This has always been a problem in the church. But when we get to the third chapter of Titus, Paul starts to talk to him about salvation, and this becomes a little confusing.
WHY DID PAUL TALK TO TITUS ABOUT SALVATION?
Why? Paul wanted to make sure that Titus preached sound doctrine concerning salvation. Listen, we Christians can differ on some doctrines, but when it comes to salvation it is not up for debate.
For example, there are some Christians who believe that the Bible teaches foot washing. These Christians practice this custom in their churches.
(Humor) But most of us differ with these good people. We believe a person ought to wash their feet before they come to church, not after they arrive.
Now for those who believe that this is something the Bible teaches, I respect their beliefs. And if they feel this is something the Bible teaches that they should do, let them wash each other’s feet with our blessings!
There are a lot of things that people believe the Bible teaches that we do not believe!
And we certainly do not want to be like some of the militant fundamentalists, who refuse to have fellowship with Christians who do not believe the way they believe.
In fact, some of the militant fundamentalists believe in second degree separation. That is, if I fellowship with someone that believes in something they do not believe, then they will not fellowship with me because I fellowship with them.
If the Lord was here, I am sure he would say unto these, “Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites!”
We do not have to believe in everything that someone else believes in to have fellowship with them. However, when it comes to salvation we can not budge on this issue in the slightest.
In verses 4-7, Paul gives us one of the greatest summaries of salvation in the Bible.
Let us look at these verses that so clearly deal with salvation. Let’s look at-
I. THE ORIGIN OF SALVATION
Look at verses 4-7. We read, “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Many people today say they believe in salvation by grace, but they no sooner get the words out of their mouths, before they start telling you all the things their group says a person must do to be saved.
Paul responds to that group by saying, in Titus 3:5, “Not by works of righteouness which we have done, but according to his mercy He saved us…”
If we could do one thing to deserve salvation, God would not have had to give it to us through mercy.
Look at verse 4, we read, “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared.”
The only reason any of us are saved, is because of the KINDNESS and LOVE of God that has appeared unto all of us. These verses of scripture help us to see the kind of God He is!
Some people have the idea that God is the Creator of all things, but once He created everything, He sat back, and from a distance He is now only an observer.
But that is not the God of the Bible. God’s Word states clearly that He reaches out to us in KINDNESS and LOVE.
Bible salvation comes from THREE things:
(1) GOD’S KINDNESS
The word “kindness” is the word “chrestotes”, which means goodness.
This is a goodness that reaches so deep, it always gives whatever is necessary. You could say, God had to save those of us who come to Him for salvation, because that is the kind of God He is.
But Bible salvation comes from another place.
(2) GOD’S LOVE
The word “love” here is the word “philanthropia”.
That is, God is a good God, but He also is a loving God. And it was His love that motivated Him to die on the cross for our sins. It was not the spikes that held Him on that cross, it was His love for us that held Him there.
Salvation has come to us because of God’s GOODNESS, and GOD’S LOVE, but also because of-
(3) GOD’S MERCY
The word “mercy” here is the word “eleon”, which means feelings of pity, compassion, and kindness.
Illus: Sometimes when you help people who need help, they will say, “I do not want anyone feeling sorry for me.”
Well, none of us enjoy having someone feeling pity for us, but when it comes to God, we want God to feel sorry for us.
• We want Him to know how helpless we are
• We want Him to know what a bad situation we, who are born in sin, are in.
We want Him to feel pity for us, because if He can not feel for us, He will not help us.
Look at verses 5-7. We read, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
We have looked at THE ORIGIN OF SALVATION, but let us look also at-
II. THE OBEDIENCE OF SALVATION
When you start preaching salvation by grace alone, someone almost immediately will say something like this, “I know a man who claims to be saved, and once held an office in church, but he left his wife for another woman.”
It is sad that we see these situations in churches, but the best Christian in any church, if he/she does not stay close to the Lord, could find themselves in a similar situation.
Many times the people who do these things have never truly been saved. They joined a church, they attended a church, but they never were truly BORN AGAIN!
Have you noticed, that most of the time when God talks about SALVATION BY GRACE, it is not long before God’s Word starts to talk about the OBEDIENCE OF SALVATION?
This is what Paul does in this passage. He just got through talking about THE ORIGIN OF SALVATION, but once he does, he immediately begins to talk about THE OBEDIENCE OF SALVATION.
We who know the Lord Jesus have an inward desire to want to please Him, once we are born again.
Paul gives the Child of God three warnings in verses 8-11.
Look at Titus 3:8-11. We read, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.”
A. THE WARNING TO MAINTAIN
Just because a believer is saved by the grace of God, does not exempt him from living a godly life.
Paul said, he is to MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS! Look at the word “maintain” in verse 8, this is the word “proistasthai”, which means to practice, give attention to, be eager.
Every thought of our minds as Christians, should focus on how we can do good works.
This is something the Bible teaches throughout:
• Look at Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
• Look at Titus 2:7, “in all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity.”
Paul warns the saved of the danger of not “maintaining good works.”
B. THE WARNING TO FORSAKE
Paul had just finished talking about how Christians are always to do good works. But notice, in verse 9, he talks about controversial discussions.
Why? Because many times professing Christians have become so heated up in discussing controversial subjects, that they were at the point of putting on their spiritual gloves and fighting.
Have you:
• Ever attended a Sunday School Class and the teacher threw out some questions for everyone to discuss, and the first thing you know, as different ones began to discuss certain things, they got so angry that they started telling other class members they were ignorant, and that they did not know what they were talking about?
• Ever walked across a church parking lot after a church service, and heard two professing Christians talking about something they differed on, and their conversation was getting so hot that they were in each other’s faces?
God’s Word says we are to avoid these kind of situations. Look at verse 9. We read, “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.”
Why do people do these things? Because it is easier to talk as if we are religious, than it is to live a religious life.
Illus: William Barclay, in his commentary, “The letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon” said, “It has been said that there is a danger that a man may think himself religious because he discusses religious questions. There is a kind of discussion group which argues simply for the sake of arguing. There is a kind of group which will argue for hours about theological questions. It is much easier to discuss theological questions than it is to be kind and considerate and helpful at home, or efficient and diligent and honest at work. There is no virtue in sitting discussing deep theological questions when the simple tasks of the Christian life are waiting to be done. It is indeed true that such discussion can be nothing other than an evasion of Christian duties.”
This must have been the way Paul was thinking, that is, the true test of our spirituality can be found in WHAT WE DO, not WHAT WE SAY!
And Paul said we are to always MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS and avoid things that are controversial.
C. THE WARNING TO REJECT
Look at verse 10-11. We read, “A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.”
A heretic is a man or woman who decides which parts of the Bible he/she wants to believe.
The word “heretic” is the word “hairetikos”, which means to choose for oneself.
But notice, this heretic is in the church, and God’s Word tells us we are to go to him twice, in a Christ-like way, and try and help him.
Matthew 18:15-17. We read, “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.”
Notice, the Bible tells us there is a limit to how many times we are to go to them. God is saying, “after the first and second admonition reject” those who reject the truth of God’s Word.
This is something today that many Christians do not practice, even though God’s Word clearly teaches they should do this.
Illus: Now if a person is a heretic, and they do not like them, they have no problem rejecting them.
Illus: A person like this reminds me of Russia shooting down one of our airplanes, and killing one of our good Congressman. This Christian man, when he heard about this, was telling another Christian it was time we declare war because they killed one of our good Congressmen! The Christian man he was talking to said, “Joe, calm down now. Do you really think we ought to go into war over this?” He said, “Let me ask you something. I know you do not like Sen. Ted Kennedy. Suppose this good Congressman that died in this bombing could not have made this trip and at the last minute Sen. Ted Kennedy had to take his seat, would you have still wanted to go to war?” When he saw things in that light, he began to have second thoughts about going to war with Russia over this matter.
But this is the way a lot of church folks are. If someone is a heretic that they do not like, they will break fellowship with them immediately. But if it is someone they like, now that is a different story.
God’s Word says that if after the first and second efforts to help them they continue to refuse to straighten up, leave them alone.
Look at the word “admonition”, this is the word “nouthesia”, which means calling attention to, mild rebuke or warning.
Notice, we are told to MILDLY REBUKE these people at least two times. But after we have tried to help them two times and they still refuse the truth of God’s Word, we are commanded to avoid them.
Why? We are to avoid them because of two reasons:
(1) To continue to deal with them could lead to some heated arguments, something that we are told not to indulge in.
(2) While we are wasting all our time with them, we might have helped others who want help.
Once this heretic rejects the truth, under no circumstances is this heretic to be allowed to stay in the church and promote their damnable teachings.
Look at verse 11. “Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.”
Look at the word “subverted”, which is the word “ekstrepho”, which means to pervert.
Illus: This is what the homosexuals are doing today. They are wrong in their sinful lifestyle. But rather than confess their sins, repent of their sins and turn from them, they are out on a campaign to change our way of thinking about their way of life.
But listen, the truth is the truth. If this whole nation comes to their way of thinking, it is still sinful.
• It has always been a sin
• It is a sin today
• It will be a sin tomorrow
One of the sad things that is taking place in our churches today is that God’s church allows the modern heretics to:
• Stand before a class room and teach their damnable teachings
• Stand in the pulpit and preach their damnable teachings
Because they do not have enough love for God, and respect for the Word of God, to stand up for what is right.
Conclusion:
It may seem strange for Paul to write to Titus about Salvation, but He knew his days on earth were few in number. There must be men and women of God who will contend for the Faith, and stand for what this Bible teaches.
Many today think we need new Bibles. Listen, we do not need new Bibles, we just need to read this old King James Bible and start obeying it.
The rest of this book is Paul’s farewell to his friends.
I. THE ORIGIN OF SALVATION
II. THE OBEDIENCE OF SALVATION
