Titus 1:10-16

Well guys, we are back into the book of Titus this morning.

It's been several weeks.

We're still in Titus chapter 1.

Titus 1 · chapter mention

Titus is getting into this, he's talking about uh elders and the qualification for elders, and then he gets into starting in verse 10 through verse 16 about uh false teachers.

And as we kind of talked about the theme of Titus is this idea of doctrine and devotion, right?

Paul's writing to Titus to encourage the church not just to have right doctrine and sound doctrine, but to have a right practice, a genuine obedience to have right devotion to the things of the Lord.

It's not an easy thing to make sure that your actions match your words.

That's the old saying, do what you say and say what you do.

That's a hard thing to live out.

It's a hard thing to say, man, I believe in these things, and then you live those things out.

But again, Paul's encouraging the church.

Listen, you need to be a people who believe sound doctrine, and you need to have genuine obedience.

You need good devotion.

As a church, we are to be a people who proclaim the gospel message.

The good news of Jesus Christ.

The news that Jesus has died for our sin on the cross, atoning for us, and was buried and was resurrected, defeating death.

So not only did he pay the price for our sin, atoning for our sin, but he also brought us eternal life with him.

And this is our hope.

And so we're a people who are to be proclaiming that message.

And we're to be a people who are living that out, living as a people who have been atoned for, who have been bought with a price, a people following the Lord.

And this is not easy.

And Paul writes to Titus He says, the first thing you need to do is you need to establish elders in the churches.

And they need to meet, these need to be qualified men who meet the qualifications.

And we have the qualifications in verse 5 through 9 and as well as in 1 Timothy 3.

And they are to shepherd and to instruct the church.

They're to guard the church and teach the church sound doctrine.

Because false teachers are coming.

Now we've we work our way through the books, we preach exegetically, systematically through books of the Bible and all through the uh the epistles, especially the pastoral letters.

They're talking about false teachers all the time.

So it kind of feels like kind of a broken record.

Like that, false teachers.

Okay, we get it.

There's false teachers, we need to have sound doctrine, we need to steer clear of false teaching.

This is what Paul's writing to Titus about false teachers.

And he kind of lays out this is how you need to identify.

You need to identify who the false teachers are.

You need to identify what the false teaching is, and you need to identify what sound doctrine is.

So that's my goal this morning as we go through verses through 10 through 16 is to identify the false teachers, identify false teaching, and then identify sound doctrine.

So let's read, beginning in Titus chapter 1, verse 10.

Titus 1:10

Just a little context again, Paul's laid out the qualifications for elders.

I'm going to actually begin in verse 9.

He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

For there are many who insubordinate who are insubordinate, empty talkers, and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.

They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

One of the Crecians, a prophet of their own, said, Crecians are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.

This testimony is true.

Therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.

To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure.

But both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.

They are detestable and disobedient, unfit for any good work.

That's some strong language that Paul is using as he's addressing these false teachers.

And he begins by saying, let's identify and who they are.

Well, they are rebellious, insubordinate, they're empty talkers, they're deceivers.

So these are people who are going kind of against Scripture.

Now keep in mind, he's not talking about, in this context, false teachers kind of around the world.

He's talking about false teachers who are in the church.

They're claiming to be Christians, claiming to be teachers of the way of God, and yet they're teaching a false doctrine, teaching heresy.

So he's writing, he's saying, listen, they're rebellious.

In Acts chapter 20, verse 29 through 31, it says, I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Acts 20:29–31

Men will rise up from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them.

Therefore, be on the alert.

Remember that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.

So this is a very serious issue as Paul is addressing Titus.

And even when Paul is talking to the church, and then Paul is speaking to the church in Acts.

He's saying, listen, we we are we're we're trying to build a foundation because the false teachers, they will come.

Sometimes we can have an attitude of, well, I think we have sound doctrine, I think we're safe, and so we should be good.

And we kind of kind of check out, we don't worry about these things anymore.

Right?

We're not seeing rampant false teaching, no one's sacrificing their kids to idols anymore.

I think you know we can kind of chill out on that front.

But that's not true because our doctrine is so important, because our doctrine is linked to our devotion.

You cannot be devout to the Lord if your doctrine is not sound.

Cannot do it.

So he's identifying these people, they're empty talkers.

They're saying things that don't matter, it's fluff.

They're saying to the church lies, and they must be silenced.

They must be silenced.

Titus chapter 3, verse 10 says, reject a divisive person after a first and second warning.

Titus 3:10

People who are sowing division, people who are who are stirring up people and they're they're causing great harm and shame to families.

They must be silenced with words, for one.

We can't just say, you're a false teacher.

Get out of here.

We have to know what their false teaching is, and we have to say, okay, let's engage in some argument.

Let's let's kind of lay out our logic, let's turn to the scripture, because we can't just say, well, you're a false teacher.

We need to know why they're a false teacher.

We need to be able to say from scripture why they're a false teacher.

Because it does us no good if it if we're not understanding more of the Lord and who he is and helping them understand why they're wrong.

By the way, I'm pointing over here.

There's no false teachers that I know of over here.

It's just the direction I'm pointing.

But we have to use our words.

We also have to use our actions and desire to show compassion and love to them.

So we don't just reject them and say we're gonna shun you and we want nothing to do with you.

There are times for some people we just we walk away.

But we know what what Titus is saying is there is a rebuke coming.

So we want to silence them with argument, we want to silence them with our action.

This isn't us dragging them around or beating them up, but they must be silenced.

This is also a work of prayer.

The church is to be praying for the doctrine of the church.

If you're a member of Proclamation Church, when you take your membership covenant, you're saying, I'm responsible for the fidelity of the doctrine of this church.

And so we share the responsibility as members to holding fast to sound doctrine.

And so we strive together to also fight heresy, to identify false teachers.

We then go into this kind of quote where Paul's quoting one of their own philosophers about Christians being lazy, they're liars, they're evil beasts, they're gluttons.

And it sounds so harsh.

But what he's really saying is like, listen, they're worldly.

They're caught up in the things of the world.

Even though they're claiming to be Christians and they're claiming to be here, you need to rebuke them.

You need to share with them the truth of Scripture and tell them directly why they're wrong.

In Romans chapter 6, verse 17 and 18, Paul says, Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles contrary to the teaching that you learned.

Romans 6:17

Avoid them, because such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.

They deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting with smooth and flattering talk.

So even as we look in our age, man, who are who are some of the teachers and the preachers that we are listening to?

There's so many preaching, preachers on the radio, on YouTube, there's podcasts, any kind of niche doctrine you want to find, or any kind of, I mean, you can find what you want.

So are you evaluating what they're saying against the words of scripture?

Or are they sowing division?

Or are they being being flatterous with their words?

It's hard at times, sometimes to identify false teachers because something they're saying is connecting to something we believe.

There's a shred of truth in that.

And so it sounds good.

When they're saying sounds like it's biblical, because it kind of sounds biblical, and then when they're not saying that's biblical, it sounds good because it kind of appeals to my flesh, or appeals to my patriotic worldview, or it appeals to something else.

And so then it sounds kind of biblical when it sounds right, and so we're just gonna go with that.

And so that's how false teachers flourish.

It is the mission of the church to identify false teachers, those who have are rebellious towards the Lord.

Even though they're claiming to be Christians and they're claiming to be in the church, they're rebelling against God's word.

Next thing is we are to identify the false teaching.

Identify the false teaching.

We see that it's mentioned about this circumcision party.

What in the world is that?

We know that early on in the book of Acts, early on in the church, they're struggling with this doctrine of, man, does the does the do believers, do followers of Jesus still need to be circumcised, or is this something that has passed away?

In Acts chapter 15, verse 1 says, Some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers, unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved.

Acts 15:1

Cannot be saved.

One of the things that false teachers do is they always tack something else onto the gospel message.

It's like, yeah, we believe Jesus, we believe he died on the cross for your sins, he rose from the from the grave, all those good things, but you also need to do this, right?

And so he kind of lays out, it's it's simply works-based salvation.

When when Paul is referencing the circumcision party, that's what it is.

It's works-based salvation.

It's still around today.

Now we're not arguing about circumcision, but people argue, hey, you need you you're you believe the gospel, great.

Now you need to be baptized to be saved.

You believe the gospel, great, now you have to take communion to be saved.

Hey, you believe the gospel, that's great, that's wonderful.

Now you need to make sure you tithe in order to be saved.

Right?

You believe the gospel, that's great.

You need to be a member of the church to be saved.

That's not true, that's heresy.

Now I want to tell you, I fully believe, as Christians, you do need to be baptized.

You should be taking communion, you should be tithing, and you should be a member of a local church.

But those things do not bring salvation.

Those things do not regenerate your soul and make you right with God again.

Only the blood of Jesus Christ can do that.

Only his work can do those things.

So we do not follow works-based salvation.

He talks about these Jewish myths.

These are dietary restrictions.

Again, people are saying you have to hold to these things.

These are the these are our traditions.

You must hold to these traditions.

In Mark chapter 7, verse 7, it says, They worship, this is Jesus, they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands.

Mark 7:7

Oh man, what a disappointment to go through your life obeying human commands.

I mean, I jumped through the hoops, I did everything they said I needed to do, but to find out you're not even worshiping God.

What a depressing reality to think I'm following the Lord because I'm following human commands.

No, true worship is to follow God.

And not just be obedient, not just be obedient, but have a heart that desires obedience.

Not just show up on Sunday morning, but have a heart that desires to grow and to flourish with the church as we're gathered.

A desire to pray for one another, to see others grow and flourish in their understanding of who God is.

Not just an obedience to be in the Bible every day, come Monday morning to open the word, but but a desire from the heart to genuinely be more like Christ, to die to sin, to be more like Him.

That is true worship.

1 Timothy chapter 1, 3 and 4.

1 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

As I urge you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine or to pay attention to myths, to endless genealogies.

These promote empty speculation rather than God's plan, which operates by faith.

So many times we can think, even in our day, well, I grew up in a Christian family.

I grew up in a Christian family.

I think I'm a Christian because I grew up in a Christian family.

My grandpa was a preacher, right?

And I'm a decent person.

And so we kind of we can even see shreds of this heresy kind of tying into our day.

We're linking our salvation to other things other than God's plan, which works by faith.

And by faith alone.

So we're to identify these false teachings, salvation's by works, obedience to some kind of man-made commands or some kind of family tradition or genealogy.

And then we're to rebuke them.

We're to rebuke them.

This is what it says in verse 13.

Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.

To correct, to rebuke, and to encourage with great patience and teaching.

To rebuke is a command of the church.

It's a job of the pastor and church members.

This is an act of love.

When Paul was writing, he could have said, listen, you need to cast them all out and have nothing to do with them.

He's knowing that a lot of these false teachers aren't real Christians.

They're not born-again Christians.

They're just occupying space.

They're posers.

But there are some who may be deceived.

There are some who are kind of confused.

He says, you need to rebuke them sharply so they may be sound in the faith.

Instruct them.

Show them the way of their error.

Show them Christ in the true doctrine.

This is an act of love, and this is an act of faith.

This is a step of faith.

It's so much easier to kind of abdicate that space.

And say, I'm not going to rebuke anyone.

I'm just going to tell them Jesus, the right doctrine.

I'm going to tell them the truth, kind of generally to the congregation on Sunday morning.

And if they hear it, they hear it, and that's on them.

But that's not what Paul says to Titus.

He says, You be direct and you rebuke them.

You tell them they're wrong.

And that what they're believing and what they're teaching is wrong.

It's shameful.

It's wicked.

And you need to teach them the way of Christ.

And this is a step of faith because we are so quick to write people off.

Right?

We're all kind of jaded by things, and we're so quick to say, man, they're not going to hear me.

They're not going to hear what I have to say.

And it's like, listen, rebuke them.

Some of those people may return to sound doctrine and faith in Jesus Christ.

And for those who don't, those who who hear the rebuke, who hear the words of, and you're going against Scripture, and yet they still turn and they walk away from the things of the Lord, then you're adding to the to the Lord's righteous judgment of them.

Does it make sense?

You're saying, listen, I have clearly, my conscience is clear.

As a preacher or as a Christian, listen, I I've told you the truth.

I've been done it out of love.

I've been patient, I've been kind, I've been like Christ, and I've clearly just told you, listen, you're in sin.

What you're teaching, what you're saying is wrong.

And so you have a clear conscience before the Lord for these things.

But we must do this in love, and we must believe that the Lord is strong enough to still convict and to turn those who are following false teaching back to the truth.

So we're to identify false teachers and then we're to identify sound doctrine.

Verses 15 and 16.

To the pure, all things are pure.

But to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure.

But both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.

They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

What's Paul saying to Timothy here?

Listen, this whole argument about the circumcision part, this whole argument about the genealogies, this argument about foods, all these the Jewish myths.

You're gonna rebuttal those, you're gonna go against those with sound doctrine.

And here's the doctrine.

What Christ has made pure is pure.

It's not pure because they didn't touch something that wasn't pure.

What Christ has made pure is pure.

What Christ has atoned for is atoned for.

What Christ has saved is saved.

There's nothing anyone can do about that.

It's pure.

But to those who are defiled.

To those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure.

In Luke, we see a picture of Jesus kind of displaying this in chapter 11, verse 39.

It says, But the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees, clean the outside of the cup and dish.

But inside you are full of greed and evil.

Fools.

Didn't he who made the outside make the inside too?

But give from what is within to the poor, and then everything is clean for you.

Jesus is getting right to their hearts.

They have this ritual, right?

Kind of keep everything clean.

He says, listen, you guys are all worried about the outside of the cup or the outside or the appearance of people, the outside, it looks nice and it's clean.

You care about those things.

But does not God, the creator of all things, care about the outside and the inside?

You are fools.

He calls them fools for only attending to the appearance of things and not attending to their own hearts.

And this is what he gets at in verse 41 of Luke 11.

He says, But give from what is within to the poor.

From what is within you, out of a genuine desire, a genuine heart, serve and give.

And then everything is clean for you.

Act in obedience.

This is a display of faith in Christ.

Then everything is clean for you.

So when people say, man, you have to do these things, yeah, you might hear this, but you have to actually, you need to believe in Jesus, but you have to also have to do more.

You have to do some works.

They won't say works, but that's what they mean.

Be baptized, take communion, do these things.

What they're saying is, Christ is sufficient for most of your salvation, but Christ is not sufficient for all of your salvation.

Say, no, Christ is sufficient for all salvation.

He has done the work completely, and we are to then be genuine in our obedience to him.

But again, for the unbelieving, nothing is pure.

To be a professor, a claimer of Christ, and yet deny him by the way you live, is to reject all of Christ, and you are deceiving yourself.

To say, I'm a Christian, I come to church or fill the blank, I do this, and then to deny him with your life, to live in a way that is contrary to what he has, is to reject all of Christ.

It's even worse than just being a regular unbeliever.

Because not only are you just saying, yeah, I'm not a Christian, I don't hold to those things, I'm out.

Don't believe in God.

You're saying, no, I believe in God, I'm following God, but then your heart and your actions and your desires are rejecting him.

And so everything is impure.

Everything you do as an unbeliever, if you are an unbeliever, it is impure.

You might think, well, I still do some good things.

Well, guess what?

Your good things, they're impure.

They're not enough.

They're wickedness to God.

Because in and of yourself you could not do them.

And even when you did do them, your heart was corrupt.

You didn't do it to worship the Lord, you didn't do it to give him glory.

You did it for yourself.

To make yourself feel better, for others to look at you and admire you.

Everything you do as unbelievers is impure.

Isaiah 29, verse 13 says, The Lord said, These people approach me with their speeches to honor me with lip service, yet their hearts are far from me, and human rules direct their worship of me.

Isaiah 29:13

Again, Isaiah 29, 13.

These people approach me with their speeches to honor me with their lips, yet their hearts are far from me.

And human rules direct their worship of me, not their own hearts.

As we conclude, listen, sound doctrine does not come easily to us.

We must work toward it.

And one of the primary ways to understand sound doctrine is being a member of a local church that teaches sound doctrine.

Being committed as a member to the other brothers and sisters in Christ who can help you understand what is sound doctrine and help you live out genuine obedience.

To gather regularly, to study the word, to hear the good news proclaimed, to be convicted of our own sin and to repent of our sin.

This is how we strive toward sound doctrine.

Listen, false teaching, false teachers are everywhere.

Part of that's because the world is teaching all these things, but also in our own flesh, we have a bent to justify ourselves.

That quote that Ron read before the prayer of confession.

It's only through the truths of Scripture that our own sin is illuminated.

It's only through the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we can say, man, I need a savior.

We don't arrive at that point on our own.

And even as believers, it's because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit with God's word in us that convicts us of our sin.

We don't wake up naturally and think, man, I think, I think I'm I'm fine.

I don't think I need a savior.

I don't think I need, I mean I'm saved.

I don't think I need Jesus today.

But oftentimes we we get up and we go through our day, and then we get to the end of our day, and we haven't even spent time with the Lord.

What's that saying?

It's saying, I can do this.

I can do this by myself.

It's okay, Lord.

I got this.

So as we strive toward sound doctrine, we must strive toward genuine obedience to the things of God.

That requires us being together, being committed to one another.

If we don't practice genuine obedience, we can have this just false security.

Right?

We can have sound doctrine.

Got the doctrine thing figured out.

It's kind of squared away.

But if we don't have genuine obedience, we're not living out what we're proclaiming to believe, we can have a false sense of security.

But we're not really living it out.

Maybe we're not really regenerate.

We're not really followers of Jesus Christ.

You know, those are those are heavy things to say, those are heavy things to hear, but I want us to be able to examine our life and say, do I follow Jesus?

Not no one's perfect here.

So we're not saying, are you perfect?

But do you have a desire to follow the things of the Lord?

Do you see yourself desiring those things?

Do you see yourself over weeks and months and years growing in your holiness, dying to sin, pursuing the things of God?

We must examine our hearts.

I'm gonna have two questions and then we'll pray.

How are you doing in the area of sound doctrine?

How are you doing in this area of sound doctrine in your own life?

What you believe?

Do you care?

Do you spend much time growing in this?

How are you doing in that?

Second question.

How are you doing in the area of genuine obedience?

Are you striving toward faithfulness?

Are you striving toward being obedient towards the Lord?

Even though yes, we all sin, we all fall short day after day, but are you are you walking and going that direction?

Or are you just sitting still and allowing the waves of your emotions and the waves of your desires just to carry you wherever they want?

How are you doing in the area of genuine obedience?

I want to encourage you to call out to God.

He is all sufficient and he cares for you.

Let's pray.