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Voddie Baucham - - The Shepherd Who Preaches · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: My assignment this evening is to address the issue of
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  Speaker 1: the shepherd who teaches, the shepherd who preaches. We already
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  Speaker 1: heard earlier today that that is our primary responsibility. That
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  Speaker 1: is what we do. That is who we are. We
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  Speaker 1: just preach because we can't help it. Woe to me
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  Speaker 1: if I do not preach. Amen? Amen. We want to.
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  Speaker 1: We yearn to. We sit out there. You sit out
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  Speaker 1: there and when you hear people up here preaching, you
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  Speaker 1: want to be up here preaching. Amen. I hope you
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  Speaker 1: do just want to be preaching every time you hear
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  Speaker 1: someone preaching because it's what we do. It's what we're
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  Speaker 1: called to. It's what God made us to do. I
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  Speaker 1: remember when I first announced to my pastor, I was
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  Speaker 1: a relatively new Christian. I didn't grow up in church.
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  Speaker 1: Never heard the gospel until my freshman year in college.
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  Speaker 1: I was raised by a single teenage Buddhist mother in drug-infested,
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  Speaker 1: gang-infested South Central Los Angeles, California. So here I was,
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  Speaker 1: relatively new believer, and I didn't understand all of the
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  Speaker 1: terminology that we have in the South. People talk about,
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  Speaker 1: you know, surrendering to preach and things of that nature,
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  Speaker 1: and I didn't know what that meant. Didn't think it
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  Speaker 1: sounded too good. Surrendering to preach. I mean, you know,
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  Speaker 1: maybe you surrendered to welding, but not, you know, preaching.
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  Speaker 1: I tried everything else I could. I guess I'll surrender
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  Speaker 1: to this. I wasn't surrendering. It was all I could
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  Speaker 1: think about. It was all I wanted. I just wanted
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  Speaker 1: to preach. And I went to my pastor, and I
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  Speaker 1: told my pastor, I said, Pastor, I believe God made
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  Speaker 1: me to be a preacher. And he pulled out his calendar.
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  Speaker 1: And he said, okay, third Sunday of next month, we'll
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  Speaker 1: all find out. God bless him. Our text tonight is
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  Speaker 1: a familiar one. It's in Titus chapter 1 and verse 9.
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  Speaker 1: Titus chapter 1 and verse 9. We find here these words.
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  Speaker 1: He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.
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  Speaker 1: So that he may be able to give instruction in
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  Speaker 1: sound doctrine. And also to rebuke those who contradict it.
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  Speaker 1: There it is in a nutshell. Holding firmly to sound doctrine.
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  Speaker 1: To the truth as taught. So that as a result
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  Speaker 1: of holding firmly to that truth. He will be able
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  Speaker 1: to exhort in sound doctrine and preach. refute those who
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  Speaker 1: contradict it. It sounds simple enough until you place it
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  Speaker 1: within the context or the broader context of the book
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  Speaker 1: of Titus. You then understand that the book of Titus
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  Speaker 1: is summarized for us in a thesis statement there in
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  Speaker 1: the introduction. Paul gives his greeting in chapter one, verse one,
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  Speaker 1: and he begins with Paul, a servant of God, and
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  Speaker 1: an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the
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  Speaker 1: faith of God's elect. And here's the key phrase, their
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness in hope
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  Speaker 1: of eternal life, which God who never lies promised before
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  Speaker 1: the ages began and at the proper time manifested in
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  Speaker 1: his word through the preaching with which I have been
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  Speaker 1: entrusted by the command of God, our savior. The thesis
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  Speaker 1: there is this balance between the truth that we preach
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  Speaker 1: and the fruit that it bears. Paul is writing this
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  Speaker 1: epistle to Crete, an area where the gospel has been
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  Speaker 1: under attack, where the gospel has been undermined, where the
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  Speaker 1: gospel has been maligned. We see that toward the end
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  Speaker 1: of the first chapter, and we'll talk about that momentarily.
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  Speaker 1: But there are false teachers in Crete. And the false
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  Speaker 1: teachers in Crete were not only saying things that were inaccurate,
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  Speaker 1: but their lives did not accord with the truth of
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  Speaker 1: the gospel. Anyone who reads Titus very carefully will wonder
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  Speaker 1: and scratch their head at how anyone can continue to
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  Speaker 1: persist in this myth that Paul is somehow at odds
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  Speaker 1: with James. Those who argue that what Paul is teaching
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  Speaker 1: about the gospel and about justification is different than what
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  Speaker 1: James is teaching about the gospel and about justification because
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  Speaker 1: of James' emphasis on works has not read very carefully
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  Speaker 1: the epistle to Titus. Because that is, in large part,
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  Speaker 1: his message. But it's not just about faith and works.
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  Speaker 1: Listen to this analysis. In 1 Timothy, Paul stresses sound doctrine.
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  Speaker 1: In Titus, he stresses worthy Christian conduct and insists that
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  Speaker 1: Christian conduct must be based and regulated by Christian truth.
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  Speaker 1: Nowhere else does Paul more forcefully urge the essential connection
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  Speaker 1: between evangelical truth and the purest morality than in this
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  Speaker 1: brief letter. Here, the basic truth of the gospel as
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  Speaker 1: displayed in the abiding glory of their saving and sanctifying appeal.
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  Speaker 1: The regenerating work of the Holy Spirit is the experiential
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  Speaker 1: basis for Christian conduct. So this truth that we teach
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  Speaker 1: is not just a truth that we teach in a vacuum.
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  Speaker 1: It's not just a truth that we teach so that
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  Speaker 1: people can have the information. It's a truth that we
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  Speaker 1: teach because it is the power of God unto salvation.
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  Speaker 1: And salvation does something not just in people's eternity, but
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  Speaker 1: salvation does something in people's here and now. Salvation utterly
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  Speaker 1: transforms who I am. It utterly transforms what I desire.
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  Speaker 1: It utterly transforms the way that I live. But if
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  Speaker 1: the gospel that I preach... is not the gospel that
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  Speaker 1: accords with that which has been provided and preserved for
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  Speaker 1: us by the apostles, then ultimately I get to a
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  Speaker 1: place where I am working toward that which only the
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  Speaker 1: gospel can produce, but trying to get there by illegitimate means.
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  Speaker 1: That's a problem. And so we see here that elders
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  Speaker 1: must hold to a truth that accords with godliness. This
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  Speaker 1: godliness is rooted in the gospel. It's not rooted in
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  Speaker 1: sheer behaviorism or behavioral transformation. It is rooted in the
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  Speaker 1: fact that when Christ saves a man, he transforms a man.
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  Speaker 1: It's anchored in apostolic authority. Notice what he says in
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  Speaker 1: verse 9. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word
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  Speaker 1: as taught. In other words, what we hold to is
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  Speaker 1: not just something that we make up on our own
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  Speaker 1: or something that works for us. What we hold to
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  Speaker 1: must be anchored in that which was taught, which was communicated,
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  Speaker 1: which was handed down by the apostles. In fact, this
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  Speaker 1: is why Titus has authority to do what Paul asked
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  Speaker 1: him to do. Notice in verse 5, this is why
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  Speaker 1: I left you in Crete, so that you might put
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  Speaker 1: what remains in order and appoint elders in every town
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  Speaker 1: as I directed you. Why on earth would Titus have
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  Speaker 1: the authority to appoint elders in Crete? Because the apostle
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  Speaker 1: Paul granted that authority to him. Why on earth would
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  Speaker 1: you and I have the authority to call men everywhere
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  Speaker 1: to repent? Because we are holding to the apostolic gospel.
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  Speaker 1: We are holding to it firmly. It is not our gospel.
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  Speaker 1: It is not our message. It is not our news.
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  Speaker 1: But the God who speaks has spoken. He has spoken
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  Speaker 1: through the word Jesus Christ. And he has spoken through
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  Speaker 1: the preservation of the message of Christ through the apostles.
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  Speaker 1: Turn with me, if you will, to the right and
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  Speaker 1: look at the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 2. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard,
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  Speaker 1: lest we drift away from it. For since the message
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  Speaker 1: declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression
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  Speaker 1: or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape
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  Speaker 1: if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared
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  Speaker 1: at first by the Lord and it was attested to
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  Speaker 1: us by those who heard, while God also bore witness
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  Speaker 1: by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts
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  Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. This
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  Speaker 1: is the authority of the apostolic message. The apostles and
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  Speaker 1: the prophets being the foundation upon which the church is built,
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  Speaker 1: upon which our message is built. So we are tethered.
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  Speaker 1: if you will. We are tied to a historical gospel.
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  Speaker 1: We are tied to that which actually occurred, that which
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  Speaker 1: was proclaimed, that which was reported, that which was recorded,
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  Speaker 1: and that which was preserved. Not only this, But we're
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  Speaker 1: shaped by this truth that accords with godliness. How ironic
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  Speaker 1: would it be for Paul to say that we must
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  Speaker 1: proclaim this truth that accords with godliness. However, it's not
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  Speaker 1: necessary that there be any fruit in your life that
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  Speaker 1: this truth has brought about any godliness. He does not
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  Speaker 1: engage in such irony. Notice with me, if you will,
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  Speaker 1: back in verse 6. Go to verse 5 again. This
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  Speaker 1: is why I left you in Crete, so that you
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  Speaker 1: might put what remained in order and appoint elders in
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  Speaker 1: every town as I directed you. If anyone is above reproach,
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  Speaker 1: the husband of one wife and his children are believers
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  Speaker 1: and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.
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  Speaker 1: I believe that's an unfortunate translation. It should not say
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  Speaker 1: his children are believers. It should say he has faithful children.
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  Speaker 1: There are several reasons that I would argue for that.
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  Speaker 1: For the sake of time, let me give this to
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  Speaker 1: you briefly. Firstly, because the root word that is used
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  Speaker 1: there is the same word that is used later in
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  Speaker 1: holding firm to the trustworthy word. Secondly, because Paul explains
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  Speaker 1: what he means right after he says it. Notice what
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  Speaker 1: he says. Above reproach, the husband and one wife, his children...
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  Speaker 1: are believers. I would say his children are faithful children.
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  Speaker 1: What do you mean by that, Paul? Not open to
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  Speaker 1: the charge of debauchery or insubordination. That's what he means
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  Speaker 1: by that. Thirdly, because it'd be a huge problem every
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  Speaker 1: time a new child was born into an elder's home.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes stuff's just simple. There's a fourth reason, and we'll
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  Speaker 1: get to that momentarily. For an overseer, as God's steward,
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  Speaker 1: must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or
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  Speaker 1: quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,
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  Speaker 1: but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.
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  Speaker 1: Then we get to our verse. But it's not just
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  Speaker 1: that he puts this character before he puts the teaching.
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  Speaker 1: That's not the only reason that we argue that he
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  Speaker 1: has to be shaped by this truth. We argue because
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  Speaker 1: of the frame that's around this paragraph. The first part
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  Speaker 1: of the frame we've already read. Paul is talking about
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  Speaker 1: their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness. Then
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  Speaker 1: he talks about the elder and he talks about his
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  Speaker 1: outward godliness. Then him holding to the truth. In the
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  Speaker 1: very next paragraph, he identifies the false teachers. And notice
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  Speaker 1: what he says in the last verse of that paragraph
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  Speaker 1: where he identifies the false teachers. They profess to know God,
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  Speaker 1: but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient,
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  Speaker 1: unfit for any good work. So they are the opposite
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  Speaker 1: of the individual who's qualified to be elder. Not because
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  Speaker 1: the individual who's qualified to be elder has had more
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  Speaker 1: behavioral modification, but because the truth to which he holds
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  Speaker 1: is actually the truth that transforms lives. Now, there's a
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  Speaker 1: ditch on both sides of the road here, especially as
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  Speaker 1: it relates to To the first part of these requirements
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  Speaker 1: in the elder's life is above reproach. The husband and wife,
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  Speaker 1: we usually don't have a problem with that one. His
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  Speaker 1: children are faithful children, not open to the charge of
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  Speaker 1: debauchery or insubordination. The ditch on the first side of
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  Speaker 1: the road is a ditch that says a man has
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  Speaker 1: complete control over the outcome in his children's lives. Folks,
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  Speaker 1: that's unrealistic. It's also deterministic, behavioristic, and naturalistic. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: it's unbiblical. That is simply not true. I do not
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  Speaker 1: have complete control over the outcome of my children's lives.
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  Speaker 1: And by the way, my children ought to be grateful
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  Speaker 1: for that. Amen? I'm grateful on their behalf. But there's
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  Speaker 1: a ditch on the other side of the road. The
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  Speaker 1: ditch on the other side of the road says a
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  Speaker 1: man has no control over what his children become. None whatsoever. Well,
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  Speaker 1: what's wrong with that? Well, first of all, it's fatalistic.
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  Speaker 1: And it is also unrealistic. But thirdly, it ignores the
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  Speaker 1: clear implication of this text. If a man has absolutely
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  Speaker 1: no control over any aspect of his children's lives, then
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  Speaker 1: why does Paul tell Titus to examine his children? Makes
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  Speaker 1: no sense, right? None whatsoever. One of the scariest passages
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  Speaker 1: in the entire Bible found in 1 Samuel 3, 10
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  Speaker 1: to 14. The Lord came and stood calling as at
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  Speaker 1: other times, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel said, speak for your
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  Speaker 1: servant hears. Then the Lord said to Samuel, behold, I
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  Speaker 1: am about to do a thing in Israel at which
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  Speaker 1: the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.
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  Speaker 1: On that day, I will fulfill against Eli all that
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  Speaker 1: I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end.
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  Speaker 1: And I declare to him that I am about to
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  Speaker 1: punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew.
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  Speaker 1: Because his sons were blaspheming God and he did not
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  Speaker 1: restrain them. I swear to the house of Eli that
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  Speaker 1: the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for
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  Speaker 1: by sacrifice or offering forever. Does this mean that Eli
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  Speaker 1: had some sort of deterministic control over his children's lives? No,
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  Speaker 1: absolutely not. But what does it mean? It means that
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  Speaker 1: you know the gospel, this gospel that has changed and
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  Speaker 1: transformed your life. And this gospel that has changed and
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  Speaker 1: transformed your life is the greatest gift that you could
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  Speaker 1: ever give to the children whom God brings into your home.
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  Speaker 1: So what do you do? You bathe them in the gospel.
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  Speaker 1: You shower them in the gospel. You lather them up
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  Speaker 1: with the gospel. Does it mean that they're automatically going
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  Speaker 1: to be saved? No. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't.
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  Speaker 1: But you command it. Bring up your children in the
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  Speaker 1: discipline and instruction of the Lord. And there is great
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  Speaker 1: hope in knowing that God blesses that. Deterministically, no. Absolutely not.
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  Speaker 1: But God blesses that. You see fruit as a result
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  Speaker 1: of that. Not only this. but his personal character. What
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  Speaker 1: shaped his personal character? In verses 7 and 8. It's
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  Speaker 1: Paul saying, here's what you look for. You look for
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  Speaker 1: guys who have exemplary personal character. And if those guys
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  Speaker 1: get saved, make them elders. Again, the knowledge of the
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  Speaker 1: truth which accords with with godliness. This is the fruit
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  Speaker 1: that the gospel bears in a man's life. Before I
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  Speaker 1: was converted, before you were converted, we knew how to behave.
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  Speaker 1: We knew how to impress people. Don't we hear people
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  Speaker 1: talk all the time about Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses or
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  Speaker 1: Muslims who have quote-unquote exemplary character, exemplary family lives, exemplary this, that,
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  Speaker 1: or the other? That's not Paul's point. Paul is not
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  Speaker 1: saying that you look for this list of behaviors in
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  Speaker 1: a man that has been foisted upon him by his culture.
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  Speaker 1: What Paul is saying is this gospel that I'm talking
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  Speaker 1: about that accords with holiness and And righteousness will take
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  Speaker 1: hold in a man's life. And when it does, you'll
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  Speaker 1: see it. And when it doesn't, you'll see it. We
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  Speaker 1: also communicate this truth. Thank you. That accords with sound
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  Speaker 1: or accords with godliness. Notice again our verse. He must
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  Speaker 1: hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that what?
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  Speaker 1: He may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine.
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  Speaker 1: Notice what it doesn't say. The man must have this
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  Speaker 1: character so that he can merely be a picture of
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  Speaker 1: good character. That's not where Paul goes. Paul talks about
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  Speaker 1: the character and then he comes to the truth. Why?
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  Speaker 1: Because it's the truth that produces the character. So he
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  Speaker 1: talks about the character, then comes to the truth. Then
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  Speaker 1: he talks about the man communicating the truth. Why is
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  Speaker 1: it important that he communicates the truth? Because that is
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  Speaker 1: the only thing that will produce in the life of
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  Speaker 1: God's people, the character which comes from the fruit of
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  Speaker 1: the gospel. There is no other hope for true godliness,
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  Speaker 1: for true holiness, for true righteousness, for true morality among
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  Speaker 1: our people. None whatsoever. This means that a man must
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  Speaker 1: place limits and restrictions on what he communicates. Hold firmly
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  Speaker 1: to the trustworthy word as taught. There is restraint there.
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  Speaker 1: We are not free to preach any and everything that
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  Speaker 1: we like. We hold firmly to the trustworthy word as
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  Speaker 1: taught so that we can communicate sound doctrine. This implies
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  Speaker 1: a passionate cherishing and pursuit of the gospel. Do you
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  Speaker 1: cherish the gospel? Do you pursue the gospel in your
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  Speaker 1: own life? Do you believe the gospel? Do you hold
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  Speaker 1: it dear in your own life? Or are you enamored
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  Speaker 1: with any and every fad that comes along? It also
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  Speaker 1: implies personal dependence and trust. Do you know how foul
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  Speaker 1: you are apart from the gospel? Have you any reservations
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  Speaker 1: whatsoever about who you really are deep down inside apart
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  Speaker 1: from the gospel? Do you ever have a woe is
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  Speaker 1: me moment? Do you ever have a who will save
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  Speaker 1: me from the body of this death moment? Do you
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  Speaker 1: ever have a moment where you honestly come before God
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  Speaker 1: and say, God, how can I still be preaching? How
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  Speaker 1: can I still be saved? I know you know what's
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  Speaker 1: in my mind. I know you know what's in my heart.
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  Speaker 1: I know you know what I fight with and what
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  Speaker 1: I struggle with. Do you come to that place or
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  Speaker 1: have you arrived?
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  Speaker 2: Arrived.
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  Speaker 1: And him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.
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  Speaker 1: You don't pass gospel 101 and go on to something else.
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  Speaker 1: You are utterly dependent upon the gospel until the day
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  Speaker 1: that you die and beyond. This also implies constant measuring
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  Speaker 1: and judging of what we teach against the standards of
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  Speaker 1: the gospel? Are you preaching the gospel? Do you make
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  Speaker 1: it a point to preach the gospel? This eliminates even
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  Speaker 1: the remotest possibility of replacing fidelity to the gospel with
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  Speaker 1: fidelity to trends and other things. Is it the gospel
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  Speaker 1: or church growth trends? Which is it? I am not
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  Speaker 1: saying that small churches are more holy or more righteous
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  Speaker 1: than large churches. There are ruined, evil, godless small churches. Amen, somebody.
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  Speaker 1: And there are evil, ruined, godless, big ones that go
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  Speaker 1: by the same name. That is not my point. But
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  Speaker 1: my point is what we trust in is the gospel. Psychology, self-help.
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  Speaker 1: What do you believe your people's greatest need is? Is
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  Speaker 1: their greatest need to look inside themselves and find answers?
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  Speaker 1: Is their greatest need to find five ways to do
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  Speaker 1: this or six ways to do that? Or is their
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  Speaker 1: greatest need to come to the end of themselves through
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  Speaker 1: the truth to which you hold, to the truth that's
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  Speaker 1: transformed your life, to the truth that you proclaim because
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  Speaker 1: you've got nothing better? Social gospel. Have you bought that
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  Speaker 1: lie that basically paints a picture of the church as
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  Speaker 1: no more than the glorified Red Cross? Have you bought
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  Speaker 1: that lie that measures the effectiveness of the church by
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  Speaker 1: what it does in the community? If I hear that
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  Speaker 1: one more time. That's a great church. They do so
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: many things in the community. You know what? Usually, and again, generalization,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: it's not always the case. But usually, it's been my
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: experience that when people say, that's a great church. They
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: do so many things in the community. You can't find
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the gospel there to save your life. Or more importantly,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: your soul.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: Moralism.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Do you believe that your people need moralism or the
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: gospel Entertainment? Do we believe that people need entertainment or
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: the gospel? We must communicate the content of the gospel.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Not just talk about the gospel or around the gospel,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: but we must communicate the content of the gospel. You
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: know what's amazing? There's a whole lot of gospel talk
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: going on right now, and that's a good thing. But
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: what I notice is that oftentimes with all the gospel talk,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: there's not a whole lot of gospel. Amen. We must
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: communicate the gospel. We must communicate to men that they
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: are lost in their sins because of the fall of
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: our first parent, Adam. They need to know that. You
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: are ruined. You don't just need to be improved. You
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: need to be made over. You can't get there from here.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: You're a sinner. They need to know that. They need
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: to hear that. God is just and righteous. And not
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: only does he judge theoretically, he's going to judge you
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: because of your sin, because of what you thought and
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: said and did. You should have died in your sleep
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: last night, but God gave you another day. You need
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: to beg him for forgiveness. Because you're ruined apart from Christ.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: And here's what you need to know. He died for
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: the sins that you committed. Not for his own, but
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: by his passive and active obedience. He purchased full and
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: complete righteousness that he might impute it to you. And
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: then took upon himself all of the guilt. That was
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: necessary as a propitiation to a righteous God whose wrath
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: must be poured out on sin. And it is only
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: when you acknowledge your sin, turn from your sin and
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: call on this Christ who died and apply that to
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: yourself that you have any hope of being saved. Our
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: people need to hear that until they get tired of it,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: and then they need to hear it a few more times.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: You know when you're preaching the gospel enough, when the
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: kids in your church start.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Going, I'm going to say, God, I'm going to say, God,
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: I'm going to say.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: That's all right. Because one day, by God's grace, it'll click.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: But not if you're not preaching the gospel. You see,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: holding firm to the trustworthy word as taught doesn't just
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: mean that we got a lot of theology books and
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: that we read them and study them. Doesn't mean that
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: we just know what the right thing to say is.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: but that we actually believe the gospel and preach the
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: gospel and believe it to be our greatest need and
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: our people's greatest need as well. We must preach the
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: gospel from all of Scripture. You know, I didn't get this.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: I'd say it was about six or seven years ago
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: when I got a letter that just changed my whole
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: world I got a letter from a lady, a Jewish lady,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: an Orthodox Jewish lady who had gotten a hold of
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: a sermon that I had preached from the Old Testament.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: And this Orthodox Jewish lady wrote me a letter raving
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: about my sermon and talking about how much she liked
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: my sermon. I'm sitting in my office in my house
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: and I'm just bawling. And my wife comes in and
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: she goes, what's the matter? And I'm holding this letter.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: She goes, oh, another one of those. I'm like, no,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: I don't cry over those. She said, what is it?
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: I said, a woman who loved my sermon. So what
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: is it? It's an Orthodox Jewish woman who heard me
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: preach and was not cut to the quick because I
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: did not preach the gospel. I preached for 45 minutes
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: and there was nothing there to offend a Jew who
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: does not believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: I didn't think there was anything wrong with it because
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: after all, hey, it's the Old Testament. We're either doing
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: a character study or it's Aesop's fables. Listen, you either...
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Believe that there's no gospel in the Old Testament and
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: don't preach it. Because why preach it if there's no
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: gospel there? Or you believe that all of the scripture
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: is Christian literature and that you can find the truth
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: of God's redemptive work in the person of Jesus Christ
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: all over its pages just like Jesus did. That's what
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: it means to hold firmly to this trustworthy word as taught.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: By the way, holding firmly to the trustworthy word as taught.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Who's writing this? The Apostle Paul. Who gave us the
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: majority of the New Testament. So before the majority of
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: the New Testament is given to us, this individual is
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: saying that Titus needs to be preaching the trustworthy word
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: as taught. Trustworthy word as taught from where? Ethiopian eunuch,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: what are you reading? I'm reading Isaiah. Excuse me, Isaiah. Well,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. Why don't you put that scroll
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: down and I'll preach to you something better. No, sir.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Starting from there, he preaches the gospel. Amen. Jesus walking
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: along the road to Emmaus, and these men are prevented
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: from knowing who he is, and they're all distraught. What's
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: the matter, boys? And they ask him one of the
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: most ironic questions, if not the most ironic question in
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: all of the Bible. Are you the only man in
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: Jerusalem who doesn't know what's happened here over the last
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: few days? Folks, if you ever need a proof text
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: for people who don't believe that Jesus is God, you
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: just take them right there. Because if Jesus is not divine,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: at that moment he loses it and he does not
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: continue the conversation. At that moment he goes, actually boys,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: I'm the only one in town who does know what happened.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: But what does he accuse them of? Being so slow
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: to believe. What? The prophets. What did he tell the Pharisees?
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: You need to believe Moses. Moses wrote of me. He
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: holding firmly to the trustworthy word as taught. It's about
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: preaching the gospel because the gospel is all we have,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: whether we're on the left side of the book or
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: the right side of the book. We got nothing else.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Paul's emphasis makes it clear that this must also include
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: the implications of the gospel. Notice what he says in
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: chapter 2, verses 11 through 14. And watch what he does.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: It's the same thing that he does in chapter 1.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: He says, beginning in verse 11, for the grace of
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: God has appeared, there's this proclamation, bringing salvation for all people. Amen, hallelujah,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: praise the Lord, gospel time. Training us to renounce godlessness
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: Now here we go again for what he does. Waiting
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: up for us. Well, now we went back into the
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: teaching of the gospel again, right? Right? Now watch what
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: he does. To redeem us from all lawlessness and to
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: purify for himself a people for his own possession who
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: are zealous for good works. That's what happens when the
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: gospel gets a hold of you. You are not the
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: same and you are zealous for good works. There's a
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: final piece. The elders also refute those who deny the
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: gospel and its implications. That's when we get to the
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: false teachers. They deny the content of the gospel, but
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: they also deny the implications of the gospel. And that's important.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: You don't separate these. That's Paul's message throughout. If you
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: look throughout, he goes back and forth between who Christ
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: is and what he's done and what he produces in
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: his people. Who Christ is and what he's done and
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: what he produces in his people. What does he say
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: about the older men? The older men are to be.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: The older women are to be. Why? So that they
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: might train, so that they might teach. What are they teaching?
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: They're teaching these younger women to be something. Why are
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: they teaching them to be something? So that the word
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: of God may not be reviled. What do you teach servants?
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: You teach servants how to be, how to live. Why?
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: You're upholding the teaching. Show yourself to be an example,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: even in your speech. Why? Why? so our opponents won't
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: have anything to say against us. There's no either or here.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: There is a both and. This is about the gospel
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: and what the gospel produces in the life of his people.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Why is this important? Because if you don't believe this,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: you won't preach the gospel. If you don't believe this,
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: then here's what you believe. You believe the gospel saves us.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: But that beyond that, when our lives need to be transformed,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: we need something else. And so what do we do?
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: We preach the gospel when we feel like people need
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: to be saved. But beyond that, we preach moralism. Because
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: what they need is rules to live by. That's where
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: you get to this. Pretty sure I got some lost
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: friends coming to church next week. You going to preach
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: the gospel? God forbid that that question should ever be asked. Why?
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: Because your lost friend needs the gospel, but so do you.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: And I got nothing better to give you. Do you
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: believe that? Do you believe that you've got absolutely nothing
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: better to give anyone than the gospel? So you refute
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: those who contradict it. You refute those who contradict it
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: in what they teach, and you refute those who contradict
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: it in the way that they live. This is not new,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: by the way. Listen to what Jude says. Beloved, although
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: I was very eager to write to you about our
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: appealingly to you to contend for the faith that was
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: once for all delivered to the saints. There's the content.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: were designated for this condemnation. Ungodly people who do what? One,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: pervert the grace of our God into sensuality. And two,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. You never
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: get one without the other. You never get one without
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: the other. Why? Because you can't promote lawlessness without demeaning Jesus.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: And you can't promote righteousness, true righteousness, without preaching Jesus.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: He is our righteousness. Not just the example for us
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: to follow, though he is every bit of that, but
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: if all he is is an example for us to follow,
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: then I believe that I have something in and of
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: myself that can do it. And I cannot. I am
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: in desperate need of Christ. I am reminded of this.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: I'm reminded of this every time I look at verses
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: 5 through 8. Am I in and of myself a
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: husband worthy of eldership? Absolutely not. Am I in and
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: of myself a father worthy of eldership? Absolutely not. Am
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: I in and of myself a man who has character
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: worthy of eldership? Absolutely not. Am I in and of
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: myself a man who has something to give, to communicate,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: to teach to people that is worthy of eldership? Absolutely not.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: but because of the gospel. By the grace of God,
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: I am. men we must teach we have to because
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: truth be told we've got nothing else worth giving we
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: must hold firmly relentlessly, doggedly to the trustworthy word as taught,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: not as modified, as taught so that we will be
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: able to exhort in sound doctrine. That's our job. When
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: I understand that that's what I need, it's easier for
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: me to understand that that's what my people need and
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: to refute those who contradict it. In this last part,
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: there are those who get uncomfortable. And one of the
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: reasons they get uncomfortable is because of the 11th commandment.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: The 11th commandment is a uniquely American commandment. I don't
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: know if you guys have it in Italy. But the
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: 11th commandment is, thou shalt be nice. Don't know if
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: you knew that or not, but that's the 11th commandment.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: And unfortunately, since people don't believe in the 10 commandments,
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: all we have left is the 11th commandment. Thou shalt
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: be nice. And because of that, we get a little
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: gun shy. We get a little weary. And we don't
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: take our stand against those who are against the gospel.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: Either one of two things causes that. One, we don't
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: love the gospel enough to defend it. I don't want
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: to believe that. Or two, somebody has actually convinced us
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: that loving the sheep enough to protect them by warning
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: them when they're being lied to and led to something
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: other than the pastures that satisfy and the streams of
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: living water is somehow an unacceptable undertaking for us. Nothing
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: could be further from the truth. I'm not saying you
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: gotta be mean and nasty to people. But know this,
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: no matter how nice you are, the mere fact of
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: pointing out error will make you mean and nasty in
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: the minds of those who hold to the 11th commandment.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: You don't have to be unduly offensive. or unnecessarily offensive. Folks,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: the gospel is more than offensive enough. But we must
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: refute those who contradict. Why? Here's why I believe it's
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: so important. In our day and in our culture, every
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: bit as much as in Crete, there are those who
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: deny both the content of the gospel and its implications.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: In our culture, there are those who stand and preach
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: before thousands who preach another gospel. And our people need
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: to be warned. In our culture, there are those who
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: have books published all over the place that absolutely deny
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: and undermine the gospel. And our people need to be
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: warned about these wolves. But in our culture, there are
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: also those who undermine the gospel while claiming to uphold
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: it by calling forth lifestyles that are abominations before God
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: and saying that true gospel thinking and true gospel living
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: looks beyond those sins. Those things must be refuted.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: Why must they be refuted?
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: Why must they be refuted? Because we must hold fast
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: to the trustworthy word as taught so that we might
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: be able to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: who contradict. If you need more reason than that, I
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: can't help you. Because if you need more reason than that,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: then you're saying that this is not enough. And if
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: this is not enough, there's nothing in here that ever
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: will be or can be. Let's pray. Father, we are
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: woefully inept and inadequate And yet, by your grace, you
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: call those things that be not as though they are.
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: By your grace, you take woefully inept and inadequate men
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: and not only save them, but transform them by the
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: power of the gospel. Amen. And beyond that, call men
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: to preach that same gospel. Not because of anything in us,
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: but because of Christ and what he has done for
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: us and through us. Grant by your grace that we
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: might trust this truth, that we might cling to this truth,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: that we might pursue it relentlessly. Grant by your grace
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: that we might believe that there is nothing beyond, above,
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: or better than the truth to which we hold. That
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: we might believe that we have nothing more significant to
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: preach about, to teach about, to talk about, or to
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: give to your people. Lord, we are grateful for this
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: gospel that calls forth a community of faith, righteousness, holiness,
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: without which no man will see God. Grant by your
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: grace that we might preach it faithfully, passionately, clearly, repeatedly, authoritatively, unapologetically,
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: and unambiguously. And grant that we might do this because
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: we are indeed convinced that it is more than enough.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: This we pray in Christ's name. Amen.