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Paul’s Despicable History Titus 3:3 · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: We're going to do one session on verse three of
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: this paragraph, this first right here, which I'll isolate on
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  Speaker 1: a separate screen in just a minute, but let's read
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  Speaker 1: it at least in the context that has preceded. Remind
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: them to be submissive to rulers and authorities. So he's
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  Speaker 1: telling Titus to remind the new believers on Crete, the
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  Speaker 1: island of Crete, to be submissive to rulers and authorities,
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  Speaker 1: to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,
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  Speaker 1: to speak evil of no one, to be non combative, gentle,
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  Speaker 1: showing all meekness to all people. And then he gives
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  Speaker 1: a reason, one reason. It's not the only one, it's
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  Speaker 1: just one that he mentions here for why we're going
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  Speaker 1: to treat people this way. While we're going to be
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  Speaker 1: submiss and obedient and lavishly going beyond mere compliance to
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  Speaker 1: what people expect of us, to do good work, and
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  Speaker 1: speaking evil of no one, being noncombative, gentle, meek. The
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  Speaker 1: reason we're going to be that kind of people is because,
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  Speaker 1: and there are two parts to the argument. One is
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  Speaker 1: we were once way worse than the Cretans, or at
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  Speaker 1: least as bad. We ourselves were once foolish disobedient, led astray,
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  Speaker 1: slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in
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  Speaker 1: malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. WHOA, that's awful.
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  Speaker 1: But so that's the first part of the argument. But
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  Speaker 1: when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our savior, appeared,
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  Speaker 1: he saved us. So we'll get to that next time.
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  Speaker 1: That's the second part of the argument. So all we're
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  Speaker 1: going to do in this session is focus on these
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  Speaker 1: seven elements of how bad we were when God saved us,
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  Speaker 1: and how that should motivate us to treat other people
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  Speaker 1: with meekness and gentleness and non combativeness and speaking evil
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  Speaker 1: of no one. Father, as we focus now on verse three,
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  Speaker 1: remind us who we are without you and cause it
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  Speaker 1: to have a humbling effect upon us, and how we
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  Speaker 1: treat each other. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So
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  Speaker 1: we've seen the argument. Now notice for we ourselves, and
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  Speaker 1: that is a right way to emphasize it. Even in
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  Speaker 1: the Greek as well as the English. Paul is not
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  Speaker 1: speaking principially about humans here. He's saying, Titus, you and
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  Speaker 1: I and the rest of us on our team. And
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  Speaker 1: then I think he would say, and humans generally, we
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  Speaker 1: even we ourselves were like this. So we're not pointing
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  Speaker 1: our finger. Remember back in chapter one, verse sixteen, he said,
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  Speaker 1: speaking of the people to whom Titus is trying to minister,
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  Speaker 1: they profess to know God, but they deny him by
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  Speaker 1: their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
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  Speaker 1: And we kind of take a deep breath and say, WHOA, Paul.
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  Speaker 1: That's pretty negative. And then you get to this self
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  Speaker 1: assessment of Paul. This is a self assessment, and then
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  Speaker 1: you really see negative. Foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to
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  Speaker 1: passions and pleasures, passing our days in malicone, envy, despicable,
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  Speaker 1: hating one another. That's me, Paul says before Christ. That's
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  Speaker 1: very significant. So let's take it one at a time.
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  Speaker 1: It starts with foolishness, as soon toss that is mindlessness,
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  Speaker 1: the root it appears. The first thing he mentions is
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  Speaker 1: you were just idiots. We didn't see reality for what
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  Speaker 1: it is. We picked up a live call and it
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  Speaker 1: burned our hands because somebody told us it was a toma,
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  Speaker 1: and we believe them. We were just idiots. We didn't
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  Speaker 1: see reality. Our minds weren't working right, and that gives
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  Speaker 1: rise to disobedience. And notice he doesn't say disobedient to parents,
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  Speaker 1: disobedient to schoolmaster's, disobedient to governments. He just is this
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  Speaker 1: is the kind of people we were, which I think
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  Speaker 1: is a way of saying Romans eight seven and eight.
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  Speaker 1: The mind of the flesh, which is what we have
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  Speaker 1: before we're saved, is hostile to God. It does not
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  Speaker 1: submit to God's law. Indeed it cannot, and those who
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  Speaker 1: are in the flesh cannot please God. This is the
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  Speaker 1: essence of our lives before we're saved, is disobedience. I
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  Speaker 1: don't submit to God, period, I don't submit to his
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  Speaker 1: way or his law. So this disobedience here is a
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  Speaker 1: opposition to God and his way led astray. So if
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  Speaker 1: you're not gonna yield to God's way, you're gonna be
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  Speaker 1: led away. This astray here means this is going nowhere good,
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  Speaker 1: It's gonna end you in hell. But the really striking
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  Speaker 1: thing here is lad It's a passive voice which leads
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  Speaker 1: right into this. All right, we were led like Satan
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  Speaker 1: had a hook in our nose, pulling us around. Or
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  Speaker 1: doesn't say Satan here, it says various desires and pleasures.
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  Speaker 1: No think from a there's nothing wrong with pleasure, and
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  Speaker 1: this is just a word for desire or passion. I mean.
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  Speaker 1: Psalm sixteen eleven says, in your presence of God is
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  Speaker 1: fullness of joy at your right hand, our pleasures forevermore.
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  Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong with pursuing pleasures, but these are foolish
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  Speaker 1: his like saying, oh, I get pleasure out of jumping
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  Speaker 1: off cliffs. I get pleasure out of letting snakes bite me.
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  Speaker 1: This is what these passions and pleasures are doing. They
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  Speaker 1: are led astray. We are being led. We think, in
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  Speaker 1: our vaunted freedom, I'm not going to submit to God.
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  Speaker 1: I'm free. You're not free, You're led. You're enslaved. When
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  Speaker 1: you're not obeying God and passions, we lose all sense
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  Speaker 1: of what right and true pleasures and desires are, and
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  Speaker 1: we are captured as slaves by the lowest and most
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  Speaker 1: base kinds sinful pleasures, and that winds us up passing
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  Speaker 1: our days in malice and envy. In other words, if
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  Speaker 1: you're all wrapped up in living entirely for sinful passions
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  Speaker 1: and sinful pleasures, nobody better get in your way, because
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  Speaker 1: you have nothing but malice towards people who get in
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  Speaker 1: your way. You're living for number one self and its
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  Speaker 1: immediate pleasures and passions, and if somebody crosses you, you're gonna
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  Speaker 1: cancel them out one way or the other. And envy
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  Speaker 1: means if they wind up succeeding, you're just gonna feel
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  Speaker 1: nothing but anger about their success. You're not gonna be
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  Speaker 1: happy about anybody's success if there's in any way a
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  Speaker 1: company of your pursuit of passions. Which is a despicable
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  Speaker 1: way to be and results in summing up with hating people.
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  Speaker 1: This is hateful. This is hateful. This is hateful when
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  Speaker 1: nobody else is included in your pleasures, because you're all
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  Speaker 1: wrapped up in seeking the pleasures of number one without
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  Speaker 1: finding any pleasure in doing good for others. So this
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  Speaker 1: is a despicable way to be, a hateful way to be,
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  Speaker 1: an anti God way to be. And Paul says, this
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  Speaker 1: is the way we were. And therefore let the fact
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  Speaker 1: that He saved us. He saved us. God looked at
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  Speaker 1: people like that, and if we can see it, he
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  Speaker 1: can see it a thousand times better, and in his
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  Speaker 1: gray mercy, he saved us. Therefore, how can we not
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  Speaker 1: treat each other with meekness, and do as many good
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  Speaker 1: works for other people as we can do