Spiritual Check Up

 

 

"One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³ This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴ not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. ¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. ¹⁶ They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed."

Titus 1:12-16

 

Good Morning My Beloved,

I would like to welcome all of you to worship this Lord's Day!

We are so grateful for each of you, our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, we are so thankful that you were lead to join with us today.

I would again like to encourage you to visit our Prayer Wall, not only to pray for our brothers and sisters in their time of need, but to also add any prayers or concerns that you may have as well. We are all called to pray with and for one another, in keeping with the commands of our Lord. There is such a tremendous for prayer in our world today, can we count on you to join us in praying for our brothers and sisters in need?

The adversary, Satan is always attempting to introduce some form of false teaching on the way of salvation. However, the Scripture is very clear, that saving faith is not merely some intellectual assent to the facts of the gospel. Those in the non-lordship salvation camp claim that if you say that repentance from sin is necessary for salvation or that good works are an evidence of saving faith, you are adding works to faith. There are some who think that they are preserving salvation by faith alone, however, I must be very clear, they are in error about the nature of saving faith. Scripture is abundantly clear; that genuine saving faith includes repentance, which results in a life of good works. 

 

False teaching almost always goes to the extreme by adding human works to saving faith, as a necessary condition for salvation.This is false doctrine! That is to say, that Christ's death and resurrection were somehow, not enough. As true Christians, w e are justified by grace alone, through faith in Christ, apart from anythingthat we contribute! We have nothing worthy to offer to God in order to receive salvation, it is only by His grace and mercy toward us, because He loves us. Even our love for Him, first came because He loved us.

 

Let us bow our heads.

 

Heavenly Father,

 

Thank You for Your Word, we recognize that You have given us a difficult task. Difficult, because it is not only unpopular, but also demanding. We realize that in is only through Your Word, that we would recognize and be capable of confronting such error, we acknowledge that we must continually be in the Word to better understand the truth and share the truth with others. Grant us the love, compassion, patience and gentleness necessary, that would not do it in a combative way, but in a way that honors You and brings glory to Your name. Lord, we pray that You would grant them repentance that they may be taken out of their captivity. We pray that You would release them from the chains that binds them to darkness and Satan, and grant them freedom to worship and serve You and Your kingdom. Help us to be faithful and committed in doing our part, to silence those who would seek to destroy Your plan for salvation through Christ, that we would over power them the truth in Your Word, and take away their platform.

We pray this in Jesus' name

Amen

 

Today's Message: Spiritual Check Up

Open with me your Bibles, as we continue in our study of the Book of Titus, today we come to the end of chapter one, these final verses, twelve through sixteen. However, before we begin, I would just like to say, that today, you can be changed, you can be different, and you do not need to stay the way you are, your life can move in an entirely new direction simply by receiving the gift of salvation through Christ. There is nothing that you can do to earn it, you cannot purchase it, regardless of how wealthy you may be, you cannot barter for it, you only need to accept it.

I would like to encourage you to follow along with me as I read, to se the text in our minds, as we prepare our hearts for a Word from our Lord. Titus 1:12-16. 

"One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed."

 

As Christians, we it is imperative, that we must believe in the Bible alone as our authoritative source of truth. And, all of Scripture centers on the person and work of Jesus Christ, who is the eternal God, who took on human flesh to die as the substitute for our sins on the cross. Every false religion from the first century until today, has erred on the person and work of Jesus Christ. There are some who have said that He is God, but not truly human, which is Docetism. While others insist that He is fully human, but not truly and fully God, Arianism. Still others say that He is some sort of hybrid "god-man." Many have said that He is a prophet, our great teacher or role model, yet, they have denied the necessity of His shed blood as the atonement for our sins. All false religions supplement the Bible with their own writings or traditions, which invariably contradict the Bible and supersede it with their false claims.

 

Legalism always appeals to the flesh. It feeds the proud human heart that thinks that it can attain righteousness apart from being humbled before the cross. Legalists often congratulate themselves for doing their religious duties, while they self-righteously condemn those who do not. They do not judge the sin in their hearts or seek to please God from the heart. Legalism involves emphasizing certain non-essential external matters in order to the neglect the essential matters of the heart. Legalism focuses on outward conformity, to man-made rules of righteousness, rather than the inward conformity to God’s righteous commands, as found in the Holy Scripture.

 

In verse 12, Paul quotes one of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." This is one of the most unusual passages in all of the New Testament, the Apostle Paul quotes from Epimenides, one of the ancient writers of his day, a secular Greek prophet and poet, who describes these people among whom Titus was called to labor.

 

Paul writes in verses 13 and 14, "This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth." This was most likely the same error that Paul refuted in I Timothy 1:4, in which Paul wrote, "nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith."

 

It is highly probable, this involved interpretations built around some of the Old Testament genealogies and apocryphal literature. However, The Apostle Paul states that it is mere speculation.  I want to be clear, it is only the blood of Christ that can cleanse our sin, so that we can serve a holy God.

 

After Paul describes the rebellious individuals and he then prescribes to Titus, how to deal with them, he concludes by establishing the need for conversion in verses 15-16: "To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed." The context here refers to those who are so devoted to certain days and certain foods that they interpret everything else through this grid. The Greek word, "kathara," translated "pure" is the same word used to describe those who have been washed clean by Jesus Christ.

 

In verse 16, Paul shows that even though an individual may claim to know God, how he lives can cancel out their confession. Allow me to note here, that changed character leads to changed conduct. Proper belief must express itself through proper behavior. In Isaiah 29:13, "Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote." What Paul is saying here is that people do what they do because of what is in their inner nature. In short, even though they speak spiritual language, they are not saved."

 

In verse 16, Paul uses some rather vivid language, when he says "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed." He uses the Greek word "bdeluktoi," which translates to our English word "detestable." It means to emit a foul odor, it was often used to describe that which is an abomination to God. Then Paul uses the word "disobedient," which is the Greek word "apeitheis," it refers to someone who refuses to be persuaded. Typically, whose who do not do so because of a lack of evidence, but because of a proud heart.

 

Paul said at the end of verse 16, "worthless for any good deed."meaning here is of not standing the test and was used of metals that were rejected by refiners because of impurities." 

 

In II Corinthians 13:5, Paul presented a challenge to believers in Corinth, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? I believe this is a fitting test, for all of of us!

In Closing...

Have you examined your faith, testing yourself to see if you would pass or fail the test? Have you been more focused on religious rites than a relationship with the Redeemer? Listen to these words: “Once God enters the picture, your life will never be the same again. Until then, you may be religious and you may be a very good person and you may obey all the rules of the church, however, you have not been truly converted. Religion is one thing; conversion is something else entirely different.

 

You’re not too young to be saved. You are never too old to be converted. Your never too old to become a child of God!

May it be so..

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 

 

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