Truth that Transforms - Titus 1:1-4 - Sunday Sermon

Good morning everyone. Morning.

Hope you're doing well. My name is Matis

and I'm the teaching preaching pastor

here at Boon Fairy. If I didn't get to

meet you during our meet and greet time,

I hang out for a while after church and

would love to love to meet you. Hope you

feel welcomed. And uh according to Paul

in Romans 15, he says that welcome

welcoming one another um actually

glorifies him because he's welcomed us

in Christ. And so we want to welcome

others as well. And I really do think

one of the greatest strengths of Boon

Fairy is our our family atmosphere and

our welcoming attitude. So, thank you

for being so welcoming and hopefully you

feel welcomed. I've got just two short

announcements today. The first one is

your welcome cards in the seat pocket in

front of you. Those we use um both as

just a way to get to know you and

connect with you. You can give us any

information you're comfortable with

giving you. We send very few emails out.

So, I think we have pretty strong email

discipline. It's really just e-

bulletins about things that are coming

up or ways to get involved. And we

average less than once a month

consistently, so we won't spam your

inbox. Um, but we also use those as

prayer request cards. So, if you want to

be prayed for, we have a team that meets

regularly. Um, and uh, you can join that

at any time. It's not like by invitation

only. You just come on Wednesdays at 7

a.m. or join our Wednesday morning

prayer on Zoom on Wednesdays. So, we try

to make it as convenient as possible for

people people's schedules. That starts

at 7:00 a.m. and you wouldn't have to

feel bad about just joining us for 20

minutes or so. We usually start praying

around 7:10. So, if you wanted to join

us for just a little bit of prayer and

then pop off to work or whatever you're

doing, that's fine, too. Um, so you do

need to know though, any prayer request

you put down is basically going to be

public for that reason. Not that we go

talking about it, but just whoever comes

to that prayer morning will hear that

prayer request read out loud um for the

most part. So, um, you also, if you're

brand new, you can hand off that welcome

card to our connection table and we have

a gift card for you. So, hopefully, um,

you're able to do that. My last, um,

announcement is just the same thing I

talked about last week. I'm not going to

go to anywhere near into detail, but

when you hear word like fire, that's

just a verse from Jeremiah um, that

talks about God's word is it not like a

fire, like a hammer that splits apart

the rock. It's really powerful for our

lives. That's really the main point of

the sermon to the power of God's word in

our lives. I'll be talking about in our

brand new study on Titus now. But I

wanted to draw your attention to these

at the connection table. You can pick

one of these up. You can look it up on

our website under Word Like Fire. And

there is even a a link that will allow

you to connect the reading of Word Like

Fire to your calendar. So I just look at

oh May 19th, what am I supposed to read?

Well, Genesis 8-11 and John 6 through7

because that's where we start. We have a

um it's not just a chronological read

through or a bookby-book readthrough. We

go back and forth with pairings between

Genesis and John. And a lot of them make

really easy sense. You know, both of

those books start with in the beginning.

And um I also told you that I'm going to

be continuing to keep this front and

center for the congregation because I've

challenged everyone to join this study

or this read through or your own read

through or even just part of the read

through. And the last thing I want to

say about that is it's not about

checkbox spirituality. I know some of

you love checking the box and that does

not mean that you're being legalistic. I

kind of like seeing the completion too,

but the idea is spending time in

relationship to Jesus in his word. So

what do you do when you miss a day and

you like, "Oh, I wish I would have hung

out." Well, you just decide to hang out

with him the next day, you know, or just

a little bit for that time. So do not

condemn yourself with legalism about not

completing certain parts. It's about the

daily rhythm of reading God's word for

deepened relationship and change in our

lives. That's all for announcements. Let

me pray and we'll get into Titus.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the books

of your word, the letters of your word,

the content in them that makes us wise

for salvation through faith in Christ

Jesus. Thank you for shephering us

through two plus years in the

foundational book of Genesis. I learned

so much. I think the congregation

learned a lot. But more importantly, you

changed us as individuals and as a

congregation through it in ways that are

that require your supernatural power.

And we pray for the very same thing for

the letter to Titus that there would be

godliness that comes out of growing in

the knowledge of the truth. And I pray

that you would help us to listen and

apply what we hear today in this

introductory sermon in Jesus name.

Amen. All right, let me take a drink

here.

When it comes to going through a book

like Genesis, it's harder to put

brackets around what the context is. We

know that Moses wrote Genesis, but it's

also harder to to consider who exactly

he wrote it to. Um, obviously originally

the Israelites were the first

recipients, but that's a lot of

different tribes, a lot of different

kinds of people. And so you did not hear

me spend as much time talking about the

authorship, the context, and the setting

for the book of Genesis. Whereas we're

going to have to do that here in Titus.

And I wanted to mention that. And in

this case, the author, Paul. Uh there's

a lot to be known about him. And I don't

mean from history books. I mean directly

from the Bible. There's a lot to be

known about the original recipient, one

man, Titus. Um and we can know a lot

from from the Bible about him as well.

And there's a lot to be known about

cretins both from scripture and from

history. And when I bring up history, I

bring it up differently than I bring up

scripture because scripture is just

authoritative for all time for everyone

everywhere. Whereas history, there

sometimes can be um things that are not

quite as reliable. Although I think the

history that I'm going to be sharing

about cit um is reliable. One thing

you'll find and I hope you enjoy it as

much as I do is that when you understand

who the author is, who the recipient is,

who the uh group ultimately that the

information is for, Cret and Christians

and the church in citran

um the bi the book just unlocks itself

to you. It's like oh that's why he said

what he said, you know. So you're going

to see that and then it also helps you

cross the bridge from an ancient context

with an ancient author, an ancient

recipient and an ancient church to the

church today. You're going to see that

relevance bridge uh connected

dramatically when you can compare the

context it was written to to the context

we have today. And I think you'll be

surprised in this case how unbelievably

similar the context is even though we do

not live on an island. So, with that

being said, I want to set up the main

point for this with uh an idea from a

movie. Uh you don't need to raise your

hands, but if you've seen, have you seen

Limitless? It's a movie starring Bradley

Cooper, and uh he's just kind of buming

it through life. Um just doing nothing

with his life, and he doesn't feel good

about that. And um if I remember

correctly, he meets a guy who's selling

a uh pill that he calls the Limitless

Pill. I think it was like something like

NZT48.

madeup pill. There are, by the way,

cognitive enhancing pills that exist,

but none that have the kind of effect

that this had for him. Um, what happened

for him as soon as he took the pill is

his IQ went through the roof. You guys

know what an IQ is? Um, it's not like

I'm an expert on it, but I think a good

way to define your intelligence quotient

or basically how intelligent you are is

by not how much knowledge you've

amassed, but how well you're able to

absorb and apply that knowledge. Okay?

People with an extremely high IQ, their

minds like a steel trap, and when they

learn something, they understand it. And

they're also able to learn complicated

and complex ideas, compare them and

contrast them to other complex ideas and

figure things out in a very powerful

way. Um I it's more even more modern

idea um is the emotional quotient. Um,

for example, if you think of someone

that is on the spectrum or has autism,

they might have extremely high IQ, able

to absorb information and apply it in

ways that almost seem supernatural at

times. There's such brilliance there

potentially. Um, but they may have a

very low IQ. It's one of the really sad

things about autism because the EQ, an

emotional quotient, has a lot to do with

reading non-verbals. where if someone

said look looks like this like that's a

dejected saddened maybe somewhat

hopeless outlook where if someone is

going like this maybe they're excited

and from what I understand about autism

those are hard cues to understand and

connect with what they mean and so you

might get a very flat affect response

back when what you were thinking is that

they would empathize with you and so

people that depending on where they're

at in terms of the the way that that

issue is presenting in their lives have

to basically memorize emotional uh

non-verbal cues to understand okay that

means that and this is how I'm supposed

to respond okay so you've got an

intelligence quotient you've got an uh

emotional quotient you also have a thing

called a spiritual quotient and you can

just look that up on um on Wikipedia

although for this case the definition of

wik on Wikipedia will not suffice for us

um for us what if you could take a pill

that would make you unbelievably

spiritually intelligent. Um, what would

that look like? Well, if we're

remembering what an IQ is, it would not

mean that automatically you knew the

whole Bible. It would mean that you're

able to amass a bunch of knowledge from

scripture. But not only that, remember

the IQ is not just about amassing

knowledge, but it's the ability to then

apply that knowledge in solving complex

problems. So the spiritual quotient then

would not just mean that you could read

the whole Bible. If you've seen The

Matrix, uh Neo, the main character, has

a port in the back of his head and they

download everything you could possibly

know about karate into his mind, you

know, and in one way that if that could

work, it still wouldn't work because you

have to train your muscles and they

don't just get trained by a knowledge

download. But even if you had the entire

Bible just downloaded into your mind and

all the understanding from Hebrew and

all the understanding from Greek and

let's just throw all the commentaries

that are faithful in there too. That

would not be the same thing as the power

to apply or the power to be changed

through that word. We know this because

the Pharisees knew the word, the Old

Testament, the Torah inside and out. And

yet their lives were left untransformed

to the point they didn't even recognize

God when he came to earth. Okay. So when

I say the thing like spiritual quotient,

what we're talking about is the idea of

knowledge that leads to godliness. Just

like Paul mentions here in verse one.

How spiritually intelligent you are is

not a matter of comparison to other

people, but rather a matter of

comparison to Jesus Christ.

When God says don't do this, do you find

that your desire to do the exact

opposite is still alive and well? Or is

it dead and gone and the desire to do

what God says is matched with obedience

and the power from the Holy Spirit to

have that transformation, changing of

inner desires and changing of patterns

of thought, changing of patterns of

speech and of action.

So we're also going to talk about the

idea of if there were such a pill the

side effect it's hinted at in the movie

that the limitless pill um if you stop

taking it might kill you. So you become

entirely dependent and in the same way

we are dependent on God's word. But the

issue here is the terrible side effect

that I want to show you from scripture

is when you learn scripture just for the

sake of knowledge of the truth without

intent to apply it without the

understanding that you have to be

transformed in your innermost places to

obey it. God is not looking for a

shallow out shallow outward adherence

that fools other people into thinking

that you're doing the good thing and the

godly thing. He's looking for deep inner

change and transformation into

Christlikkeness. So there's actually a

side effect of taking the pill if God's

word is the pill for in this case in the

metaphor and then not applying it. And

that side effect is pride. Deadly pride.

Not a good side effect. So there's

actually real risk and real danger in

studying God's word and then

intentionally not applying in your life

when you know exactly what it means for

you. Um and sometimes we don't know

exactly what it means. And that's why

preaching is important and that's a

major theme in Titus as well. I want to

throw up the main point. This is a

relatively wooden exeetical main point

just like this is what Titus says and

then I'll give you a point that is much

more easy to memorize. Uh if I were to

give you a comprehensive main point of

all of what Titus is about directly from

Paul's words, it's the gospel for God's

elect is manifested through preaching

and requires godliness. I'll give you a

second to think about that. If you're

writing it down, to write it

down. The gospel for God's elect is

manifested through preaching and

requires

godliness. Now, a much more easily

memorable point, and it doesn't mean

anything less than what I just said, but

it's just put into um words that are a

little bit more pathy. Let's go ahead

and put the simple main point up. Titus

is about truth that transforms us

forever.

If I were to have like a tagline like I

sometimes do like for Genesis our uh

tagline was creation fallen redemption.

The tagline here would be truth that

transforms. If you think what's Titus

about hey what's Titus about

specifically in a way that maybe I mean

all of God's word is about truth that

transforms. But in this letter Paul

specifically says that's what he's

writing about. Truth that transforms us.

Truth that changes us. truth that

accords with godliness. Real spiritual

intelligence. Not just knowledge, but

wisdom. Knowledge applied. Not even just

knowledge applied, but knowledge of a

truth that has such supernatural power

that it can make you a different person

in a way the world does not have a

category

for. Some of us are longing for that

change for ourselves. Some of us are

also longing for that change in others.

When you're married and there's these

deeprooted patterns that lead to

conflict, we just hope that our partner

changes and they hope that we change and

it's so easy to look towards other

people. But that's not how the knowledge

of truth bridge leads to godliness. It

looks like looking at your own life

because you can't change for other

people. You can't even change yourself.

It turns out you have to surrender to

God's work to be able to change. So, if

you learned nothing else today in this

entire setup sermon for all of Timothy,

um then excuse I say Timothy all the

time. Um we went through Titus is a

pastoral epistle just like first and

second Timothy and there are so many

similarities a very similar list of

elder um description for their

qualifications for their character and

so on. But it's not going to be the last

time I said Timothy when I meant Titus.

So, and I don't mind you saying Titus

and correct me. It doesn't throw me off.

Um, but if you learn nothing else from

Titus, remember that this is about truth

that transforms, right? Of course, you

need to learn which truths need to be

more transformative in your own heart,

soul, and mind, and strength. But Tit is

about truth that transforms us forever.

Really, really powerful message. So,

with that being said, let's just start

in with the very first word, and that's

Paul. I'm going to read the first whole

sentence, but we're going to focus on

Paul for a little bit. He's the author.

Paul, a servant of God, an apostle of

Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith

of the elect or of God's elect and their

knowledge of the truth which accords

with godliness, by the way, the first

four verses are all one single sentence

in the Greek. Paul is notorious for

that. Just sentence after sent no uh

stop just like this and this and this,

which can make it hard when you're

reading to there's so much packed like a

zip file, right? where there's so much

condensed truth in such a short place.

So, this is going to be very different

than a sermon on narrative. And I've had

to switch my mindset. We need to define

words. It's very important to understand

some things about the author. For the

sake of understanding the book of Titus,

I heard Timothy in my mind just now

again forced it to be Titus. Um, for the

sake of understanding this book, we

don't need to know everything about

Paul, but there's something very

important we do actually need to know

about him. and it is found in

Philippians chapter 3. So, let's go to

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Philippians chapter 3. If you want to

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

turn there, you can, but you can also

um you can also just look at the uh the

screen. We have all of these up. Okay,

this is just 11 short verses. And I'm

not going to add much to this other than

just a little bit of color commentary

about who Paul used to be and then who

he became. Very famous words. So this is

him speaking. Finally, brothers, rejoice

in the

Lord. I write the same things to you. Uh

to write the same things to you is no

trouble to me and to say for you. Look

out for the dogs. Look out for the

evildoers. Look out for those who

mutilate the flesh. For we are the

circumcision who worship by the spirit

of God and the glory of Christ Jesus and

put no confidence in the flesh. I want

to stop there just real quick. What he's

You think circumcision? What's going on?

What's really being addressed here is

people that are saying that Christians

still have to be under the law and keep

the law. That is what the sign of

circumcision was really about. When he's

saying we're the circumcision, what he's

saying is it's our hearts have been

circumcised. God's law has been written

on our hearts which then becomes the law

of the spirit which changes our desires

not only to agree with God's law but

then we also gain because the Holy

Spirit indwells in us the power to

actually keep it but we were justified

not by having kept the law but just by

grace and the difference between that is

a salvation issue the Judaizers the

circumcision party were saying something

that makes the gospel completely

different and unsaving as if you could

do it by works. That's unbelievably

important to understand in the context

of Titus as well, not just Philippians.

Though I myself have reason for

confidence in the flesh, like confidence

in myself rather than boasting in the

Lord. Um if anyone else thinks he has

reason for confidence in the flesh, I

have more. circumcised on the eighth

day, of the people of Israel, of the

tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews,

as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a

persecutor, a persecutor of the church,

as to righteousness under the law,

blameless. But whatever gain I had, I

counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

So, for a second, you might have think,

oh, he's boasting about all these

credentials. No, he's saying those are

all, just listen to what he says.

Indeed, I count everything as loss

because of the surpassing worth of

knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his

sake, I have suffered the loss of all

things and count them as rubbish. Trash.

All those qualifications I had before

that were better than your

qualifications on the same plane of

evaluation. I'm calling them trash now.

in order that I may gain Christ and be

found in him, not having a righteousness

of my own that comes from the law, but

that which comes from faith in Christ,

the righteousness from God that depends

on faith, that I may know him and the

power of his rection resurrection, and

may share his sufferings, becoming like

him in his death, that by any means

possible, I may attain to the

resurrection from the dead. So Paul was

a Pharisee. Paul was a legalist. Paul

was persecuting the church. Paul was one

of the Jews that did not recognize that

had God had come in the flesh that the

Messiah was already there. And you know,

he has this

transforming experience in Jesus

actually meeting him in in shocking

light and confronting him and bringing

him to repentance. And he was changed

forever. And he recognized it's not by

the law that we're declared righteous,

but by faith. In fact, that's basically

what all of Galatians is about, which

after the time we spend in the proverbs,

seven weeks now, this is the first of

seven weeks in Titus. Then Proverbs for

um we'll finish out Proverbs, I think,

in July and August. And then we'll be in

Galatians starting in about mid

September. And righteousness by faith

alone. It's that's what Galatians is

about in a cool way all about how we can

know from Genesis from the very

beginning that it was by faith that

righteousness comes. So we went through

the study of Genesis. We're going to

take a deep dive into Galatians which is

basically Genesis applied in New

Testament terms. But all I'm really

saying here is that that's if that's all

you really knew about Paul, you would

know enough to understand the context of

what's happening in Colossians. this

idea that it's not by works of or excuse

me of Titans a Titan

Titus. I just blacked out. I don't even

know what happened. Um, back to Titus.

Uh, so that's really important. Paul is

a man who used to be a legalist who has

renounced that for the sake of faith in

Jesus Christ. And now he has a

righteousness that's not his own, but

that is from Christ from the outside.

Luther, Martin Luther, uh the original

one called that alien righteousness. I

think it's a really great way to think

of it. It's from outside of you. You

didn't have it within you. Had to be

given to you. Okay. So, that's that's

the first person we're going to talk

about. But secondly, he says in verse

four to Titus. So, he's got a bunch of

stuff we're going to talk about in

between Paul to Titus. But that's who

he's writing to. Obviously, he's writing

to the church in Cree. And this these

letters would be circulated. So he wrote

to all the ancient churches this idea uh

what is in here but also it applies to

all the church. So you can say this is

addressed to the whole church but back

then in the most simple terms it was

Paul writing to a younger leader and

elder and and church founding planter or

church planter named Titus. And we can

singing some things about Titus as well.

Um so let's go to Galatians 2 uh verse 1

through 3.

And and not every part of what I'm

reading to is important. What's

important is what's connected to Titus

here. So then after, this is Paul

speaking. Then after 14 years, I went up

again to Jerusalem with Barnabas taking

Titus along with me. I think we got

verse three as well. I went up because

of a revelation and set uh set before

them though privately before those who

seemed influential the gospel that I

proclaim among the Gentiles in order to

make sure I was not running or had not

run in vain. So you see that in gospel

ministry um there's do we have one more

verse? But even Titus who was with me

was not forced to be circumcised though

he was a Greek. Okay, that's actually

really important. So

um Titus was a gospel partner with Paul.

It the best reconstruction that we can

understand from history because Paul

calls him my true child in the common

faith is that Paul probably brought him

to faith. He was a gentile a Greek man

and he was not circumcised. So just keep

that in the back of your mind. He didn't

have to be as a Christian which is

really interesting. Let's go to 2

Corinthians 2 12-13. More information

about Titus from the Bible. When I came

to Trrowaz to preach the gospel of

Christ, even though a door was opened

for me in the Lord, next verse, my

spirit was not at rest because I did not

find my brother Titus there. So I had

took So I took leave of them and went on

to Macedonia. So Titus was that

important to him. That's a big deal.

Very valuable um ministry partner. They

were probably not maybe quite as close

as Timothy and Paul. Timothy and Paul

seemed to be best friends and they also

had a mentor mentee, discipler disciply

uh kind of relationship as well. But

Titus was very important and there's

more to be said about Titus's work in uh

Macedonia that connects with his

ministry with Paul. 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 7:5–7

7:5-7. For even when we came into

Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but

we were afflicted at every turn,

fighting with without and fear within.

You call that anxiety. But God who

comforts the downcast comforted us by

the coming of Titus. So he's a comfort

to Paul. You have friends that are a

comfort that when you're in anxious

times and difficult times and stressful

times when they show up you feel

comforted. That's the kind of person

Titus was. and not only by his coming,

but also by the comfort with which he

was comforted by you, as he told us of

your longing, your mourning, your zeal

for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

So, he had a very close relationship to

um the Macedonian church as well. 2

2 Corinthians 8:6

Corinthians 8:6, we only have a couple

more about Titus. Accordingly, we urged

Titus that as he had started, so he

should complete among you this act of

grace. Now you without understanding the

context there you'd have no idea what

that act of grace was. He was

facilitating the Macedonian church

giving financially um if I remember

correctly to the church in Jerusalem

where there was some significant poverty

and they gave very very generously and

as a pastor who challenges people to

give and who teaches about giving and

how that's a spiritual and um voluntary

not under compulsion kind of thing but

it's a thing where we fund God's church

where we fund his kingdom and he he

allows us and blesses us in that kind of

participation you will when you're

facilitating giving and offering like

that you often get actually not often at

this church you guys are so generous but

I have in the past had really negative

reactions like oh you just want our

money well you're the one getting paid

and yes I am uh set apart by that those

your financial gifts to be able to

devote myself to the ministry of the

word and prayer and oversight with the

other elders. Um, but those kinds of bad

attitudes about giving and the kind of

controversy that comes around talking

about money, uh, make it oftenimes a

real slog to be that way. It wasn't that

way with Macedonia because they were,

that church was very generous, but it

means something about Titus. He was

willing to wade into the difficult and

very real issues of tangible financial

giving with the church. So, that's

another He's a leader. He's a real

leader. Where were we at? 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 8:6

8:6. How about Acts

Acts 15:8–11

15:8-11? This one really kind of wraps

up the whole idea about legalism,

circumcision, and like works of the law

being how you saved. And God who knows

the heart, this is Peter speaking if I

remember correctly. And God who knows

the heart bore witness to them by giving

them the Holy Spirit just as he did to

us. Stop right there. Don't even go

forward. If you can go back to eight, I

need to set this up. This is at the

famous for scholars. It's known as the

Jerusalem Council. And very important

things are being decided uh by the

elders and apostles of the church. And

these apostles had a command authority

that no elder does. A command authority

over the entire church. They're a very

special group of people that no longer

exists. And no one ought to claim that

they have that kind of command

authority. But with that command

authority, they had to decide an issue

about circumcision. Did Gentiles did

everyone that enters the church have to

be circumcised? especially remembering

that circumcision was not just meant to

be some kind of um medical procedure,

but a sign that you were committing to

be under the law and keep the law. And

there was the circumcision party in the

church in Jerusalem as well. Um Jews

that still had this works righteousness

gospel, which Paul says is a cursed.

It's a salvation issue. Can't make it to

heaven by works. And if you preach that,

you're preaching a false gospel. So very

much condemned. Um and yet in this was

happening in the Jerusalem church and

the elders had to decide what they would

do with men like Titus who were Greeks.

What is their uh their leading for the

church? And this is what Peter says in

response. So let me read it again. And

God who knows the heart bore witness to

them by giving them the Holy Spirit just

as he did to us. Verse 9. And he made no

distinction between us and them having

cleansed their hearts by faith. Verse

10. Now therefore, why are you putting

God to the test by placing a yoke on the

neck of the disciples, circumcision, and

going back under the law that neither

our fathers nor we have been able to

bear? That's a humble response from a

Jew about the law. We weren't even able

to keep it. And now we have, do we have

verse 11 of Acts? Yes. But we believe

that we will be saved through the grace

of the Lord Jesus just as they will. So

Titus was there at that time. That's

that uh first that second Corinthians

passage I talked about where he didn't

have to be circumcised. He was with Paul

in Jerusalem. So he has this whole

context and understanding about the

difference of a works righteousness

gospel of any kind whether it's Jewish,

Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, any kind of

pseudohybrid Christian sect will always

point to you have to do works to be

saved. And there has to be a absolute

thick red line between being saved by

faith alone through grace alone and

Christ alone and the works that that

real sal saving faith will ultimately

produce. You produce no salvation on

your own by any of your works. But that

salvation by faith will produce good

works. It makes a change in us. Okay. So

now we've, you know, a little bit more

about Paul, where he came from, who he

is. You know a little bit more about

Titus, too. That helps you understand

what's going on. You need to know more

about Cit and the church in Cree. So,

first thing I want to do is throw up

just a map just for you to visualize

kind of where this is. This is the

island of Cree and it's um as you see

just below Athens. It's about 160 mi by

35 mi at its widest. I don't know if you

guys have a context for a body of land

um that size. Um Guam is significantly

smaller. Let me pull up the size of Guam

here just a second. Um and I've been on

the island of Guam many times. Um and

it's only 30 m. That's the longest

length by 4 to 12 miles. So Guam is even

smaller than Cit. But I know some of you

actually have been on Guam. But it's not

a large island and it's not a wide

island either. um you would especially

more slender parts you could walk from

coast to coast so to speak. Um so that's

cit and it's interesting that it's an

island. I think in my studies it makes

it easier to understand because you have

brackets around the context. It's

happening on an island. It's not

happening somewhere else. Everything

that is being talked about in the whole

context is bounded by the island. Right?

So the context is much easier to

understand. I want to read you some

things that um historians said about

creatins because first of all I got a

good laugh out of this uh because when

people can be this dry and exact about

what they're trying to say it just

cracks me up. But this is Palibius he

wrote it is almost impossible to find

personal conduct more treacherous or

public policy more unjust than inrete.

You know I just think America right now

is like hold my beer. I think we can do

it. But Cicero said moral principles are

so divergent there that the cretins

consider highway robbery

honorable. That's the and these are

these are generally wellaccepted

historians uh that are are trusted that

scholars look at as like these men

reported um in fa well faithful is the

wrong word but in accurate ways. Okay.

So there is incredible immorality in

cree. Uh let me just read you what Paul

says. He seems to be quoting um uh uh

Vern, give me the name. Is it

Epimenities? There you go. Um he seems

to be quoting Epimenities here later. He

says in verse 12 of Titus, one of the

cretins, a prophet of their own said,

cretins are always liars, evil beasts,

lazy glutton. This testimony is true.

Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they

may be sound in faith. So I I find it

interesting that Paul's like, "Hey, one

of your own people said this, not me,

but I agree with that." Like that's my

experience, too. And um someone might

say, "Oh, this is like xenophobia or

something like that." But the reality is

that there are there are times and

places, cultures and geographical

locations where it seems that

um even even before the gospel started

spreading to the nations that the

wickedness has just degenerated far more

significantly. I think of the Mayan

culture and the human sacrifice and the

cutting out of the hearts of children to

some demon god. like not every culture

is already that debauched or that

degenerated morally. Um but there's a

reason why cite had become that um

immoral and it's it's hard to tell. It's

kind of like a chicken or the egg

argument, but it's definitely connected.

So, you know, in those ancient times, we

call them myths now. They wouldn't have

thought of Zeus as a myth. They would

have thought of him as the most powerful

god. And you have a traditional view of

Zeus and then somewhat of a more uh

untraditional view that the cretins

held. For example, and these get mixed

together in in shows and movies and all

stuff. But uh the traditional view was

not so much that Zeus was a womanizer

and that he would come in human form and

seduce women. That was the uh

legend of Zeus. They again didn't

consider a legend. That was their

religious view that Zeus was absolutely

all powerful but he was a a womanizer

and he and they wouldn't have called him

a womanizer either. He would come and

seduce women and they thought that that

was awesome. You can see how culture in

America is like that too. Like the guy

who gets the most girls that's the great

guy. That's immorality. Um but not only

that, what he would do is he would he

would show up but not at a regular human

being but this like magnificent muscled

amazing human being in the stories that

the cretins told. But if that didn't

work and the woman was not seduced, then

he would get his way through lies and

manipulations, right? So what happens to

a culture where your greatest hero, your

god, the one that you worship, is a liar

and a womanizer and a seducer? Well, it

gives you permission to be just like

that. The very same reason Joseph Smith

wrote the things he did. also a

womanizer, also a charlatan, just chased

from town to town until he found a place

in Utah that he could finally be without

being persecuted for his unbelievable

immorality. Right? You'll find that in

all the pseudo-Christian hybrid cults

that the guy that started just wants to

sleep with a lot of women every single

time and ultimately be worshiped even if

that is not how he originally started

saying it. The the point here is though

that that when I said chicken or the egg

um it's really interesting

because there is no

Zeus. So someone came up with that idea

maybe demonically inspired but then

someone also sort of rewrote his

character and said see God's like that

so I can be like that. You know that's

what it means to fashion gods in our own

image. When you worship something

created, there's always your mind. You

know, little kids are smart enough to

manipulate their parents at a very young

age. Very high. MQ, manipulation

quotient, right? Just made that up.

Doesn't exist. But uh you know what I'm

talking about. Well, it you don't become

less intelligent as you grow older. You

you gain more ways of understanding how

you can absorb knowledge. But that same

fleshly desire to manipulate things

doesn't change. Especially spiritually

when you really want something down

under and in your heart you don't want

to get rid of it and you think God's

going to take it. Well, maybe we just

say God doesn't care about taking that

thing from me. And all of a sudden you

redefine something about God. God

doesn't hate sin. There's no wrath. God

just loves you. You hear it all the

time. Leads to the cult of kindness

where no one ever gets corrected. So not

that kindness isn't the command. It is.

We'll see that here in this in this

letter of Titus as well. I'm just going

to keep saying Titus until it sticks.

So,

um, that's that's the Cretan church

though. And here's the last thing you

need to know before we can get into the

verses. And that is that

the Jews had a solution for all the

immorality in Cree and those Jews had

become Christians. And it's actually

really interesting. Did you know this is

the first time I've connected Titus and

the Pentecost? Um where the Holy Spirit

was given for the first time to indwell

believers forever. Um

well I think it's uh Acts 2:11. Yeah.

Acts 2:11

Listen to this cool connection. I've

read Acts 21 so many times but I never

just connected this. Both Jews and

proite cretins and Arabians we hear them

telling in our own tongues the mighty

works of God. So this miraculous thing

where people were speaking in languages

they did not know proclaiming God and

the gospel of Jesus Christ. Cree and

Jews were there. Isn't that cool? So

they then went back to Cree eventually

but some of them didn't get it and just

tried to incorporate some of

Christianity into their Jewish beliefs

but without realizing that it's not by

the works of the law that we become

saved. And so what's happening is in the

churches in cree the same as Paul calls

them Judaizers uh teachers of the law

pharisees legalists are telling everyone

basically that they need to keep the law

and that's going to be the solution to

their immorality. You know the purpose

of the law has more than this purpose.

I'm just going to mention one

specifically. It's to show the utter

sinfulness of our sin. Paul even

mentions in Romans 7. I don't have it

up. But in Romans 7, he's he's talking

about how he knows that the law says he

shouldn't covet and he knows that the

law is good and he wants to not covet

and yet he keeps finding these covenant

desire co um covetous desires in his

heart. By the end, it's like he's

throwing his hands up. What what should

I do, wretched man that I am? And then

the famous verse, for there is now no

condemnation for those who are in Christ

Jesus who have been set free from

bondage to the law towards freedom in

the spirit. the freedom of the law of

the spirit, which I already explained is

when you have the law written on your

heart. See, all the Jewish um

definitions of keeping the law are just

shallow outward

adherence. That's still true today. And

this statement is not meant in any way

to slam Dennis Prager. He's a Jew and I

respect his worldview on things like

politics and how they apply in life. But

when it comes to religion, he's in that

category still. And we should pray for

people like this that they would become

saved. But there was a panel him Jordan

Peterson, a Christian scholar, maybe

another secular scholar. And they were

talking about um the commandments and he

made a good point actually on it's not

about thou shalt not kill, it's about

thou shalt not murder. Scriptur is very

clear that at times uh there's a need

for um for war. There's a need for

capital punishment. Uh whoever kills by

the sword dies by the sword. So God

commanded um Israel to actually put

people to death if they committed

certain sins. So it's it's wrong. And he

says that I think something that

Christianity gets wrong unless there are

translations that understand that means

murder. Thou shalt not murder. Um and I

thought, okay, that's that's actually

true. That's how I would teach that as

well. But then he talked about adultery

and the idea of pornography came up and

the Christian guy said, "Yes, what Jesus

taught us is that lusting in your mind

after woman is already committing

adultery because that's where adultery

comes from." Right? Well, what Dennis

Prager says is no, it's not. That's not

what it's teaching. Not that I will

extol the virtues or pornography, but if

a man looks at pornography, he has not

committed adultery against his wife. Do

you see how like that's the shallow

version that Jesus said? Like that

doesn't get you anywhere, right? It's

way deeper than that. And that's when

you come up with we can't touch any of

the buttons on an elevator on the

Sabbath. Just and and you can't carry

one fig from house to house on the

Sabbath, but you can slice it in half

and carry it twice. That's actually in

certain rabbitical laws about what you

can and can't do. And it makes an

absolute mockery of the real issue,

which is sin in our hearts. So again,

you pray for people like that. I'm not

here slamming I'm just trying to tell

this this legalism, this circumcision

party, these Jewish ideas exist to this

day and they ought not to be filtered in

the gospel or it becomes a different

gospel.

So now knowing a little bit about who

Paul is, having come from legalism to

saved by faith alone, knowing who Titus

is who didn't have to get circumcised

and heard all these things in the

Jerusalem Council, knowing who the

cretins are, also knowing who the false

teachers that in this case are part of

the Jewish circumcision party are. You

know those things and all of a sudden

everything that Paul writes is like,

"Oh, that's why he said that to this

church at this time." So, let me this

isn't going to be what the sermon is

about, but just let me test that one

time. If you wanted to make sure that a

church was safe from that kind of false

gospel, what's the first thing you would

address?

Leadership. Verse 5, this is why I left

you in so that you might put what

remained in order and appoint elders in

every town as I've directed you. And

what kind of elders do those elders need

to be? men uh that are qualified to the

highest standard of Christian character,

not perfection, but who know how to

rightly divide the word, who know how to

teach what God's word actually said, who

also are saved by grace, but who have a

very high SQ, who actually apply God's

word through surrender in ways that

changes their heart. So, you can know

they're going to remain that way. So,

then all of the rest of what's going on

and but then what would they be leading

the people to do? Well, learn more

knowledge of the truth that accords with

godliness, which is what you have right

here. So, this is this is really really

powerful stuff to understand the author,

the original recipient, the larger

larger recipient of the church

and then everyone else in the church,

modern ancient and modern um and

specifically the kinds of problems that

we're trying to be addressed. And let me

just cross that bridge for you. Are we

currently facing unprecedented

immorality in our in America? Yeah.

I don't know how many are being kind of

shamed into believing it, but my guess

is maybe up to 30 or 35% of Americans

think that you can just decide what your

gender is and that you can decide for

children before they're old enough to

decide for themselves. The idea of like

purity before marriage is is laughable

and mocked in our society. The sanctity

of life in the womb is considered to be

a blessing to abort. You know, there are

there are uh Christian teachers, they're

not Christians, but they call themselves

Christians who teach that that it's

actually a blessing to get to decide

when uh you're pregnant and when you're

not. It's not. It's a curse to think

like that. So, the moral degeneration of

America, it's becoming renowned across

the world. It doesn't mean that everyone

is morally degenerated. It doesn't mean

there's no hope. It does not mean that I

don't have I'm very thankful to live in

America. There are other countries that

are far worse off in terms of moral

degeneration. Um there is still some law

and order but even the law and order

that there is I mean you're now seeing

you know in in this decade uh looting

and that looting is being supported by

leaders political leaders. It's okay.

This is what's deserved by the society.

That's just tearing down all of the

structures that keep a society safe. So

you're watching it happen. Um it may be

that cretins were more debauched even

than Americans, but if you really look

at what's been going on in America with

um just rampant immorality, we're in a

very similar context, a context in which

um it takes a lot of faith to believe

that someone might be saved and then be

transformed considering how far away

they are. And so it takes a lot of faith

to and growth in trusting that God's

gospel is powerful enough to do that and

that his word is powerful enough when

you talk to people about it. So I don't

think we're really in that much

different of a context. In some ways

we're actually worse than other nations

particularly about the idea of like um

uh sex chain surgeries. Much of Europe

has realized this is not a good idea and

not all of America has realized that and

it hasn't yet become illegal to do it.

Um, so but I mean it's it's it's

absolutely some of the worst kind of

mutilating child abuse to do that kind

of stuff. What do these kids know? They

don't know anything. They don't even

have context for understanding gender at

the ages that they're doing this. And

what are the doctors doing? And what

does God think about that kind of

wickedness? Well, he wants to first of

all bring people to repentance and faith

and then transform them from the inside

out so that they would stop being like

Paul calls the cretins liars, evil

beasts and lazy glutton. Lying is also

so invogue in America. I mean does

anybody trust trust politicians anymore?

Do politicians actually have to lie all

the time? No, they don't have to lie all

the time but they do whenever it suits

them. It's like I can't rely on almost

anything any politician says anymore.

And I don't know that it was always like

that where the where the public trust in

the medical institutions and expert

authority and political authority and

religious authority was just at an

all-time low because they just watch

people lying through their teeth to

either stay in power, retain more power,

or get something that they want like

money or fame. So, we're also in a time

where the truth of the gospel is needed

in transforming ways. And it starts with

us. What light do we have to shine if

our light is corrupt? Like the light of

the circumcision party where we think

it's actually our light rather than the

light of Christ living in us. Where we

actually think we manifest that light

from within ourselves rather than from

the Holy Spirit. But that light needs to

stay on and needs to be pure and bright.

And so it is not only worthless. Let me

read the first verse again. Paul, a

servant of God, an apostle of Jesus

Christ, for the sake of the faith of

God's elect and their knowledge of the

truth, which accords with godliness. Not

only is it worthless to learn more

knowledge of the truth, without it

according to godless godliness, it's

dangerous. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 8

1-2. But now, considering food offered

to idols, we know that all of us possess

knowledge. I want to stop there for a

second. You don't even have to know

anything about the context about food

offered to idols, but I'll give it a

little bit to you anyway. Um, but it's

not necessary to understand the next

verse, which says, "This knowledge puffs

up." Just back one more time. This

knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

What's being talked about is whether

it's okay um to take meat that was at

once offered to idols and then eat it.

And the ultimate answer is the evil's

not in the meat. So, if you're not

worshiping that idol, the meat's just

meat and you can eat it with

thanksgiving to the Lord. But if that

might cause someone else to stumble and

they would actually be eating it as

though it is somehow tainted for the

sake of their conscience and not causing

them to stumble, refrain. But don't let

someone call evil something that's good.

You know, if you're thankful for this

meat to the true God, that's not somehow

tainted meat in that way. And so what

he's saying is you first need to start

with humility. This kind of knowledge

puffs up but love builds up. Next verse.

Now, if anyone imagines he knows

something, he does not yet know as he

ought to know. And before I really knew

this verse, my dad used to say, and it

bothered me to no end. It doesn't

anymore. And I tell my boys this the

same thing now, but he said, "Matius,

you don't know what you think you know

as well as you ought to know it." And

I'm a I'm a I've always been a man of

conviction. So, you can imagine like,

"Yes, I do. What are you talking about?

I know these things." But the knowledge

again, it's SQ. It's not how well you

say you know these things. It's how much

of that knowledge has transformed you.

You can say all the day long that we

need to forgive each other and then

someone sins against you and you don't

forgive them. Does that mean you really

understood forgiveness? No. It means you

don't understand it at all cuz you don't

do it right. It puffs you up. You I'm

really forgiving until you're not right.

So then when you realize that what you

do it's like wow I thought I knew

forgiveness and I knew how to forgive

but I guess I don't. So, I will need to

learn and that and it brings you back

down towards humility. But what Paul is

saying there, it sounds kind of Yoda

like I know they made Yoda out to be a

very wise character and I think he was

in a lot of ways. But but the idea here

is that

um that any knowledge that doesn't lead

to character change in you towards

Christ likeness is knowledge that you

add to your pride column every single

time. And I'm I'm I'm going to be

hammering this over and over again

through Titus. You hear me say it all

the time. We don't this we're not doing

it to master God's word. We're doing it

to be mastered by God's word. And don't

attribute that quote for me. I heard it

from someone else. I don't know who it

is, but I love it and it's true. The

word is meant to change us. Throw the

main point up again, the original, the

larger main point,

please. The gospel for God's elect is

manifest through preaching and requires

godliness. Okay, that's that's why I'm

saying

that. And and this I see people writing

it, so you can leave it up. The gospel

for God's elect is manifested through

preaching and requires godliness. And we

haven't gotten to the point about the

elect. We haven't gotten a point about

preaching, but we've been talking about

godliness. Okay? So again, it's not good

enough to act nice towards people that

on the inside you can't stand and you

have contempt for.

Right? It's not enough. And some of you

are sort of discerning that when you

experience that kind of kindness, you're

like, "That's not real. There's

something dark underneath that." Right?

Jesus always sees that. We see through a

glass dim, but he always sees that. But

real kindness is the kind of kindness

that remains kind when being tested. So

someone's mean to you and you kindly

respond where you don't return evil for

evil, but evil with good. That's the

kind of kindness God's talking about. So

that's the standard. you you think maybe

I really want to have a higher SQ,

right? You're not no one's born with a

high SQ. It's not this kind of thing

like like you're set to have this uh

intelligence and that's what you have to

work on. I'm not even really sure that's

how it works with intelligence either.

Not not like those are absolute biblical

uh they're observational science really.

But but my point is if you want to have

a higher SQ you can anybody can right

and and that would mean that you just

decide to apply God's word at the depth

he intends it to be applied you don't

apply it shallowly you think well I

don't have a critical spirit and then

you start thinking through how many

times your husband or wife has told you

you're always so critical why are you

always so critical of me why don't you

encourage me

more if you're not going to hear that if

you're actually really encouraging

people there's going to be people that

say you're so critical all the time when

you're really deeply encouraging to

them. But it's hard to see. It's hard to

see the areas where we need to become

more godly because they're all the way

down and but it comes out in our action.

It comes out in the in the fruit whether

good or bad and other people see that.

And so we we have to be humble enough to

listen to other people. But guess what?

If you've just been reading God's word

without any intent to apply it, you're

going to be prideful and then you're not

going to listen to other people. Like

you don't embody what you preach. That's

another kind of nice way of saying

you're a hypocrite. And we ought not to

be hypocrites. It is possible not to be

a hypocrite. It's not enough to just

say, "Yeah, I'm a sinner." Because you

also need to be leaning in towards that

transformative grace that leads to

godliness. But if you just stay humble,

you don't have to get slammed with the

accusation of hypocrisy. So when people

say about Christians, "Yeah, there's so

many of them are hypocrites." I'm like,

"Yeah, I'm one of them. I don't always

live out what I preach in my marriage,

in my parenting, in my pastoring, in my

leading. I don't. And you disarm them

with that. They're like, "Oh, they're

not He's not arrogant. He's not like

thinks he's so great." Right? Actually,

what did Paul say? I'm the chief of

sinners. And I feel that. I look at the

list of people who will not be entering

the kingdom of heaven and I've done most

of it. That's who your pastor is. I'm

very honest about that. Again, it was

decades ago that that rebellion was

would at it was at its peak and I've

repented of it. And God has dramatically

changed me. But there's still so much

more change that needs to happen. I go

to the word and I think how God, how do

you want me to change today in my

thinking, in my emotions, in my um

actions and different patterns and the

way I relate to people? And here's a

real powerful idea. Everything that God

has wanted to grow you in is related to

loving him with more passion and loving

others with more compassion. Let me say

that again. Anything and everything in

all of the Bible that he wants you to

have a high SQ on where you apply and be

transformed is about loving him with

more passion and loving others with more

compassion. It's a summary of the whole

word. That's word. That's why it's the

second first and second commandment. And

there isn't really a third.

Paul calls it the summary of the entire

law. So

again, we're not here to just learn more

from the Bible. That doesn't mean that

we're just going to go shallow in it as

well. We'll go through hopefully in my

career I'll get through the whole Bible.

I don't know. We go at a slow pace. Not

sure it's going to happen. Depends how

long it is. But it's all I'm hoping that

in 10 years I'm a very different man.

And some of the very things you see in

me that you know are not like Jesus

like, wow, those are more like Jesus.

Now, there's no biblical limit to how

much you can grow in Christ likeness.

Did you know that? You ought never to

say that you're sinless this side of the

grave. But what is the spirit? What is

what does God say? There's no temptation

known to man that he cannot bear because

God will give him a way out. It's a

paraphrase. That means that when you

crumble to temptation, God was giving

you a way out and the spirit with the

power to move in that direction, but you

didn't. So, anytime you sin, it's always

just your fault. you had every single

resource you need to not

to. That's really convicting for me. And

and and the spirit does not always

scream in my ear. He just like, "Don't

say that next thought to your wife."

Boom. I say that next thought to my

wife. Right? Well, it grieves him. Just

like you want to your children to listen

without you having to yell at them, God

wants you to listen without having to

yell at you. So, you got to listen to

that still, quiet voice that's guiding

you in the truth. Say something

encouraging. I'll give you the power.

I'll even I know you don't want to give

me that don't want to desire and I'll

change it into I want to desire. But you

have to surrender over and over and over

again. Okay, for now I'll stop

belaboring the point. We need to get to

the idea. It it's it's true that Paul is

writing this to Titus and to the cretan

church, but he said it's for the sake of

the faith of God's elect. And no matter

how controversial an idea is, no matter

how much you may disagree with my

presentation and definition of that

idea, I still think it's very valuable

for you to walk through scriptures with

me on your own convictions. And I'll say

this one more time. It is not based on

what pastor said that you should believe

it, but based on what you believe the

scripture said and how the spirit is

teaching you. And I'm just a guide. I

have no interest of convincing you in my

own power of what elect actually means

and what it doesn't mean. Um but I do

have an interest in you getting exposed

to biblical teaching about that and

making up your own mind. Okay? And you

have the space to do that at this

church. So we're going to go and talk

about it. Let me pull up some questions

that I think will heat up your interest

for why we'd even talking about it.

First of all, who are they? Who are the

elect? We're going to try to answer that

question. Uh, how can you know if you

are elect? Can you even know? Uh, can

you know if someone else is elect? Even

more difficult question. Can you know if

someone else is elect before they

receive the gospel? You might already

have answers. You may have strong

answers. Some of these answers may

surprise you. Can you know if someone

else is

elect, no matter what. When did God

decide who was going to be his elect? By

whose power did they become elect? Can

someone lose their election? Whose

choice is it that someone would become

elect? Big questions. Okay. And if you

have questions that I didn't just write

out and I don't answer them, I'm sorry.

I try to anticipate some of the deepest

questions and I get excited to talk

about these things. So, let's start

answering some of these questions. Um,

and some of them are so obvious from the

scriptures, I might not even mention

that's an answer to that question. But

let's start in um Ephesians 1

1-14. And we don't have time to like

walk through every verse here. We're not

preaching on Ephesians. But um in fact,

I'm just going to start here. Paul, an

apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of

God. Right? Already who we pointing to

the will of God. That's over and over

and over again. I say the arrows all

point to God. Let me just give you this

image. If someone's asking you, why are

you saved? Your finger wants to do this.

And you say, "No, it doesn't." was like,

"Well, because I believed." It's just

another finger. The other way is like,

"Because God gave me the faith to

believe." I believe all of these

passages over and over again. This is

what I want you to see. But you got to

evaluate with your own heart, with your

own mind, with your own sq.

Uh that is it true is what he's saying.

Do all the arrows just keep pointing to

God for our salvation? So again, Paul,

an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will

of God to the saints who are in Ephesus

and are faithful in Jesus in Christ

Jesus.

Next verse. Grace to you and peace from

God our father and the Lord Jesus

Christ. A kind of a similar greeting to

how we have here. And here we get into

in verse three and beyond about God's

chosen, God's elect. Blessed be the God

and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who

has blessed us in Christ with every

spiritual blessing in the heavenly

places. Just all about him again. Verse

four, even as he chose us in him before

the foundation of the world. So when did

anybody that's elect become elect?

Before he even created the world. You'll

see in in other passages from eternity's

past. So like ever since. Ever since

kind of thing. That's how Christine and

Filipinos would say it's ever since.

Ever since. How long you known her? Ever

since. Ever since. So when were you

chosen? If you're chosen. Ever since.

Ever since. That we Oh, nope. I got half

of that to read still. That we should be

holy and blameless before him.

Interesting concept, huh? He didn't just

choose us to just amass a bunch of

knowledge and just kind of frozen

chosen, but that we should grow in

holiness and blamelessness before him.

In love, he did what? Verse 5. He

predestined us for adoptions to himself

as sons through Christ Jesus.

Predestined means predetermined. He

decided it when before you even existed

according to the purpose of his will.

Why? Because of you? No. Why? Because

the purpose of his will. Right? So again

I see that and I think arrow another

arrow pointing up to god no arrows

pointing towards us. Next verse to the

praise of his glorious grace with which

he has bless blessed us in the beloved.

In other words when we see that um that

he's chosen us that is meant to lead to

the praise of his glorious grace. It's

meant to be another arrow of worship

towards him which was he's blessed us in

the beloved. Um is that I can't see what

verse that is but we have more I think.

In him we have redemption through his

blood, the forgiveness of our

trespasses. We're only reading on

because it answers more questions. So

hang on. The forgiveness of our

trespasses according to his riches of

his grace. Let's scan all the arrows up.

Which he lavished upon us in all wisdom

and insight, making known to us the

mystery of arrows up his will according

to his purpose which he set forth in

Christ. His purpose, right? Over and

over and over again. Verse 9. It's like

Paul's just hammering the idea. It's

just God as a plan for the fullness of

time to unite all things in him, things

in heaven and things on earth. Verse

11. In him, we have obtained an

inheritance. We talked so much about

that inheritance in Genesis, right?

That's that's not the promised land on

earth per se. It's the new heavens, the

new earth, heaven, right? It's it's

being with him forever and without death

or sin or sorrow having been predestined

of according to the purpose of him who

works all things according to the

counsel of his will. Repetition, right?

So I think that's the last verse that I

that I have there. Um let's go to Romans

8:29:30.

For those whom he forneew, he also

predestined to be conformed to the image

of his son in order that he might be the

firstborn among many brothers. So one

thing that will sometimes if you go back

a verse say see like he looked forward

and then saw that that person was con uh

uh came to faith and then chose them

like that. That's not what it's being

saying. What's being said here is that

he knew them in saving relationship to

himself because he had predestined them.

So it doesn't make any sense to like

that and also that what does that do?

It's like oh well again it points at the

person for why they were saved and we

should not like by grace you have been

saved. It's a gift of God. We're ought

not to boast. But if you keep trying to

anchor it in the person which is the

opposite of what scripture is trying to

say that's not what predestination

means. That's like post destination.

Literally I saw what was going to happen

in the future and then I went back and

decided that that's what happened. Like

it just it doesn't make any sense. I

can't even wrap my mind around that. But

is there there there's another verse

here. Um, and those whom he predestined,

he also called. And those whom he

called, he also justified. And those

whom he justified, he also

glorified. You didn't justify you. You

didn't call you. You didn't predestin

you. You didn't glorify you either. All

none of us have been glorified yet. But

that's also everything that he did. Now,

I told you that I was going to in every

single sermon talk about word like fire.

And since we're going through Genesis

and John, we just spent two year in

Genesis, I thought I'd focus on John.

Let's say what John has to say that

connects directly to this. John verse

one or chapter 1 12-13. But to all who

did receive him, I'll stop right there.

You do have to receive him, right?

That's going to be important in

determining whether or not you can know

if somebody is actually chosen or not,

or whether you're even chosen not. There

has to be a reception there. But listen

to how the idea of you receiving him is

modified in the next words. Who believed

in his name. So receiving means

believing in the name of Jesus Christ.

He gave the right to become children of

God. And you might think, oh okay, so by

my will I received him and then I gained

the right. So there is an arrow back.

But listen to what it says. It cancels

all arrows towards you who were born not

of blood. So like it's not natural

birth. We talked about that at Easter.

Has to be new birth, right? You have to

be born again, nor of the will of the

flesh. Like it's not it's not like some

kind of earthly physical will, but just

in case you didn't know what that meant,

nor of the will of man, but of God. So I

read that I'm like, okay, good.

Reception and belief does happen, but

it's not from your in like genetics.

It's not from something within you and

it's not even your will, which sometimes

is hard to define. You know what's your

will? Well, it changes from day to day.

Well, anyway, but of God. Okay. So here

you you if you'd read this and seen

this, this is a direct connection to the

idea of being elect. Now to the question

about whether you can know um that you

yourself are saved or chosen, we call

that assurance of salvation. And that is

something that the Holy Spirit bears

witness with inside of you where you can

even have an a felt experience and a

sense of confidence that you are saved.

Um, I I thought I had another verse and

I actually we did have Ephesians 1-14,

didn't we? I stopped at 11. Let's go

back to verse 12 of Ephesians uh 1.

Because there's an answer to whether or

not you can like lose your status. Let's

say you believe, yeah, I received him

and I have believed and that means that

he gave me that right to becamecome a

child of God and so I I think I'm elect.

Um, but could I lose it? I don't know.

Can we go to Ephesians? um one if I'll

I'll go there myself too in case you

guys don't have it but it's Ephesians 1

I think um 12 that I wanted to

read just one

second there there it so that we who

were first to hope in Christ might also

be to the praise of his glory next verse

in him you also when you heard the word

of truth the gospel of our of your

salvation and believed in him were

sealed with the promise of the Holy

Spirit sealed Right? Is God going to

like remove his seal? The whole seal

there is the guarantee of our

inheritance until we acquire possession

of it to the praise of his glory. So

just going back to Titus for one one

quick second. We'll talk about this more

as we go on. It says, you know, for

their knowledge of the for the elect's

knowledge of the truth which accords

with godliness in hope of eternal life

which God who never lies promised before

the ages began. So if he's telling you

that the Holy Spirit living in you is

the sign, seal, and guarantee of your

election, then you cannot lose it unless

he's a liar. And he is not. He's all

light in him. There's no darkness. Never

lies, never changes. Okay? Powerful

truth. Now, let's get even closer

because someone might say, "Well, I

still don't understand how I could know

that I was chosen." Or, "Can you

actually know that someone else is? That

seems kind of strange." 1 Thessalonians

verse one. Paul says you can. This one

might be the one that's surprising. For

we know, brothers, loved by God that he

has chosen you. Stop right there. I

can't tell you how many times I've heard

in church, you can't know if someone

else is saved. It's almost just like a

truism. Like, well, you can't know.

Sure, you can't have assurance of

salvation for them the way that you can

have for yourself, the inner witness of

the Holy Spirit. But if it's not

knowable that someone's chosen, why is

Paul saying, "For we know, brothers,

loved by God that he has chosen you."

How can you know that? Next verse.

Because our gospel came to you not only

in word, not just in this mental ascent

of more knowledge kind of thing, but

also in power and in the Holy Spirit and

with full conviction. You ever met a

Christian like that where they become

saved and it's like bang there's a

dramatic change in their countenance,

their attitude, the way they talk, the

way they walk. They're convicted,

they're repentant, they're humble. I

mean the day of salvation for people is

so invigorating for the church cuz

people remember what it was like to be

in that season and how how near God

feels. And sometimes we drift as we

continue. But this full conviction like

you just know that you know that you

know that Jesus is Lord and you confess

it with your mouth and you believe in

heart that he was raised by God from the

dead. So Paul says yeah you can know

again you can't know with the same kind

of certainty you know for yourself. But

what about Jesus? Did Jesus say anything

that would help us to be like aware of

the spiritual reality in somebody else?

Well, Matthew 7:15-20. Let's go there.

Matthew 7:15–20

Beware of the false prophets. This is a

very specific kind of

um not Christian and not just any not

just any person that is seemingly a

Christian in name only is also a false

prophet. You have to teach the opposite

of the truth to be getting that label.

But every false prophet would be

claiming to be a Christian to them.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be very

effective, right? If they come from a

different religion. Beware of false

prophets who come to you in sheep's

clothing but inwardly are ravenous

wolves. You see the sheep on the

outside, but the wolf on the inside. How

do you see the wolf on the inside? You

will recognize them by their fruits. Are

grapes gathered from thorn bushes? Nope.

Are figs from thistles? Nope.

Next. So every healthy tree bears good

fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad

fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad

fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good

fruit. So when you hear some pastor

saying it's not just by grace alone. You

have to do good works. And that's all

part of the mix of salvation. That is a

rotten fruit you ought not to eat. And

you ought to start thinking, whoa, is it

I mean, maybe he's correctable, but

maybe this person's a liar and a false.

So, even Jesus tells us to consider the

deeper realities of the spiritual

condition inside people for being able

to be protected from false gospels.

Okay. So, my answer to this, yes, I

think we do need to evaluate whether

someone is saved or not. And it becomes

almost impossible to do what God tells

us to do if we don't. How do you know if

you need to go and preach the gospel to

somebody who's not saved? How many times

have you guys said, "I need to will you

please pray for this such and such

relative? They don't believe." Right?

You just know that they don't and that's

why you're praying for them. So that

does not mean that we judge people's

hearts or that we know with absolute

certainty that they can never be saved.

And this is the thing. So God knows that

or Paul knew that they were chosen. Now

why? Because he saw the fruit. He saw

the evidence of a transformed life and

power and conviction. But that does not

mean he knew in advance who was going to

receive that. We don't know who God

chose before the foundation of the world

until we see the result. Right? It's

just like what Jesus said about the

wind. Can't see it, but we see its

effects. Um, so I hope those are some

powerful answers for that. Let's go back

to Timothy and finish out.

Uh uh I need some more godliness so I

can say the names of the Bible

correctly.

Uh just a glitch. All right. So in hope

of eternal life which God who never lies

promised before the ages began. Right

here is a way of knowing if you are able

to have a full conviction about that

Jesus is God and that he died for your

sin and rose again to atone for your sin

and to give you the hope of eternal

life. If you believe those things, God

promises you that they're saved and he

can't lie. So again, the thing the

interesting thing is what you need to do

is not anchor your faith within

yourself. Faith is an arrow towards God.

Faith is by definition trust in the

object of the faith. So your anchor is

beyond the veil. Your anchor is in

Christ. Your anchor is in God who never

lies. Okay? So for some people when you

when you try to anchor with an arrow

towards yourself, your faith within

yourself, that's not the anchor that

saves you. You don't pull yourself to

heaven. Who's the ladder? We learned

Jacob's ladder is all about Jesus

Christ. He's the stairway to heaven.

That's how you ascend based only by

faith in him and his work his person and

work. So to complete the main point here

and at the proper time that promise

that's impossible for God to break

that's impossible for him to lie about

at the proper time was manifested in his

word that I think every Christian

automatically knows. But how? Through

the preaching with which I have been

entrusted by the command of God our

savior. When you just read God's word,

are you doing a good thing? Yes. Why

else are we doing why else are we so

intent about helping people build a

daily rhythm? But sometimes when you

read God's word, you miss the

application. You don't think about, oh,

how does this apply to me? And preaching

is, I think, at its best helping people

see not only what it means in terms of

truth, but how it relates to godliness

in a way that they understand. Okay. So

if the whole purpose here is that

godliness that accords with the truth or

truth that accords with godliness in a

setting of a just totally debauched and

degenerate climate. Well, we're there

too. And those people need that light.

They need that witness not just of your

words, but of your inner transformed

character. And Paul says it happens

through preaching. Paul makes that

eternal gospel, that hope, that truth

that leads towards godliness manifest in

preaching. It's one of the reasons God

commands us not to forsake the gathering

because he's already commanded the

elders to continue preaching God's word

at that gathering. And you need it

regularly. You can't just take one

limitless pill one day and then expect

to have that high IQ tomorrow. It's an

everyday kind of thing that you need

God's spirit through his word to be

transforming you. I mean, I just wake up

feeling negative thoughts sometimes and

I just ask God, fill me with your spirit

and maybe read some scripture and and it

helps those things begin to take over

the false desires that I have. I want