Faithful Leadership Pt 2

All right. Good morning, church family. It's good to see you guys. I'm so glad you're here. Glad you can make it out on this wet Sunday morning. I invite you to stand with us. Pray and we'll get started. Oh, Father, we thank you for another day. Thank you for another opportunity, Lord, to be here, to be in your house this morning, Lord. And Lord, we just ask your blessing upon this time. Lord, help us to lift a joyful noise to

you this morning, Lord, to give you all the honor and glory and praise due to you, God, because you are worthy of it all. Now, Lord, God, open our ears, open our hearts this morning, Lord, to the truth of your word. I move mightily this morning and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Go and have a seat if you like.

Yes, Lord God, how great is your love, Lord. We just thank you for what you've done for us, Lord God, for how great your love truly is. You loved us so much, Lord, that you willingly stepped down from your throne.

You lived among us, Lord. You lived a perfect life among us. You only went to the cross for us, Lord Jesus, and we just thank you, God. Jesus Christ has won. The sea is raging. The Spirit will fix my eyes on Jesus Christ. I say that he did. The Lion of Judah will conquer. The Greatest Son will sing this night. And so, so, so God will sing of your goodness, O God.

I will sing of your goodness, O God. Oh, Lord God, and we just want to, that's what we want to do this morning, Lord. We just want to praise you for how good you are to us, Lord God, for how much you love us, for what you've done for us. Lord, there's no way that we could begin to repay you for what you've done. Lord, we just thank you for your goodness. Lord, we offer you our gratitude, our praise.

We offer you our lives, Lord God. Lord, just come this morning and move mightily, Lord. Lord, change us, mold us to look more like you. Now, let your Holy Spirit move mightily this morning, Lord, and just give Pastor Ryan the words to speak. Give us open ears and open hearts this morning, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seat, 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 bulletins. Over on the left-hand side, as always, are the things that go on throughout the week. There's one major change to that, and that's with tomorrow being Labor Day, there will be no men's and women's study tomorrow evening. So, take note of that, ladies.

You can pick up your Lesson 2 on the media table, if that's something that you sign up for. Also, a reminder that we are still in need of some help with our children's church teachers. So, if you're interested in that, please come talk to me after the service. And then one thing that is not in your bulletin is that we are about to embark upon another church directory, because the old directory was out of date about two weeks after it came out, which was, I think, three years ago.

So, it has been requested quite a bit, mainly by myself, but by a lot of other people. And I've got somebody that has stepped up and said they're willing to head that up. So, we don't have a sign-up sheet out there right now, but by second service, there will be a sign-up sheet out there. And so, what we're going to do is, starting September the 14th, we will, for three Sundays in a row, we've got this set up in the back here.

For three Sundays in a row, you will sign up for a time slot, and you'll run back there and get your family's picture taken. It doesn't... This is not a glamour shot. This is not a senior picture. You don't need to, like, style yourself. Just whatever you want to wear is fine. Moms, you hear me on that? It's okay. You don't need to all be in a coordinating outfit, okay?

Just sign up, go back there and get your picture taken. We'll make sure that you don't look stupid, and then we'll get that put into a directory, and then there will also be a little sheet that you fill out that has, like, information that you would want put in there, phone numbers and things like that. So, that will be starting September. So, that will be starting September 14th, but by second service, there will be a sign-up sheet out there for that.

So, those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 1. Psalm 1. Look at that. It's a new American standard for this part. I'm going to let the little snack in there. We'll be looking at the new American standard for this part. So, if you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm 1, if you are... If you need a copy of the Bible, 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 in the even verses. Psalm 1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers.

But his delight is in 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, and its season, and its leaf does not wither, and in 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.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. And so, Father, as we seek to do that this morning, to walk in the counsel of Your Word, Lord, to meditate on Your Word, I just pray that You would speak to us by the power of Your Holy Spirit, Lord. As always, we pray for comfort where there is need of comfort. Lord, we pray for encouragement where people need to be encouraged.

Pray for conviction, but Lord, we also pray for instruction, that we would know how we're supposed to walk with You, and how we are supposed to approach daily life in our walk with Jesus Christ. And so, Father, minister to our hearts, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your body, and if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Titus, chapter 1.

Titus, chapter 1. Well, just to kind of bring us all back up to speed, get back into the swing of where we are in the pastoral epistles, we're looking at Titus, and again, all of the pastoral epistles, 1st and 2nd Timothy, as well as Titus, are all kind of under a major heading of faithfulness. And so, in chapter 1, we first of all saw an introduction, but then we got into the main heart of chapter 1. And the main heart of chapter 1 had the theme of faithful leadership.

And so, as we looked at faithful leadership, we said that there was three things that Paul was going to talk about when it came to faithful leadership. The first thing is that he was going to give Titus his purpose. And the purpose that Titus had in being there in Crete was to establish leadership, to set in order the things that needed to be set in order with the churches in Crete. And that was his job, was to establish good leadership there.

He then went on to give, second of all, all of the qualifications for what leaders were supposed to look like. He gave that long list of the qualification for elders within the church. And then today, we're going to talk about the necessity. Why is it important that he have this leadership within the church? Now, there's a little bit we have to understand because there was cultural differences between the way that they did church then

and the way that we do church now. We've talked about the fact that the way that they established church then is similar now to us, and the fact that they had what we call the synagogue model. And the synagogue model is what we follow, that an individual gets up and teaches while there's a congregation that listens to the teaching of the word. The difference is that oftentimes in the early church, there was a little bit more of an open spirit about the way things were done.

And so if somebody had a word to speak or something, they would get up and share that word. So it wasn't quite open mic, but it was almost open mic. And this is probably why we got away from some of that, because of the issues that they were having. Because you never knew if someone was going to get up and give some sort of a word that really wasn't lining up with scripture or a word that didn't really line up with what God had to say because they were some sort of a false teacher.

Now, if it's a false teacher, it's somebody that kind of works their way through the congregation, and we'll talk about that in just a little bit, kind of works their way through the congregation and tries to convince other people of their way of thinking. But then they would have a public platform. And so it was necessary that Titus deal with false teachers. And so really that's the necessity.

The necessity of good leadership is that the leadership would be those that would be able to say, this is true, this is false, this is what you need to stay away from, and this is what God's word actually said. Now, as we approach this, I want you to think about something. And that's that when it comes to false teaching, there's usually three main categories that false teaching falls into. There's some subcategories of all these, but these are the three main issues when it comes to false teaching.

The first aspect of false teaching is some form of legalism. In other words, it's going to add to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's going to say it's Jesus and fill in the blank here. You name it. I don't care what kind of extra teaching it is, but it's usually some extra set of rules, some extra set of sacraments, some extra set of things that you're supposed to do.

It's legalistic in nature. And because it's legalistic, it becomes very controlling of people in nature. The second aspect of false teaching that oftentimes we see is the very opposite of that. It's called licentiousness. In other words, you don't have to do everything that the Bible says. We've understood it very differently now, and we've always been a little too provincial

in the way that we've handled things. And we can have a lot more freedom in Christ, and you can kind of live however you want to. That's licentiousness, and that's false teaching as well. But then the third aspect of false teaching I've just simply entitled prosperity. And that's that Jesus wants you to be healthy, and Jesus wants you to be happy, and Jesus wants you to be wealthy.

That's what Jesus really wants for you. If you really have faith, then you'll be healthy, then you'll be happy, and then you'll be wealthy. Unfortunately, that violates just about everything in Scripture, not only example-wise, but also teaching-wise. Because Jesus' main goal for you is to be holy. Not that he doesn't bless us with things, because he does, but there's this prosperity aspect

that gets presented as a false teaching. In general, most false teaching is going to fall into at least one of those three categories. Oddly enough, if not all of those three categories. And so Paul kind of deals with that really all three categories in this next section that we deal with in the book of Titus. And so we're starting in verse 10 of chapter one.

It says this, 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 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. This testimony is true. For this reason, reprove them severely so that they may be sound in faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.

To the pure, all things are pure. 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. Now, as we look at this aspect of the necessity and as he begins talking about false teachers, there's three things I want you to pay attention to here this morning.

We're going to see their description. We're going to see the action and we're going to see their character. So the first thing that we look at is the description. Again, starting in verse 10, he gives about seven different things that describe false teachers. The first thing, number one, underneath their description is he describes them as rebellious, rebellious.

That word rebellious, and some of your translations may even say this, can mean insubordinate. And the idea behind that word is that it means that they will not submit to God's order or authority. One commentator put it very simply, these are the problem people. These are the people that don't want to submit to any authority, especially God's authority, because it means that they have to put themselves under the rule of someone or something else than themselves.

But the first aspect of a false teacher is that they're usually very rebellious against any kind of authority, in particular God's. After all, all authority comes from God, right? And you'll find that somebody that is a false teacher has a tendency to rebel against anyone's authority. They don't like to be told what to do. They don't like to fall in line. They don't like to submit

to any kind of authority. They are rebellious. And it's interesting to look at that spirit of rebellion because, you know, we're told in the Proverbs that the spirit of rebellion is the same as the spirit of witchcraft. Isn't that kind of a fascinating thought? Like we tend to categorize sin, right? And we make some sins like super, super ugly and some not really as bad.

And rebellion, especially in our culture today, can almost be viewed as like kind of a good thing. And I suppose if you were rebelling against a sinful world, that's a really good thing. But rebellion against authority is actually a pretty evil thing because ultimately submitting to authority is what we've been called to do. And so he says the first thing that they are is they are rebellious.

The second way that he describes these false teachers is that they are empty talkers. Let me read you a few different translations as well as a definition. Idle talkers, vain talkers, senseless talkers, and my favorite of all came out of the Amplified Bible. They are windbags. That was actually in the Amplified Bible and I appreciate that a great deal because have you ever listened to someone talk

and you're like, wow, that's just a lot of hot air blowing out of their mouth and you wonder when they're going to stop. Please, if you've ever thought that about me, just keep that thought to yourself, okay? But there are some people who are like that where the more they talk, the more you're just like, wow, there's just a large breeze in the room and it's full of nothing but hot air. And it's because what they're talking about is empty.

What they're talking about is vain. It's interesting because the same word is used in 1 Timothy 1, verse 6 when he talks about those who are carried away with vain, oh, I just termed it conspiracy theories, with vain theories or vain arguments. Think conspiracy, endless debates. That's the word, endless debates. You ever been around someone like that? They want to debate everything that you say.

You can wholeheartedly agree with what they're saying, but the minute that you agree with them, they start debating you on the fact that you agree with them. You're like, wait a second. That's what you just said. Why are you disagreeing with me right now? Because they're like, they're a windbag. Because all they want to do is be a vain talker. And you'll find that it does not take a lot of words

to share the truth. It does not take a great deal of difficulty to share the truth with people. But the more you have to convince them of your idea, the more words it's going to take. They are empty talkers. It doesn't lead to anything productive. The third is that they are deceivers. They are deceivers. A deceiver is one who misleads another. Now, there's a difference between being a liar

and being a deceiver. And I want you to pay attention to this. Same category. But a liar is going to outright lie to you. A deceiver is going to tell you 95% truth, 5% false. Because the 95% truth is going to lull you into a false sense of security. And then the 5% of false is going to absolutely turn you away from the truth. That's the difference between being an outright liar

and being a deceiver. You see, the problem with being a deceiver is that what they give out is very, it's very deceptive. Meaning that it's easy to fall into. And it's fascinating to go through Scripture and find all of the warnings that are given throughout Scripture about deception, about deceptive people, and deceptive spirits. Which is why it's so necessary

that we as believers in Jesus Christ hold onto the truth as tightly as we can because deception is always out there. Deception is always there to try to pull us away from the truth and try to pervert the truth. And so he says not only are they rebellious and they are empty talkers, but they are deceivers, trying to give you enough truth to make you feel secure, but enough false to keep you away from the truth. Number four, they are legalistic.

I want you to notice how he terms it in here. Look at verse 10 again. It says, For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision. Now, if you don't know very much about Scripture, that might not mean too much to you, so let me explain to you what he means by that. What he means by that is those who say that if you are going to be saved,

you also have to keep the Mosaic law. In this particular instance, that of the right of circumcision. It was one of the major issues in the early church because you had all of these people that were Jewish that had been saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ. On top of that, you have a bunch of Gentile believers who have been saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And the Jewish believers who were held back by their legalism are looking at the Gentile believers and saying, that's great that you found Jesus, but if you really want to be saved, you also have to add the works of the Mosaic law. You also have to add the works of the law to that. There was a great debate that took place in Acts chapter 15 over this, as to what they were going to do with all of these Gentile believers. But the problem was they held on to their legalism.

You know why we hold on to legalism? You know why we hold on to extra rules? Because it makes us feel good about ourselves. Our pride loves extra rules. Our pride loves to be able to say, look at what I've done, instead of look at what Jesus did. And the problem that comes into play is that any time we add an additional rule to Jesus, it becomes legalism and it perverts

the truth of the gospel. If you say it's Jesus and the Sabbath day, that's a perversion of the gospel. If you say it's Jesus and the sacraments, that's a perversion of the gospel. If you say it's Jesus and you name the thing, it's a perversion of the gospel. Because the gospel is this, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Because that's what the Bible says.

Matter of fact, in John chapter 6, they came to Jesus and they said, what must we do to work the works of God? Do you know what Jesus told them? He said, get out a notebook because I have a list of rules that you have to keep. No, that's not what he said. He said, this is the work that you must do. You must believe on him whom he has sent, which is Jesus. And so faith in Jesus Christ is the only thing that saves.

Don't get me wrong. Faith will eventually produce works in our life. But works are the fruit, not the root of our salvation. Faith is the root. Faith is the root of our salvation. But a false teacher is going to come in and is going to tell you, it's wonderful that you found faith in Jesus, but now you must add works to that. And Paul says that's a perversion.

The Bible says that's a perversion of the gospel. As a matter of fact, scripture says that if anyone preaches any other gospel, let him be anathema, under a curse, the curse of the law that will ultimately keep you from Jesus Christ. And so he says that you must beware of those who are deceivers, especially those who are of the circumcision, especially those who are legalistic in their way of thinking, those who would add works to Jesus for salvation or those who would add works to Jesus for sanctification. The fifth way that he describes them is as disruptive.

Notice what it says in verse 11, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. That word upsetting can also be translating disrupting. And there's an interesting thought that goes along with this. And the thought on this is kind of twofold. Number one is the principle of it,

that it is upsetting entire families, that families are being torn apart because some are being led astray by false teaching. And that's what happens. I have watched this happen, where a family is really solid in the faith, a really solid in who they are in Jesus Christ, and one of them begins to look into some other religion or they are affected by some Bible teacher who is leading them astray in some form of false teaching. And pretty soon, that family is completely torn apart because of it, because they are divided, because one is following the truth of the gospel and the rest are following some false teaching.

And it divides, it disrupts families. That's kind of the theory behind it. But the practice behind it is this, the practice behind it is that these false teachers would go into people's homes. They would go into, let's put it this way, they would go knock on their door. They would go knock on their door and they would go into their home and they would disrupt their family.

You need to beware of someone who always wants to pull you aside and tell you about this new idea that they have found. You need to beware of someone who wants to pull you aside and tell you about this new church that they started going to. I don't want you to get me wrong. If you decide to go to another church, another teaching church, I have no problem with that.

But if you decide to go to a church that is not a Bible teaching church, that is a legalistic church, that is leading you into some sort of a false religion, I have a problem with that. And I really have a problem with that if you do that and you try to take other people with you. And then you go start meeting with every other family in the church and going, you know, I found this new way through my studies. I found this new way through some of the things that I've been looking into.

And I think you should consider, I want you to know why, we decided to go this other way. And it starts to disrupt families. And it begins to cause issues. Because the favorite place for false teachers to proselytize is not in the world. It's in the church. Because they want to pull you away from the purity of the gospel. Because if anybody hates the fact that you have found freedom in Christ,

it's Satan. And he'll use anybody he can in any way he can to pull you away from the truth. And so they are disrupting entire families. They're disruptive in the way that they handle things. Turning families away from the truth. So that all kind of deals with the legalistic aspect of things. But look at number six. Seeking sordid gain. Seeking sordid gain. It's right there at the bottom of verse 11.

Teaching things that they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. What does that even mean? I don't know about you, but I've never once, other than the times that I've taught the Bible, been like, that person's only interested in sordid gain. Right? It means dishonest financial gain. They're looking for dishonest financial gain. In other words, they're in it for the money.

They're in it for the money. And this usually goes one of two different ways, or maybe both directions. First of all, a lot of false teachers are in it because they want to build their own kingdom. They want to build the kingdom of their own bank account. Or they want to build the kingdom of their own private jet. Or they want to build their own kingdom of their own financial future.

And pretty soon, they send you the letter. The letter that says, dear brother, dear sister, God is doing a mighty work over here in fill in blank here. And I feel like God laid you on my heart. And the reason why he laid you on my heart is he laid you on my heart because he has called you to sow a little seed money into my ministry. And he has promised that every bit of money

that you sow into that ministry, he will reproduce tenfold, not only in my ministry, but in your own life. And you're going, that seems like the good thing to do. I want blessings in my life and I want blessings for the ministry. I should probably do that. No, that's somebody who is teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain, for the sake of dishonest financial gain.

I always remember in Bible college, listening to Chuck Smith teach about things like this. And he talked about research. He talked about receiving letters with a prayer cloth in it. And that this cloth had been prayed over and if you will just send in $25 that God will use this prayer cloth in your life to perform miracles. And I was really sad. I'd never received a prayer cloth

in the mail before. And I remember shortly after Bible college and I was thinking, gosh, wouldn't it be fun to receive? Look, that's false teaching, okay? I just want you to know that. I wanted to get one because I wanted to see if this thing was real or not. I was like, I've never gotten a prayer cloth in the mail. Why has no one ever sent one of those to me?

I want my own prayer cloth. And one day I opened up the mail, Brian Nichols, and I laid it out. It was a paper that looked just like a cloth because it's the Kansas version, right? But I received my own prayer cloth in the mail. It had been prayed over. It had been prayed over. All I needed to do was send in, I think it was $50 by that point in time, and God would perform miracles

through that piece of paper, through that prayer cloth. And I remember thinking, not today, Satan, right? But I held onto it for a little while because I thought it was fun and I finally got my prayer cloth in the mail. Can you believe people do that? This is what's going on. And this is what he's talking about here. He says, for the sake of financial gain.

And sometimes it's to build their own kingdom. And sometimes it's because they just want money for themselves. But then there's people who preach the prosperity gospel, who preach that Jesus wants you to have your best life now. That's what he wants for you. And if you want that car, then Jesus wants you to have that car and you should claim that car in the name of Jesus.

After all, look at the cars that Jesus has given me in the name of Jesus, right? And they'll begin to teach this gospel to you because they feel like if they do that with you, then you're gonna give them some of their money too. And it's still to build their own kingdom, but they're completely content for your kingdom to be built too. Listen, when we read the Bible, we realize something.

The Bible is full of men of great wealth. The Bible is full of men of great poverty. Both were used by God. Both were used powerfully by God. Abraham was a fantastically wealthy man and God used him very powerfully. Paul appeared to have been a man of great poverty. Both used powerfully by God. It has less to do with your bank account and it has more to do with your heart for Jesus.

And if anybody starts telling you that you can have your best life now, you should start questioning it because if I have my best life now, that means that I have laid up my treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt and where thieves can break in and steal. I'm not looking for my best life now. I'm looking for my best life in eternity so that I can lay up my treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust can corrupt and where thieves cannot break in and steal. And you need to beware of a gospel that tells you you can have it all and you can have it now, right?

And so he says, beware of them because they can be seen because they are seeking sordid gain. And then number seven, they are carnal. Notice what it says down in verse 12. One of themselves, a prophet of their own said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. Of course, that prophet was one of their own philosophers. His name was Epimenides.

And Epimenides said this of the Cretans. Now, that didn't mean every single Cretan looked like that. That didn't mean every single one of them had those characteristics. But it meant something. It meant that there was a pretty good national average at that point in time, that most of the people there had this issue. And I love the way, I think it was Bible Knowledge Commentary put it.

They said, What does it mean to be liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons? It means to be dishonest, to be indulgent, and to be allergic to work. I think we've seen this tree before. I think we see them all over the place. But what that means is that they are carnal. In other words, there are those who teach, you can live however you want, indulge your flesh.

Because after all, we've been interpreting Scripture wrong all these years. I think that that's, we've been set free by grace, and we can live according to grace. We've been interpreting some of these things wrong, and our table's wider now, our understanding's greater now, and you can just enjoy your life. And if you need to ask for forgiveness, you can ask for forgiveness.

But live however you want to. And that's what we see in false testimonies, and false teaching that says licentiousness is the way to go. Because we see people that are dishonest. We see people that are indulgent. And sweet Jesus, do we see people that are allergic to work. Now I found this interesting. As we see this description, not only of the Cretan people,

but also of the false teachers that were so great at that point in time. David Guzik, I'm doing a little bit of a free quote here, because it was way longer than I wanted to put in. David Guzik said this, Paul did not say to Titus, Cretans are the worst, go look for an easier group of people. He said, I know that they're bad, go and change them with the power of Jesus Christ and for his glory.

And I think that that's important for us to pay attention to. Because sometimes when we look at the world around us, when we look at the world around us, we see a lot of what's described there. When we see the false that's around us, we see what's described there. And this is what we have a tendency to want to do. We have a tendency to want to pull into a shell,

and just completely block everything and everybody else out, and just say, those people are way too hard to reach. Those people are way too hard to minister to. I'm just going to stick to myself, keep my head down, and try not to bother anybody. The only problem with that is, that's not fulfilling the Great Commission. Because we were called to make disciples.

We were called to make disciples of Jesus Christ. And sometimes that means we're going to have to minister to really hard people. I bet some of the people that you work with I just described. I bet some of the people that you work with think some of these ways, or at least they think some of these ways about Christianity, and they're hard people that you have to be around.

I bet some of your family members are a lot like this. Maybe extended family that doesn't know Jesus, that maybe have crazy ideas about God, crazy ideas about the Bible. They're legalistic, they're licentious, or they have this prosperity gospel in their mind. I bet you have family like that. And it's your natural inclination to just never bring anything up.

I'm just never going to talk about my faith, because I don't want to deal with it. But listen, that's not going to help anything. That's not going to change anything. What will change things is, if you continue to live out your faith with the power of Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit at work in you, to reach the people that are around you as you simply live out your faith in front of them.

I think sometimes this generation is having a really hard time for not a really good reason. Because what I'm seeing happen right now is I'm seeing people that are really hungry for the truth. And yes, are they hard because of some of these things? Because we have presented this to them for way too long? Because we've presented a false gospel of legalism? Or we've presented a false gospel of licentiousness?

Or we've presented a false gospel of prosperity? Yeah, that makes this generation a little bit harder. But it doesn't make them unreachable. As a matter of fact, I think this generation is incredibly hungry for truth. But you can't decide it's too hard. You have to decide that the power of Jesus is greater. And that's what he tells them to do. And so, with that in mind,

this is what he tells Titus that he needs to do. He gives him the action. Two things he tells him to do. Number one is given to us in verse 11, who must be silenced. They must be silenced. The word silenced means to bridle, to stop up the mouth, or to muzzle. Now, there's two different ways that this needs to take place. Listen, I just want you to know something right now.

Okay? This does not mean that you should go around to every single person that you disagree with and put your hand over their mouth. That will get you written up by HR. That will get you sent to the office if it's your school. It will get you sent to the courtroom and maybe arrested if it's out in public. Okay? I don't want anyone out there going, I am doing the will of Jesus

because I am stopping the morons. Right? We all want to do it. We can't do that. But what he means is this. You have to silence the false teaching. And there's a couple of ways that we do this. Inside the church, it needs to be met head on. I need you to know right now, if you come in here and I hear you spouting something that's false, I am going to confront you.

I'm going to tell you, listen, that's not what the Bible says, and I can't allow that to go on. I'm never going to let you lead a small group. I'm never going to let you teach a Sunday school class. That's why if you're going to be involved in ministry, you've got to come talk to me first. Because I need to know that you are someone who is going to share the truth,

especially with the kids down at the end of the hallway, because I love them more than I love you. Sorry, that's just all that there is to it. Because I'm going to be held accountable for where they get taught. Because Jesus seems to take it really seriously the way that you especially handle and teach kids. Because it says, if anyone harms one of these little ones,

it would be much better if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the deepest of sea than have to deal with Jesus or the devil on the day of judgment. That would indicate to me that I should pay really close attention to that. So if it's within the church, it does have to be met head on. There's no question about it. I'm never going to let somebody stand up here

and preach something. As a matter of fact, if in the middle of you preaching something, if I allowed you to ever do a Sunday service or you're sharing something up here and I think it's false, I'm going to come up and talk with you. There's a great clip going around the internet right now and it's of this guy that's getting ready to get baptized. I think my sister sent it to me.

And they're allowing a little bit of testimony and they're saying, and so he holds the mic up to me and he says, tell me how you met Jesus. And he holds the mic up to him and this guy goes, I am Jesus. And he goes, we're going to need another minute. And he hands the mic off and they walk the guy out because obviously this guy is crazy and he's not going to allow him to get baptized and grandstand in that particular moment.

That's silencing the mouth of someone who is preaching false things in the middle of the assembly. That's the way you handle it in church. Outside of the church, it needs to be met when confronted. If somebody comes to you and they're going to tell you they're delivering to you a false gospel, they come to your door. We all know who I'm talking about. They come to your doorway.

They want to meet with you in person. Whatever it is, in that moment, you have to be able to say, but this isn't what the Bible says. This is opposed to what Scripture has to say. And you have to be able to confront it head on in those moments. Again, you need to know what the Bible says so that you can confront those things when they come up. I'm not saying you've got to become an apologist.

God's really good to give you what you need in those moments. And there's nothing wrong with saying, I can't answer that question right now, but I'll get back with you. There's nothing wrong with saying that that's just honesty, that's just integrity. But you need to be able to confront it head on when you hear it come up. But then the third thing is, false is best silenced with truth.

Listen, I can stand up here every Sunday and give you an apologetic study on every other religion in the world. Like, this is what all these religions say, and so don't believe them. But what I'd rather do is I'd rather present to you the authentic. This is what the gospel says. This is the truth. And I'd rather teach you the truth every Sunday because the best way to silence the false

is to teach the truth. Because if you know what's true, you're not gonna fall for what's false. If you know what's real, you're not gonna fall for what's not real, for what's not unauthentic. And so if I present to you the authentic truth, if you are constantly studying the authentic truth, then that's the best way to silence the mouth of those who ultimately would wanna come against you.

But he says to silence them, to bridle them, to stop up the mouth, to muzzle them, because the more you give false a platform in your life, the more it will woo you away towards the false. And can I say, I didn't write this in my notes, but can I say there's probably one other thing, and that's that eventually you have to turn off the false that you listen to. Like, if you're listening to somebody, you really liked him, like, man, I agree with like 95% of what they say, but, boy, 5% of what they say is pretty off. Man, just get rid of it altogether, because that means there's some deception in there.

That means there's some things that you don't like. And listen, I'm not, I don't always agree with everything I say. Like, every now and then I look back and I'm like, I don't think I agree with me from 10 years ago anymore, because I've grown. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about somebody that is teaching false things. We have to turn some of those things off,

because the more you allow it to affect you, the more you start to think about it, the more it leads you astray. He says, silence the mouths of those who spread the false. But the second thing he says is this, and it's given to us in verse 13. He says, to reprove them. He says, this testimony is true, meaning of what's said about the Cretans. 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. Reprove them. The word reprove means to rebuke or to reprimand. It means to call them out and show them their fault. Now, that's a hard thing to do. Can we all admit to that? It is hard to call people out and show them where they're wrong,

because oftentimes the people that will come to you with something false are the people that perhaps you like. The people that you're friends with. And you don't want to offend them. You don't want to ruin a friendship. You don't want to ruin a relationship. And so it's really hard to do that. Remember, Paul is giving this to Titus, who is pastoring oftentimes home churches,

where he knows people really well. But it still has to be done. You still have to be able to reprimand and call out the false and show them where it's false. And I love that he includes this. He includes that word severely. That word severely can also mean sharply. In other words, make it a sharp cut. Because if you don't do it sharply, if you don't do it severely,

then people don't take you seriously. I know this from experience. I'm a non-confrontational person by nature. I am a soft peddler by nature because I'm a people pleaser. So I don't like to offend people. But I have found that I have done in the past is when I'm having a conversation with somebody and they bring up something false, I point out that it's wrong,

but I do it in such a friendly way. I do it in such a nice way that it often makes it not seem like it's that big of a deal. And because of that, sometimes people don't take it as seriously as they should. And eventually I have to come back and say, listen, I was really nice about that, but I can't be nice about it anymore. This is the way that it is. And so that's why he says you have to do it severely.

You have to do it sharply. You don't have to be mean about it, but you do have to be definitive about it. He says they need to be rebuked. They need to be reproved. Again, inside the church, head on. If somebody inside of the church, like in this congregation, within the four walls of this church, they're going around trying to spread things, it has to be rebuked head on.

It has to be reproved head on. Outside of the church, only when confronted. You don't need to go out and search people that are false in their thinking. You don't need to go out and look for people. Trust me, they'll find you. You don't need to do that. But when it comes up, it needs to be confronted. And I'll say the same thing again. The best way to reprove people

is to know the truth and to speak the truth. To be able to teach what's true so that it's wrong. Why do they need to be silenced? And why do they need to be reproved? I want you to notice what it says. So that they may be sound in the faith. So that they may be sound in the faith. Now it's important that we understand the purpose. It's important that we understand the purpose

of silencing and reproving that which is false. Because if it's just to prove that you're right, keep your mouth shut. If it's just to prove that they're wrong, don't say it. But if it's to see them become sound in their thinking, sound in their doctrine, that word sound is very interesting. Where he says, hold on, let me find my place here. Sound in faith means to be whole or to be helpful.

That's the idea. In other words, rebuking the false is always for the purpose of seeing someone become healthy in their faith. And that should always be the heart behind it. Let me use another phrase. It's very biblical in nature. You should be able to speak the truth in love. You should be able to speak the truth in love. Whether you're a leader or whether you're just a part

of the congregation, you need to speak the truth in love because a goal of confrontation, listen, is always restoration. The goal of confrontation is always restoration. It's not to prove your point. It's not to prove you're smart. It's not to try to prove the other person wrong. It's to see them restored and anyone else that might have been involved with them restored.

I always remember hearing the story about some of the Calvary pastors that got into some, what do you want to call it? I suppose name it and claim it type of thinking, charismania type of thinking. And one of them was a pastor out in Colorado. And he said, and he tried to bring that into the congregation. He tried to bring that to a pastor's conference one year.

This is when I was a little kid. These are stories that I've heard. Tried to bring it to a pastor's conference one year. And Chuck Smith sat down next to him and he said, while I understand that the Holy Spirit can do whatever he wants to, this does not line up with what we teach at Calvary Chapel. And so if this is what you want to do, you have to go do something different because you can't be

at Calvary Chapel because it doesn't line up with what we do and it doesn't line up with what the Bible has to say. And because of that, a good number of pastors left. They left the Calvary Chapel movement and went off and did their own thing. And some of them came back. And I remember when some of them came back, Pastor Chuck restored them because they said,

you were right. Better yet, the Bible was right and I was wrong and I would like to come back. And he welcomed them back and he restored them. One of them I heard speak at a conference one year. Sharing this story. Because that's always the goal of confrontation, is restoration. To see somebody come back to a place where they are right again in their thinking.

He says, reprove them, first of all, so that they can be sound in the faith. And he goes on to talk about what sound in the faith looks like so that they, first of all, don't follow Jewish myths or Jewish mysticism. And I think that we could put an even greater label on that today since Jewish mysticism is a big thing. But I'm just going to give you the example.

Jewish skepticism isn't always what we deal with. We deal with all kinds of mystical thinking and ideas so that they don't follow myths that don't make any sense. Myths that are outside of the Bible. Mystical thinking and teaching that is outside of the Bible. But most importantly, so that they don't follow the commands of men, so that they don't follow the commands of men.

I hear this said some time. passed down through tradition because isn't tradition just as important as the Bible like well no not not really it's not actually as important as the Bible but there is an entire sect of thinking out there there's an entire movement of a church out there that will tell you that the tradition laid down by the church fathers is every bit as important as what the Bible has to say because they put it on the same plane they call it apostolic authority that's not scriptural but at is what's taught therefore there are teachings that are outside of the realm of truth they're outside of the realm of scripture that they agree with even though there's no

scripture to back it up because they say but it lines up with tradition it lines up with the traditions that we have been that have been established over the years listen in and of itself tradition has there's no problem with it we have traditions here at Calvary Chapel even though we're a little bit more loosey-goosey than most churches that you would go to there are traditions here for instance we always do a responsive reading we always do communion in the first Sunday of the month those things don't save you those are just part of our tradition here but the thing you always have to ask what tradition is does it line up with Scripture does it keep me from Jesus because if that is true if it doesn't line up

with scripture and is keeping you from Jesus and it's a tradition that needs to go away because we are not to follow the commands of men we are always to follow what the scripture has to say and listen the problem with scripture is that usually tells me my commands are wrong it usually tells me that I'm wrong in some way have to get myself lined back up with what this has to say you see if if this is not our governor if this is not our path that we follow then pretty soon we're in all kinds of weeds and we find ourselves in all kinds of trouble so why do we silence the false why do we rebuke and reprove the false well first of all because we want to see people sound in their thinking but second of all we

don't want them to follow pointless myths and we don't want people caught up with the commands of men and so he says rebuke them reprove them silence them but now that he's told us the description of the false the actions to take against the false he returns and tells us about the character of the false look at verse 15 he says 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 he professed to know God but by their deeds they deny him being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed he starts off by saying to the pure all things are pure the first thing I want to tell you what that does not say

because this gets used as the excuse to sin all the time this gets used as the excuse that everything's okay but listen to the pure all things are pure okay I'm pure in my heart so it doesn't matter all these things that I do because I'm approaching them with purity of heart listen that goes against everything else the Bible has to say okay so you got to compare Scripture with Scripture you got to interpret Scripture with Scripture and so if it violates all the rest of Scripture probably your interpretation is wrong what does he mean then by to the pure all things are pure well remember the main thing he's dealing with here is Jewish legalism what was one of the greatest things that they dealt with

with Jewish legalism I'm really glad that you asked I'm gonna tell you one of the greatest things that they dealt with with Jewish legalism was dietary laws the dietary laws that said you can't eat this you can eat this now in the Old Testament those were important not only for separation from the nations around them for physical health and for dedication unto the Lord but Jesus told us that all things had been made pure that was actually exactly what was told to Peter in the book of Acts before he preached the gospel to the Gentiles what God has called clean let no man call unclean and so now we are no longer bound by dietary laws but the Jewish legalists were coming in and saying no you must continue to keep all of these

dietary laws and say you should keep it you can eat this you should eat that you can eat any of these things that you otherwise you're not really gonna get close to Jesus and so to keep them away from the legalism Paul reminds them to the pure all things are pure if you're pure in heart it doesn't matter what you eat Jesus said the exact same thing he said it's not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him it's what comes out of a man's mouth that defiles him because from out of the heart and through the mouth flow all sorts of abominations and evil speaking and an anger and murderous thoughts and that's what defiles someone so to the pure all things are pure that means don't get caught up with a list of rules keep your

heart pure with the Lord but those what he says but to those who are defiled to those who are abominable in their thinking he says nothing is pure but both their mind and their conscience are defiled what does he mean by that he means that if you're not saved you can follow any dietary law that you want to and it will not save your soul you can do Lent you can do fish Friday you can you could fast all you want to you can do any of those things that you want to but if you're not born again they will do nothing for you I actually read this great little article by a lady that was talking about the the self-care world that we live in today that if you'll just get the right amount of

sunshine if you'll just exercise enough eat the right things and do all these things all the self-care things that that you're gonna be really good and she said those things are all great in and of themselves none of those things save your soul and all they do is preserve you on this side of eternity they have no power in your life to preserve you on the other side of eternity so does that mean we reject all those things not necessarily it means that you better make sure that your soul is right with Jesus because you can do everything in the world that you want to to preserve your body but it's just that you're not going to be able to preserve your body and it will still expire on the

day that God wants it to expire what you need to care about is your soul because to the unbelieving and the defiled nothing is pure and so he says the problem is the character of the heart not the actions of the body the character of the heart will eventually affect the actions of the body but what's important is what's on the inside and then he goes on to say it one more way he says but their deed but in their deeds they deny him they confess to know God on the outside but their lives tell a different story they say that they're an apple tree but they're not producing any apples their fruit is not lining up with their confession and listen this is one of the things that we have to pay

attention to with people that ultimately preach the gospel I think I've shared it with you before I was just listening to a great song last night called Rob hell and it's all about Rob Bell and it's a fantastic song but but I remember when I was in early on in college ministry there was a Bible teacher that came out and his name was Rob Bell still around and and everybody loved this guy he put out these videos called Numa videos and and he walked around all dramatic and breathy and talking about Jesus just loved you so much right and I remember thinking hey this guy's obnoxious but be what's off with this guy right like I just remember thinking that now listen I can be extra critical sometimes of

people and Bible teachers especially if it's the newest thing like I tend to be critical of everything that comes out and sometimes I'm right every now and then I'm wrong but usually I'm right I'm just kidding kind of anyway but in this particular instance I was like dude what is off with this guy something's really off with him and so I didn't think too much about it but I definitely wasn't a fan it definitely didn't promote any of his stuff or really read any of his stuff well then he comes out that he doesn't believe that there's a hell he doesn't believe that God would ever send anyone to hell and I was just like oh I thought that might be who he really was and it seems a little different

to me sometimes I have some people that don't believe this but most of them would love to they would love to believe that down below but they did not believe it because they seriously didn't believe it because they think that other people didn't believe it right so you they're like hey hey you know beside that you know how many other people can't believe what's wrong with mine and they're like eh it's not true and and they say actually I did say it and they're like no maybe never kids would believe it because they just believe that 17 years old would believe something like that imma bet you would've believe that there claiming to know God and claiming to speak for God and then ultimately

their deeds deny the fact that they know God and it's easy to judge all of the people around us but what about you what about me do I claim to know God but deny him by my deeds do I claim to know God but there's no fruit in my life do I claim to follow Jesus Christ but there's no fruit of the fact that he is refining me that he is creating in me a brand new heart that he has fashioned me into someone who loves people someone who fashions me and there was someone fashioning as someone who cares about the people that are around me that is walking away from the same things of sin and walking towards the truth of the gospel or am I just wearing the title and my life makes no difference there's

no difference in the way that I live my life there's no difference in the way that I pursue God I'm just a just a pew warmer you are in our case a chair warmer or in my case a pulpit warmer I mean that would be the worst right says that they proclaim to know God but by their deeds they deny him and if that's the case you become worthless for any good work listen the key is this the key is to stay close to the truth I was thinking about this song because it was on a playlist that I was running to why was I running to him I don't know what I was and it was a hymn come now fount of every blessing he has no that one it's a fantastic his one I favorite but there's a line and come now fount of every blessing and it says

prone to wander 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 it's just a fantastic my heart bears witness with that line because because I'm like men same Z's right like like I feel the the tendency to wonder from the truth I feel a tendency to wonder from God like my flesh just loves the things of the world and I have a tendency to want to wonder and I'm like Lord yes seal it up make keep me safe you know what the saddest thing about that song is the guy that wrote it walked away from Jesus really sad right now I want you to think about something if the guy that wrote those were is being self aware enough of the fact that he had that tendency walked away from

Jesus he know what that means about us means you better hold on as tight as you can and I was thinking about this while I was running I was thinking about my daughters when they were real little and we'd go into a real crowded area and and they would be scared, and I would say, okay, each of you hold on right here to my pocket so that you each grab a pocket so that they could stay as close to me as they possibly could, and I knew that they were close to me as well because I would feel them tugging on my pants. And I would say, you guys stay as close to me as you can, and they would just hold on to that pocket. And I remember thinking, that's what I want to be with Jesus because I know my tendency.

I know that if there is false out there, that if anybody can be deceived by it, I can be deceived by it, that if anybody can be deceived by it, you can be deceived by it, that if anybody can end up denying God by their deeds while they're claiming him with their mouth, it can happen to me, and it can happen to you. So what do we do? You better hold on as tight to Jesus as you possibly can. As a matter of fact, Jesus put it this way.

I am the vine, and you are the branches. Anyone who abides in me will bear much fruit. You know what that word abide means? It means... It means to maintain an active and a living relationship. Listen, your relationship with Jesus Christ had better stay as close as it possibly can because the false wants to pull you away, and only Jesus can keep you from it.

Amen? Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me.

Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I am well aware of the fact that there are those who have a tendency to be led away by the false. And so, Lord, I pray for every person in this room. And Lord, I pray for every person watching online. And Lord, I just ask that you would keep our hearts close to you. Lord, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that some people that I love have walked away from the truth to pursue the false.

And so, Lord, I pray that you would bring them back. Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would move in their hearts and lives to bring them back to the truth of Jesus Christ. Not the world of legalism. Not the world of licentiousness. Not the... Not the gospel of prosperity, Lord. But the purity of the gospel. The simplicity of the gospel of knowing Jesus Christ.

And Father, I lift up those who declare the false. And Father, I pray that you would stop their mouths. And Lord, convict their hearts. And bring them to a knowledge of you. And Lord, for all of us, may our hearts stay close to you. So that we can be the men and women that you've created for us to be. Father, we thank you for who you are. And we praise you for your grace.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

God, it is all about you. Lord God, our lives should be about you. Lord God, we just ask that as we leave here today, that your Holy Spirit go with us, Lord. And you continue to minister to our lives. Guide us in direction. Guide us, mold us into your image, Lord God. We love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.