Having godly leadership in a local church isn't just a good idea, it's a matter of spiritual life or death for that church. The Apostle Paul warned Titus of dangerous people within the church in Crete and the perilous influence of their distorted teaching. On Truth for Life weekend, Alastair Begg walks us through Paul's teaching and points out how we can recognize these counterfeits. Uh We're going to read from Titus and chapter one and verse ten. For there are many 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 Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans 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. by 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. Amen. I want to read it again for you, this time in the paraphrase. that uh the late J B Phillips has left to us.
For there are many, especially among the Jews, who will not recognize authority, who talk nonsense. and yet in doing so have managed to deceive men's minds. They must be silenced, for they upset the faith of whole households teaching what they have no business to teach for the sake of what they can get. One of them, yes, one of their prophets has said, Men of Crete are always liars, evil and beastly, lazy and greedy. There is truth in this testimonial of theirs.
Don't hesitate to remind them sharply, for you want them to be sound and healthy Christians, with a proper contempt for Jewish fairy tales and orders issued by men who have forsaken the path of truth. Everything is wholesome to those who are themselves wholesome. But nothing is wholesome to those who are themselves unwholesome. and who have no faith in God. Their very minds and consciences are diseased.
They profess to know God, but their actual behavior denies their profession. for they're obviously vile and rebellious. And when it comes to doing any real good, They are palpable Frauds.
Well, I think that makes it fairly clear, doesn't it? It uh I find uh Phillips often very helpful, just adding a little bit of bite. uh by the way in which he paraphrases some of the phraseology.
Well, we ended last time in verse 9 by noticing the vital importance. Of the elders appointed there in Crete. to be men who Quotes, hold firmly to the trustworthy word as taught. And Paul tells Titus the reason that that is so important. is in order that those men then may be able to give instruction.
in sound or healthy doctrine. and at the same time will also be able to rebuke those Who contradict it? And it is with this issue of the contradicting of the teaching that is sound and healthy that Paul then goes on to speak. The conjunction there, for, the little three-letter word for, that opens verse 10. is the hinge taking us back to what he has just said in verse nine and taking us forward into the paragraph that now addresses this issue that is so prevalent amongst the church congregations in the island of Crete.
There is a problem that is confronting the church. You might say, well, of course, there are always problems confronting the church in every generation, and that, of course, is true. And there are multiple problems, and that is equally true. The primary problem which Paul is addressing here is not a problem that comes from outside the church, but one that is represented within it. He's not addressing here the problem of irreligion.
Of those who are so clearly opposed to the truth of Jesus, to the gospel, to the good news, to the trustworthy message. that they live in an environment that is alien to these things. Is obviously clear, as verse 12 points out. He very skillfully quotes one of the Cretans themselves. It's always good to use one of the people who are part of the establishment in order to criticize the establishment.
So it's much easier for me to tell you that Scotsmen are notoriously stingy than for you to tell me that Scotsmen are notoriously stingy. I can take it easier from myself than I can from someone on the outside. And so he says, even one of the Cretan prophets, he is able to identify the problem, and they have quite a resume, these people. They are liars, brutes, and lazy bellies. It sounds like a contemporary rock band, actually.
Liars, brutes, and lazy bellies. It's not a nice picture at all of any kind of community. And he is pointing out the fact that when you find these people who, on the one hand, have a lot of God-talk and then, on the other hand, have very little God-life. then you realize how close they are living to the fringes of faith and how the description of the community and the culture itself may actually be beginning to filter into those who should know a lot better. And they do.
So the problem that he is tackling is, if you like, The religious problem. Not the irreligious problem. I think many people today would say, in the strength of everything that goes on in an average week within the framework of contemporary America, that the real problem for the church is the problem of those who are not in the church, the problem of those who are so obviously opposed to it. The societies for new atheism, or the agnosticism that is fairly rampant, or the syncretism and the humanism that is represented in the surrounding culture.
Well, there's no question that those things are significant challenges, but neither the present day nor church history would bear out that thesis. But rather, a careful reading of church history and a careful reading here of Titus would point actually to the problem being a vastly different problem, namely the problem that emerges from people who profess to know God. Those who profess to know God, verse 16, but deny Him by their works. The problem here, he says, is a religious problem we're facing. These people have a routine, but they have no reality.
These people have a creed, but their conduct does not match their creed. These people have faith talk. But there is no fruit that is seen in their lives. In fact, They are not dissimilar to those that he mentions when he writes in his second letter to Timothy in chapter 3 of 2 Timothy concerning those individuals who have an appearance of godliness. But deny its power.
An appearance of godliness, but deny its power. That's why I often say to you that church is a dangerous place to be. Because a church like this provides an opportunity. for individuals to make certain external changes in their lifestyle.
So for example, attending as opposed to n previously not attending. Um listening as opposed to previously not listening. Beginning to try and change certain things about what we do and why we do them. In other words, moving, if you like, from a position of irreligion to a position of religion. And then discovering that it is the religion.
that is actually keeping that individual. from entering into the truths that we were just singing. concerning Jesus. From entering into the reality of the fact. that are standing before God is never on the basis of what we have done.
by external changes. But must always be on the strength of what he has accomplished in his death. in making a propitiation for our sins. And until that penny drops, then a church family will be susceptible to those who want to do What was being done here on the island of Crete.
Now, if you look at it with me, you will see that Paul first of all identifies these folks. He points out the impact, the dangerous impact of their influence. and then he gives clear instructions as to how they're to be handled. And we'll use that as the template for going through the passage. First of all, Paul's identification of those that he is addressing.
In other places, he uses names, but in this instance, he doesn't provide any names at all. It may be that he's unfamiliar with individuals themselves. But what he's doing is he's describing the characteristics of these folks so that when this letter is read out, if you like, People will be able to say, Well, if the cap fits, I should wear it. If this describes me, then it describes me. It is also very straightforwardly clear that in verse 10, this was not a marginal problem.
It's not that there were just one or two people that were moving around the congregations. But you will notice it says that there are many who are insubordinate. There are many who are insubordinate. These folks are marked by rebellion. They are like individuals who had enlisted in an army, they submitted for duty, they took their uniform, they put it on, but as soon as battle commenced, they refused to obey their commanding officer.
So they were just a walking contradiction. Why then would you ever clothe yourself in the uniform if you're not going to obey your commanding officer? That's a perfectly legitimate question, isn't it? And he says there are many of these individuals, they are insubordinate, they are rebellious. And particularly, he says, those who are attached to the circumcision party.
Now, he doesn't exemplify that, and it's probably wise for us to leave it as he leaves it. It is clear, as we will see looking on, that there is a distinctly Jewish dimension to the problem that he is addressing. But these individuals who are insubordinate are also, he says, empty talkers. They are like those he writes about in 1 Timothy 1:6, who have wandered away from the truth. And they are engaged in vain discussions, vain discussions.
So they basically just talk about nothing. But they make it sound like it's like the most important thing you've ever heard in your life. They are always the masters of intrigue. They're always the masters of the esoteric. They're always the individuals who want to deviate from the main things and the plain things and get everybody off on the sidelines of their peculiarities.
And what makes it so staggering is that despite the fact that they are deceivers. They are able to bring people into line with them. They're insubordinate, they're empty talkers. and they draw people. after them.
Now let's just be honest and recognize that there are people who are peculiarly susceptible to this kind of nonsense. It's not possible to have a product unless you've got a. A market. And if A congregation is not versed in the truth. If it doesn't have elders, such as have just been described here up to verse 9.
If these local fellowships in Crete are not then instructed in the truth, are not then led by those who are able to refute error. Then they will be susceptible for individuals who will be prepared to rise among them and seek to draw people after them. That was the problem in Ephesus. That's why Paul, when he left Ephesus in Acts chapter 20, remember, he gathers the elders with him on the beach and he says, Now, listen here: after I leave you, after I leave you, There will arise from among you. From among you.
Wolves who will seek to eat you up. And that is why I am commending you to God and to the word of his grace. That is why I am urging you to make sure that in your leadership of the church, You stand in the gap for this. Paul and Peter and the rest of them are all going to go away by death. And therefore, it is imperative that those to whom they entrust the responsibilities of leadership are men who are able to say, hey, wait a minute.
That's not right. and then to be able to help those under their care to have the same kind of antennae so that they don't find themselves susceptible to the kind of nonsense that is proffered.
Now, the danger in it, of course, lies as we've suggested in. By way of introduction, the danger of it lies Not in the sort of flat-out onslaught approach, but in the creeping approach. in the subtle approach. The biggest danger to contemporary Christianity in America is not to be found, as I say, from the onslaughts that come from without. The preoccupation of so many of us with those things is understandable, but We ought not to spend too long on it.
It ought to provide an opportunity for us to become increasingly skillful about how to engage people in conversations concerning the gospel, rather than giving us an opportunity to just bemoan everything the first time we manage to grab a cup of coffee with some of our friends tomorrow morning and launch into some great diatribe about how dreadful everything is and how it's all going to pot, and it was never like this before, and who knows where our grandchildren will end up, and all that kind of thing. What else do you expect, for goodness sake? That's not the big danger. No, the big danger is in the subtle interweaving of that which appears to be godly and true with that which isn't.
So for example, Mormonism is a cult. It's not politically correct to say it. But it qualifies. Look out the definition. It is deviant on the person of Jesus Christ.
And therefore it is not Christian.
Now, to say that is not to say anything unkind about any Mormon friends or neighbors. It is simply to say If you don't understand that, then you are susceptible to the notion that we're all actually the same, and as long as somebody mentions God or mentions Jesus, that's really all that matters.
Well, then you may be just as happy in the Christian Science Church. Why don't you slip in there for a while as well? Because you'll be stupid enough to buy that one. Because again, you'll have your Bible and you'll have Mary Baker Eddie with you. With Mary Baker explaining to you your Bible, without her, you cannot get where you need to be.
That's not true. Or, why not try the Jehovah's Witnesses for a little while? After all, they're very zealous people and nice. And diligent, and far more diligent than most of us in seeking to tell other people about their story. Therefore admirable on so many fronts, but deviant in relationship to biblical truth.
You see how the danger presents itself. And even when you step from that, Into a congregation like this. The danger that is represented is not the danger of those who are standing up to say, I don't believe that in the doctrinal statement and I am opposed to that. No, it is the danger that is represented by people who love to live on the fringes of things with fanciful stories, fairy stories, as Phillips paraphrases it. Stories that intrigue, stories that draw people away.
In this instance, stories about your Jewish ancestors and so on, which would have very little impact today, I'm sure. And they combine that, you will notice. Devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people, the commands of people. Not a commands of God. These are not people who are being told constantly.
Now, I hope you've got your Bible and I hope you have it open and I hope you're looking in it to see whether what I'm seeing is actually in it. That's not what they're facing. No, they're facing people who say, Don't you worry about your Bible. You keep your Bible closed, you just listen to me. I'll tell you what's in the Bible, and furthermore, I'll tell you what to do.
And there is a peculiar susceptibility on the part of folks who just basically want somebody to tell them what to do. And they then will be led astray by the commands of people, notice, who turn away from the truth. who turn away from the truth. But they don't say follow me, I'm turning away from the truth. They have swerved from the truth.
And they say, follow me. Because the truth that you think you have is not the truth you need to have, and you need to understand this about that particular part and this particular notion, and you need to make sure that you're doing this, this, this, this, and this. And you're definitely not doing this, this, this, this, and this.
So what it does is it caters to our sense of achievement. It caters to our sense of self-fulfillment. If I do this, this, and this, then I'll be accepted. If I do this, this, and this, I'll be accepted in the community. And that's what you get with congregations that have never understood the grace of God.
Congregations have never understood the gospel. You've got congregations then that are trying to make themselves acceptable to God as a result of doing all these things. Instead of a congregation that says, I do all of these things because in Jesus I am acceptable to God. There's all the difference in the world, it changes everything. And that's what makes this so difficult.
Not only is their message wrong, but you will notice their motive is off skew as well. Why are they doing what they're doing?
Well, he says there in verse 11, for shameful gain. Teaching Well, they ought not to teach. For a prophet that he ought not. to have.
Now it's an ugly concoction, it's there for your consideration. A form of externalism that fails to recognize that the problem is on the inside. And that's why he says, listen, you should realize that to the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled and the unbelieving, nothing is pure because their minds and their consciences are defiled.
Now, Jesus had to deal with that as well, didn't he? When he dealt with the Pharisees. In Matthew Matthew 15. If you want to turn to, you'll just see in his day, he's tackling the very same problem. The Pharisees came and said, Why do your disciples break the traditions of the elders?
Traditions of the elders, you notice what that is? That's the commands of men. For they don't wash their hands when they eat. And Jesus says, Well, let me ask you a question. Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
Turns the thing entirely upside down. They're there to ask why they break the traditions of man. He says, forget the traditions of men for a moment. Why'd you break the commandments of God? If you want to talk commandments, let's deal with God's commandments.
Not your inventions. And then he goes on to say to them, you know, You're actually just hypocrites. And Isaiah prophesied well when he said, The people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. In vain do they worship me. And here's the phrase, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
Teaching as doctrines the commandments. of men. And so says Paul, summarizing it at the end of verse 16. Professing to know God, denying Him by their works, they are detestable. They're disobedient.
and they're disqualified. unfit for any good work. You're listening to Truth for Life Weekend with Alastair Begg. Today's message is titled A Religious Problem, and we'll hear the conclusion next weekend. I hope you're benefiting from this study in the book of Titus, and if you've missed any of the messages in this series, you can catch up online.
All of Alistair's teaching can be streamed for free through the mobile app or online at truthforlife.org. This series is simply titled A Study in Titus, and we're currently in Volume 1, but you can listen to Alastair teach through the entire book. Or if you'd prefer, you can purchase the complete three volume study on a USB for just five dollars. Visit truthforlife dot org slash store. While you're on our website, be sure to check out the book Christmas Thoughts.
This is the last weekend we're featuring this treasure of a book. It's a collection of five popular Christmas reflections from J C Ryle. He was a nineteenth century Anglican bishop and a theologian whose teaching is still widely read and highly valued to day. Most of us know all too well how easily the holiday season can distract us from reflecting on our relationship with Christ and the eternal significance that He's accomplished. Christmas thoughts will help you keep your focus on Jesus as the very heart of your Christmas celebration.
Each chapter reads like a personal letter from Ryle to you. He asks thought provoking questions that make the book feel like a heartfelt one on one conversation. To find out more about the book Christmas Thoughts visit our website at truthforlife. org. It's hard to believe that Christmas is now less than a month away.
If you are shopping for gifts this weekend, let me encourage you to give gifts that will make an eternal difference by pointing people to Jesus. And to help make this easy and affordable for you, we have a selection of exceptional quality gospel centered books that will make memorable gifts. They are available to purchase at our cost, and shipping in the US is free. On our website, you'll find children's books, study Bibles, books by Puritan authors, Alistair's new evangelism booklet, The Man on the Middle Cross. All of it is at truthforlife dot org slash gifts.
I'm Bob Lepine. We're glad you joined us this weekend to study God's Word.
Now that we've learned how to discern dangerous people within the church, next weekend we'll learn how to deal with them. I hope you can join us. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
