Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Paul’s Aim Faith Leading to Truth and Godliness Titus 1:1–4, Part 5

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Paul’s Aim Faith Leading to Truth and Godliness Titus 1:1–4, Part 5 · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: This is our fifth session on Titus one one four Paul,
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  Speaker 1: a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: for the sake of the faith of God's elect and
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of the truth which accords with Godliness. Father, I
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  Speaker 1: pray that as we try to understand the relationship between
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  Speaker 1: faith and election, as we try to understand how that
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  Speaker 1: leads on to the knowledge of truth and that leads
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  Speaker 1: on to Godliness, would you grant us to experience this
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  Speaker 1: reality of sequence, this reality of cause and effect, by
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  Speaker 1: your work of word and spirit in our lives. I
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  Speaker 1: pray this in Jesus name. Amen. We saw last time
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  Speaker 1: that even though there is a profound doctrine of election
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  Speaker 1: of God's people before the foundation of the world, nobody
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  Speaker 1: comes to faith apart from hearing the word of God,
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  Speaker 1: and that faith is a product of election, leading God
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  Speaker 1: to cause Paul through his preaching, to live for the
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  Speaker 1: sake of the faith of the elect. We saw it
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  Speaker 1: in Acts thirteen forty eight, and when the Gentiles heard this,
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  Speaker 1: they began rejoicing in glory, glorifying the word of the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: And as many as we're appointed to eternal life, that's election.
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  Speaker 1: As many as we're appointed to eternal life believed. So
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  Speaker 1: the believing this faith is from election. But they must
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  Speaker 1: hear the gospel, and when they hear the Gospel, the
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  Speaker 1: elect eventually, sooner or later, are changed by the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: to believe. Here's John ten twenty five to twenty six,
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  Speaker 1: the words of Jesus. Jesus answered them, I told you,
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  Speaker 1: and you do not believe the works that I do
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  Speaker 1: in my father's name. Bear witness about me. But you
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  Speaker 1: do not believe because you're not among my sheep. You're
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  Speaker 1: not elect. And he's putting them in their place because
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  Speaker 1: they think they are of their own sovereign, self determining
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  Speaker 1: will frustrating the plans of God, and they're not. So.
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  Speaker 1: The point so far is that Paul knows he's a
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  Speaker 1: slave of God. He knows he's called to be a spokesman,
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  Speaker 1: an authoritative preacher of Jesus Christ for the sake of
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  Speaker 1: bringing about faith and sustaining faith in God's elect. Then
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  Speaker 1: it appears that this knowledge of the truth follows from
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  Speaker 1: that profound work of the spirit based on election, bringing
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  Speaker 1: about faith. And I say that because if you look
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  Speaker 1: at connection in for Timothy II, it goes like this.
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  Speaker 1: This is good and it is this praying for leaders
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  Speaker 1: so that we have peace is good and is pleasing
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  Speaker 1: in the sight of God, our savior, who desires all
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  Speaker 1: people to be saved and to come to a knowledge
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  Speaker 1: of the truth. That's the exact phrase that we have
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  Speaker 1: here in Titus one come to a knowledge of the truth,
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  Speaker 1: so be saved leads on it appears to a knowledge
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  Speaker 1: of the truth, which is confirmed in two Timothy two.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone,
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  Speaker 1: able to teach patiently, enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.
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  Speaker 1: God may perhaps grant them repentance. So God may grant
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  Speaker 1: them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. So
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  Speaker 1: this repentance is the flip side of this faith. And
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  Speaker 1: I'm suggesting that since the repentance leads on unto a
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of the truth, which is the very same phrase
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  Speaker 1: that we have here, that's what's going on here as well.
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  Speaker 1: So I know that there's knowledge of the truth one
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  Speaker 1: must have in order to have faith in Jesus. That
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  Speaker 1: just doesn't appear to be the point here. The point
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  Speaker 1: here seems to be that there is a richness of
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  Speaker 1: a healthy doctrine as it's called in this letter that
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  Speaker 1: you can move toward once you have come to faith
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  Speaker 1: as God's elect and the nature of that truth, you
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  Speaker 1: get it right if it leads you to Godliness. Paul
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  Speaker 1: cares nothing for abstract truth. That is the gamesmanship of
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  Speaker 1: the false teachers, who are just playing with endless controversies,
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  Speaker 1: endless genealogies, endless intrigues, and never landing anywhere with a
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  Speaker 1: firm transforming effect. This is the kind of truth that
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  Speaker 1: true faith leads to. Faith based on election leads to
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  Speaker 1: a knowledge of the truth, and the kind of truth
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  Speaker 1: it leads to you, or the kind of knowledge of
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  Speaker 1: truth that it leads to, is in accord with Godliness.
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  Speaker 1: What is godliness? The word you sebia literally means a
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  Speaker 1: well directed reverence for God sebaiah reverence you well, a
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  Speaker 1: well directed reverence for God. It is first and foremost
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  Speaker 1: an internal devotion, allegiance to admiration of esteem for trembling
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  Speaker 1: reverence of God. But it's more than internal. And I
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  Speaker 1: say that because of several texts in the pastoral life.
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  Speaker 1: For example, here's one Timothy six. This lover of money
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  Speaker 1: has an unhealthys our craving for controversy and for quarrels
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  Speaker 1: about words which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil, suspicions, constant
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  Speaker 1: friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived
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  Speaker 1: of the truth, imagining that godliness, there's our word, is
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  Speaker 1: a means of gain. Now, how in the world would
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  Speaker 1: godliness be a means of gain making money off of godliness?
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  Speaker 1: If it were merely internal, you couldn't do it. Nobody
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  Speaker 1: could see it, you couldn't make any money with it.
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  Speaker 1: So godliness is an internal, well directed reverence for God,
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  Speaker 1: manifest in let's say, first religious activity. I'm thinking of
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  Speaker 1: things like worship, going to worship, reading your Bible, praying,
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  Speaker 1: speaking and conversing about holy things. It comes out in piety,
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  Speaker 1: it's sometimes called and so if a person can show
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  Speaker 1: enough external piety, somebody might pay him to pray for
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  Speaker 1: them or something like that. Or here's another illustration of
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  Speaker 1: its external dimension in two Timothy three. Indeed, all who
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  Speaker 1: desire to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted. Well,
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  Speaker 1: how would anybody persecute you if they couldn't see your godliness?
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  Speaker 1: So godliness is a kind of outworking of the internal
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  Speaker 1: devotion and reverence and piety that is visible enough to
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  Speaker 1: make people angry about it. One example might be Daniel
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  Speaker 1: praying in his window. More than likely, however, it refers
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  Speaker 1: to good works. And I say that because of this
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  Speaker 1: text in one Timothy, women should adorn themselves in respectable appareil,
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  Speaker 1: with modesty self control, not with braided hair, gold pearls,
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  Speaker 1: costly attire, but with what is proper for women who
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  Speaker 1: profess godliness, namely through good works. It's going to show
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  Speaker 1: itself through good works. And the tremendous emphasis on zeal
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  Speaker 1: for good works in Titus inclines me to think that
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  Speaker 1: when he in the very first verse says, my ministry
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  Speaker 1: as a slave and an apostle is for a faith
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  Speaker 1: and its consequent knowledge, the kind of knowledge of truth
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  Speaker 1: that produces godliness. He's saying, this is the point of
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  Speaker 1: the book. I want to be used by God to
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  Speaker 1: produce godly people, both internally and externally. And I'll just
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  Speaker 1: end with this reference to what Jesus said about the
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  Speaker 1: effect of truth. In this way, Jesus said to the
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  Speaker 1: Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word,
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  Speaker 1: you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth.
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  Speaker 1: So there's knowledge of the truth. You will know the truth,
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  Speaker 1: which is what he's talking about here in Titus, a truth,
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of truth leading to godliness. And here's what it
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  Speaker 1: leads to in the mouth of Jesus. You will know
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  Speaker 1: the truth, and the truth will set you free, free
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  Speaker 1: from what read on. They answered him, we're offspring of
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  Speaker 1: Abraham and have never been slaved to anyone. How is
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  Speaker 1: it that you say will become free? And Jesus answered
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  Speaker 1: them truly, Truly, I say to you, everyone who practices
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  Speaker 1: sin is the slave of sin. That's what you get
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  Speaker 1: freed from if you know the truth of Christ, which
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  Speaker 1: is what Paul means here when he says, I exist
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  Speaker 1: in my ministry for the sake of a faith rooted
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  Speaker 1: in election that leads to a knowledge of truth that
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  Speaker 1: sets people free from sin and makes them godly. And
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  Speaker 1: that's what the rest of this letter is really about.