CHANGES I; WHAT WE WERE
TITUS 3:3
There was once a billionaire who was getting up in years. He was upset at the thought of leaving all his possessions behind. So he figured the best thing was to pray to God. Now he asked God if he could bring his money with him. To which God replied flatly, "No, you can't take it with you."
The billionaire, who never took no for an answer, persisted asking. So every day, 50 times a day, the man pleaded and begged God to take his wealth with him.
Finally God, grew tired of hearing the man so He relented and agreed to allow the man to bring one suitcase with him. The man was very excited he hurried to decide what to pack. First he filled the bag with cash. But decided that perhaps the exchange rates might not benefit him. Then he filled it with stocks but didn't know how they would perform over eternity. Finally he decided to fill the bag with gold bullion and congratulated himself on his clever planning.
When the day finally came that he passed away, he was happily standing in line at the pearly gates when St. Peter saw him and asked about the suitcase. "You'll have to leave that behind," said St. Peter. "No way" said the man, "I have special permission from God." He told me I could bring one suitcase filled with anything I wanted."
"This is highly unusual," said St. Peter, "but let me see what's inside." He opened the suitcase and scratched his head as he pondered the contents. "I don't get it. God said you could bring anything at all with you ... and you brought PAVEMENT?"
Like that man most people have their thoughts fixed on things of the world. But for the believer that ought to be different. And that is a key word “different”. Christian’s ought to be distinct from the world. Everyone here who is born again of the Spirit of God, ought to be noticeably different from those who are not. But such is usually not the case, this is especially true in the USA. We have many who claim to have trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation, yet there do not act any different then those who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. And that really ought to bother us. I am afraid that there will be a lot of surprised people on Judgment day, those who thought they were saved, yet never were.
Now I bring this up because today I want to begin a two part message on changes. In other words for there to be a true conversion, for a person to be a true believer the Word of God states there must be changes, changes in that persons life.
Might I be so bold to say, that if you have claimed to profess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, yet your live is no different then before, then I believe that the Bible teaches that you are in fact not saved. The Bible teaches that there WILL be a change. But that is getting too far ahead.
Please turn with me to our passage in Titus chapter 3 verse 3. There Paul writes to Titus about things that once were, that should be no more.
Titus 3:3 “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.”
It is interesting to note that against the seven virtues Paul mentions in verses 1 & 2, (what we should be), Paul list seven vices in verse 3, showing what we once were. In other words Paul is teaching that there must be changes in the live of a true believer.
Now I am going to expand on that theme next week, but for today I want us to look at these vises that Paul list here. These are things that should no longer be present in our lives.
These are things that we must say go bye to when we profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, when we place our faith in His cleansing blood for the forgiveness of sins.
Notice the first one, Paul states that we were once foolish, that we were once fools.
This word basically means “senseless, without understanding” . In the context of the way Paul is using it here I believe He is referring to Spiritual things.
Paul of course is not saying that becoming a Christian is going to make you smarter in intellectual way. (It obviously did not work for me). But we will attain spiritual insight that we never had before.
The word of God tell us in 2 Cor. 2:14; “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
What that says is that those without the Holy Spirit of God at work in them CANNOT understand spiritual things. These spiritual things are foolishness to them, they do not make sense. Thus that Spirit of God must work in us to discern those things.
Without the Spirit of God, with out that relationship with Jesus Christ, Paul states we are spiritual fools.
Paul states that is what you once were.
The Bible tells us a lot about fools. Listen to Proverbs 1:7; “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
The Word of God states that a fool hates spiritual wisdom, he hates spiritual instruction. Partly because he cannot understand, and partly because his flesh nature will despise anything that has to do with God.
The Word of God tell us that the fool is full of pride. He is full of self-sufficiency and self-confidence. Pro. 14:16; “A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.”
The fool things he can make it on his own, he thinks he does not need God. But he is mistaken.
It will be by his pride that the fool will bring abut his own destruction, not on in this world, but also in the judgment to come;
Pro. 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.”
The Word of God also states that the fool will mock sin. The fool has not worry about his sin. Pro. 14:19 “Fools mock at sin, But among the upright there is favor.”
The fool does not understand the consequences of sin. The fool does not understand that is sin that will keep them eternally separated from God. The fool will mock sin as if it as no consequences.
The fool does not understand the sinfulness of sin or how must God hates sin. How must God is offended by sin. The fool does not understand that sin must be paid for it must be atoned for.
And it can only be paid for in two ways. It can be paid for by trusting in the Blood of Jesus Christ, or it can be paid for by us by spending an eternity in hell. Those are the only two options. The fool, according to the Word of God, cannot understand that. He mocks sin, not seeing the deadly effects that it has.
Notice the next vice that Paul mentions, that is disobedience. Paul here make reference not only to disobedience to governing authorities, but more importantly disobedience to God.
There are many consequences to disobedience. First of all we lose God’s favor through disobedience. Just look at the Bible. Time and time again we see people lose favor with God because of there unwillingness to do things God’s way.
We see the people of Israel, and how they lost favor with God because of disobedience. Look at Saul, the first king of Israel. He lost favor with God because he wanted to do things his way instead of God’s way.
This is something we see over and over in the Bible. Disobedience will drive a wedge between us and God, a wedge that causes people to loss favor with God.
Disobedience also will provoke the anger of God. Listen to Psa. 78:40, speaking of the people of Israel, “How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert!”
How many here want God mad at them? How many here want to provoke God? Disobedience provoke God. It angers God.
And Paul is saying, hey you were once like that. You were once provoking God. That is the way you used to live, but through Christ things have changed.
But for those who have not accepted the Lord they continue to provoke God in disobedience.
They continue to poke God with the preverbal stick. To taunt God, to dare God to sent them hell.
Let us understand that every unbeliever is hanging over the fires of hell. And the only thing that keeps them for falling into the flames is the hand of God. And disobedience is nothing more then saying to God, “I dare you to let go!”
Disobedience provokes God to anger.
We also see from the Word of God that disobedience forfeits the blessings of God. Again looking to the Ancient Israelite people as an example in Josh. 5:6;
“For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD; to whom the LORD swore that He would not show them the land which the LORD had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, "a land flowing with milk and honey."
Because of their disobedience those people lost the blessing that they should have had from God. Now imagine the blessing that are being lost by people because of their refusal to obey God, and submit to Jesus Christ.
I believe that all people miss out on many of the blessing that God desires to give us because of our disobedience. God states over and over in His word if you walk in Him, if you obey Him, you will be blessed.
But most of us go out and seek our own blessings, doing things our way, not realizing the blessing we are missing out on because we will not submit to God.
Finally, not only will disobedience forfeit the blessings of God, but it will bring curses. Listen to Deut. 11:26-28; "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.”
Now while that is address to the Israel people it is a principal that we see throughout the Word of God. If you obey you will be blessed, if you disobey you will be cursed. OF course the ultimate curse is eternal separation from God, which is brought on by the ultimate act of disobedience. And that is the rejection of God’s plan of salvation. The rejection of God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself that we might have eternal life.
So the ultimate act of disobedience will bring about the ultimate curse.
Notice what else Paul tells us that we once were. He states that we were once deceived. We were once living in a world of deception. We were once living in a dark world, and it was not until the light of the world came into our hearts and showed us not only how evil we were, but how good God is.
Without Christ you were like a ship without a compass, lost on the sea of life. Without true direction, in a constant danger of a shipwreck.
Paul states you were once deceived by the great deceiver, the prince of the power of the air. We were convinced that we would be ok, that we did not need Christ as Saviour, that we would make it to heaven on our own terms, that we did not need Him. We believed in a lie, yet now we know the truth, As Jesus states in John 8:31-32; "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Paul goes on to say that we were once, “serving various lusts and pleasures.” Or as the NIV puts it, “enslaved to various lusts and pleasures.”
Now in the context Paul is certainly not saying that as Christian’s we cannot have any pleasures. Paul is not saying that we cannot enjoy live.
What the Bible does teach is that while we may enjoy live there should be nothing in live that comes between us and God. There should be nothing in live that we are enslaved other then God.
Paul states in 1 Cor. “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
As unbeliever we were once enslaved by these lusts and pleasures of the world. But that according to Paul is the way we once were. No more. Now we are servants of God. No more should we look to fulfill the lust of the flesh, but fulfill the will of God.
The Word of God tell us, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”
Also in Eph. “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
We should no longer be under the control of the Flesh, but having put on the Lord Jesus Christ, we can not walk by the Spirit of God.
Paul goes on to say that we once lived in malice. The word basically means “badness in quality”. When I read the definition all I could think of was rotten meat, were the quality has gone bad. You know when you open up the fridge, pull out the sliced ham for sandwich, and you smell it to see if it is good.
To live in malice is to live in the rot of sin. It is to live with a desire to do evil. Generally this speaks of a desire to do evil toward another person.
Paul is saying, you once were like that. Thinking of doing evil to others. Not loving them as you should, but plotting against them, seeking evil for them. That is the way you once were, but not now.
Next Paul mentions envy. This goes beyond jealousy. Not only getting angry because someone may be blessed, but seeking to harm the other person because of it.
A good example of this in the Bible is the story of Joseph’s brothers, Acts 7:9 tell us of them;
"And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him”
Not only were Joseph’s brother jealous of him, but because he was blessed, they sought to do him harm buy selling him into slavery.
Again Paul tell us, that is the way you used to be. Not any more. You were once like that but things of changed.
The last thing Paul mentions in our passage is being “hateful and hating one another.”
This my friends is the results of living a live of sin. This is a result of the things that Paul has already mentioned. The result of being a fool, of being disobedience, of being deceived. It is the result of living life simply for the pleasures that have you captive, of living with malice, of living with envy. These things bring about hate, hate for God, and hate for others.
But again Paul states, you were like this, but not anymore! Paul say we were once these things, but with Christ we have changed.
Have you? Do you see yourself in any of those things? Do those things that Paul mentioned do they describe you live? If they do I pray that you would seek God. Seek His forgiveness. Seek the salvation that is available through the blood of Jesus Christ. Profess Him as Lord and Saviour. Obey the call that God has placed on your heart. Obey the Spirit of God.
To you who have experience the live changing power of Jesus Christ, to you God writes these words so that you will remember. That you would remember what a horrible things it is to live as a slave to sin. These things are written to you that you may remember how bad live without Jesus Christ really is.
It is written that as we look back at how we used to be, we may be driven to see that the Word of God goes forth. That we may see the need to evangelize, to preach Gospel, to be a part of seeing the WOG proclaimed. That we might have a great desire to see people experience the Love of Christ as we have experienced it.
I pray that each one here this morning would look back and see what God had saved them from, and go forth with a renewed desire to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Now we of course can do that in difference ways. We can do through our word’s, through our actions. We can do it through inviting people to Church, or for you women CWC, invited them to a place were you know they will hear the WOG. I pray that you would be obedient to what way the Lord is calling you to.
LET US PRAY.
