Teachings Of Titus #6

The Bible is filled with sermon material that we can draw from as we preach on this wonderful Christian life that God has blessed us with.

But also the Bible gives us some passages that tell us what our life was like before we accepted the Lord Jesus as our personal Savior.

Such is the case in verse 3. Here it tells us what our life was like then.

But we need to preface this by saying, just because all these things are listed here, does not mean that we were guilty of all these things.

Illus: Dr. Oliver Greene, who is now with the Lord, said this about verse 3, “This is a terrible picture of what life is like without God. Note that we who are believers were living a life just like what is described here before we accepted Christ. This does not necessarily mean that we were actively involved in every sin included in the list, but we are all guilty of at least some of these sins. And being guilty, we stand before God imperfect and short of His glory. Therefore, we need to be saved through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some things are mentioned that no doubt Paul was not guilty of before his conversion; but he is simply pointing out to Titus that he should preach to the people in the churches ... that they should live holy lives, and especially manifest a spirit of humility, order, peace, kindness, and due subordination to local authorities. Titus should point out to the believers that they were formerly disorderly, wicked, sensual -- sinners by nature; but having heard the Gospel, through the power of the Gospel they had been saved from these things by the grace of God, and now they were new creations in Christ Jesus and by their daily practices should prove to unbelievers that they have had a change of heart.

The minister of the Gospel is never to be proud or arrogant. He is to point unbelievers to Christ -- not to his own righteousness or ability to live above the world. The minister is to remember that before his conversion, he was in the same condition as the unbeliever to whom he now preaches. The minister is not to forget that he is not superior to others because of His ability, but because of the grace of God and the power of God. The minister is to exhort the wicked to repent. Remembering his own life of sin and wickedness will help him to fervently preach the grace of God which worked a miracle in his own heart; and having had a miracle of grace performed in his own heart, he knows what the grace of God can do for all who will receive it" (The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to Timothy and Titus, p.4720.

This one verse of scripture reveals four things about men before they come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.

I. EVIL MEN LIVE LIVES OF FOOLISHNESS

Look at verse 3. We read, “For we ourselves also were sometimes FOOLISH, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.”

Look at the word “foolish”. This is the word “anoetoi” which means thoughtless, dull, senseless, and without understanding in spiritual matters; to be ignorant of God and unwise in dealing with God.

What a perfect description of the ungodly.

God’s Word is stating that a man can have more degrees than a thermometer behind his name, but if he is living his life ignoring the teachings of God’s Word, he is a foolish person.

You see, we look at a person who does not believe in God, and we say, “That is a foolish person”. They are foolish!

The Word of God says this about them in Psalm 14:1. We read, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God…”

There are those who would not think about standing up somewhere and foolishly say THERE IS NO GOD.

For a person to say such a thing, they would have to be able to say, I KNOW EVERYTHING, AND SINCE I DO, I KNOW THERE IS NO GOD.

So unless a person is able to say such a thing, they are a fool to say THERE IS NO GOD.

But did you know that there are a lot of people who will not say such a thing, but they LIVE THEIR LIVES LIKE THERE IS NO GOD. And that is JUST AS FOOLISH AS TO GO AROUND SAYING IT.

Paul wrote to Titus and told him, “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish…”

We who have been saved, and our eyes have been opened to our sins, can now look back and say, “Paul, you are so right. I cannot believe I was so foolish as to live my life the way I used to live it!”