would grab one of my back pockets. That way I could feel them pulling on my jeans and they could stay as close to me as they possibly could. That's the way we need to be with Jesus. You got to hold on to it. You got to hold on to it. You got to hold on to it. You got to his back pocket. You got to stay as close to him as you possibly can. Jesus put it in words like

this. He said, I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him will bear much fruit. You know what the word abide means? The word abide means to maintain an active and living relationship. Listen, my friends, there's false teaching out there. There's the flesh out there. And everything wants to pull you away from a pure walk with Jesus Christ.

The best thing you can do is hold on as tight as you can. And stay as close to Jesus as you can so that nothing can get between you and him. Amen. Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come before you. And Lord, it's always sobering to think about the false that's out there and the people that fall into those things. And Lord, it's sobering to know that we all have the potential.

Lord, it is within all of us in our flesh to fall either back into the things of the world or, Lord, to fall for the things that are false. And so, Lord, it is our prayer today that we would be able to stay as close to you as we possibly can. And so, Lord, as we take this time now, I just pray that you would work on the hearts of every person that's in here this morning. Lord, I lift up those that don't know you this morning, that are feeling a tugging at their heart to make sure that their hearts are right with you. And God, I pray that

today would be the day that they would say, Lord, I know I'm a great sinner. But Lord, I know you're a great Savior. And so, Father, save my soul. It's as simple as that. So if that's you this morning, just in the quietness of your heart, I just want you to say those words. Just tell the Lord you're a sinner. Ask him to be your Savior. And ask him to come in

and make you brand new. And in that moment, that's exactly what will take place. And Lord, I know that there are some here this morning that have proclaimed the truth. They profess the truth. But I know, Lord, beyond a shadow, that there's people that are denying you by their lifestyles, whether they have fallen into the flesh or whether they've been taken captive by the false things of this world. And so, Lord, I just want to

pray for them. And I want to pray that today would be the day that they would confess their sins to you. And they would confess, Lord, just like the hymn writer, Lord. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. And that they would cry out to you to get back into that right relationship with you. Lord, would you keep us all close to you? Father, would you do your work in our

hearts and lives to keep us all close to you? Lord, I pray that today would be the day that they would confess their sins to you. And I want my heart to be your presence right now while you're praying to Jesus in this life surrounded by that 108 presence about you and all of the other people that's out there and God, we just want to pray that we just come in peace. And that in the name gift of Jesus and brothers and sisters and chances. That your power to iglesia, the person who gave

his life reigned. And like God, at this moment, we have no Ó to live in it. But there's Spirit within you, with your self, with your life fleshed out to live in that right la cues to self-protection. And right now we are going to, we got a습니까 of God. And it's not, we're going to do that right now. And so we're gonna come with the Gospel of my life. Because I know there's

that's a word that will bless your heart for a song in itself is not what you have required you search much deeper within through the way things appear you're looking into much much deeper for a song in itself is not what the lord god it is all about you what everything we do should be about you we act the way we treat people lord we act in our in our workplace god the way we act at school everything that we do and say should be about you lord jesus that's our true act of worship would help us to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to you or for that is our true worship i pray that i make that our prayer today as we leave here i pray that your holy spirit go with us and minister to us

lord help us to be holy and pleasing to you each and every day we love you and we praise you in jesus name amen you guys have a wonderful week god bless you