Godly Living in an Ungodly World

Transcript

GR 2289
04/19/2020
Godly Living in an Ungodly World
Titus 3:1-3
Gil Rugh

We’re going to Titus in your Bibles, the book of Titus and the third chapter. The book of Titus is concerned about how God’s people conduct themselves in an ungodly world. Paul is concerned for the churches in Crete, that island and there were a number of cities on that island, towns, and there were churches in each of these. Titus was left there to help organize them so that they could function in a way that was most consistent with what God’s purposes are for the church. And one of that was to provide leaders, so in chapter 1 he gave some instructions regarding the appointing of elders in every church. Every individual church body was to have its own elders who helped to oversee that ministry, shepherd those people and particularly guard and teach the truth of the word of God. Error had infiltrated into the church and different churches so these elders were to be sure the purity of the doctrine and teaching was maintained. Chapter 1 verse 10 said, “For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers…,” they “must be silenced because they’re upsetting whole households,” so the proper structure of the church is for the good and health of the body that’s part of God’s plan for His church.

Then down in chapter 2 he talked about the conduct of believers, various ages, older men, older women, younger men, younger women, servants, masters all these areas. God’s concerned that proper conduct be carried out and the basis of all this then was in verses 11 to 15 of chapter 2, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.” And that grace that brings salvation, salvation not based on our works, but on God’s grace which is something undeserved, unmerited, unearned is a grace that not only saves us from an eternal hell, but it transforms us on the inside. So that now we live differently than we did before God created us new in Christ and we now live with a different focus, and our focus is not this world. But chapter 2 verse 13 said we are “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,” He’s the One “who gave Himself for us.” He’s the great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, a declaration of the deity of Christ and He is the Savior, and now we look for what He has promised for us, the “blessed hope.”

And these days you hear talk about hope, a little concerned, even evangelical speakers will talk about hope and they’re being interviewed in the news these days. And they’ll say, well, I want to convey a message of hope, God is a God of hope and we have hope in Christ, and so I just want people to know we have hope. But you know, that says nothing, that can be misleading because God says those who are apart from Him are without hope in the world, their situation is hopeless. This mini issue that we’re dealing with in the overall scope of life in eternity is minor, but there is no true hope apart from Jesus Christ. I heard someone quote from Romans, God causes all things together, to work together for good to those who love Him and those who are called according to His purpose, so we trust God who causes all things to work together for good. But wait a minute, that’s only for those who belong to Him, so the blessed hope we’re talking about is for those who have entered into the salvation that God has provided in Christ.

As he concluded chapter 2 he said at the end of verse 14 that God’s people are to be zealous for good works and good works are the works that are consistent with the character of God, what God would have us doing. Conducting ourselves consistently with the character of God who is now our heavenly Father, a result of faith in Christ, so now he’s going to swing back to conduct. He talked about conduct in the first 10 verses of chapter 2, how the different ages, different sexes, different positions, masters and slaves all ought to behave and conduct themselves. Then he talked about the foundation of that, God’s salvation and what that does to a life. Now as we open chapter 3 he’s going to go back to our conduct focusing a little more broadly now, our conduct under governmental authorities, our relationship with the unbelievers, we live in an ungodly world. How are we to conduct ourselves here, how are we to behave? How are we to treat other people, how are we to view them?

Then he’ll pull that back again, verse 4 of chapter 3 after he talks about conduct of the ungodly world and of believers, what they were before they were believers, then he’ll say, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared.” Remember we talked about up in chapter 2 verse 11, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation,” talking about the coming of Christ to earth. His suffering and death on the cross to pay the penalty for sin, His resurrection, and ascension and promise someday to gather us into His presence, that’s our hope. So now when we get down to chapter 3 verse 4 he’ll talk about again God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s love. It appeared with the giving of Christ so we’ll talk about that. Then he’ll talk about the foundation for the proper conduct again.

The confusion that comes today and infiltrates the church is that we get the order reversed and we lose the connection that we have to have. The only foundation that is acceptable to God for right conduct is a changed heart. Then when we’re brought into right relationship with Him out of that flows the proper conduct, so verse 15 of chapter 2 said, “These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you,” distain you, look down on you. Not because Titus in and of himself has great authority but the word of God that Timothy is conveying is the final authority. So it’s the Spirit of God that is directing Paul in the writing of this so it is to be presented with all authority. Chapter 3 opens up, “Remind them” so this is not new material, it is calling to mind what they already know, but maybe they’re forgetting, maybe they’re not carrying it out.

Oh, yes, I know that. Sometimes we talk to our children this way and they’re doing something they shouldn’t. I say I want to remind you and they’ll say I know, I know, I know it. Well, wait a minute, you know but you’re not doing, so I want to remind you so it’s fresh in your mind so you do what you should do. And that’s what he’s doing here when he says “remind them,” And this is a constant emphasis in the New Testament, particularly in Paul’s letters. Why don’t you back up to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 6 when he asked a question in verse 9, “Or do you not know?” That’s the same point, different wording, “remind them.” Well that’s what he’s doing when he says do you not know, like when we say to our children don’t you know any better? We’re not asking them if they don’t know any better, we’re telling them you know better, but we put it in that question form to make an emphasis. If you’re conducting yourself wrongly, you know better. Or don’t you know? You say that was foolish, don’t you know any better? Well of course, I know better. You just told him it was foolish, they know it’s foolish.

“Do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived,’ and he gives this list of sins and they will not be part of the kingdom. That’s part of what Christ will establish on the earth when He returns to earth. That’s why we want to be careful in implying that those who have not yet trusted Christ have hope. Yeah, they have hope as long as they’re living, of putting their faith in Christ and being cleansed, forgiven, and made new, but other than that, they’re on their way to hell. That’s the only two alternatives. We’ve studied the end of the book of Revelation, those closing chapters. You are either in the kingdom that Christ has established on the earth or you’re in an eternal hell, so that’s what he’s talking about here. So the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom. Verse 11, and that’s where we’re going in Titus, “such were some of you.” That’s where he’s going with verse 4 of Titus 3 when we get there, “but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.” So he’s going to talk about the conduct that is characteristic of those on their way to an eternal hell. And what must be the transformed conduct of those who belong to God, and are ultimately destined for the kingdom that He will establish when heaven comes to earth, and God’s throne is on the new heavens and the new earth.

Come over to Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2, a conflict and contrast in Ephesians 2 verse 1, he talks about, “you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked.” In verse 3 he says, “we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh,” that’s the realm in which we live, that’s what we were. And we come to Titus we’ll see this is just a repeat of what Paul has said in these other passages. So we formerly walked and lived in this realm, it’s according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Remember there are only two realms in which people live and they are both realms of slavery. One is being a slave of the devil and sin, the other a slave of God and righteousness. The devil rules in the hearts of the unsaved, they think I’m my own person, I’m doing my own thing, I’m free. They are not, they are slaves of the devil, all of us were, verse 3, “we all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy…” So you see the transformation that comes, so this is what he’s reminding them of here.

Come over to 2 Peter, 2 Peter, that’s all the way back after Hebrews, almost to the book of Revelation, you get to those shorter letters. Chapter 1 verse 12 Peter says, “Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you.” Remember how we start out chapter 3 verse 1 of Titus, “Remind them” of these things, “remind them.” What’s Peter saying? “Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things.” What’s he talked about? The new life and the qualities of that new life that enable us to function to please God. I want “to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right, as long as I’m in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder.”

I mean, I have to excuse myself here, but how many times have you heard me say the same things over, and over, and over again. You know, he keeps telling us, doesn’t he think we know? I’m just trying to be like Peter and Paul, I just want to remind you, and in reminding you, I’m reminding myself because we are all in danger of slipping, losing ground. Peter says you already know them, I know that, and you’ve been established in the truth. This isn’t just reminders for new Christians or Christians who have wandered, its Christians who have been established in the truth. We need reminders, God doesn’t repeat Himself because He’s run out of new material, He’s the infinite God. But Peter is God’s spokesman when he’s reminding them because this is my responsibility, this is what God has placed on me to do, to remind you, and he says I’m going to keep doing this until God takes me home.

Down in chapter 3 of 2 Peter, Peter wrote 1 Peter the first letter of Peter and now this is the second letter and he says in chapter 3 verse 1, “This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder.” I want to bring it back to your mind so it’s fresh in your mind. We remind our little children, remind our children as they get older. They get their driver license, they’re getting ready to go out, what do you tell them? Drive carefully! I know, I know. We even have advertisements that play off that, but we want it to be fresh in their mind. That’s what God wants, He wants these things to be fresh in our mind. Oh, yeah, I remember, I studied that, yeah, it’s been quite a while ago but, yeah, I remember it -- I’d have to refresh my mind. What God is doing is constantly refreshing our mind. Now sometimes He’s adding things, giving a new perspective on it, but a lot of it is just a reminder.

Come over to Jude, Jude is that last one chapter book before you get to the book of Revelation, the book of Jude verse 5, “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all.” Now I know the truth has been taught to you, but you know what’s been happening, the same thing that’s happening in the churches of Crete, error is creeping in. That’s what he said in verse 3 and verse 4, I was going to write to you just about some matters, about salvation, but certain people have crept in unnoticed. So you know we have to keep sharp, it’s not enough just to, yeah, I know about, but I’m not up on the details, but I’ve, I’ve got a general idea. It’s not good enough. Verse 4 says “certain persons have crept in unnoticed,” they’re “ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” How do they creep in unnoticed? They’re denying the grace of God. Remember Titus (2:11)? “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation,” and they’re denying that very grace. They end up twisting it and we end up with licentiousness, an ungodly life, ungodly behavior, that’s what happens when the doctrine gets corrupted, soon the conduct is corrupted. So verse 5, “I desire to remind you, though you know all (these) things.”

Here’s what God has done and He’s going to review some of the Old Testament stories, they’re not just for kids. We teach them to kids because they are clear and even young minds can grab on to some of that. It’s good for us old minds. I surprise myself, all the years of studying the Word, being privileged to teach it, and I was going back going through portions of the Old Testament and I find myself – boy, I’d forgotten about that. Yeah, yeah, that’s there, I know I was there because I have it marked, I made notes or something. But you know it’s not fresh in my mind, that’s why we want to constantly be in the word of God. But we don’t want to allow ourselves, you know I realize, the church less and less. Well, Bible studies or Sunday school on Sunday morning and then church, then come back on Sunday night, then go to a Bible study through the week and then come Wednesday night to studies. And you know, it gets a little nuts, I’ve been through all that, I just need a little touch up periodically. No, we need to be constantly taking it in, that’s why we have the Bible Reading Plan, that’s one of the ways to go through the word of God together as a church family. Just keep pulling us back into the Word, back into the Word, that it’s fresh in our minds, fresh in our minds.

Come back to Titus 3, that’s what’s going on, “Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient.” You know, God’s concerned about this, it’s one thing the evangelical church to go whoosh, it’s hard for all of us. Right now, we’re going through a crisis, you can decide how serious it is, but it is a crisis and the governmental rulers in the world, in our country, are dealing with it as a major crisis. Now we’re called to… how do we respond, not just in a crisis, but in our daily lives. You know, well, rulers are ungodly, that’s just generally true, I’m not attacking any particular, but most of those in positions of authority are not those who have come to understand and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now we recognize that. You understand who the Roman ruler is, the Caesar, as Paul writes this letter to Titus in the mid-sixties A.D., around sixty-five A.D? Nero, Nero, you could find oodles of reasons not to respect or think you should obey Nero. Even his own people, finally the unbelieving people, were so disgusted with him they drove him to suicide to avoid being killed by the mobs and so on. But what’s he say, “Remind them to be subject.”

What should we do? Back in chapter 2, he says, instructions to older men, to older women, and verse 5 older women are to teach the younger women to what, be “subject to their own husbands.” What’s the rebellion of the world do? It changes that, all the structures and order, everybody becomes his own god (small g) and I don’t have to listen to them, there’s a total disregard for authority. But he reminds them “to be subject to rulers, to authorities,” if you didn’t get it, I mean “to be obedient.” The word ‘subject’, the same one used earlier in the chapter of wives to husbands, it’s to be arranged under the authority of someone, and recognize that authority. It’s a breakdown, in one sense from the biblical perspective, through all of society. You know why? The disobedience begins in the attitude toward God. What’s the attitude toward God? Don’t bring Him into the subject, into the conversation, we can’t talk about that, we can’t refer to what God has said, the standard that God has set down, the requirement that God has. But all areas of authority are established by God.

Come back to Romans 13, we’ll get to Romans 13 in our study of the book of Romans, but just come back to Romans 13 verse 1, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.” Why? “For there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God.” You can’t be rebellious against the authorities that God has appointed and not be rebellious against God. But again we’re talking in the area of ungodly people but God has ordained structure for society. Now I realize the leaders are ungodly people and that results in ungodly requirements so there is that constant tension. That’s why Paul deals with it but let’s face it we’re in a world of ungodly people. Every area he appoints -- masters’ relationship to slaves, slaves obedient to masters, husbands and wives, submission, we have governing authorities. We’re doing the best we can. We could argue and say, well, we’re a church we don’t have to listen. Well, as much as possible we will do what they require. Now we have to obey God rather than men, if they say we cannot teach the word of God, we cannot proclaim the gospel, then we will suffer that.

I had a good example of that many years ago when I visited a communist country, the balance that those believers walked. I’ve visited with some pastors, I’ve shared this on occasion, but they had spent over 20 years in prison. As I met with them individually on different occasions. But they’re very respectful of government. In fact, we were sitting in a room with just a handful in a home of one of these leaders, an elderly man at the time, with his wife. Been a pastor, spent 25 years in prison because of his preaching the gospel. But someone made a critical comment, one of those visitors, about the government, questioning the government and he just silently went (finger to lips) and shook his head, “We don’t talk about that. We’re open to talk about the gospel. If I’m going to prison for the gospel I go to prison for the gospel, I’m not going to prison because I am rebellious and creating discord to the government.” And I appreciated as we talked to these men.

Talked to another pastor who had also spent over 20 years in prison, we brought him some material and we gave it to him in the lobby of a hotel. I said, “Well, how can you take this in the lobby of the hotel?” He says, “Well, I don’t mind taking gospel biblical literature but if I do this in my hotel room, I can be viewed as a political subversive, so I would not take you to my room and take this. But in a public setting they can’t accuse me of doing something political. But if they arrest me for the gospel I’m willing to go back to prison for that. Besides I’m old. What are they going to do? They have to feed me and clothe me so I’m not afraid. All this to say be in subjection to governing authorities, and I realize it gets to be… When does the line get crossed? Well, we’re still preaching the gospel, we’re still teaching the word of God, you’re still gathered around the Word.

We might say, well, we’ve got a large auditorium, we could put hundreds of people in here and still keep them at six feet or ten feet or however many feet apart you want, so we’ll do that. But they do not want us to meet in the room with more so we honor that. We can understand reasons they’ve closed down other things, it’s not they’ve just selected the church. So we say, well, we might not agree with some of the decisions but you realize the test of authority is when you disagree, that’s always the case. I never had a problem with my parent’s authority when they told me, oh, don’t drive your old clunker, take our car when you’re dating Marilyn. Well, great! The test came when they told me I couldn’t take the old clunker. The test of authority is when you disagree, so we don’t have to agree with every decision and I’m not responsible for every decision someone else makes. I’m not responsible for the personal decisions of other people, so we want to be careful, our basic concern. Because if I resist authority I resist God, this is true when we talk about authority, so I want to be careful. Sometimes pastors can be great for wanting to assert their authority and the government doesn’t tell us what to do because we’re a church but Paul respected that, the governing authorities, and he always treated them with respect and honor, even when they’re obviously not doing the right thing. If they’re not telling Paul to do the wrong thing he recognizes their authority, he treats them with respect.

Come over to Ephesians while we’re on this subject. We were on this before when we talked about the opening part of Ephesians 2. In Ephesians 5 verse 21 says, “be subject to one another in the fear of Christ” and that is for those under the control of the Spirit. Then he goes on with verse 22. Some people just take verse 21 and you’d think there was nothing following that, I say, well, see it’s mutual submission, everybody’s in subjection to everybody and nobody has more authority over another person, so it becomes mutual subjection. So they take verse 22 is wives are to be subject to their husbands and husbands are to be subject to their wives. That’s not what he says, it’s a sign of false teachers twisting the word of God. Wives are to be subject to their own husbands. The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church ‘as the church is subject…” verse 24, “as the church is subject to Christ, so the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.” Well, how do I decide what to be subject in? Well, everything, the same with governing authorities, all the authorities at all levels.

Well, I understand, I respect what the president decides but I don’t have to listen to the governor. But Romans 13 says that’s all authorities, that’s where Titus is, remind them to be subject to governing authorities. That doesn’t matter whether it’s the king, it doesn’t matter whether it’s the president, it doesn’t matter whether it’s the governor or the mayor. As much as I can, being consistent with the truth of the word of God, I will be submissive, I will do what they say. We do that in areas. We obey the fire restrictions and requirements. You say we’re a church we wouldn’t have to do what everybody else has to do. We obeyed the regulations they put down when we expanded our parking lot. what would have to be done, how it would have to be done, what kind of water runoff. And we say some of those things are good, because other people are impacted, and all these things, as much as we can we want to be good citizens, conducting ourselves properly. So the first question is this, is what they’re requiring, is this in any way contrary to the word of God? I didn’t say is there any way it disagrees with the way I think, what I would do. It’s not relevant. I s there any way this clearly conflicts with the word of God? Then I submit.

Okay, come back to Titus, obviously, we could look at some other things but we won’t. Verse 1, you are to “remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient.” What do you mean? “Be ready for every good deed,” conduct yourself properly, do the things that are consistent with the character of God. And he’s going to elaborate what every good thing would be, whatever would be consistent with the character of God. Now again we don’t want to be subject, I don’t think it’d be a good thing for this, I don’t think… Well, wait a minute, we’re not talking about what we think. What does God say? It’s a good deed. Are they requiring me to do something contrary to the word of God? Well, it could lead to this. Yes, that’s every decision that the unbelievers made in the context of being in rebellion against God, but God even uses that. Remember the Old Testament empires that God raised up, they were ungodly but God raised them up.

Come back to Jeremiah. Reading in Jeremiah this week and some of you were too, but I happened to be reading in Jeremiah and part of the problem the Jews had. Remember the Babylonians conquered the Southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom had been taken into captivity years before by the Assyrians. Now the Southern Kingdom including Jerusalem had been conquered, people had been deported, Daniel among them. But none of the people, you know… we’re not going to deal with this, we’re going to not settle here. You note verse 4 of Jeremiah 29, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles,” now note this, “whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.” I mention this because of good government, bad government, good decisions, bad decisions. Nebuchadnezzar was not a nice man, he was not in any way a godly man when he conquered Jerusalem and he deported people. And that meant Daniel got separated from his family because he’s picked out to do something for the Babylonian government. People are killed. Nebuchadnezzar takes the king of the Southern Kingdom, takes them out, brings all of his family there, has his family executed in front of him, then has his eyes put out so the last thing he saw in this earth was the execution of his own family. Nebuchadnezzar was not a nice man. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn’t bow down and worship like he had said they should do, he says heat the furnace up. It even killed the soldiers that took them up to throw them in.

He’s not a nice man but God says I’ve sent you into exile, so God’s using even ungodly people for the accomplishing of His purposes. The point here is don’t fight against it, you submit to it. So you’ve been taken to Babylon, verse 5, settle down, obey their laws there, build houses, plant gardens, take wives, verse 7, “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord God on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.” I recognize the hand of God in it. You believing Jew recognize the hand of God in this, not fighting against because look what you did. The Babylonians have taken God’s people and done this. Well, God was using the Babylonians for His purpose in punishing Israel for their sin but their responsibility is clear. I recognize the hand of God in this so I do it, so I do every good work. That’s what we’re talking about, being good citizens, good deeds, I want to do with what’s consistent with what God says. How can I be in rebellion against governing authorities and doing every good deed when I go to the scripture and it says submit to the governing authorities? Well, I don’t like that decision, I don’t agree with it. Okay, so what? It’s not your decision. This is in all areas if we’re going to do good deeds.

Come back to Titus, you can’t claim to be a godly person doing the will of God and not do what God wants you to do. People just think they’re being godly when they’re flaunting and rebelling against God. That’s how churches get into trouble. Not all these in the churches at Crete or in these other areas are ungodly people, but even godly people begin to get shaped by these things and then it comes out in our conduct and so we’re no longer doing every good deed. We’re doing some good deeds but the inconsistency. You know, those cracks grow, that’s the problem. We talk about bad health grows, good health does not. That’s why we’ve got all the restrictions we have as we’ve talked about, so we want to do all good deeds, every good deed.

I don’t want to say, well, yeah, I do, but I just can’t agree with this and I’m just not going to put up with it. Well, wait a minute. I come back, this is, as I’ve shared my conversation with people that come and they’re having a problem with their boss at work or their husband at home or a child with their parents. Well, what’s the Bible say about your responsibility? You want to talk about how they’re not doing theirs, we can’t do anything about them. What are you doing? I appreciated the attitude of these pastors when I was in China, that communist country, their attitude. Now our concern is what am I suppose to do, how do I conduct myself? We could have spent all week talking about what was wrong with that anti-God government, but they said, well, my responsibility… but you went to prison… yes, I fulfilled my responsibility and the consequence I go to prison, I accept that. I preach the gospel, they say you can’t, I can’t not preach it so I go to prison, I accept that from God. And one of those men that I visited with there’s even a book of his life, it has impacted people all over. So was God at work? What would he have accomplished if he didn’t do…?

So do every good deed, what does that mean? “To malign no one,” don’t speak evil about anyone. That’s the word we bring over, ‘blaspheme,’ to speak evil against, sometimes used of those who speak against God. I think of blasphemy that way but it’s really ‘malign’ here because he’s talking about just anyone, you don’t speak evil of them, you’re not running them down. So we want to be careful, we’ve got governing rulers. I appreciated the pastor and that little group there when somebody wanted to talk down about the government. No, that’s not a fit conversation here, they’re the rulers Gods appointed. And note the respect that Daniel shows for the governing leaders in the opening chapters of Daniel, including Nebuchadnezzar, even Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The only thing that we won’t obey is if we’re going to bow down to your image, I can’t do that, we only bow down before one God. Every good deed, you don’t malign anyone.

“Be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men,” uncontentious, peaceable. Now that doesn’t mean peace at any cost, he’s already dealt with that, we looked at it in chapter 1 because this is where we were going to come up. That verse 10 of chapter 1 said, “they are many rebellious men, empty talkers, and deceivers… who must be silenced.” That doesn’t mean peace at any cost, they can’t be allowed to teach those things. He says some hard things down in verse 16 of chapter 1, “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.” I mean, that’s harsh language but you want to be careful, there’s a place for rebuke, there’s a place for harsh language. We battle against error, we don’t treat false teachers like they are acceptable. We want to be careful that I don’t just use that as an excuse. I don’t agree with the president, I think his decisions are bad and I can’t say enough…, or governing leaders at other levels, because we know we have split government. That’s all right, they can tear each other down, I can’t tear either one down. I may have more agreement with decisions of one or the other and it may change, but my responsibility is clear, I’m to be peaceable.

Why? Well, neither one is a gospel issue. They have to hammer that out. You know, Paul doesn’t write about replacing Nero. Paul used his Roman citizenship and claimed Roman citizenship but that didn’t give him an excuse to disobey Roman laws. He argued, I’m being consistent. I don’t council rebellion against Caesar. The things they accuse me of are lies, I just teach this, even Herod said, “Well, you know I can’t find anything wrong with him, nothing he’s doing,” the same with Pilot when he interviewed Christ, “I don’t… I don’t find any fault in Him, He’s not counseling overthrowing the Roman government.” They were careful. I think if we’re going to have a change of government and the other party or the other group gets in, how are they going to view evangelical Christians? Oh, they hate politicians who hold…, well, they’re sort of neutral in this. It doesn’t mean you can’t vote but we want to be careful.

‘Peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.” That’s not the same for this attitude of go along with everyone, act like you agree. This one thing I have is a concern when I see evangelicals being interviewed or writing articles. They take the edge out of it so, “yeah, you know, we’re people of faith and we want our faith to be known and we want everybody to have hope, and God is a God of hope.” You’re not telling the truth. You don’t have to talk to that person like he’s the most ungodly person you’ve confronted, but you want to talk about there’s a hope that you cannot have apart from the Savior that brings hope to a life. So what we’re going through is viewed as a hopeless situation, but you understand God says that life apart from Him is hopeless. Until our sin is dealt with and is dealt with by Jesus’ death on the cross, until that becomes personal we don’t have hope, this is just one evidence of it. Somewhere you have to make clear we’re just not all just talking about hope. Protestants of all stripes, Catholics of all stripes, anybody else, Mormon’s talk about hope, everybody can talk about hope and we’re all people of faith and people of hope -- it’s a lie.

So we show every consideration, we are courteous. When I was a young person, I was given a book, it was good Christian courtesy and it was just conduct for young people and it was good to be reminded of those things. Every consideration… this has the idea… some of these words almost overlap in meaning, it’s one of the fruit of the Spirit incidentally, “prautes,” takes that word translated “every consideration” a fruit of the Spirit. Well, this is what we want, that’s what the Spirit is producing in a life, and we do it for all men, for all men.

Now Paul has talked about the Cretans, come back to chapter 1 verse 12, “One of themselves, a prophet of their own,” in other words an unbelieving but a Cretan prophet, perhaps Epimenides, “said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’ “ That’s true, you reprove them. It’s not acceptable for believers to slide into that, that’s well, you know, that’s part of my Cretan culture, you know everybody knows this is the way we Cretans are. You know, sometimes we think that’s some kind of excuse when it gets all psychologized. Well, you know I was raised that way, a family trait, we’re just this way, we’re lazy, we lose our temper, we’re gluttons. Well, of course, that’s the unbelieving world. The point is He has called us out of the world and the life of living a worldly life, but we show considerations for all men, and this is the context in which we are living, but we don’t become like them, but we show them consideration, so what Paul said and writes.

He’s concerned, you note, when he stands before one of the governing authorities in the book of Acts, he doesn’t launch out onto them you are one of the most ungodly… All that might be true but he treats them with respect for their position, there is a recognition. But for believers to conduct themselves this way… and that’s what the point was in Jude. These men have infiltrated among believers and now they are not being allowed to be there to spread their sinful sickness. To follow that picture, it can’t happen, no, there is a line drawn between an believer and an unbeliever and conduct does evidence that. And that’s why there is a place for correction and for discipline in the family of God, persistent, unbiblical conduct has to be stopped, that’s the point.

Why all this? Well, we don’t approach this from a position of moral superiority “for we also once were foolish ourselves,” so we treat them with respect and understanding. They’re accountable for their conduct. They’re not primarily accountable to us. Now, I’m not in a position to judge them because I was just like them, foolish. Now there’s going to be two reasons he gives here, we’re only going to get into the first one and mention the second. But we were just like them, that’s the first one we’re picking up in verse 3 but then with verse 4 down through verse 7 the reason we’re not still like them is because of what God did in us. That’s why we don’t talk down to them because we’re not what we are today that is different than what we were because of our works, because we were never as bad as them. Or even though we were as bad as them we pulled it together and made something of ourselves, as we use the expression, we pulled ourselves up by our own bootstraps, those kinds of expressions. No, it was the grace of God that changed us. So I can understand then we were once like them, “we… were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.” I mean, you understand this, that’s why we went to 1 Corinthians and Ephesians, the same thing, we were just like them. We were just like them, that’s what we were. We are not different today because of what we did, we are different today because of what God did. That is never to be forgotten, we need to be reminded.

You know, sometimes, and I understand it’s difficult, we work in a world, we live in a world, it is an ungodly world. That’s why we’re not to be conformed to the world, we have to be transformed by being made new on the inside, we’ll get to that in Romans 12. It’s just a repeated emphasis, you know, and believers slide into this, their social action, their political involvement, political and social justice and we’re going to change the unbeliever? That’s a denial of the gospel, we ought to cut that off at the very beginning. Oh, well, I think they’re good Christians that have good motives. I don’t care! They think their motive’s good. It’s not good if it’s not consistent with the word of God. You’re implying that you can make yourself acceptable to God. Now I realize if you don’t get drunk everyday you’ll have a better life. I mean, there are things that’s true, the more… (sin is a reproach to any nation) the more consistent to the word of God a person lives the better their life is. God has created us to function in a certain way, recognizing authority.

It was much better when I went to school 120 years ago that, you know, we all obeyed, all the kids, us poor white kids, the better-off white kids and the black kids. We were in classes together, everybody called the teacher Mrs. So-and-So, everybody said, yes ma’am, no sir, everybody stood when they were told to stand, we weren’t allowed to stare out the window. You think you don’t have to pay attention in this class? Come up here, I’ll help you pay attention, bend over and touch your ankles, whap, whap, now go sit down, I expect you to look at me when I’m teaching you. Maybe there’s extreme. My dad told me when I was a little grade school kid, don’t you ever run away from a policeman, you run away he’ll shoot you in the back, it will be your fault. That may have been extreme. Now we’ve gone to the other extreme, we don’t respect authority anywhere. Well, obviously, if you follow the biblical guidelines there’s more order in society.

I mentioned the communist country that I was in but, you know, we could go out and walk the street, even in the evening. He said don’t worry about it, nobody’s going to steal your stuff, the penalties are too harsh. And especially for an American visitor at that time, they didn’t want any bad publicity so don’t worry. You leave your wallet in the hotel room it’ll meet you at the next train station. Well, even bad government is better than no government, there’s a certain order. Now there’s certain things they do and we see that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely and all of that. You know it’s just the way, the world goes on. We’re here only concerned about what? We can still preach the gospel. I’m not so concerned they’re going to take away our rights, I’m concerned that we don’t take opportunity for what we have now.

(Someone may explain) there’ll come a day when we won’t be allowed to share the gospel. Yeah, but how many people have you shared with this week? Well, I don’t know. Well, then, it doesn’t matter if they take away that, it won’t be any different for your life anyway. Right? You don’t share the gospel with anyone anyway. Now I’m not for taking away those rights but I’m saying that sometimes we are talking about what could happen, what might happen. Remember the book of Ecclesiastes, we can’t change yesterday, we have no control over tomorrow, so we as believers are to be conducting ourselves properly. We were foolish, mindless, unthinking. What do you say? You know the unbeliever cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness to Him.

Come back to Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, I can’t check on you with nobody here, and watch and see if people are looking down, turning, or seem to be getting there but I take it by faith. What Paul’s telling the Corinthians is the unbeliever really has no ability to grasp and understand spiritual things. God’s revealed things that you cannot know naturally, verse 9, the “things which the eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, (you know they have no place in his inner person) all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” They don’t know, they didn’t understand, they were foolish. We were. They didn’t know Christ came to die for them, they don’t know it today, but we know. Note that’s not just: well, we won’t know these things until we get to glory, verse 10, we get to that word, “to us God revealed them,” revealed, revealed them, “through the Spirit.” That’s why we present the Word because only the Spirit of God can bring that into a heart and so it goes on. We’ve received the Spirit of God, verse 12, so we can know the things of God, that’s what opens your eyes. Now I want to study the word, I understand it like I didn’t understand it before.

We can “know,” at the end of verse 12,”the things freely given to us by God,” “but,” verse 14, “a natural man…” The word ‘natural,’ we get the word ‘soul’ from it. Now the soulish man, that man who doesn’t have the Spirit of God. He has an inner person, he’s an inner being but the Holy Spirit of God is not dwelling on the inside of him. He doesn’t understand, they’re foolishness to him. Now remember we were once like them, we were foolish. We can’t understand why did they do that and it does no good just to talk. Yeah, I know somebody that was, you know, in immorality, homosexual. Oh, I know you probably think I’m the worst sinner on earth, going to hell. No, I don’t think you’re the worst sinner on earth. I may have been the worst sinner on earth. Paul said he was, I’m the chief of sinners. But you are right, you’re going to hell and you’re going to hell because you’re a sinner and that particular sin is not the problem, that’s just a manifestation of the problem. Your problem is much greater than that, it’s your heart, it’s deceitful and desperately wicked above all things, it’s more evil than you know. I know that my heart is more evil than I know. God says that the only thing that makes us acceptable to Him is when we present the gospel. This is foolishness to him. We want to tell him why we shouldn’t do this sin, why it’s terrible they do that sin. I want to point out its sin. Sin is sin, and sin is a reproach to any nation and the more open and flagrant we become in our rebellion against God the more of a disgrace it is for us as a nation, and more it calls for the judgment of God on us. May talk about that in a future study here shortly on where we are and how these things all fit together in the prophetic plan. But we don’t want to lose our perspective, they’re foolishness to him. Now he can’t understand them because they’re spiritually discerned, so that’s it, we understand we’re trying to tell him something he cannot grasp, he cannot sort out. That’s why we have to cut to the gospel.

Cut to the gospel. That doesn’t mean, oh, we just start out, you’re going to hell, Christ died for sinners, believe or go to hell. It’s all right, we can talk about it, I don’t mind him talking about sin and do I think his particular moral behavior is wrong. Yes, sin is always wrong, it is an offense against God, that’s why it is sin. You know, I may explain sin because you have to understand sin, that’s the problem. If we jump over sin and talk to people about hope, about faith… Oh, yeah, okay, I thank you, you’ve given me hope. What? That this pandemic will end, and I’ll probably survive, well, that gives me hope. Yeah, but that’s not what God’s talking about with hope, don’t connect those two, they may miss the point. You understand you are without hope in the world. You may have hope to get through this virus. But you won’t get out alive, you cannot escape judgment to come, that means you’re without hope, your condemnation is assured.

We act like having short-term hope and that’s what we’re offering, we have a God of hope, we’ll get through this. Who says? You know, that’s what Jeremiah, and we picked up with that at the beginning, was trying to tell the Jews that were in Babylon. For any prophets that come and said, look this won’t last, we’ll be getting out of here in a year or two, don’t settle down. Oh, wait a minute, you’re offering false hope, that’s not true. When the true prophet came and told them no, they didn’t want to hear that. That’s the way we are, we talk about hope. You know, they want to interview me on… for a program or write an article and we’ll put it in and you’ll be well-known. To do what? Well, talk about hope, faith, how your faith has gotten you through. Well, I know trusting God just helps me get through every day and it gives me hope that every crisis that comes will be a victory for me.

Well, what does that mean? I’m a health and wealth preacher? Did the Catholics give that? All branches of Protestantism can talk like that. What does that mean? And when Christians start talking about that we’re really denying the gospel. Maybe God has brought this into your life to make you aware of something, how quickly things could change for you. People, you know, have gotten this, gone into a hospital and in a few days they were dead, they never come out. Where would you be if that happened to you? This may be one of the things God uses to bring a wakeup call to your life. If we don’t talk that way, bring them to the issue, we’re just a voice of the world doing something and they’ll say, oh boy, we’ll have to have you back, we’d like you to write another article. I used to get invited to certain things to be the opposing view because forty years ago there was a recognition of an opposing view. In fact, I was recommended for an article for a national magazine because he holds the opposing view. Well, at least the good thing is they know we have an opposing view. Not attacking everybody doing this, but I want to tell you what the scripture says.

The only thing I have to offer you that has hope is what God says. The first thing I have to tell you is that God says you’re without hope in the world. The second thing is God offers you hope because He’s provided a Savior. And the only way for you to have hope in the world, a hope that is lasting and really meaningful that prepares you for life, and life after this life, is to recognize what God has provided. He sent His Son, that’s where we’re going as you come back to Titus and we’re done. He’ll pick up with verse 4, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us.” That’s the contrast of what we were in verse 3, we were “hateful, hating one another,” but God’s love for mankind appeared. That appearance what we talked about up in chapter 2 verse 11, the grace of God appeared and brought salvation. “His love for mankind appeared,” chapter 3 and verse 5, ‘He saved us.” That’s the beauty, that’s the wonder of it all!

Yeah, but Paul would say God saved me not because I was better than you, because I was so much worse, the chief of sinners. And you know what, if God can save me He can save anyone, He can save you. You know, maybe we talk to people that way. I know you think I’m a sinner because I don’t go to your church. You think I’m a sinner because I get drunk on the weekends. You think I’m a sinner. No, I know you’re a sinner and I didn’t even have to know those things. You know one of the ways I know? I was just like you. Oh, I didn’t do the same things you did, I did other things, other sins that I like better than the ones you do. And you talk about the true issues. That’s the beautiful thing and that’s why it’s so important that we as believers bring our lives into conformity to the Word and these basic areas. Oh, we don’t smoke, we don’t chew, we don’t go with girls that do. You know those things we pick out the things that we call big things. Well, yeah, but that’s… this, this is really bad and homosexuality really crosses the line and then homosexuality, you just can’t get any worse than that. And, you know, we categorize sins and then we end up we weren’t bad sinners. So where’s that leave us? God’s salvation and His grace are good for people who haven’t sunk to the bottom. But that’s not the salvation of scripture.

We need the grace of God, we have it, we’re now to live in the enabling power of it individually and as a church. And then we’re to testify to that before the world with every consideration, not being the rabble-rousers. We may be viewed as fanatics but I’m not trying to upset the system, I’m not trying to change the government, I’m not trying to promote this particular political position. I just have one agenda, the agenda that God has given to us as His people and as His church and everything else is going on around us and much as I can I’m fitting in. I want to pay my taxes, I want to obey the rules, I want to honor people. If they’re going to find fault I want them to find fault in one area, they won’t let go of the word of God, that will never be acceptable, but I can live with that. And everything else, we’re the best of citizens and trying to live the most godly life.

Let’s pray. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your word. How good it is to be reminded. Lord, it seems sometimes like we need to be reminded every day. You are a patient God, longsuffering. You’re not willing that any should perish. We think we can’t put up with anything more, it’s just too much, but Lord, You are patient, You are longsuffering. You were patient with each one of us individually and you graciously drew us to Yourself. May Your character characterize us as we live in this difficult world, a world that is in rebellion, fomenting rebellion, upset and unsettled, difficult. Sometimes the opposition against You is revolting, but Lord, may we not forget we were just like them. It was only Your grace that kept us from being worse than we were and our hearts could not have been any worse. Oh, Lord, may these reminders be impressed upon us so that we live godly lives, honoring You. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

2