Completing the Conquest

Joshua 11-12, “Completing the Conquest”
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Introduction:
Thus far in Joshua we’ve encountered some pretty exciting battles: the walls falling at Jericho – the defeat & ambush of Ai – the routing of the 5-kingdom confederacy, the sun standing still in the sky, and more. Tonight we get one more battle & things will slow down a bit in the next several chapters as we see the allotment of the land given to the various Israelite tribes.

The battle we do see is immense…as if all the other battles Israel had faced up to this point had been a dress rehearsal. That’s not unlike how our walk with Christ is & how we face battles against sin & temptation. We’re cruising along, learning to fight the little battles – when out of nowhere comes a massive attack from the enemy & a temptation to go back to doing things in our power rather than the Lord’s. Just as that would be a mistake with us, it’d be one with Israel…and (at least this time) they do things the right way starting out. They wait for the word of God & act upon His promises.

Joshua 11 (NKJV)
1 And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor heard these things, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph, 2 and to the kings who were from the north, in the mountains, in the plain south of Chinneroth, in the lowland, and in the heights of Dor on the west, 3 to the Canaanites in the east and in the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite in the mountains, and the Hivite below Hermon in the land of Mizpah. 4 So they went out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots. 5 And when all these kings had met together, they came and camped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

A. Israel had just got done fighting one alliance of nations (city-states)…now they were facing another one. Except this one was a lot bigger than 5 against one – by the time the armies were assembled, Israel was in trouble. They faced “as many people as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots…” The Jewish historian Josephus asserts that there were 300,000 soldiers, 10,000 cavalry troops, and 20,000 chariots – talk about overwhelming!

B. What do we do when we face overwhelming odds? Maybe we’re hit with a job loss and a major house repair at the same time – how do we deal with the stress? Maybe we’ve gotten to a point with some kind of recurring besetting sin that we think we’ve actually got a handle of things & then circumstances spin out of control & we’re faced with massive temptation – what do we do? [] In Israel’s case, the Scripture is silent on how they faced these odds. There’s no mention of prayer or fasting or seeking the Lord…but at the same time, there’s also no mention of acting out in their flesh or seeking poor counsel. Sometimes when we’re overwhelmed we don’t necessarily know how to react the right way – but there’s much wisdom in just waiting on the Lord if we know all the other ways are wrong.
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6 But the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.”

A. To proceed in the flesh would have been suicide for Israel…but to proceed in the Lord is walking in faith. This has often been the pattern…when Moses tried to free the Hebrews in his flesh, he ended up killing a man & running for his life. God sent him back in the power of the spirit & Moses did something even more bold (give demands unto Pharaoh!) – but instead of living in fear, Moses was proceeding in the faith of God. Same thing with the Red Sea: by the accounting of man, it was foolish to end up trapped between the Egyptian army & the beach – but in the eyes of God, it was just patience in waiting for His miracle. [] For Joshua, imagine the relief he must have felt to receive this word from the Lord. No longer would he be facing a suicidal battle; he’d be walking in faith in the victory that God had already promised.

B. How to face down overwhelming odds? First, when you’re doing things God’s way – don’t be afraid. [] God gives us many things in the Body of Christ, but fear isn’t one of them. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. [] When we start experiencing fear as a result of our circumstances, the 1st thing we can be assured of is that fear didn’t come from the Lord – and that should give us hope & confidence to start seeking the Lord again in faith.

C. Second, when you’re doing things God’s way, He’s the One doing the work. God would “deliver all of them slain before Israel”…the wording almost makes it seem as if all Israel would have to do is show up & they’d see a battlefield full of dead enemies. Obviously God was still calling Israel to fight, but He Himself was the One responsible for their power & victory…Israel simply had to show up.
__a. Keep in mind that all of our battles are foundationally spiritual battles – we do not battle against flesh & blood, but principalities & powers (Eph 6:12). And when it comes to spiritual issues such as sin & spiritual attack, Jesus has already won the victory – that was proven at the Resurrection & with His ascension. Thus we fight from victory; not for victory. We simply show up in the power of the Spirit, standing on the word of God, trusting in God to be true to His promises.
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7 So Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly by the waters of Merom, and they attacked them. 8 And the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and chased them to Greater Sidon, to the Brook Misrephoth, and to the Valley of Mizpah eastward; they attacked them until they left none of them remaining. 9 So Joshua did to them as the LORD had told him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

A. As with the previous battle (Ch 10:9), Joshua & the Israelites take the enemy army by surprise… They defeat them in battle & pursue them to their utter destruction. [MAP] Exactly what the Lord said would happen happened. Go figure.

B. Why hamstring the horses? Couldn’t the Israelites have adopted them as their own – like taking their weapons & put them into their own arsenal? From a human point of view, that would have made a lot of sense… From a spiritual point of view, it would have been exactly the wrong strategy! They were fighting a spiritual battle & God was the one fighting for them. For them to take the enemy’s horses & chariots would have been like using the enemy’s tools to fight the Lord’s battles…
__a. Ultimately, this comes down to an issue of trust. Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God. [] Do we trust God to be sufficient in Himself with whatever promises He’s given? Is His word true? Or does He need help from us & whatever methods we think best? Take political issues for example…there’s nothing necessarily wrong with petitions & phone campaigns, etc. Christians & non-Christians alike use them with great success. The problem comes in when it’s the only method of activism we’re using, when the 1st things we ought to be doing is praying & sharing the gospel… When people’s hearts are changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, their actions will follow.
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10 Joshua turned back at that time and took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor was formerly the head of all those kingdoms. 11 And they struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was none left breathing. Then he burned Hazor with fire.

A. Remember the city of Hazor was the instigator behind all this – Joshua completely destroys the city & burns it with fire…
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12 So all the cities of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua took and struck with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. 13 But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only, which Joshua burned. 14 And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock, the children of Israel took as booty for themselves; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they left none breathing.

A. Why didn’t Joshua destroy the other cities? Because Israel was supposed to live in them! That was part of the promise of God – that they’d live in houses they didn’t build & harvest vineyards they didn’t plant (Deut 6:11)…they were inheriting a home; not a barren wasteland.
__a. We need to keep the same thing in mind when we think of the Promised Land as our salvation & walk in Christ (as per Heb 4). Sometimes the Christian walk is made out to be some sort of legalistic list that no one would want to take part in (Do this; don’t do that…) – but we weren’t given a wasteland of a life by God; we were given a glorious life in the Spirit! It’s not a matter of being jealous for the things that were killing us in the past – it’s the joy & privilege of living as a child of God today. Keep in mind the Hebrews were supposed to keep the houses; not the high places & idolatrous altars from before. The life we have in Christ we ought to enjoy in Christ – we have the wonderful privilege and invitation to worship God in spirit & truth – to pray directly to Him without any interference – to give glory to Him through our lips & our actions – to walk in the power & joy of the Spirit. There’s nothing ‘barren’ about the Christian life…God has given us an inheritance not just for the future, but for today!

B. The people were utterly destroyed. Was this just? Absolutely – it was the justice of God. They had filled up on the measure of their wrath & God used Israel as His instrument to pour it out upon them. As harsh as this may look from a 21st Century mindset, this was the will of God – and thus we can trust that the Judge of all the earth always does right.
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15 As the LORD had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.

A. Joshua did everything God had told him to do: he brought the people into the land – he had faith in the Lord – he fought the battles – he divided the land among Israel…truly Joshua was faithful. Keep in mind that Joshua is in many ways a type (foreshadowing) of the Lord Jesus. If Joshua was faithful in everything God had commanded him to do, we can be assured that Jesus was even more so! Jesus did everything God wanted Him to do (John 5:19), and keeps everyone God calls Him to keep (John 6:39). Our salvation (rest – inheritance) is absolutely complete in Jesus Christ because it’s absolutely dependent on Jesus Christ & He is absolutely faithful!

B. Does that mean there wasn’t work for Joshua & Israel to do? No – Just because they were in the land didn’t mean that Israel was supposed to sit on their hands & become couch potatoes – and as Judges proves, they didn’t get off the couch near enough!
__a. We receive new life in Christ – praise God! But as long as we draw breath, we will always be engaged in a battle against sin. The Lord Jesus paid the price for it at the cross & won the victory in the resurrection – our battle has nothing to do with the penalty of sin (that work has already been fully accomplished). Our ongoing battle has to do with dealing with the dead body of sin that remains with us as long as we live in these fleshly fallen bodies. [Paul’s struggle in Rom 7] Romans 7:23-25 (23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (24) O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (25) I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. [] Never give up the fight against sin! We don’t fight against it due to guilt or condemnation (because there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus – Rom 8:1); we fight against it because it’s dead to us & we have something so much better to live for – Christ! And to settle for anything less than the life He has for us is to settle for 2nd best.
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16 Thus Joshua took all this land: the mountain country, all the South, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, and the Jordan plain—the mountains of Israel and its lowlands, 17 from Mount Halak and the ascent to Seir, even as far as Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings, and struck them down and killed them. 18 Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.

A. Summary of the general conquest…

B. God did give huge decisive quick victories to Israel; but they weren’t all that way. With these kings, “Joshua made war a long time…” Scholars estimate the time based on the accounts of Caleb’s age (listed in Ch 14:7,10)…he was 40 years old at the time of the spying at Kadesh – 38 years in the wandering – 85 y.o. at the end of the conquest…makes for a 7 year total conquest. (Interesting prophetically…) However long it was, it was a long time with hard fought-out battles along the way.
__a. Are we ready for a long war against the flesh in the power of the Spirit? I praise God for the testimonies of people who get saved & then never struggle a day against their previous besetting sin…but those testimonies are far & few in-between. Most of us experience what Israel did…there are massive victories that are only due to the miraculous intervention of God – and then there are longer drawn out battles in sweat & tears clinging to the promises in His word.
__b. That’s not to be scary or depressing – simply real life. But we need to remember that in all of this, we’re never alone. Jesus never leaves us to fight these battles out by ourselves. He sent us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to abide with us forever (John 14:6) – the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us (Rom 8:26) – Jesus Himself constantly makes intercession for us (Rom 8:34) – and He promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:15).
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19 There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. All the others they took in battle. 20 For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that He might destroy them, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

A. Not even Gibeon should have received peace from Israel [review]… But it’s interesting that no other nations even bothered asking for peace. They simply weren’t interested in anything other than fighting against the people of God at all costs.

B. Why? God hardened their hearts. This is the same word & phrasing used of Pharaoh when Moses repeatedly asked for the Hebrews’ freedom. Throughout the 9 plagues, Pharaoh would appear to relent, but his heart was hardened. At first, the Scripture makes it clear that Pharaoh heart was hardened on his own (Exo 7:13, 22, 8:15, etc) – but over time, Scripture also makes it clear that God hardened his heart (Exo 9:12).

C. To many of us, this starts to get into some tricky territory. After all, if God hardened their heart, how can we say that God gave them the opportunity to repent? I suggest that those are two separate questions.
__i. Did God give them the opportunity to repent? YES! It was 400 years earlier to Abraham that He first mentioned the iniquity of the inhabitants of the land & said at that point that the “iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Gen 15:16). They had 4 centuries to repent! The fact God waited for so long only goes to show His mercy…
__ii. Did God have the right to harden their hearts? Yes…He’s God. Because He is God, in some senses He is wholly unlike us & has rights we do not have. Part of His rights include to harden some & show mercy to others. But let us beware that we do not accuse God of wrongdoing – as with the Amorites & with Pharaoh, His hardening only serves to showcase His far greater mercy. Romans 9:14-17 (14) What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! (15) For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” (16) So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. (17) For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” []
__iii. “So where does free-will come in?” The same place it always does. Simply because God hardens some does not change the reach of the gospel in the slightest. He still is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9), and there’s no indication that this promise is any less true for Pharaoh or the Amorites than it is for us. Our hearts are already hard due to sin – and in Pharaoh’s case (at least) we know he hardened his heart 1st. God simply completed the work Pharaoh had already begun.
____i. Whatever the case, we can be assured that God is good – that He’s merciful – that He desires men to repent – that He’s made provision for men to repent through Christ – and that He’s given witness of Himself through creation, conscience, & the Scripture. The workings beyond that of what actually takes place in a person’s heart prior to salvation is a mystery & reserved for God to know…and that’s ok. God is God; we’re not.
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21 And at that time Joshua came and cut off the Anakim from the mountains: from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel; Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. 22 None of the Anakim were left in the land of the children of Israel; they remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod. 23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war.

A. Who were the Anakim? The reason Israel balked from entering the land the 1st time. When the 12 spies went into the land, they complained that the children of Anak were giants & the Hebrews were like grasshoppers in their sight (Num 13:33). Now after all this time, Joshua & the Hebrews come in the power of God & wipe these guys out like they could have done 40 years before.
__a. Interestingly, the Anakim remained in Gaza & Gath – the lands that became home to the Philistines. Who was the giant warrior from Gath who fought for the Philistines? Goliath.

B. Did Joshua really take the whole land? Yes – scholars will argue about the extent of land promised & whether or not Israel ever took every single square inch, but as a whole, Joshua did take the whole land. Every part of the land that God commanded Joshua to go into, he went into & claimed a victory. The individual tribes were supposed to take it from there & complete the task in their individual inheritance.
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Joshua 12 (NKJV)
1 These are the kings of the land whom the children of Israel defeated, and whose land they possessed on the other side of the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the River Arnon to Mount Hermon, and all the eastern Jordan plain:

A. Going to list out the various kings & lands defeated by God through Israel…starts with the kings defeated by Moses; moves on to Joshua. (Quick)
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2 One king was Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon and ruled half of Gilead, from Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, from the middle of that river, even as far as the River Jabbok, which is the border of the Ammonites, 3 and the eastern Jordan plain from the Sea of Chinneroth as far as the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), the road to Beth Jeshimoth, and southward below the slopes of Pisgah.

A. Review: (Num 21) Sihon had refused passage to the Hebrews through his land, as had Edom & Moab before him. However, Sihon wasn’t under the protection of God & had no family relation to Israel. This was Israel’s 1st taste of victory in the promised land.
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4 The other king was Og king of Bashan and his territory, who was of the remnant of the giants, who dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 5 and reigned over Mount Hermon, over Salcah, over all Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maachathites, and over half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.

A. Review: (Num 21) Og was next on the list & apparently didn’t even get a chance to refuse Israel if he had wanted to. God simply delivered their army into the hands of Israel. Both Sihon and Og were crucial 1st battles for Israel as they learned to trust the Lord & walk in His power & victory.
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6 These Moses the servant of the LORD and the children of Israel had conquered; and Moses the servant of the LORD had given it as a possession to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

A. Tribes that settled on the east side of the Jordan. They truly did “settle” because they saw that the land was good for the livestock, but they were stopping short of what God truly had intended for them.
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7 And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel conquered on this side of the Jordan, on the west, from Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon as far as Mount Halak and the ascent to Seir, which Joshua gave to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their divisions, 8 in the mountain country, in the lowlands, in the Jordan plain, in the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the South— the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: (vs. 9-24 list 31 kings conquered by Israel)

A. Quite a list! Why the details? After all, all these kings are lost to history. That’s the point. At the time, they most definitely were NOT lost to history – they were the powerhouses in Canaan, and going down the list of names, it’s obvious that God miraculously took the land from their hands and gave it to Israel. We may not know their names, but the people around them at the time certainly did. But for today – who’s still here? When was the last time you met a citizen of Aphek? Or Tirzah? They’re gone – God judged them. But to name a Jew is easy. Even before the nation of Israel was re-established, the Jewish people never died out…God kept them and preserved them through the centuries as a testimony to His covenant and His power.

Conclusion:
Congratulations Joshua! The land has been conquered. The very thing that they’ve been working towards for close to 50 years has finally come to pass: they now have a home of their own.

So how did they get there?
A. It was a sovereign work of God. He had judged the inhabitants of the land for their sin, hardened their hearts, and had miraculously delivered the land into the hands of His people.
B. It was a completed work of God. Everything He had commanded Joshua to do, He had enabled Joshua to do – not a single thing was left undone.
C. It was an ongoing work of God’s people, empowered by God. The land was theirs, but there would be pockets of Canaanites who remained for years. Unless God’s people continued to do things God’s way, their enemies would continue to plague them (which historically, is exactly what happened).

How similar it is to our own salvation & walk with Christ!
A. It is a sovereign work of God. God alone sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins – raised Him from the dead – draws us to Christ through the gospel – convicts us of sin, righteousness & judgment through the Spirit – and gives us the faith needed to respond to the gospel. We are not absolved of the responsibility to respond to His glorious offer, but our salvation is completely due to His work & not our own.
B. It is a completed work of God. When Jesus hung on the cross, He declared “It is finished!” Not a single ounce of effort more was needed for salvation – as the hymn declares, “Jesus paid it all!”
C. It is an ongoing work of God’s people, empowered by God. We are justified fully at the cross, but we are sanctified throughout our lives – growing in holiness, living in purity, and maturing in our walk with Christ. Till the day we die we will struggle against sin – not to justify ourselves from it’s stain, but to continue to reckon ourselves dead to it & alive in God.

Are you trusting in His work & relying on His power? As with Israel, to face the world’s temptations & sin without God is suicide…of course we’re going to fail – why wouldn’t we? When we were without Christ we always failed before; that doesn’t change. But in Christ, empowered by the Spirit, and holding fast to the promises of God we can face sin & temptation in faith & walk in the victory God has already won.

God’s Work Leads to Good Works

Titus 3:1-15, “God’s Work Leads to Good Works”
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Introduction:
So imagine you’re Titus – you’ve been left in Crete by the apostle Paul, faithfully ministering there, spreading the gospel, setting up the Church & probably wondering if you’ve been doing things correctly. Then unexpectedly, you get a letter from your father in the faith with some very specific instructions and encouragement to keep on keeping on. Your 1st thought is: what a joy! Your 2nd thought is probably: So what did Paul want to say? Although there has been some deep theology shared – the main theme is evident: Christians ought to engage in good works. We saw it in Ch 1 when Paul showed that false teachers disqualified themselves from every good work – in Ch 2 regarding how different people in the church were to act & how we ought to be zealous for good works (they ought to be desirable things for us to do – we ought to get excited about the opportunity)…

As Paul closes out the letter to Titus, he repeats the theme of good works in the life of a believer. We have good works in our personal living – we’ve experienced the good work of God in our salvation – and God’s work is the motivation for our good works.

Titus 3 (NKJV)
- Personal living…what we ought to do as believers…
1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

A. With Timothy, Paul had also addressed the issue of how the Church ought to relate to government, but his emphasis there was on prayer (2 Tim 2:1-3). In Titus, the emphasis is on attitude. We’re to be “subject” to those in authority & “obey” them. Romans 13:1-2 (1) Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. (2) Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. []
__a. Even the government leaders we don’t agree with? Yes…Paul’s governing authority was the Roman Empire… [] This doesn’t mean we can’t work for change. It does mean that we ought do so in a respectful, God-honoring manner…
__b. What if the gov’t asks you to do something contradictory to Scriptural teaching? Follow the example of the apostles when the Sanhedrin put them on trial for preaching the gospel (Acts 5)… Obey God rather than men, but do so in humility & respect…

B. Respect deals with attitude, but we also need to be ready to act. “Be ready for every good work”…not necessarily a grammatical tie to government; this is a general command & one that Paul is going to come back to throughout the chapter. Just like we need to be ready to give an answer for the reason of the hope within us (1 Pet 3:15), we need to be ready to do good works…both are necessary!

C. Beyond the government, we should treat ALL our neighbors with respect:
__a. “to speak evil of no one”: Gk (blasphemy) – obviously not a reference to God, so much as one another. We blaspheme one another when we vilify or rail on one another – or exaggerate and assume what someone’s motives are. That doesn’t mean we stay silent about sin or sweep things under the rug – but we ought to go about it in a way that is not speaking evil of each other.
__b. “to be peaceable”: Gk is in the negative – literally, this is “non-fighting”…
__c. “to be gentle”: That which is fitting behavior in society – to be gentlemen, etc.
__d. To show “humility”: KJV “meekness” – also appropriate.
__e. IOW, Christians ought not to be rude, coarse, rabble-rousers. That’s what we were; not what we are.

D. Keep in mind that our actions affect our witness. Obviously Paul wasn’t writing to all people in Crete; just the Christians there (through Titus). Cretans were known for a bad reputation, so the obedient, respectful behavior of those within the Church towards their authorities would have made for a powerful witness of the gospel of Christ…it would have been one thing that set them apart from everyone else.
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3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

A. At one point, we were NOT peaceable, humble, etc…we were sinners & we acted like it! We were:
__a. “foolish”: Gk negative again – literally “no comprehension; no thinking’.
__b. “disobedient”: To God, through whatever revelation we were aware of…whether Creation (Rom 1:20), our conscience (Rom 2:15), or the Law of God itself.
__c. “deceived”: Although we cannot blame our sin on deception, there’s no doubt that before we were saved, we were indeed deceived. Just like Adam, bought into the lies of the Deceiver as we questioned what we knew about God & thought we ought to be our own final authority.

B. That deals with our character; Paul goes on to deal with our unsaved actions:
__a. We served “various lusts & pleasures” – could be translated “enslaved to various lusts & pleasures…” We had no choice except to obey our hedonistic fleshly desires.
__b. We lived in “malice & envy”: Self-explanatory – we were wicked & jealous.
__c. We were “hateful”: We both hated and were hated. Gk “hateful” comes from their mythological river leading into Hades (Styx)…as pagans, we engaged in truly hellish behavior. [] What a contrast to those in Christ Jesus! After you trust Him & are born again, for the 1st time you can truly understand what love really is… Everything else in comparison to it is hatred.
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4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,

A. “But” – what a beautiful word! Something happened that changed the way we used to act – what was it? The kindness & love of God our Savior! …

B. “kindness”: Like a sovereign king bestowing a “kindness” upon one of his subjects. [David & Mephibosheth – 2 Sam 9] That’s what God does for us in salvation! He by no means has to save us…He is under no obligation to do so. But out of His incredible mercy & love He desires to show us kindness.
__a. Our God is a GOOD God! He wants to show the world His kindness…

C. Why does God desire to bestow His kindness? Because He loves us! Keep in mind that humans were the crowning moment of His creation. Although we war against God in our sin & act as His enemies, He still loves us. Gk φιλανθρωπία (philanthropy) = “love of man.”

D. How did it appear? Through the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ Jesus! God became flesh & dwelt among us, revealing to us the love & grace & truth of God to us – He took our sin upon Himself & died in our place as our substitute sacrifice – conquered death, rose again, and is alive today. You BET the love of God appeared!
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5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

A. Did God’s kindness & love come to us because we deserved it? Absolutely not! It was “not by works of righteousness which we have done”… Throughout the letter, the Church has been exhorted to do good works (and we get another exhortation today) – but good works come as a result of salvation; they are not the cause…
__a. Be assured of this one truth about the gospel: if there was anything at ALL possible that we humans could have done to be righteous in the sight of God (be it certain prayers, $ given, acts of mercy, etc) – if anything would have been sufficient – Jesus would never have gone to the Cross. God the Father did not send His only begotten Son to torturous death because it was the easiest mode of salvation; He sent Him there because it was the only mode.

B. So why did His kindness & love appear? Because of the outpouring of “His mercy”

C. What happens during our salvation? The Holy Spirit gives us a new birth & we are regenerated & renewed. Grammatically, we need to take this as two terms describing the same work of the Holy Spirit…His regenerative work is also His renewing work. What actually takes place? Keep in mind that because of sin & the Fall, our spirits are dead. Adam died spiritually in the Garden (before having any children) & thus passed on spiritual death to us. Our own sin ensures that we are spiritually dead in our trespasses (Eph 2:1) though we physically were alive. Thus we need a spiritual birth – and that’s what happens to us at salvation. John 3:5-6 (5) Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. [] At that moment, our spirit is regenerated (given life after death) & renewed (as we’re made into new creations in Christ)…
__a. Many scholars take “washing” to be a reference to physical baptism, as we are washed by water & the word (Eph 5:26). The problem with this interpretation is the context. Everything Paul is listing out here has to do with the work of God – and baptism is obviously an act of obedience based upon God’s already finished work. Contextually, it’s best to think of this as the spiritual work that God the Holy Spirit does. (That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with physical baptism – we are commanded to do it by Christ…)
__b. Keep in mind God is the author & finisher of our faith. Everything we are in Christ is due to His work & not our own. We merely respond to the work He’s already done…
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6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

A. Obviously this is what took place at Pentecost – as Peter acknowledged the fulfillment of the prophet Joel in the birth of the church (Acts 2:16-17). But keep our context in mind here – this happens at our regeneration. This is something that happens to every believer in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit gives us new life & baptizes us into Christ – He indwells us and seals us for our salvation. And on an ongoing basis, He fills us anew gives us power to walk as witnesses for Christ…

B. God doesn’t hold back on the Holy Spirit – He poured it out on the church in abundance. How much is “abundant”? It’s like torrents or rivers of gushing water… John 7:38-39 (38) He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (39) But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. [] God doesn’t hold back on giving the Holy Spirit to us – our Heavenly Father will give the Spirit to all those who ask (Luke 11:13).
__a. There’s a tendency to think that we are saved by grace through faith as a work of God, but then God just drops us off on the corner & leaves us alone. Nothing could be further from the truth! Jesus specifically promised that He wouldn’t leave us as orphans, but that the Holy Spirit would abide with us forever (John 14:16). Power for walking in Christ is available – all we need do is ask & receive in faith.

C. Note the work of the Trinity in our salvation in vs. 4-6. God the Father showed His kindness & saved us by regeneration & renewal of the Holy Spirit, given to us abundantly through Christ Jesus. The entire Godhead is active in our salvation…
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7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

A. What’s the result of being regenerated & renewed by the Holy Spirit? We are now justified (declared to be righteous…) in the sight of God. Again – this is due completely to His grace & His work in Christ Jesus.

B. Because of His grace, we are “heirs” – we have been born of the Spirit of God, adopted into His family & are made co-heirs with Christ. Not only are we forgiven, but we inherit eternal life & will reign with Jesus throughout the Millennium.
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8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

A. The “faithful saying” is most likely referring to the theology behind our salvation in vs. 4-7, but what’s interesting is that Paul ties it directly in with good works. This is what Paul wanted Titus to focus on in his teaching.

B. Why? Because doctrine ought to lead to action. If we have experienced the good work of God’s grace, then we ought to engage in & maintain good works ourselves…it’s the natural response to what God has done in our lives. (Briscoe) “The theology of Christianity is based on grace; the ethics of Christianity are based on gratitude.” Because of our gratitude to God in saving us, empowering us, and promising us eternal life, we have all the motivation we need to go out & do good to others – either in the Church or outside with our neighbors. It’s the only true logical response. Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. [] Our lives can be gladly spent giving God glory in gratefulness.

C. We don’t need to shy away from them or be scared we’re going to be lumped in with those who teach the so-called “social-gospel”… Good works are good! Good works demonstrate the sacrificial love of Christ to other Christians as we serve one another in various ways, helping to bear one another’s burdens & meet needs. Good works can also be a powerful demonstration of the gospel… [mission trips…]
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9 But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.

A. We want to do good works & that involves avoiding things & practices that would distract us from what God has called us to do. That’s exactly what “foolish disputes,” etc., are. We get caught up in all sorts of debates about the nature of angels or nephilim (or whatever) & soon instead of sharing the gospel in word & deed – instead of helping one another in the Body – we end up bickering back & forth about items we’re probably BOTH mistaken…

B. Note this is also how false teachers & cults start sneaking their way into the church. “Strivings about the law” is likely a reference to Judaizers & is seen in legalism today. “Genealogies” were used to prove “true Jews” (and by Mormons today), but mean nothing considering true Jews are circumcised in the heart & the only genealogy that truly matters is Jesus’!
__a. Let’s keep the main thing the main thing. It’s about Jesus & the gospel!
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10 Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.

A. Just like we avoid divisive works, we avoid divisive people. Gk αἱρετικός (heretic) = “to choose, divisive, schismatic, factious.” (Wuest) “A heretic is one therefore who refuses to accept true doctrine as it is revealed in the Bible, and prefers to choose for himself what he is to believe.”
__a. Is heresy strictly theological? Not necessarily…our usage of the word is typically theological, but the Greek refers simply to division. Thus someone who goes through the Church creating factions & driving wedges between people could still be technically labeled a “heretic” even though they have an accurate statement of faith or confession. Even in this case, their true theology would be betrayed by their actions – showing that they do not value the love of Christ & unity of the Body.

B. Interesting description of heretics/divisive men – “warped and sinning…self-condemned…” Those who keep trying to cause division after being confronted twice on the matter truly are warped…self-obsessed & self-condemned. As with other sin in the church, the person is to be lovingly confronted & if he/she persists in sin, they are to be rejected & treated as an unbeliever.
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12 When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. 13 Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing.

A. Personal instructions… This is the only mention of Artemas & Zenas (apparently an expert in the Mosaic law) in the NT…obviously they were well-known to Paul & trusted by him. Apollos is surely the same person mentioned in Acts 18 & 1 Cor – many believe he was a lesser apostle, along the lines of Barnabas.

B. Note this 1st opportunity to do good works: the church at Crete could supply Zenas & Apollos for their journey…
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14 And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.
A. Reiteration of “good works”… Good works ought to be marks of the Church & are part of the fruit of maturity in lives of believers.
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15 All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.
A. Personal greetings…

Conclusion:
When we understand the incredible work of God’s grace in our lives, we can’t help but change! Of course we engage in good works now – what else would we do? When we were of the world, we engaged in wicked, selfish works – but now that we’re in Christ, our lives ought to reflect the agape love of God that saved us.

Beware of the faith that stays on a person’s lips and never makes it down to their feet. That’s a dangerous position to be in! As James is going to tell us (quite clearly), faith without works is dead (Jas 2:17). If we’re always professing faith in Jesus Christ but never show the love of Christ for the Church or act in compassion towards our neighbor – it may be an indication we don’t truly know Christ at all. When we are truly in Christ, we’re going to love not just in word or in tongue, but in deed & in truth (1 John 3:19). That’s not to say we buy into anyone’s particular vision of a “social agenda” – but that we personally and individually demonstrate the compassion of the One who bestowed His compassion & kindness upon us.

Have you experienced the compassion of Christ? God has already demonstrated His love for you by sending Jesus to die in your place on the cross. That much is a fact – but if you never receive His gift of grace, you still place yourself in the position of receiving His righteous wrath and judgment because of sin. Remember that without being reborn by God, you’re spiritually dead – you’re a dead-man-walking because of all the lies, lusts, selfishness & blasphemies we commit as we sin against our Creator God. But forgiveness is available! You can be born again today – repent & trust Jesus as Savior & Lord.

Why teach expositionally (verse-by-verse)?

I remember the 1^st time I personally encountered true verse-by-verse teaching through the Bible. It was so refreshing! Like cool water after a long drought, it was nourishing and life altering.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d sat under good pastors & teachers in the past. Some would even teach an expositional series on occasion. But even then, the pastor would read a paragraph or so of Scripture, and then pull a nugget or two from it before moving on to what he really wanted to talk about. But for the last part of my Christian life before verse-by-verse teaching, I was sitting under topical series after topical series. Not necessarily unbiblical, but where the Bible was almost an afterthought – something used in reference for the pastor’s points that he wanted to make, rather than the Scripture driving the points to be made. I knew there was something more to be had from preaching – and there definitely was: the simply exposition of the Scriptures verse-by-verse and line-by-line.

Before I get into the “whys” of verse-by-verse expositional teaching, let’s look at what verse-by-verse expositional teaching is NOT. It is not reading the Bible as fast as possible, and coming up with some nugget that half-way relates to the subject matter. It is not finding key words in the Scripture to launch into favorite topics of the pastor, while breezing over tougher areas. It is not thinking of some personal story to relate to every single Scripture that’s read. None of that could truly be called “verse-by-verse expositional preaching.” It may be guided verse-by-verse, but unless the pastor is teaching what is actually on the page of the Bible, it’s not expositional.

True verse-by-verse expositional teaching is to systematically present the teaching of the Scripture, pouring over the text as God the Holy Spirit inspired it, and presenting it in as unfettered a way as possible. In other words, the pastor ought to present the text, explain & apply the text, and then get out of the way.

Why? Because the power is not in the words of the preacher; the power is in what’s being preached. God’s word is living & powerful & sharper than any 2 edged sword (Heb 4:12). God’s word is breathed out by Him, and good to equip His people for every good work (2 Tim 3:16-17). God’s word cleanses us (Eph 5:26) and sanctifies us (John 17:17). In other words, when God’s word is purely preached, it changes God’s people. The pastor ought to present it simply & accurately & then not attempt to take the place of the Holy Spirit.

“So then,” the question is often asked, “Why preach at all? Shouldn’t the church just randomly assign someone to get up in the pulpit and read the text? Why is the pastor necessary?” That’s a fair question. And it’s an easy answer: because preaching the word of God is what God commands.

2 Timothy 4:2 states very clearly: “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” The word of God is to be preached & proclaimed to the church of God. We are to be convinced of the word, rebuked by the word, and exhorted through the word – all of which serve to point us continually to the Living Word, Christ Jesus.

That, my friends, is what we might call the pastoral job description regarding pulpit ministry. It’s not to tell jokes, nor give tear-jerking stories, it’s simply to preach the word.

So why verse-by-verse expositional teaching? Because quite simply, (in my opinion) it is the most effective method to preaching the word of God in the world. When Scripture is rightly taught, there is no skimming over of unpleasant topics & over-concentration on favorite topics. There is no undue focus on the preacher. There is no lightweight, everybody-shake-everybody’s hand milquetoast teaching. There is just the word of God & its subject, Jesus Christ & His gospel.

Does verse-by-verse teaching always work out this way? No. People are fallible & all of us get off-track from time to time. I am still a relatively young pastor & have much to learn…I by no means am perfect at any of this.

But that doesn’t change our call. Pastors, our call is to “Preach the word!” What if you’re teaching young people? Your call is to preach the word. What if you’re counseling people going through marital difficulty? Your call is to preach the word. It doesn’t matter what region of the country you’re in – it doesn’t matter what age or demographic primarily fills the seats in your sanctuary – all of the stuff that typically drives “preaching methods” is meaningless bunk. What does matter is the call of God.

Preach the word!

Because of the Gospel

Titus 2:11-15, “Because of the Gospel”
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Introduction:
One of the things I like about the letter to Titus is that amidst of all of Paul’s general instructions to this minister of the church about how to set up leadership, what to exhort people to do in ministry, and living in good works & holiness (which is all great instruction in & of itself), he comes out with these flashes of deep theology…where we almost sit back with our mouths gaping open in wonder at the God who saves us. We saw it in the opening of the letter when he wrote about the fulfilled promise of our Savior – he’ll write about it in Ch 3 regarding the Holy Spirit – and he writes about it here in Ch 2 about the gospel of grace.

Let’s keep our context in mind here. Paul just came out of a lengthy section in which he wrote about church roles & expectations. The elders were to be qualified mature Christians who taught the truth & warned the church away from false doctrine. The body were to be living in holiness (exemplifying the fact that they were saved & how they were maturing in Christ) & teaching one another as friends & mentors.

Why do we do all that? Why go through the effort? Surely for a slave, it would have been easier to steal from his master, but why live in righteousness? Why would an experienced lady in Christ take the time out of a busy schedule to teach a younger sister in the Lord how to love their husbands & families? Why live rightly at all? Because we’ve been saved! Because our lives have been changed by Jesus Christ & we can never be the same again. It’s all because of the gospel of grace – see vs. 11…

Titus 2:11-15 (NKJV)
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

A. The gospel of salvation is here! Notice the past tense “appeared” – 2000 years ago, the angels sang over Bethlehem “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace & goodwill toward men.” At the moment of Jesus’ birth through His death & resurrection, the grace of God appeared. The world did not often recognize Him – and in fact His own people rejected Him, but the eternal God the Son became flesh & dwelt among us. And because this took place at a specific point of history in the past, we can proclaim the gospel of grace in the present!

B. What is the gospel? “grace” Pure unmerited, undeserved favor showered upon us…a favor freely given. (Wuest) “But in pagan Greece, this favor was always conferred upon a friend, not upon an enemy. When charis is taken over into the terminology of the New Testament, it takes an infinite leap forward, and acquires an added meaning which it never had in pagan Greece, for the favor God did at Calvary’s Cross, He did, not for a race that loved Him but which hated Him.” [Valentine’s Day] The ultimate demonstration of love did not come in a Hallmark card, but at a violent place of execution – the Cross. Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. []

C. Where does grace originate? “God”. If salvation were earned, or even partially deserved, it wouldn’t be called “grace.” Instead, God in His mercy looked upon His once-good Creation (now fallen) & through His love offers us grace freely because of the work of His Son.
__a. What’s the ONLY difference between a born-again Christian & a hardened-atheist? Jesus. Only by God’s grace are we saved. We’ve committed the same sins – we’ve rebelled against the same God – and even if one sin is “worse” than the other in our sight, we’re all under the same condemnation. The only thing that makes a difference is God. We have received His grace freely through Jesus Christ, and the atheist hasn’t.
__b. So what? So let us beware of the tendency to the make the gospel about us & what we’ve done. If it weren’t for the grace shown to us by God, none of us would be here…it’s all about Him & for His glory.

D. What does the grace of God do? “brings salvation…” We were in need of saving, and God saved us solely by an act of His grace. And praise God we have been SAVED! He brought us salvation from the penalty that our sins deserved… He brings us salvation from the power of sin over our lives… He will bring us salvation from the very presence of sin in eternity… All of this is revealed through the Cross & Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

E. Who has this gospel been revealed to? “all men…” Depending on your translation, this might be a bit confusing – as if all people had received the gift of salvation. Obviously that’s not Paul’s point, as universalism contradicts the whole of the NT. But salvation is available to all men – the curse from the 1st Adam has been undone by the last Adam (Christ). [] God desires all men to come to repentance & be saved (2 Pet 3:9), but obviously not all do so. Every time Hell is referenced by Jesus, it’s populated with people…but God’s will is that they would be saved – that why He sent Christ in the 1st place!
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- The gospel calls us to live rightly…
12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

A. Again, after we receive Christ as Lord through the gospel of grace, we can never be the same. Our whole list of priorities has been turned upside down. The 1st thing that changes is our very nature. That for which we once lived for, we now deny & that which we denied we now life for.

B. We deny “ungodliness”: Not speaking so much of physical sin (that’s covered in “worldly lusts”), but rather something more like impiety. God (being God) is deserving of worship from all His Creation & in our BC state (unregenerate), we rebel against Him & worship anything but God. In Christ, that changes – and now we’re not only capable of godly worship, the gospel of grace teaches us how to change.

C. We deny “worldly lusts”: All the temptation the world throws at us every day is designed to get us to lust after those ends. Riches, pleasure, fame, sexual desire – turn on TV during prime-time & you’ll find a commercial that promises one (if not several) of these just by buying their product. The gospel of grace teaches us to deny what’s in the world & seek that which is in Christ.

D. We live “soberly”: This is the same word used throughout Ch 2 as a reference to self-control. In Christ, we can keep those worldly-lusts in check & refrain from indulging in every temptation.
__a. Don’t buy into the lie of: “That’s just the way I am.” That’s antithetical to the gospel! That is to deny the work of Christ in you. No – giving into those temptations was just the way you WERE. In Christ, you’ve been given a new nature & we don’t have to present our members to sin any longer…

E. We live “righteously”: justly with one another. “Soberly” addresses upright living with ourselves; “righteously” addresses it with one another. We love one another as Christ has loved us.

F. We live “godly”: We’ve seen inward & outward; now we see upward. Whereas before we lived in ungodly impiety, now we live a life dedicated to our God & in a way that brings Him glory.

G. This isn’t just for future eternity. Some folks think that they’ll finally give up their ungodliness when they see Jesus face-to-face; but God wants us to live for Him NOW…we’re to do this “in the present age.” That doesn’t mean we live perfectly & never have a bad day – it does mean that the grace of God both teaches us to live rightly for God & enables us to do it at the same time.
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- The gospel calls us to live expectantly…
13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

A. Living the Christian life isn’t going on ‘auto-pilot’ & zoning out. It’s being ready to see our Savior face-to-face at any moment…

B. We’re looking for “the blessed hope & glorious appearing” of Jesus. English rendering can be a bit confusing, as if Paul is talking about 2 events here – Greek construction makes it clear this is one thing. The appearance of the glory of Christ IS the blessed hope. Is Paul referring to the rapture or the 2nd coming here? Probably both – all in one general statement & event. No matter what camp you find yourself in regarding the rapture, it’s sure to happen at some point prior to Jesus’ 2nd Coming…it’s the primary event that ushers it in (people mainly bicker about 7 years – but 7 compared to over 2000 since His resurrection & ascension is pretty small & it’d be easy to group it all together). Why both?
__a. Because this event is imminent. The Church is to be actively “looking for the blessed hope.” We’re not to look in dread towards a tribulation time, or in fear towards the coming Antichrist – but in anticipation of our Savior! And He can descend from heaven at any time to catch us up together with Him in the clouds. (1 Thess 4:16-17)
__b. Because this event is glorious. Whereas only the Church will see Jesus in the rapture (which is in itself glorious), there’s no escaping the glory of God made manifest in the 2nd Coming of Christ. Greek is not “glorious appearing,” but “appearance of glory” – which is exactly what we see when Christ returns to reign. Revelation 19:12-14 (12) His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. (13) He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. (14) And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. [] (Who’s His army? Us!)

C. Ultimately, we’re not looking forward to an event so much as we’re looking forward to a Person. We’re waiting to see “our great God & Savior Jesus Christ.” Don’t miss the forest for the trees here! It’s easy to get excited about prophetic events & incredible doctrine about the rapture & 2nd coming…but the reason it’s so exciting is not because of the head-knowledge; it’s because we’re going to see JESUS. Like a grand wedding procession, He’s going to receive His bride to Himself & we’ll get to be with Him forever! John 14:1-3 (1) “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. (2) In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. [] Glorious! What does Paul write about our Lord here?
__a. Jesus is God: This is one of the strongest statements in all of the NT about the divinity of Christ. Grammatically speaking, there’s no getting around the fact that Paul (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) is calling Jesus “God.” And He is! Cults attempt to twist this idea around into pretzels, saying that “Jesus is the Son of God yes, but the Son is less than the Father”…or “Jesus is begotten of the Father, so Jesus must be less than the Father.” Good luck with that pretzel twisting here. Jesus is GOD. Yes He’s the Son of God, but He’s also God the Son. He’s the 2nd Person in the Trinity – fully God and fully man. He has always existed from eternity – He was present at Creation & took part in Creation – He’s been given all authority in heaven and on earth – He will judge the quick & the dead at the Great White Throne.
____i. Which tells us something about the way we approach Him. We approach Him freely & as His friends (because He called us His friends) – but Jesus is not our “buddy.” He’s our Lord & our God.
__b. Jesus is our Savior: Or as it could be translated, our “rescuer/deliverer…” Imagine that you’re at the brink of death – drowning in an ocean without a life-jacket & no boat is in sight. At that moment, out of nowhere, you’re lifted out of the water, given mouth-to-mouth, & placed in protective custody. At that point you’d appreciate what it means to be “rescued.” That is exactly what Jesus did for us! We were already condemned to an eternity of death in a place where there is non-stop weeping & gnashing of teeth. And without any effort of our own, Someone else comes along and swoops us out of the ocean of sin, breathes in us new life, and brings us into His own family under His protection. Jesus is our Savior – our Rescuer!
__c. Jesus is great! Greek “megas” = “large, mighty, important.” Jesus is far more than just any old god that can be lumped in the Greek or Roman pantheon. He’s far more than the egotistical cult of the Roman emperor. Jesus is the ‘Mega’ God – He’s greater than ALL of them put together, & all of them (if they even existed) put together are nothing in comparison with Him.
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- The gospel calls us to live purely…to live for the One who redeemed us…
14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

A. Our great God & Savior “gave Himself for us…” So much in this little phrase!
__a. Jesus “gave”: The only One Who truly has a right to ‘take’ didn’t do so. He gave freely – He gave abundantly – He gave lovingly.
__b. Jesus gave “Himself”: The largest polished diamond in the world is the “Cullian I” or “Great Star of Africa” in the British Crown jewels – valued at over $400M. That is a pittance compared to what we’ve been purchased with. 1 Peter 1:18-19 (18) knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, (19) but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. [] We’ve been purchased by the most valuable commodity in the entire Universe: the life of God. Jesus gave not just “of” Himself (which would have been enough); He gave Himself.

B. Why did He give Himself? To “redeem us from every lawless deed…” Giving Himself was truly a purchase (“redeem” = “ransom”). We were enslaved to sin – we belonged to it & proved it through our lusts & wickedness. But in the midst of that, Jesus purchased our freedom with His blood.

C. That takes care of the past, but He also purchased us for the present. He redeemed us to “purify us for Himself His own special people…” Once we were stained by the filth of sin, but through the blood of Jesus we are made pure – we are set apart – we are cleansed – and we are now His people. From a Gentile perspective, this is an absolutely incredible thought! We once were not a people (we were doomed for death with no connection to God whatsoever), but now we’re not just any people, we’re HIS people. His own special people – the people of God. (1 Pet 2:9-10) This gives us the motivation for living rightly & expectantly. We’ve been given an identity in Christ Jesus…we are the Church, the “called out ones.” And because we’ve been called out by Christ to Himself & by Himself, we live differently.

D. What do His people do? We are to be “zealous for good works”… Whereas before we were saved we lived purely for selfish reasons, now we live for selfless reasons to glorify God through our actions. Actions & deeds certainly don’t save us, but they do demonstrate that we’ve been saved – and the Church ought to be excited & enthusiastic about the opportunity to take part in them.
__a. Sometimes in response to a heresy there’s a tendency to swing too far in the opposite direction – and that’s exactly what’s taken place with the “social gospel.” The social gospel has been given a resurgence in the last several years – it makes for a pretty popular outreach politically… In response, evangelicalism has (many times) shied away from social outreach considerably…and it’s been a mistake. Good works go hand-in-hand with the gospel – not in order to earn salvation, but as a result of it.
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- This is what the Church is supposed to remind us of…
15 Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.

A. Titus was to remind the church of the ramifications of the gospel…how our lives were to be completely changed. Sometimes this involves speaking (instruction) – sometimes it involves exhortation (inspiring) – sometimes it involves rebuke. To those who claimed the name of Christ, yet had trouble leaving worldly lusts behind, Titus was to give a sound & loving rebuke. To those who were discouraged by persecution & the trials & temptations that come with being a Christian, Titus was to exhort & encourage them to keep looking for Jesus. Ultimately, he was to keep preaching the gospel to Christians & keep pointing them to Christ.
__a. Sometimes we start thinking that the gospel is only for the unbelievers – but that’s not true. All of us as Christians need to be reminded of the gospel of grace. Until we see Jesus face-to-face, we’re going to have troubles, temptations, and failures…and we need to know that our relationship with Christ & His salvation is not based on our ability, but upon His grace.

B. Last phrase similar to instruction to Timothy (1 Tim 4:12). Perhaps his youth might have been a roadblock for some to view him as having authority. Ultimately, it’s not Titus that has the authority; it’s the word of God…and the word of God proclaims the gospel of grace which saves us & changes us & calls us to live differently.

Conclusion:
What a change each of us go through after we repent & put our faith/trust in Jesus Christ! Whereas before everything we did was because of us & our desires; now everything we do is because of what Jesus did for us, seen in His gospel of grace.
A. The gospel shows us our salvation from God…
B. The gospel calls us to live rightly before Him…
C. The gospel calls us to live expectantly looking for Jesus…
D. The gospel calls us to live purely for Him who redeemed & bought us…

These are all the things the good news of the gospel of grace tells us & instructs us as the Church – but ultimately the gospel is the gospel because of Jesus Christ. It wouldn’t be good news if it weren’t for Jesus! He’s the One who demonstrated His love & humility in His 1st Coming – went to the cross on our behalf – resurrected & ascended & lives today – will come back in His 2nd Coming to rule & reign. So Christian…deny ungodliness & worldly lusts for Jesus’ sake. Live soberly, righteously & godly for Jesus’ sake. Be encouraged in your trials by looking for the blessed hope when you’ll see Jesus face-to-face. Be zealous for good works because Jesus saved you & made you a new creation. It’s ALL about Jesus, as demonstrated through the gospel.

What if you’re not a Christian? What if you haven’t turned away from your sin & actively trusted Jesus as your Lord & Savior? Then you need to understand that you’re drowning. You may not fully realize it – but you are in an ocean of sin & just waiting to go down. You (like the rest of us) need a Rescuer to show you unmerited favor (grace) to lift you up out of the mire & breathe into you new life. You cannot earn Jesus’ salvation; but you CAN receive it.

Won’t Get Fooled Again

Joshua 9-10, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” The Gibeonites
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Introduction:
So far, Joshua & the Israelites are proceeding with in the invasion of the land with a rather interesting track record. 1st they experience miracle; then they experience defeat; then they experience miracle again. The pattern isn’t going to change much tonight.

In our own walk with Jesus as we’re being sanctified apart from sin, we find much of the same thing. One day we’ll walk in tremendous victory over temptation & the next day we’ll falter. What makes the difference? Usually, it hinges on whether or not we’re doing things our way or God’s way. Israel did things their way with the Gibeonites & got fooled, big time.

Joshua 9 (NKJV)
1 And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan, in the hills and in the lowland and in all the coasts of the Great Sea toward Lebanon— the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—heard about it, 2 that they gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord.

A. Heard about what? Heard about what happened to Jericho & Ai. It was obvious to the entire land that God was fighting for Israel, so they thought their only chance would be to combine forces and attack Israel all at once.

B. Keep this alliance in mind for Ch 10…it’s going to get interesting.
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3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, 4 they worked craftily, and went and pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, 5 old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. 6 And they went to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us.”

A. On one hand, Gibeon’s deception is far more wise than the rest of the nations. They knew that there was no way they’d be able to defeat Israel with God fighting for them (who can?), so they knew their one chance was guile & trickery. Took painstaking steps to disguise themselves and pretend they had been on a long journey…
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7 Then the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you dwell among us; so how can we make a covenant with you?”

A. Good question…too bad Israel didn’t ask much more. They were indeed forbidden to make peace with Gibeon or any of the inhabitants of the land… (Deut 7:1-2)

B. Keep our typology in mind. The inhabitants of Canaan represent sin & the flesh; Israel represents the believer walking in faith in the Lord. Just as Gibeon tempted Israel to compromise, we will always have a temptation to compromise with the flesh. There will always be an occasion when we’re faced with a choice of selfishness or sanctification & we have an enemy that is chomping at the bit for an opportunity to see us fail. We need to beware… Israel seemed wary, but they weren’t wary enough to take it before the Lord.
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8 But they said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you, and where do you come from?” 9 So they said to him: “From a very far country your servants have come, because of the name of the LORD your God; for we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt, 10 and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan—to Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. 11 Therefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, ‘Take provisions with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, “We are your servants; now therefore, make a covenant with us.” ’ 12 This bread of ours we took hot for our provision from our houses on the day we departed to come to you. But now look, it is dry and moldy. 13 And these wineskins which we filled were new, and see, they are torn; and these our garments and our sandals have become old because of the very long journey.”

A. Gave a sob story about where they had supposedly come from, lying the whole time… They were pretty shrewd about the whole event, considering that any mention of Ai or Jericho is conspicuously absent. If they had mentioned it, it would have been a dead giveaway since they could not have heard about those recent events in their supposedly ‘far’ country.
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14 Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the LORD. 15 So Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live; and the rulers of the congregation swore to them.

A. They didn’t ask of the Lord! BIG mistake… [] Ps 37 exhorts us to “delight… commit… rest” in the Lord & God will bring His will to pass in our lives. Proverbs 3:5-6 (5) Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; (6) In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. [] The Israelites were trusting in themselves & their own knowledge – which for anyone else probably would have been all they could do, but they had access to the One Who has ALL knowledge & they passed Him by.
__a. We have a blessing that the rest of the world could only wish for: unfettered access to the throne room of God through prayer because of Jesus Christ. What a tragedy when we don’t use it more often! We’ll act 1st & pray later, and it almost always ends up as a bad decision. God has promised to give us wisdom in abundance (Jas 1:6), but we need to ask…

B. Keep in mind, the Israelites weren’t necessarily acting recklessly. They did at least a preliminary investigation. By the standards of man, everything checked out. The problem wasn’t in their knowledge of what they thought should be done; they forgot that they weren’t supposed to be the ones who made the decision in the 1st place. They were supposed to be under the authority of God & HE was the One to tell them what should be done.
__a. We are a people under authority. We’ve been bought with a price & we are not our own. So every decision we make needs to be made with the understanding that Jesus is Lord & whatever His word says, we do.
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16 And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them. 17 Then the children of Israel journeyed and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath Jearim. 18 But the children of Israel did not attack them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the LORD God of Israel. And all the congregation complained against the rulers.

A. Found out the truth. Too late to do anything about it.
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19 Then all the rulers said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the LORD God of Israel; now therefore, we may not touch them. 20 This we will do to them: We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them.”

A. There would be vows in Israel’s history that it would have been better to reject & repent from (Jepthah’s daughter!), but this was a covenant made with another people in the name of the Lord God. 2 wrongs don’t make a right – to break the covenant would have just compounded their sin.

B. Christians ought to be people who tell the truth & honor our word. Even if we make a commitment that’s inconvenient or uncomfortable, we need to follow through with it. Let your yes be yes… (Matt 5:37)
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21 And the rulers said to them, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, as the rulers had promised them.”

A. Gibeon had pretended to be Israel’s servants, so Israel said, “Ok.” Joshua is going to narrow it down a bit further…
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22 Then Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you dwell near us? 23 Now therefore, you are cursed, and none of you shall be freed from being slaves—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.” [not just for the congregation; but for the tabernacle] 24 So they answered Joshua and said, “Because your servants were clearly told that the LORD your God commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore we were very much afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25 And now, here we are, in your hands; do with us as it seems good and right to do to us.”

A. Was it a curse or a blessing? After all, the Gibeonites lived to tell the tale… Not to mention there were servants for the house of God… Temporarily, it surely was a curse, as they went overnight from being a mighty royal city to servants of Israel. But ultimately, it was a blessing in that they were privileged to serve the Lord in ways that many Israelites never did. Although they began in deception, they left themselves in the hands of the Lord, seeking His mercy.
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26 So he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, so that they did not kill them. 27 And that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, in the place which He would choose, even to this day.

A. I.e., as of the time of the writing of Joshua, the Gibeonites were still serving as woodcutters & water carriers, etc. Israel was still caring for Gibeon through the Kingdom years & Saul is punished by God when he kills them – Gibeon is even still present with Nehemiah when Jerusalem is rebuilt (Neh 3:7).
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Joshua 10 (NKJV)
1 Now it came to pass when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it— as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king—and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, 2 that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty.

A. Jerusalem’s king figured that if Gibeon (of all cities) unconditionally surrendered to Israel, what choice would he have? Decided to call upon other kingdoms to unite & fight…

B. Unusual name for the king, especially for one of the enemies of Israel: Adoni-Zedek = “Lord of righteousness”. Unlike Melchizedek (“king of righteousness”) who blessed Abraham, Adoni-Zedek ends up fighting against Israel. Possible picture of Antichrist? Interesting parallels throughout the chapter.
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3 Therefore Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, saying, 4 “Come up to me and help me, that we may attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.” 5 Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they and all their armies, and camped before Gibeon and made war against it.

A. Note they made war with Gibeon; not Israel… Why? It seems they were using Gibeon to draw Israel into battle on their terms. Israel’s covenant forced them to come to Gibeon’s defense, and now the allied enemies could set the battleground, etc.
__a. Often we think that after we confess our sins & appropriate the forgiveness of God, that means the whole slate is wiped clean & we can have a “do-over.” Not true. Whenever we compromise with the flesh, there are consequences to face. Not that God can’t use those consequences to glorify Himself (He can & does!), but we still need to walk through them.

B. If this is a picture of Antichrist, it becomes interesting that he arranges a confederation of nations to come against Israel in one massive battle…almost like a dress rehearsal for what’s to come at the Battle of Armageddon.
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6 And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, saying, “Do not forsake your servants; come up to us quickly, save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered together against us.” 7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor.

A. Was this a problem for Israel? Yes & no. Granted, Israel would have fought all of these countries eventually… But if Israel hadn’t been duped by the Gibeonites, they probably would have taken on the battles in their timeframe & with their own advantage…

B. Although this is appears to be a disadvantage, it’s also a great opportunity which the Lord is going to use. Instead of going after each king individually, Joshua is able to address 5 kings at once.
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8 And the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand before you.” 9 Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gilgal. 10 So the LORD routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes to Beth Horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah. 11 And it happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon, that the LORD cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.

A. Joshua’s army pulled an all-nighter hard march & took the enemy by surprise. And with the Lord’s empowerment, they were still stronger than 5 armies put together. (If God is for us, who can be against us?)

B. What seemed to be a problem for Israel wasn’t a problem for the Lord! He actually turned it into a massive, overwhelming victory… To the point of supernaturally fighting for them. Apparently a miraculous hailstorm broke out, and God killed off more of the enemy soldiers than anyone did from Israel. (The hailstones give one more tie with Armageddon as outlined in Rev 16:21.)
__a. Was it a sin that brought them to this place? Yes. Was God glorified through it? Absolutely. Just like Joseph with his brothers, God meant this evil for good (Gen 50:20). And we have the same promise in every circumstance that we find ourselves. Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. [] ALL things…even our mistakes.
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12 Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon; And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” 13 So the sun stood still, And the moon stopped, Till the people had revenge Upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. 14 And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the LORD heeded the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel. 15 Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

A. Talk about supernatural warfare…God made the sun stand still! How was this accomplished? No one knows…conjectures range from the most literal interpretation – to a miraculous refraction of light to keep the day going – to the appearance of the glory of the Lord Himself giving light to the battle. If the text is absolutely literal, then it means God suspended massive laws of the physical universe to make it happen. The earth would have had to stop rotating on its axis (or slowed), yet the law of inertia would have been suspended in order to keep the planet from ripping to shreds… Or the Earth’s axis tilted… Or time itself would have stopped except for the battle… Whatever happened, it was truly miraculous!

B. Did this really happen? Yes – we may not know all the details, but we can rest assured that this is part of the inspired word of God. The “Book of Jasher” was a Hebrew book that recorded the event (obviously not unbiased, but still independent). Obviously, if this was a literal event, we would expect cultures around the world to reflect it (much like a global flood with Noah) – and sure enough, they do. Scholars have found accounts in Greek & Egyptian myths talking about a long day & Mexican & New Zealand myths about a long night (on the other side of the world).
__a. Be wary of emails proclaiming scientific proof of this…many are rumors… Ultimately, we don’t need independent proof of this miracle. If God can create the entire universe in 6 days, surely making the sun stand still isn’t a big deal for Him…

C. Some scholars (even evangelical ones) attempt to explain the miracle away with naturalistic explanations (such as eclipse), or a different translation (the sun was “silent,” i.e. darkened), but besides the issue of inspiration, they run into trouble at verse 14: there has never been another day like this day in all of history. What made it unique was not that God heeded the voice of a man speaking in faith (this happened with Elijah & the rain), nor because God fought for Israel (He would continue to do so), but because the Creator God threw a wrench in His creation for this particular moment & event. This was huge…but even something of this scale pales in comparison with the Resurrection! When Jesus rose from the dead, it was more than the sun standing still; it was death going backwards – it was sin being removed – it was the ultimate victory of the grace & goodness of God.
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16 But these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in a cave at Makkedah. 17 And it was told Joshua, saying, “The five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkedah.” 18 So Joshua said, “Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and set men by it to guard them. 19 And do not stay there yourselves, but pursue your enemies, and attack their rear guard. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the LORD your God has delivered them into your hand.”

A. The kings turned tail & hid…real brave of them. Joshua had them blocked off & imprisoned while the Israelites pursued the rest of the army. Effectively took out their leadership…
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20 Then it happened, while Joshua and the children of Israel made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they had finished, that those who escaped entered fortified cities. 21 And all the people returned to the camp, to Joshua at Makkedah, in peace. No one moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.

A. HUGE victory for Israel! 5 kingdoms defeated in 1 day…
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22 Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings to me from the cave.” 23 And they did so, and brought out those five kings to him from the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. 24 So it was, when they brought out those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the captains of the men of war who went with him, “Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.” And they drew near and put their feet on their necks. 25 Then Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.” 26 And afterward Joshua struck them and killed them, and hanged them on five trees; and they were hanging on the trees until evening.

A. Seems like a rather brutal execution…but this wasn’t unusual for the day. Putting their feet on the king’s necks symbolically shows the king’s utter defeat & the Israelites’ superiority. … And that’s exactly the attitude we’re to take regarding sinful temptations in our lives. We’re not to compromise (as with Gibeon); we’re to war against it & kill it.

B. Imagery carries forth throughout the Bible – even regarding Jesus in His millennial reign! Psalm 110:1-2 (1) A Psalm of David. The Lord said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” (2) The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! [] Jesus didn’t merely override death; He defeated it. He doesn’t just outrank Satan; He overwhelms him & casts him into Hell. Our God is a conquering awesome God!
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27 So it was at the time of the going down of the sun that Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees, cast them into the cave where they had been hidden, and laid large stones against the cave’s mouth, which remain until this very day.

A. As a warning/memorial…

- Vs 28-39 outline the southern campaign & the various cities that were conquered as a result of this particular battle. [MAP] Over the next days or weeks, Israel conquers Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir.
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40 So Joshua conquered all the land: the mountain country and the South and the lowland and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings; he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded.

A. Summary of vs. 28-39…

B. This time, Israel is doing things the way the Lord commanded it. No more treaties; just fighting against the enemy as God told them to do.
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41 And Joshua conquered them from Kadesh Barnea as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even as far as Gibeon. 42 All these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel. 43 Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

A. The reason for all their success? “the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel”…that was it!

Conclusion:
When they did things with the Lord, they saw victory. When they did things without the Lord, they got duped. Not too much different than us… When we’re willing to compromise with the flesh – when we open up the door to enjoy temptation a bit, it shouldn’t surprise us when we end up stumbling. Like Israel, we may even find ourselves with consequences to work through.

The question is: will we remain in that place of defeat & compromise? Or will we repent, seek the Lord & start over? His mercies are new every morning & He promises that if we confess our sins, He’s faithful & just to forgive us. God can turn that defeat into an overwhelming victory; we just need to wise up, stop relying on our unfaithful flesh & upon the faithful wisdom of God.

Christians look like Christ

Titus 2:1-10, “Christians Look Like Christ”
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Introduction:
As we’ve gone through the pastoral epistles, there have been a lot of instruction to elders & deacons…admonitions regarding teaching…what is expected of leadership. Some folks might be thinking, “So when is Paul going to say something about what I’m supposed to do?” Congratulations – this is your week! In Ch 2, Paul has something to say to everyone in the church…old/young/male/female.

So what is it he has to say? For much of what we’ve been studying in 1-2 Timothy & Titus, Paul has been addressing doctrine (and he’ll have more to say on it today). But where rubber of doctrine meets the road is in our behavior & character. We preach and proclaim a transforming gospel: that when we repent, God the Son Jesus Christ saves us & births us in a new nature – where once we were slaves to sin, now we are slaves to righteousness to the glory of God. What does it say about Christ when professed Christians walk around acting like they are unchanged?

So what do we as a Church (universal – beyond these walls) do about it? What else? We help one another & point each other to Jesus…which is one of the things the writer of Hebrews was getting at. Hebrews 10:24-25 (24) And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, (25) not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. []

This is what Paul writes to Titus in Ch 2…how the Church can go about stirring up love & good works among itself. How we can come alongside each other as a body & help one another mature in the faith & mature in our actions to be a good witness of our Lord & Savior.

Titus 2:1-10 (NKJV)
1 But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine:

A. “As for you” what? In comparison to the false teachers that Paul just got done describing. They professed to know God, but denied Him in their works. Most of Ch 2 is going to instruct Titus & the church how to avoid that…to make their walk consistent with their word.

B. They taught fables; Titus was to teach what was “proper for sound doctrine.” Speaking of healthy teaching…(it’s good for you!) Have you noticed an emphasis on sound doctrine in the pastoral epistles? Paul can be kind of subtle here. The reason for the repetition is obvious: we have an enemy who is actively trying to take down Christians through false teaching. And his attacks only get worse in the end days that we find ourselves in (1 Tim 4:1). The way to identify what is false is to know the truth [Secret Service – counterfeit training]. Thus Paul hammers home the need to his local pastors to teach the truth.

C. What will proper teaching include? Instructions for older men, older women, young women, and young men. Sound doctrine affects everyone in the church… What happens if someone in the church is not ever affected by the teaching of the word of God? (1) The doctrine being taught is not “sound”… (2) The person being taught is not part of the Church… (1 Cor 2:14)
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2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience;

A. “older men”: Not a reference to elders in the church, but simply speaking of the general age range. Those who are older in years ought to act more mature in their character.
__a. “sober”: The particular Greek usually refers to abstinence from wine, but many scholars believe Paul has a wider meaning here. The older men are to be sober in their thoughts & actions…
__b. “reverent”: august, grave… NIV, “worthy of respect”
__c. “temperate”: exercise wisdom in being self-controlled
__d. “sound in faith”: Could be written “THE faith” (definite article in Greek). Implies that Paul isn’t referring to a confident trust in God so much, as in the faith as a whole. IOW, older men are expected not to only be mature in years, but in doctrine. Someone who’s walked with the Lord Jesus for 40 years ought to have a deeper understanding of God than someone 4 months old in the faith. No excuse otherwise…
__e. “sound in…love”: agape… No matter how mature in our walk with the Lord we get, we can always learn more of His love… We can always improve in our expression of it…
__f. “sound in…patience”: (Wuest) “…literally, ‘remaining under’ trials and afflictions in a way that honors God.”
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3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—

A. Older women were also to be instructed in character, but the primary emphasis here is on behavior…
__a. “reverent”: Scholars note the word used here was commonly used among pagans as referring to the work of priestesses. Obviously Paul’s not endorsing idolatrous practice, but simply instructing the women to understand that their lives were to be a holy sacrifice & service rendered unto God. Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. [] This isn’t just true for older ladies; it’s true for all of us…
__b. “not slanderers”: Gk diabolos – usually translated “devil.” Apt translation! Gossip that results in bearing false witness about someone is doing the Devil’s work, as he is the father of all lies.
__c. “not given to much wine”: literally not “enslaved” to wine…
__d. “teachers of good things”: With experience & maturity comes responsibility & ministry. One of the (many) tragedies of much of what’s known as American evangelicalism is the desire only to attract the young. The trend is to be the cool attractional church that all the young parents & teenagers want to go to. In the meantime, more experienced saints are shuffled off to the side… The church should neither cater solely to the young NOR cater to the aged. The church should just be the church & help us minister to one another. Those who are young in years & the faith need teachers – and those who are mature have a responsibility from God to teach.

B. Who specifically were they to teach? Young women. This doesn’t just make good sense, it’s wisdom in action. Titus would be fully capable of teaching the word, but when it comes to how to relate to one’s husband & family & intimate issues, that is something older women should teach younger women, not just because they know the issues at hand, but it keeps everyone above reproach.
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4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

A. Primarily, they were to teach the young ladies what it meant to be a Christian woman. Young ladies didn’t need instruction in how to act like everyone else in their culture (there is no end of bad examples). What they needed was Godly instruction from Godly women. In essence, the older ladies were to serve as mentors to them.
__a. Biblically, we see this all over the place – we call them “disciples”… Elijah & Elisha – John the Baptist & co – Jesus & the 12 – Barnabas & Mark – Paul & Timothy/Titus. All examples where people had lots of personal time with the teachers they were learning from. Our own culture has started to see the value in this again…(internships – apprenticeships – mentoring). Why is personal time so important? Because more often than not, character is better ‘caught’ than ‘taught.’ We can know a lot of truths about love & compassion – but when we see it modeled before our eyes, it makes a huge difference…
__b. We need mentors in the church! American evangelicalism has mirrored American culture in many ways – one of which is to go to a meeting, go home, and shut the door behind you. [Fenced houses…] But those in the Church (by definition) should be different. We’re called out from the world, united into one Body – we ought to be helping one another grow & mature. And that means getting involved…

B. What specifically were the young women to be instructed to do?
__a. “to love their husbands”: This is actually one word in the Greek & it’s root actually isn’t in “agape” but in “phileo” (affectionate friendship). The idea here is more of a dedication to her husband. Eph 5:33 calls upon wives to respect their husband – her affection would be an outward working of that.
__b. “to love their children”: Yes, there are times mothers need help in loving their children. Especially when it’s 2am & they’ve cried for help 5 times already that night… The Greek is very similar to the instruction regarding husbands; mothers are to be fond of their children & value them even when it’s difficult.
__c. “to be discreet”: This is the same word translated “temperate” in vs 2 regarding older men. The ladies were to likewise be self-controlled.
__d. “chaste”: refers to purity & uprightness. Like everyone else in the church, the young woman was to have a reputation that was above reproach.
__e. “homemakers”: Somewhat self-explanatory – speaks of someone being busy in the home, or working there. Instead of running around town or gossiping, the young women were to be productive in what they did…which was usually around the house. [] Does this mean women aren’t allowed to work outside the home? No – the Bible has many examples of women doing so. (Prov 31 woman buys fields & plants vineyards – Lydia sold purple dye/fabrics: Acts 16:14 – Priscilla was a tentmaker: Acts 18:3) But a Christian woman has her family in the right priority.
____i. Why are the older women in the church supposed to help with this? Because it’s too easy to get instruction from the world. Far too many Christian women get their instruction from Oprah (who is flatly anti-Biblical). Far better to get instruction from a Christian sister…
__f. “good”: Good just means good. Overarching instruction.
__g. “obedient to their own husbands”: This is in line with Ephesians 5 & Colossians 3. Christian women are supposed to submit to their husbands simply because that is the order God has given in the home, as a picture of what spiritually takes place between Christ & the Church.
____i. Note the possessive here: “OWN husbands”. All women are not supposed to submit to all men…only to their own husbands…

C. What happens when Christian young women are acting like Christian young women? They become good witnesses for our King & “the word of God may not be blasphemed.” When David was confronted in his sin by Nathan, he was told that he caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme (2 Sam 12:14). We can do the same thing through our actions when we play the hypocrite.
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6 Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, 7 in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility,

A. Young men aren’t left out of the equation… They need to be taught as well. Not even Titus was left out of this (“yourself” – vs 7) – he was likely a young man like Timothy. Titus was to be both a teacher of character AND an example…

B. What did the young men need? The same thing the young women needed: mentors. Especially today, there is a dearth of mentors for young men! Instead of mentors, people turn to role models. But even ‘good’ role models fail when they later turn up to be photographed smoking a marijuana pipe. Two problems with that:
__a. We’re looking to the world for role models rather than to the church… What else would we expect from the world? Sinners sin…that ought to be expected.
__b. The BEST role model is Jesus Christ Himself. Ultimately, we should be pointing young men & women to HIM… Even when Paul told the Corinthians to imitate him as he imitated Christ (1 Cor 11:1), the emphasis was on following Christ. Ephesians 5:1-2 (1) Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. (2) And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. [] Christians have the best role model conceivable: Someone Who is perfect, yet can sympathize with us in our weaknesses, even though He never once failed. We serve Christ – we ought to teach one another to walk in His footsteps.

C. 1st area to teach? Sound character & behavior…
__a. “be sober-minded”: Similar to the other instructions for older men & women to be temperate & self-controlled (same root). Could be translated “be sane” (which might be very applicable to certain young men! ) – but the idea is to have sober judgment.
__b. “be a pattern of good works”: Specifically, this was for Titus. But because he was to be a pattern/example of good works, it implies the rest of the young men were to follow in doing them. Whoever said that the works of a Christian don’t matter? They do! The way we live is a testimony to the fact that we’ve been redeemed from the curse of death – that we’ve been bought & our Lord & Savior is the always-good Creator of the Universe… Our words are only part of our testimony of Christ; our works are as well.

D. Also addresses doctrine again…why? Having sound doctrine demonstrates “integrity, reverence, & incorruptibility.” The doctrine that Titus taught & the Church promoted was to be the pure & unceasing word of God presented in all seriousness that it deserved. Thus their preaching is reflected in their practice.
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8 sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.

A. Weird place for a verse break – the sound doctrine taught by Titus that demonstrated integrity, reverence, and incorruptibility WAS “sound speech”. At Titus (and the rest of the church) presented the truth of the word, demonstrated it in deed, and lived it in his character, it made a difference in their witness. People might object to what was being taught, but they could not condemn the church in the process. At that point, what attack can an opponent take? None. They will have “nothing evil to say of you.” This is the result of living our lives above reproach…
__a. Guess what? We ALL need help doing this. It’s tough to live lives that are truly beyond reproach. That’s why the Church is to come alongside one another in instruction. Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. [] We’re a family of believers – if one of us needs help in an area, who better to help than someone who loves them unconditionally in Christ? …
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9 Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.

A. Why are bondservants separated from the rest? This was simply a recognition of their culture. Some scholars estimate that up to half of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves – so it makes sense that Paul spends a significant portion of the Scriptures addressing them & how they should act in daily life.

B. They were to act like Christians, even in their service. Why? Because ultimately, their Master was the Lord God. (Col 3:23-24) They were supposed to be:
__a. “obedient to their own masters”: Whether justly or unjustly, slaves had owners – and they were to glorify God by being obedient in the situation in which they found themselves. The Church was actually an arena where this could be reversed…where a slave could be an elder, actually teaching & instructing his own master. But back in the day-to-day life, the servant was to be obedient.
__b. “well pleasing in all”: doing the job well – like Joseph, even when wrongfully imprisoned.
__c. “not answering back”: back-talking or verbally opposing their masters.
__d. “not pilfering”: It was extremely common for Roman slaves to steal from their masters; Christian slaves were to be set apart from this.
__e. “showing all good fidelity”: being trustworthy in all things.

C. The result is similar to what Paul wrote about the young ladies. If the young ladies did as instructed, God would not be blasphemed. For servants, this is the flip side of the coin. Beyond living above reproach, they would be actively demonstrating the grace of Christ, and they would “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.” It beautifies the gospel as it actively demonstrates the transforming power and love of our Lord & Savior.

Conclusion:
Want to sum it up? Christians ought to look like Christ… The Lord Jesus is the ultimate example of sober thinking, reverence, love, patience, purity, with sound doctrine supported by good works & sound speech. When His enemies tried to accuse Him, they failed repeatedly…even the one thing witnesses agreed upon was a provable falsehood against Him. Jesus lived His life completely above reproach, which only served to underscore what He taught about holiness and the need to be forgiven.

As those who claim the name of Christ, we ought to be the same way! Paul’s going to come back to this theme throughout the letter & for good reason: verse 5. When Christians don’t look like Christ, then the word of God is blasphemed among unbelievers. Christians are supposed to be known by our love for God & one another, but when we’re backbiting or divisive or self-absorbed, it’s easy to understand why the world thinks that the Gospel must not be true. After all, if Jesus really is risen from the dead, then His followers ought to actually be following Him.

Thus we need to help one another. One of the ways we learn how to look like Christ is by learning from one another, as those who are more mature in the Lord help instruct those who are new to the faith & model their maturity for them. Let me challenge you today: if you would be in the category of an “older man” or “older woman” in Christ, do you have younger people you’re intentionally pouring yourself into? Perhaps there’s a young person or a new parent whom God has placed in your life for this very reason. [Growing up in a non-Christian home] What about with your kids? Parents are not exempt…the home is where it ought to start. We have a tendency to teach our kids to behave, but sometimes fall short on modeling what it means to follow Christ. Start today!

Man’s Defeat; God’s Victory

Joshua 7-8, “Man’s Defeat; God’s Victory”
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Introduction:
When we left Joshua & the Israelites, we read of one of the most famous exploits in the OT…what children’s Bible storybook doesn’t have the battle of Jericho? Not too many go on to the following chapters. What follows the miraculous victory of Jericho is the ignoble defeat at Ai…and the spiritual battle against sin among God’s people. God wants us to live in spiritual victory, but we can’t do it when we’re hanging on to secret sin in our lives. And that’s what is so vividly illustrated here.

Joshua 7 (NKJV)
1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the LORD burned against the children of Israel.

A. “accursed things”: Remember that Jericho was a ‘firstfruits’ city in the promised land. Its defeat was absolutely guaranteed by God, but all of the spoil belonged to Him as well. The Israelites were to take all of the gold, silver, and bronze & put them into the treasury of the Lord (Ch 6:19). Achan broke this command by stealing some for himself. As a result, the entire nation shared in his sin.
__a. Is this fair? Wrong question. This is simply reality. We are the Body of Christ. If our hand sins & steals a watch from a jewelry store, our entire body goes to jail. When one of us in the Body is in sin, it invariably affects the rest of us.

B. Can the anger of the Lord burn against His own children? It did with Israel. Can it with us? Perhaps not in the same way – but we ought to praise God for the fact that He cares when His children sin. Like a good Father, He wants us to walk rightly & won’t hesitate to discipline us to bring us to that place (Heb 12:6).
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2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the country.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

A. Seems like a good idea…this is what they did for Jericho. Drastically different results…
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3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” 4 So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai.

A. Ai was a small city compared to Jericho…but that didn’t mean they weren’t formidable. Ch 8 tells us Ai had 12,000 people…the spies obviously weren’t very accurate in their report.

B. Is this cockiness or faith? Considering there’s no record of them praying at this point, or any time before they go to battle with Ai, it doesn’t seem that they’re proceeding in faith. They were flush from a miraculous victory, but thought that they could simply proceed however they wanted to at this point & consultation with God wasn’t really necessary. Consultation with God is ALWAYS necessary! (Redpath) “If you pray in time of victory, you will never have to plead in a time of defeat.”

C. Ultimately, what they were doing at this point was relying on their own strength. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise when they failed.
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5 And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water. 6 Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.

A. What happened? Defeat! Not just any military loss – a humiliating defeat by most likely a smaller army…obviously God’s hand of protection had been removed.

B. What was the effect on Israel? They had the same reaction as the Canaanites did when they 1st crossed over into the land. Their hearts melted. Here they were with nowhere to run to (the Jordan River blocked them) & the rest of the nations would hear how God no longer protected Israel. They were sitting ducks.

C. Joshua’s response? Repentance & Prayer. Even though Joshua had no idea what was going on, he knew that was the place to start…
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7 And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord GOD, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan! 8 O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

A. Is Joshua accusing the Lord? It sounds awfully similar to what the Israelites typically accused God of while in the wilderness… He actually does the same thing he condemned the nation for doing when they rebelled at Kadesh (Num 14), he blamed God & accused Him of fulfilling His promise to Abraham just to kill Israel…

B. Knowing that Joshua is in many ways a type (forerunner) of Jesus, what does this tell us about Christ? Nothing. When Joshua was acting in faith, and moving in the power of the Spirit, his parallels to Jesus are quite obvious. When he was acting out in his flesh, he looks like the rest of us.
__a. Actually, it does tell us one thing. The fact that God responded to him (even in his accusation) tells us that God still loved him. Want one more reason to thank God for your salvation in Jesus Christ? God is still your Father even when you’re being a jerk.

C. Ultimately Joshua put it back in the hands of God – “what will YOU do?” The way he got around to it may not have been very good, but this is the right question to ask. It’s never “What will I do for God?” – because (especially in our flesh) our works aren’t worth anything. It’s always, “What will God do/what has God done?” And the answer is always in Jesus Christ! Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world – He already paid the price for our salvation at the cross – He currently offers forgiveness and new life to those who trust Him – He empowers with the Holy Spirit to walk with Him – He will receive us to Himself – He will raise us from the dead – He will allow us to reign with Him forever. It’s all about HIS work!
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10 So the LORD said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? 11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. 13 Get up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the LORD God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.”

A. Why was God so rough in vs 10? Was He telling Joshua not to worship? Yes & no. Obviously Joshua was right to repent & seek the Lord’s face – but he was wrong to blame the Lord for Israel’s defeat. It was Israel’s own sin that caused Ai to run over them, but Joshua’s 1st response was to accuse God of wrongdoing.
__a. How often have we done the same regarding our sin? ‘Lord, why did You put me in this place? Why did You make me this way?’ …

B. Explained their sin & the results of it. Why was Israel “doomed to destruction”? Because the Lord wasn’t fighting for them… He was the only reason they would experience victory; without Him they would always experience utter defeat.
__a. Application to our struggle against sin & the flesh……

C. What to do #1…Destroy the accursed: There can never be any compromise with sin. We can’t sing “I Surrender All” when we keep a closet full of things we have no intention on surrendering to the Lord. Sin must be dealt with – and the only way of dealing with sin is death. Jesus died because of our sin; we walk with Jesus when we die TO our sin.

D. What to do #2…Sanctify yourselves: Set yourself apart for the Lord & His purposes. This is the flip side to the same coin. Paul sums it up – Romans 6:8-11 (8) Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, (9) knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. (10) For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. (11) Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. []
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14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the LORD takes shall come according to families; and the family which the LORD takes shall come by households; and the household which the LORD takes shall come man by man. 15 Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’ ”

A. Going to be done one-by-one – family by family…

B. Burned with fire? To demonstrate the absolute judgment of the Lord. Our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29) – praise God that in Christ, all our sins are burned away!
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16 So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17 He brought the clan of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarhites; and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. 18 Then he brought his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

A. Found the culprit…in the tribe of Judah. We don’t know how exactly – they may have cast lots…perhaps used the Urim/Thummim.

B. How long did this take? No one knows. There seems to be an indication that Judah was the 1st tribe examined, but it’s just speculation. (Walvoord and Zuck) “But since God knew who was guilty, why did He not simply reveal his identity to Joshua? The answer is that this dramatic method would impress on the nation of Israel the seriousness of disobeying God’s commands. Since the method took time it would also give the guilty person an opportunity to repent and confess his sin. If Achan had responded in this way and thrown himself on the mercy of God no doubt he would have been pardoned as was the guilty David centuries later.”
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19 Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

A. How would Achan’s confession bring glory to God? Because Jesus is the truth (John 14:6). This whole incident was brought about by deception, and it needed to be brought into the light. Joshua knew. God knew. Achan knew. For Achan to hide it would have only compounded his sin…he had already stolen from the Lord, rebelled against the Lord’s commandment, been responsible for the death of 36 men, and lying about it to cover it up. He didn’t need to lie some more.

B. Notice Joshua approached Achan gently & compassionately, even knowing the punishment that was about to come. That’s how Jesus deals with us… That’s how we ought to deal with others…
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20 And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I have done: 21 When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”

A. It doesn’t sound like much, but it was quite a haul. Compared to current market values, Achan had about $17K worth of material that should have been consecrated to the Lord.

B. Achan’s sin cost the lives of 36 men – but who had he sinned against? The Lord! Sin is primarily vertical…it’s rebellion against our Creator God who gives us life. Are other people affected? Sure – but our relationship with God is the 1st thing to address.
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22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. 23 And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD. 24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

A. The deed was exposed…

B. His entire family was destroyed along with him! The forbidden items were hidden in the family tent. Most likely, they were accomplices through their silence.

C. Achan had confessed – should he have been forgiven? No. Achan confessed; but he certainly didn’t repent & seek forgiveness. No remorse was shown over the 36 lives that were lost due to his sin. Although he realized he had sinned against God, he showed no contrition over it. Compare that with David, when he had also been caught in sin. Psalm 51:14-17 (14) Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. (15) O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. (16) For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. (17) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise. []
__a. When we sin as non-believers, it only is logical for us to justify ourselves. After all, we’re already in rebellion against God & we believe we’re our own judge. But a Christian should truly be able to see the sinfulness of sin! We know what Jesus endured on the cross for our sake, and it should grieve our souls to know what we’ve done. (I worry about “Christians” who have no contrition about sin!)
__b. But once we’ve seen what we’ve done – once we’ve confessed it to God, we can be done with it. Jesus paid the price – hallelujah!
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26 Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.

A. Translation of “Achor” = “Trouble”…similar to “Achan” = “troubler”

B. Serves as a warning to those who come after. The message? The Lord is Holy!
__a. This isn’t just limited to the OT…NT gives a very similar story of someone who attempted to lie to God in Ananias & Sapphira (Act 5). God is still holy!
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Joshua 8 (NKJV)
1 Now the LORD said to Joshua: “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. 2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it.”

A. Same thing the Lord told Joshua regarding Jericho (Ch 1)… Shows that His justice was satisfied & they could continue on in the conquest.

B. This time, Israel could take of the spoil. If Achan had only waited one city, he would have been able to enjoy what he had taken… It’s been often said that 30 minutes of sin can take someone down for 30 years. Sin just isn’t worth the cost!
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3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. 4 And he commanded them, saying: “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. 5 Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against us as at the first, that we shall flee before them. 6 For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ Therefore we will flee before them. 7 Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. 8 And it will be, when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the LORD you shall do. See, I have commanded you.”

A. First example in history of the rope-a-dope … Basically described an ambush & pincer grip. Was the ambush necessary if God had given the city into their hands? Yes – God commanded it in vs. 2. It may not have looked like the bravest method of attack, but they needed to go back to doing God’s work God’s way & relearn the lesson from Jericho.

B. Why doesn’t God command the people to march around Ai like they did at Jericho? Because God wanted to do it differently this time. Be careful not to limit God to working in only “certain” ways… (various ways Jesus healed the blind…) The one thing that’s assured in whatever way God desires: it’s going to give Him the glory!
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9 Joshua therefore sent them out; and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people. 10 Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 And all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near; and they came before the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now a valley lay between them and Ai. 12 So he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. 13 And when they had set the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, and its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.
14 Now it happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at an appointed place before the plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16 So all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. 17 There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel.

A. It worked…Ai got duped & started after Joshua…
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18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. 19 So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it, and hurried to set the city on fire. 20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven. So they had no power to flee this way or that way, and the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.

A. Ai got jumped, realized what happened, but it was too late…
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21 Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22 Then the others came out of the city against them; so they were caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they struck them down, so that they let none of them remain or escape. 23 But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. 24 And it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when they all had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. 25 So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the people of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

A. Ai was surrounded & completely overwhelmed & defeated…

B. No survivors of Ai left. Keep in mind, this is not an apologetics for genocide & merciless warfare. This is a specific instance of God’s judgment on a specific people…
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27 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the LORD which He had commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. 29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.

A. Ai was burned. This time they were able to keep the spoil, but not the city. You can bet Achan’s example was at the forefront of anyone who thought about going back.

B. Hanging wasn’t pretty back then… This is a reference to impalement; not strangulation & was a sign that the person was under a curse. That’s exactly what Jesus took on for us, when we were the accursed ones under the law, He willingly hung on a tree and became a curse for us (Gal 3:13)…
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30 Now Joshua built an altar to the LORD God of Israel in Mount Ebal, 31 as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.

A. Mt Ebal is near Shechem – and most likely the spot (if not, very close to it) where God promised the land to Abram after 1st calling him out of Haran. (Gen 12:6-8)
__a. God always keeps His promises!!

B. Why was Israel to make an altar on Mt Ebal rather than use the Tabernacle? Because God through Moses had commanded them to do this in Deut 27:4-5. What type of altar? One made out of uncut, whole stones. The focus was to be on God; not artisanship & carvings. There’s nothing wrong with beauty in worship; there IS a problem when we worship beauty. At this point, there weren’t to be any distractions – there wasn’t to be a hint that man’s work could improve on God’s word. Just a stone altar & sacrifice, pointing to God’s fullness of His work through Christ Jesus.
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32 And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

A. What exactly was written on the stones? Speculation… 10 Commandments, to the blessings/curses of Deut 27-28, to the entire book of Deut. No one knows – but what IS certain is that the law governing the land was now very publicly written for everyone to see.
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33 Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. 34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them.

A. This is what Moses told them to do in Deut 27-28… [PIC] In a sense, Israel was renewing the covenant. As half the nation would stand on one mountain & half on the other, they would recite the blessings & curses found in the law, saying “Amen” to each one. Publicly declaring their desire to be the Lord’s people & to be governed by His law.

B. How much of the Law did Joshua read? All of it! Every man, woman, and child heard every word that the Lord had given to Moses. (Talk about a long sermon!) But all of it was necessary… If they broke just one commandment, they were guilty of the whole thing (Jas 2:10), so they absolutely needed to be reminded of what it said.
__a. How much of that Law did Jesus fulfill? All of it! It’s complete in Him! When we read the OT (or NT), we’re really reading about Jesus & His work – the whole of the book is about Him!

Conclusion:
Good change of direction from the beginning of Ch 7. They began the siege of Ai in disobedience; they ended it with dedication. They began in sin; they ended in sanctification. And praise God, this is exactly what can happen with each one of us in our battle against temptation. Too many Christians fall into disobedience, but they never come back out to dedication. Instead of dying to the sin, and sanctifying themselves away from it in Christ – they compromise with it & live in defeat after defeat. Their walk looks exactly like a bunch of Ai’s.

But it needn’t be that way! Jesus doesn’t give us new life or fill us with the Holy Spirit in order that we would walk in constant defeat & depression. His forgiveness is available… His grace is sufficient… His work is enough… His power is available… And His word is right here before our eyes. May we daily die to sin & present ourselves alive in Christ!

Identifying Elders

Titus 1:5-16, “Identifying Elders”
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Introduction:
Last week, we only just barely begun Paul’s epistle to Titus – he started off with an incredibly deep greeting covering virtually every aspect of our salvation: how God loved us before time began – gave the promise & prophecy of salvation through Christ – manifested it during His incarnation – proclaimed it through it’s preaching – and grants grace, mercy, peace & the confident hope of eternal life to all who trust Jesus Christ as Savior & Lord. Glorious!

This week, Paul gets straight to business & to the core reason why he wrote the letter. The church in Crete had been established, but they were leaderless & so there was much work to be done. So what was Titus to look for in leaders? Knowing that God calls and equips men for the work of the ministry, how was Titus to identify these people? Especially in a land that was predominantly known for its UNgodliness. That’s what Paul instructs Titus in the rest of Ch 1. It’s not a matter of seeking skill; it’s a matter of searching character.

Titus 1:5-16 (NKJV)
5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you—
– The reason for the letter. Order & elders:

A. “set in order”: Apparently, there were many things that were lacking – not just qualified church leadership. The primary thing seems to have been holiness in their living. Throughout the rest of the letter, Paul reminds Titus how the church was to deny ungodliness & worldly lusts (2:12) – to be subject to rulers & authorities (3:1) – to maintain good works (3:8) & more. To have a church that is living like the world is to have a church out of order – and part of Titus’ responsibility as an apostolic emissary was to correct this.

B. “Appoint elders”: Among these other issues was the obvious issue of leadership. We don’t know exactly how the churches in Crete were founded – but obviously, they were comprised mainly of new believers, and didn’t know what to look for in elders or local pastors. Titus had a similar job as Timothy in Ephesus to find/raise up qualified men & ordain them to leadership…which is the bulk of what we’re looking at today.
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- Biblical elders…very similar to the teaching found in 1 Tim 3.
6 if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.
– Family life of elders…

A. “blameless”: Not perfect; blameless…important distinction! Someone who is blameless has a known character & accusations of sin don’t “stick” to them. They live above reproach.

B. “husband of one wife”: As with 1 Tim 3, the literal wording here is “one woman man” & the intent is debated thoroughly. Some think Paul is referring to a husband of one living woman (subsequent marriages after death being allowed) – others believe Paul’s intent is broader, that divorce & remarriage for elders/bishops is allowed for biblical reasons, and that he’s simply referring to someone who doesn’t chase women, or have multiple concubines (which were common in the culture).

C. “having faithful children”: This goes a step further than 1 Tim 3, where Paul concentrated on biblical discipline in the home. Here, the children’s character is an indication of the qualification of the elder himself. Why does it matter? An elder’s 1st ministry is like anyone else’s 1st ministry…it’s to his own family. If his children are completely out-of-control, then his 1st responsibility is to tend to the needs of his own family.
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7 For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money,

A. What a bishop/elder (somewhat interchangeable in Titus) is NOT. In being “blameless” (same word), the bishop is a “steward of God” (in that he cares for God’s possession – the Church) & thus there are several things he should not be.

B. “not self willed”: Could be translated “arrogant” – the thought is that the self-willed person would place themselves above all others, berating people until he could get his own way. Obviously doesn’t fit with the qualifications of an elder, as a mature Christian demonstrates love by not seeking his own (1 Cor 13:5)

C. “not quick-tempered”: Not that an elder never gets angry (there is a time & place for righteous anger!) – but an elder shouldn’t be prone to anger. His overall demeanor should reflect the love & kindness of Christ; not always looking like a volcano ready to blow.

D. “not given to wine”: The general idea is drunkenness, but the word itself is a compound of “beside + wine” – one who sits a long time with the wine bottle. Among the congregation, the use of alcohol is often debated. Among elders & overseers, the Scripture is very clear.

E. “not violent”: Could be translated “bully”…speaking of someone who’s prone to violence & physical abuse.

F. “not greedy for money”: The person who enters the pastorate for money is (1) deluded , and (2) harmful to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s good & biblical to compensate elders/overseers for their work & time (a laborer is worthy of his wage – 1 Tim 5:8), but it’s not good for an elder to have an undue focus on money (whether through the church or other side pursuits). No one can serve 2 masters (Matt 6:24), and that’s just as true for bishops as anyone else.
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8 but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled,
– What an elder IS…mostly self-explanatory.

A. “Hospitable”: Extremely important in the culture, both for Jews & Greeks. It’s only logical that an elder would be gracious to guests & strangers – after all, you can’t share the gospel with people when you’re always avoiding them.

B. “Lover of what’s good”: KJV has “good men”, but there’s no reason in Greek to restrict it to people. Whatever is good & God-honoring should be something that an overseer could rejoice in.

C. “Sober-minded”: moderate or temperate in actions.

D. “Just”: righteous in actions & deed.

E. “Holy”: This isn’t the normal Greek word which refers to being “set apart” – this refers more to someone’s personal piety. It’d be illogical to have a teacher about God who never worshipped God.

F. “Self-Controlled”: Someone who can restrain himself…this is part of the outworking of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23).
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9 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
– What an elder DOES…

A. Holds “fast to the word” according to what “he has been taught”: In 1 Tim 3:6, Paul warned Timothy not to appoint a “novice/neophyte” to the office of a bishop, in order to avoid the trap of pride. Right here is another reason. The bishop/elder needs to know the Scriptures well enough to hold fast to them & not be tossed to/fro with every wind of doctrine that blows through. The Godly elder stands firm on the word of God & does not budge, despite the pressure to do so.
__a. It seems that every few years, there’s another “new threat” to Christianity that makes the headlines. Lately, we’ve had the “DaVinci Code” followed by the “Gospel of Judas” followed by the potential “tomb of Jesus” (all of which either turned out to be fake or without foundation). What the church doesn’t need are pastors who are going to panic with each new headline that runs on CNN. We’re to simply hold fast to the Scripture – because it’s faithful – because it’s the word of God.

B. Uses sound doctrine in exhortation: As pastors/elders come alongside those in the local body, they are to use Scripture to console, comfort, and build up one another. The key is to use the truth of the Scripture (sound doctrine) – because that’s where the power of God lies. …

C. Uses sound doctrine in conviction (even when someone contradicts the teaching): Conviction isn’t making someone feel bad; conviction is a loving rebuke used in a way to bring about repentance. The Bible isn’t a something to be thumping people over the head with in order to make them feel as guilty as possible… Guilt without godly sorrow is useless (and usually manipulative). Godly sorrow leads to repentance – so it follows that the conviction needs to be brought about in a godly manner…that’s where sound doctrine comes in. When the word of God is clearly taught, the word of God is what brings conviction – that’s part of how God designed it to work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (16) All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, (17) that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
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- False teachers/elders…
10 For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.

A. False teachers are “insubordinate”…how so? They reject the authority of the Scriptures. The context here isn’t speaking of someone who is merely mistaken on a non-essential doctrine – it’s of the person who deliberately contradicts (vs. 9) the truth. Described in three ways:
__a. “idle talkers”: having nothing of value to say; they just want to hear themselves speak.
__b. “deceivers”: what they do say is untrue & purposefully misleading.
__c. Legalistic: In Paul’s experience, he was dealing with Judaizers – “of the circumcision.” Granted, false teaching doesn’t always lead to legalism, but it often does. Usually the 1st thing deceivers try to add to the gospel of grace is a bunch of rules.

B. What ought to be done about false teachers? Stop their mouths…literally, “muzzle” them. Why? They “subvert whole households” through their false doctrine – they undermine the faith of weak believers & thus needed to be silenced & exposed.
__a. Some people have a tough time with this idea. ‘Why not just let them speak? Who are we to tell someone to be quiet?’ Even our culture has rules on what can & can’t be said – it’s illegal to yell out “Fire!” in a crowded theater because it would induce panic. If we publish lies about someone else in a newspaper, we can be sued for libel. Why would God’s protection of the Church be less than society? By preventing false teachers from teaching, God is protecting His church against panic – and He’s preventing lies from being spread about His Son.

C. Their motive? Greed. There’s a book to be sold & a dollar to be made. Yet another reason for qualified Godly elders not to be “greedy for money” – if they are, their doctrine can be bought out by the highest bidder.
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12 One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

A. Original source: Epimenides – Cretan poet from 6th century BC. Crete obviously had a bad reputation…even among Cretans! Scholars note that to even be called a Cretan in ancient Rome/Greece meant that you were being called a liar…the terms were synonymous. Basically, Paul’s saying that the false teachers in Crete were acting like Cretans – and that was the opposite of what the Church was to be known for.

B. BTW – when Paul called Epimenides a “prophet,” was he putting Epimenides on the level of a Godly prophet like Elijah? No. Epi was a “prophet of their own” – IOW, they saw him as a prophet & Paul was simply acknowledging that fact.
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13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.

A. What did some of the false teaching include? “Jewish fables & commandments of men…” Most likely, these were some of the same fables that Paul addressed with Timothy in 1 Tim 1:4 – extra-biblical stories and legends that only served to cause division. The extra commandments would have been a reference to the Judaizing teaching – probably on dietary laws considering vs. 15.

B. So how was Titus to go about stopping their mouths? Through a sharp or severe rebuke. Like a verbal slap in the face, Titus was to make it beyond doubt that what was being taught was absolutely untrue & that their motives for teaching it was absolutely ungodly. Most likely, this would include a public response to ensure that the false teaching couldn’t continue further.
__a. Sometimes the most loving response is a sharp rebuke, though we don’t often think about it in those terms. [Olivia running in parking lot] The mode of correction needs to fit the level of error. If someone just has a mistaken interpretation of doctrine, then surely Titus would address it gently (exhortation – vs. 9). But when someone is purposefully misleading the flock of God away from the Scriptures, the rebuke needs to be appropriately sharp.
__b. Was this some kind of power trip for Titus & the other leadership? No! The idea isn’t to ‘put someone down’ – it’s to bring correction so that they would know the truth. The goal of church discipline is always restoration… …
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- Correcting their false teaching…
15 To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.

A. ‘ALL things? Even sin?’ No…keep the context in mind. Paul’s specifically referring to the Judaizer’s imposition of the Jewish law on the Gentile believers (diet, clothing, etc…) What someone ate or wore had no bearing on whether or not that person was truly pure. In the Old Covenant, these practices were pictures to point the Jews to the purity of their hearts. Reminiscent of what Jesus taught about the same issue: Matthew 15:17-20 (17) Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? (18) But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. (19) For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. (20) These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” []

B. So why are the pure, pure? Because of Christ Jesus! Those who trust Christ for the forgiveness of sin have been washed clean by His word & the Spirit – though once our sins made us red as scarlet, now we are as white as wool (Isa 1:18)…all because of the work of Christ. Likewise, those who are not in Christ are “defiled” because they are still in their sin. This isn’t a character judgment; it’s a statement of fact. Because they are outside the blood and righteousness of Christ, they are inherently tainted by sin as a result of the Fall.
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16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.

A. One way to tell a false teacher from a true teacher? Look at the fruit of their teaching (Matt 7:20). It doesn’t really matter what their statement of faith says about Jesus if their works make it plain they deny Him. Legalistic teachers deny the grace of God, which goes straight to the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ & thus they are disqualified from ministry.

B. This isn’t just true of false teachers; it’s also true of false converts… [] To those who would claim the name of Christ for themselves, but live a life that is completely inconsistent with Who Jesus is & what He told us to do, the NT would tell you to examine yourself & see if you’re in the faith (2 Cor 13:5). The last thing you want to do is deny Jesus your whole life, face Him on Judgment Day & have Him deny you.

Conclusion:
Basically, Paul’s been telling Titus: Son, you need some elders. Here are some good examples & here are some bad examples…go get the good ones! The problem with much of what passes for modern Christianity is that they’ve passed up on many good ones, because they want the flash of the bad ones… Instead of looking at the fruit of their teaching – instead of looking at Biblical qualifications, many people fall into the mindset of: “Look how dynamic he is – he’s anointed! He must have the Holy Spirit on him!”

God would protect us from these false teachers…which is why He’s laid out so clear in the Bible what qualifications He’s equipped in those that He’s called. What is it that we expect from those in church leadership? Perfection? Obviously not. Sincerity (lived out at home)… Godliness (demonstrated in character)… Truth (in doctrine & the faith)…

What is it we expect from ourselves? Hopefully not less. The qualifications for an elder are simply marks of a mature Christian. These are all things we can strive for – no matter what our ministry or vocation within the body of Christ is.

What if you’re not a Christian at all? Then your starting point in vs. 15. Whether or not you realize (or agree with) it, without Christ we are all tainted by sin. God created you in order that you would give Him glory, but because of the sin you inherited, you (like everyone else) rebelled against God. We did not recognize Him as God – we worshipped items of our own choosing – we set ourselves as 1st in our own lives, without regard to God or others – we’ve lied, lusted, stolen, hated others, dishonored our parents in myriads of ways. If God were to give us what we absolutely deserved, it would be eternal damnation… But God is not only just; He’s loving & merciful. He sent His only Son to die in your (and my) place on the cross taking the punishment that we deserved upon Himself & in Jesus’ resurrection, offers us forgiveness & new life… Don’t wait to respond to that offer – repent from your sin & trust Christ today…