Good order requires correction

Good morning. We are continuing on through Titus, and we're getting into, we're moving into the order still. This is all ordering the church according to God's word, and it shows how it is important to have the right men in that leadership, and it's important to make sure we have the right teaching. And today's a difficult, but we're gonna see that throughout scripture, it's taught as necessary. There needs to be correction. There's going to be a temptation to be swayed towards something that is not God's truth, and there's going to be those who want to persuade us. We can see that this is true if we just look through church history. Let me just give you a simple little sample of the kinds of false teachings that the church has had to consider, wrestle with, and rebuke sharply throughout history. The first is Marcion. Second century, he rejected half of our New Testament. He was what we call a Gnostic, and he believed that the Old Testament God was a God of wrath and justice, and the New Testament God was a God of love. His rule was that he denied God's word based upon his own preconceived idea of God, and he was actually very anti-Jewish in the way he was selective in the books he read. wanted in the New Testament. Valentinius, also second century, also a Gnostic, he has the same problem in that he has this idea that the physical is bad and the spiritual is good, and this allows this horrible idea that there's secret special knowledge that some people have access to, and it's usually more important and is above the Bible. Arius, a false teacher many of us, or most are aware of, he denied the deity of the sun, his slogan, there was a time when the sun was not. He reduces Godhead, he reduces Jesus and his power and his identity. Pelagius, fifth century, he denied the sinfulness of man. He said there was no sin nature delivered from Adam to all of humanity. Adam was just a bad example, and here's a rule he has. If God commands it, we can obey it, and the law becomes not a mirror to see sin, but a way to obey to earn favor with God. We're gonna jump ahead. Sicinius, 17th century. His statement was, whatever I do not understand, I cannot believe. Therefore, he denies the entirety of the Trinity. His reason is his God. If I cannot understand it, I will not believe it. And then we have one of the great names, Schleiermacher, 19th century. He adapted Christianity to the new age and reduced religion to the feeling of dependence. He put the Trinity at the end of the book. He couldn't outright just remove it, but he put the Trinity at the end of his theology. He wants to reduce God to a religion, to the feeling of absolute dependence, and guess what that makes Jesus? He's a model of how to really feel God. He is not himself God. That's just a small sampling of a long history, and I wanna just show a couple things that are common among all these folks. All of these significant dangerous attacks came from within the church. Almost all of them were pastors. These are attacks from within. The very first attack on God's people came from within the garden. Satan comes and what does he say? Has God said? There's a reduction of God in what these false teachers all say, and that is the very work of Satan. The most dangerous attacks on the church are always going to be the ones that come from within. Persecution from outside, we actually see throughout church history that strengthens the true church, that gives them a clarity. We know what we believe and we're willing to die for it and suffer for it. Persecution is painful. But false teaching within, that creates a kind of confusion and disorder that defames the name of Christ. So they all come from within side. The other thing they all have in common is that there's a reliance on man's ability that automatically means they're denying something about God and his nature or his work. that they want to subtract from God, specifically Jesus Christ, either his full deity or his full humanity or his full work on the cross that is sufficient for our forgiveness. And in doing so, they want to add to man and what we accomplish with our own reason, our own works. Augustine said in one of his many battles with different false teachings, if you believe what you like in the gospel and reject what you don't like, It's not the gospel you believe, but yourself. Here's the challenge. We're either going to say, God, you have spoken, and we're going to submit, or we're going to say, God, you may have said something, and I'm going to try to figure out what you said, because it aligns with what I already believe. We're either going to submit to God when he speaks, or we're going to decide that God could have been wrong, and he needs to submit his truth to what we already agree with. The key question for us is what kind of trues, trues, half trues, untrues, are we embracing? What kinds of teaching are we susceptible to? Because I gave you a long list of history, and that's just a simple, not a long list, it's a short list of all the different false teachings. It's not something distant in past, And there's not something that's going to be distant from here. Wherever Christ is exalted, Satan will attack with some kind of confusion and false teaching. Today, we are looking at the call to rebuke those teachers and that teaching which contradicts sound doctrine. Last week, we looked at the need for order in God's church. Elders were called to be put in place to bring about that order, and those elders need to have orderly lives, they need to have orderly homes, they need to be able to handle the word of God in a way because they trust that they're able to teach and rebuke. This morning, we're looking at the specific call to rebuke. And we're gonna see the danger of false teaching. Next week, we'll look at the high calling and the importance of instruction, and that's chapter two, verses one to 15. how the church has to be instructed of the gospel we built up. Here, it's protecting the church so that the church all holds firm. We're looking at chapter one, verse nine, and I guess I should go ahead and say that. I wanna be helpful for some of you. Some of you just really love outlines. There's an outline. It could be mysterious. You might need Gnostic abilities to follow it. Good luck with that. Here's point one. Elders must have firm faith. And again, as we look back to that section, every believer is called out of arrogance and out of greed for gain. Every believer is called to be a lover of good and hospitable and upright. Here it's those who are in place to lead the church, they need to be leading already because they have that strength of character and they already have that maturity in Christ. So here we see chapter one, verse nine, the last must, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught. Holding firm to the trustworthy word as taught. There's a source there, it's the word of God. Paul's already talked about how God who does not lie, this is chapter one, verses one and two, the God who does not lie, chapter two, he's promised and now has been manifested through the preaching of Paul that he's been entrusted. It's a stewardship. What Paul's been given, he gives to the church. What he's been given from above, he gives to the church. And we now have not just the preaching of Paul, but we have these letters that the Holy Spirit produced through men. We have the Holy Spirit resounding within so we can understand them. We have a firm foundation. We have God's Word. We have a trustworthy Word that is true, authoritative, sufficient, clear, and necessary. And our problem, as we looked at two weeks ago, is we're prone to suppress the truth. We're prone to find our own loopholes for the truth. We're prone to find our own ways of of giving ourselves exceptions, or adding to it, or subtracting from it. Notice here, hold firm. They cling tightly. They know that this is a word that comes from above, and it's the only word that is able to save. It's the only word that is trustworthy and true. It's been tried, it's been tested, and it is God's own truth. They're not having a general agreement. Yeah, this is the Bible, I'll consider it. Now, holding firm means they're gripped by it. They're not standing over it to decide what is true and what they'll submit to. They're standing under it and letting it judge them. They see that it's sweeter than honey. They see that it's more costly, more valuable than gold or silver. There's a conviction. It's right. It's true. It reveals things about me that are not right or true. There's two ways we can approach Scripture, because there's hard things in Scripture. Peter says, Paul says hard things. That's helpful. What do we do when we come across the hard things of Scripture? There's two options. We can either look at it and say, that's too difficult, I don't understand, there must be something wrong with the text. Or we can say, this is difficult, I don't understand, there's something wrong with me. That's your two options. Our assumption, our posture, our disposition should be to first let it test us, not to assume we can decide what is right or wrong in the text. This is a must for elders because they must hold firm. They must hold firm so they're always insisting upon and declaring the truths that are profitable and trustworthy and good for the church. And it's also important because they must be able to rebuke those who contradict it. In order to do this, elders must have what we call ballast. There's a steadiness. being gripped by the word of God. The ballast is the part of the ship that's beneath the water that keeps it from being tossed to and fro. It keeps it steady and balanced. That's the kind of faith in God's word we want from all believers and must be among his teachers. Notice that must then leads to two abilities. Point two, Elders need two abilities. First, the ability to teach, and then the ability to rebuke. An elder needs two voices. The one of instruction, the one of care, and the one that is warning, danger. Sound doctrine. If we look at the call here, they must be able to instruct in sound doctrine. The word sound here is the same word we get the word hygiene from. Healthy. It's a medical term. Order was a medical term. A broken arm needs set. It needs to be made straight. Here, the whole idea is that we come to Christ as unhealthy people with twisted desires and sinful patterns, and God sets us straight together as a church, and what we need is healthy doctrine. We need good health, we need a healthy diet of truth and godliness. Well, what is the kinds of sound doctrine that we might be thinking of? Paul gives Titus two real clear examples of sound doctrine. Look at chapter two, beginning in verse 11 through 15. First look at 15. Declare these things, exhort, rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Verse 15 is telling Titus, this is one of the things that you should be talking about. This is sound doctrine. Listen to it, 11 to 14. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in the present age waiting for our blessed hope that appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Salvation comes from outside. Salvation has come from God who sent his Son to die for us, to ransom us. Why? So we would then be zealous for good works. We would be trained to renounce ungodliness. That's sound doctrine. We can see it again in chapter three. Look at verse eight. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who believe may be careful to devote themselves in good works. These are excellent and profitable for people. Chapter three, beginning of verse three. What is he referring back to? We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves of various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But, in the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared. He saved us. Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration, renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. So that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. These are the teachings that you need to be hearing, that you should be listening for, that you should be making sure constantly. God's salvation has appeared and it isn't earned, but it leads us to good works and Godliness. Elders must be able to instruct so we see how trustworthy God's word is. Elders must be able to instruct so that we see that grace abounds where sin abounds. Elders must be able to instruct so that we see the wisdom of power of God in his law. The church is supposed to be a school, training to renounce ungodliness. There's a discipline, the regular training of God's word, the regular training of his disciples. We must have a clear understanding of scripture. Now the ability to teach sound doctrine also means we're a student of people. There's different personalities. That's actually helpful to understand. But one pastor from the past called the role of the pastor the physician of the soul. And the reason he talked about it that way is he said whenever a pastor's approaching somebody, they have to be able to diagnose the problem in order to apply the right solution. They must be able to diagnose what is really going on, or what's the real problem, because You know, the physical body oftentimes reveals itself to a medical doctor. They can tell what's wrong and they have to make sure they have the right diagnosis and the right prescription. You get the wrong diagnosis and you get the wrong prescription, you probably are escalating the problem. Even more so with a pastor. The difficulty there is the heart's deceptive. Sometimes it's easy to be deceived by the body, but the heart is deceptive, and so the pastor has to be able to say, what is the real problem, and what is the passage of the scripture? How do I apply the balm of the gospel appropriately? First, Thessalonians gives us an example of this. Paul says, admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak. Be patient with them all. Notice the all is be patient, but the exhortation admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted. If you admonish the fainthearted, you're gonna crush them. You don't encourage the idle, you admonish. There's a way in which recognizing the problem needs the right passage and push. Church, we need a regular diet of healthy doctrine. To continue on with the medical imagery here, because he's got the hygiene, it's amazing, the human body. I have a friend who just got through chemo treatment. His white blood cell count is diminished. It's just zero. And so he got a hangnail. And that little hangnail caused his whole thumb to blow up in this painful infection. And it's amazing to think about how, because his body didn't have its full functioning hygiene, because it didn't have its full functioning white cells, and the way that God designed the body to attack, when it's not healthy, a hangnail could kill you. Church, we need to be careful about what kind of sound doctrine we're insisting upon. We need to be careful of not excusing unhealthy beliefs or practices or assumptions. We need to be a healthy body that is fully functioned. My concern is, especially because many need to be absent because of health concerns, some choose to be absent. There's this weird idea that, you know, I want to keep the church at a healthy distance. The further you want to keep the church at a distance, the more likely you are to possibly catch a disease, a spiritual one. The more you want to stay isolated, the more likely you are to find some kind of infection. Because we're not meant to just read the Bible by ourselves. It was not intended that way. It was meant to be read together and studied together. It's meant to be enjoyed as a fellowship. One of the great dangers right now is how much good teaching there is online. how much bad teaching there is alongside of it, but the Christian who just wants to isolate himself and listen to good teaching by himself, it's not gonna have the training effect. Isolation is not healthy. Elders are called to lead the church in proper doctrine, in healthy doctrine. That's the songs we see, the scriptures we read, the sermons you hear, the diet of Bible studies we promote. Now getting to the real focus of our whole day here, elders need to be able to rebuke. Notice there, rebuke those who contradict it. Rebuke those who are contradicting healthy doctrine. Rebuke has three aspects. First, there's disapproval. This is wrong. Second, there's an exposing. This is demonstrably wrong. You just don't go to somebody and say, I feel like this is wrong. No, no, you want to disapprove, and that disapproval needs to say, here's what the Bible says, here's what you're saying, and there's a leading to trust God's word, and that's the third ingredient for a good rebuke in that it's actually an invitation. The church doesn't have a cancel culture. The church says I disapprove because it is in contrary to the word of God and I'm inviting you to trust the word of God rather than this opinion or tradition you're insisting upon. It's an ability that's needed. Let's just be honest, it's really not enjoyable. It shouldn't be enjoyable. It's dangerous. It is dangerous to approach someone who is teaching what ought not to be taught, because if they are a wolf, they will bite. Paul talks about false teachers in 1 Timothy 1. They shipwrecked their faith. He talks about Alexander the coppersmith in 2 Timothy 4. He has caused me great harm. He has intended to cause me great harm. The folks who Paul's talking about, They're looking for influence, they're looking for gain, they're looking to improve themselves, not to improve others, to love Christ more. So the point, how do you recognize a false doctrine or a false teacher? Well, it's easy, they always come with a name tag, right? They come with a warning. No, we move very clearly from Matthew 7, the words of Jesus himself, 15 to 20, They will sneak in. Jude said they crept in. How do they creep in? How do they sneak in? Well, it's a wolf that looks and sounds and smells like a sheep. They fake it. Now, the good news is Jesus says very clearly, you'll know them by their fruits. Over time, eventually, they're going to demonstrate by their own activity that they're wolves, but they always come in. looking, smelling, sounding like a sheep. So how do you identify them? How do you identify who deserves rebuke? Because this specific kind of rebuke is very unique. It is a strong correction. Well, the first thing we see is that they contradict what is true. If we just look at verses 11 to 16, listen to the language Paul uses again. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers, deceivers. He gives a little more of a practical point here, a little more of a precise point, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced. Why? They're upsetting whole families. They're turning whole families upside down. They're causing a disruption. How? By teaching for shameful gain what ought not to be taught. Verse 12 is interesting. He quotes one of their own prophets, one of the Cretans, the prophet of their own. Cretans are all liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. Well, what are they doing? They're devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of the people who turn away from the truth. 15, to the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their mind and their consciences are defiled. That's a general principle that he's gonna apply here that's very helpful. But listen how he ends. He started with they're insubordinate, they're empty talkers, they're deceivers. Now verse 16, they profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. It's quite a list. That's a lot of negativity, Paul. We need to be aware of how dangerous and how obvious this becomes in a church. There's two primary false teachings, we just think big picture. One is to say there's something added to the word of God that you need. A belief, a practice. The other is to give loopholes and excuses for not believing everything God said and obeying it. Those are two most basic false teachings. And they both have a sense of righteousness about them. Here's how you can be more righteous or super righteous. Here's some more things you can do. As if God's word wasn't enough. Or, no, surely Paul couldn't mean that. No, that can't be something that God would say today. God's Word isn't clear enough. In 1 John 4, we're told to test the spirits. And he says that false teachers, they say this, Jesus Christ did not appear. Jesus Christ did not come. The true teaching of the Holy Spirit is that The grace of God has appeared. Jesus Christ has come. Now notice there, it isn't that Jesus was born. He's come. He's from outside. He's from the heavens. The solution to our problem comes from outside. The problem is inside. False teaching always has a smaller Jesus. False teaching always makes man prominent. We see false teaching again in Acts 20. I want you to hear, I wanna use numerous texts because it's amazing how often the church is warned. Acts 20, Paul calls the elders and he says, know this, watch yourselves, watch the church of Christ that he purchases on blood. Because fierce wolves are gonna come teaching twisted things. They're gonna lead people away from Christ to follow them. When you hear teaching, you need to ask, What kind of influence? Is it leading me to trust a human more? Is it leading me to look down upon another human more? Is it leading me to trust myself more? Or is it leading me to rejoice in the grace of God and want to obey him more? Is it leading me to rejoice in the grace of God and obey him more? That's the only real sound doctrine. The others are self-promotion or self-interest. Does the teaching adorn the doctrine of God or does it adorn self-interest? Let's look at the very words of Titus. How are we gonna identify? Well, verse 10 is already very discouraging. For there are many. It isn't something that's in the distant history of the church. It's not something that we're immune to as a church. There are many. And this is important to recognize. There are many who will come in the name of Christ in sheep's clothing that are, well, what Jude calls hidden reefs. They're dangerous. They're blemishes in the love feast. They don't belong with the Lord's Supper, where the church is rejoicing the grace of Christ. They're waterless clouds. They have empty words. They make promises they can't keep. So we ask. In case you're wondering, I went from sentence points for the sermon to question points for the sermon. For those who like to take notes. Who needs rebuke? What kind of person needs rebuke? Question mark. Unifying mark is right here at the beginning. Insubordinate. Verse 10. Many who are insubordinate. This means they're regularly disagreeing and discrediting the church, the gospel, the Bible, and the leaders of the church. They stir up murmuring, they're the soundboard of dissatisfaction. The elder is called to not be arrogant. Insubordinate, by definition, is arrogance. Christ's model is to consider others more important than yourself and to consider their interests more important than yourself. That's Philippians 2. Insubordinate says, I'm going to insist on my way over against whatever else is presented. You see, the word submission is found throughout scripture. It's a very important word throughout scripture. And submission only takes place in a certain context. Submission takes place when there's disagreement. There's no submission when there's agreement. That's just called agreement. Submission takes place when party A and party B, or person A and person B, come to this agreement. And submission is when you say, I'm going to defer. See, we talked about Jesus, he says the sheep, the wolves are gonna come in, they're gonna look like sheep, but you'll know them by their fruits. One of the first ways you see a wolf show its fangs is when they hear the word no. When there's disagreement. God uses conflict in a church to show the pure. That's 1 Corinthians 11. He says, Paul says, I know there's divisions and there must be divisions because that will show who's actually pure. Because when a wolf hears no, those fangs come out, and there's a quick temperedness, there's a violence, there's an anger. Again, something unbecoming of an elder. Related and subordinate, they're empty talkers, they're deceivers. They'll agree in speech, but not in action. Or they're those waterless clouds, their words sound elegant, but there's an emptiness to them, they don't have the fullness of scripture. And then verse 12, this has gotta be the most awkward part of Titus' job. Verse 12. One of their own Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. We do realize that Titus received this letter, and as he's going from town to town, he's supposed to read this letter to Cretans. That's kind of awkward, right? Who's going to appreciate? That's awkward. As a pastor, he's got to read a letter that's quoting that you all, Cretans, are all lazy beasts and gluttons and liars. Well, how would a Cretan believer hear that in a church? I think the way they would probably have to hear it would be, yeah, we were like that. But we were washed. And we were trained. and we've stopped lying, and we've put on the truth of Christ, and we now only proclaim the truth of Christ. They would have to say, that was who we were, like Titus 3, three declares. We were ourselves lazy gluttons. You see, the church isn't made up of people who were never sinners. The church is made up of people who have recognized sin and said, Jesus, wash me, cleanse me, and train me. So we know them by their insubordination. We know them from the deception and empty talking. He's identified very clearly. Their own prophets say that the people, apart from Christ, they're liars. And notice it says they're always liars. In chapter one, verse two said God never lies. There's a significant contrast there. God never lies, but these false teachers, they're always lying. And notice they teach. We're gonna get into their doctrine now, what they teach. Well, they teach for shameful gain, that's verse 11. This is in contrast to elders who should not be greedy for gain. They teach what ought not to be taught, whereas an elder's called to be a steward, to receive God's word, and to basically be a mailman. Hey, here's what God said, it's for you now. There are boundaries. This is why we have a statement of faith, to know what's out of bounds, and to know the things we should be talking about. Verse 14, they turn disciples away from the truth with their devotion to Jewish myths and the commands of people. Here they're just what Jesus said in Matthew 15. There's an insistence upon the commands of men, and they're replacing the standards of God with the commands of men. And then verse 16, this is the terrifying one. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. That just rings of Jude that we read earlier. Notice the devotion, verse 14. It's not a devotion to God's word or good works, it's a devotion, verse 14, to Jewish myths, made up fables, grand stories. They're devoted to commands of people that are clearly in contradiction to the truth. They're looking to replace what God said, add to what God said, or subtract from what God said. There's a disposition to the word of God that is unhealthy. Let's go back up and let's look at this little phrase here, verse 10. Especially those of the circumcision party. That's tied most likely to the Jewish myth. The circumcision party, there's all kinds of different variations of those who would be tied to what's called a circumcision party. But the basic common factor is they are saying you need to do this in order to be truly spiritual. Whether it be circumcision or moons or Sabbaths or rituals, there's something about the work of Christ is not yet complete. You need to do this. Here's the most basic teaching that we have to insist upon as a church. Christ accomplished perfect final salvation on the cross. Christ accomplished perfect final salvation on the cross. The Holy Spirit perfectly applies all of that salvation all to you when you believe. If you don't believe Christ accomplished it all and the Holy Spirit applied it all, you're going to be deceived into thinking there's something you need to do extra to gain it. It's all a work of God. The Father declared it, the Son accomplished it, the Holy Spirit has applied it. We now simply obey because of it. The circumcision party is going to say, in order to get it perfectly accomplished or perfectly applied, you need to do something. Next week, we're gonna see a baptism that is not so Natalie can say, now I have a salvation accomplished, or now I have salvation applied. It's her saying, I have received it, and I want to profess it. Not only in my testimony, but I want to be held accountable to profess it with my good works. Verse 15. This is kind of a big, big picture. It's kind of a proverbial statement. There's two ways to live, pure or defiled. There are two ways to live earlier with the call to the elders conduct. You cannot be arrogant. You cannot be a violent, you cannot be quick-tempered, you cannot be a drunker, you can't be greedy for gain. That's one way to live and it's one consistent path of discontent and disorder and a distrust in the word of God. You must be hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, disciplined. That's a life that says God has saved me and when he says it's right, I'm gonna order my life according to it. That life is what I think we would call pure. It's not sinless. It's above reproach. But to those who have been purified and are pursuing the path of Christ in purity, all things are pure. That's a big statement. When we embrace healthy doctrine and then we seek to live out a healthy life according to that doctrine, there's wonderful mundane things of life. that are now all pure. What the Christian sees is all of life as opportunities to obey and worship the good God who's given them good gifts. There's a joyfulness in knowing I have been blessed by this God and now I want to enjoy all the different parts of life. That's what it means I believe for the pure, all things are pure. But if you're defiled, There's a twistedness of the heart. There's a self-deception of the heart. There's a way in which we take God's good gifts and the defilement and we're lured and enticed by our desires and those good gifts that come down from the Father of lights, we take them and we misapply them. We misunderstand them. That's why we're unfit for any good work if we don't have a heart that's regenerate. There's a way in which those good gifts that come down, and we don't recognize the good gifts, we either think, well, that's gross, or we say, oh, that's God, I'm gonna worship it. Money. Money's an item. Money is a way in which you receive payment for work, and the way in which you provide for your family, and the way in which you buy goods. We tend to make it a God with impurity. We serve it. We want to make it evil in itself. Sex and marriage, good gifts from God, but we either say, no, it's gross because the body's gross, or we associate it with only sinfulness, or we say, no, it's a God, I want to serve it. Our culture worships sex. No, it's a good gift from God to be enjoyed in a special way in marriage, in a way to remember the covenant God has given us, to remember the covenant of marriage and to celebrate the perfect unity and demonstrate the love for a spouse. It's good, it's pure for those who are pure. If you love God, these things are good. If you're defiled and wicked, you either make it a means to earn salvation or you make it gross and you wanna stay away from it. We recognize who needs to be rebuked this way because they will not hear no. They cannot handle disagreement. They're full of deception. They wanna make sure things are gross. Their conscience and their minds are defiled and they're either making things God's or they're making things gross. The last words here, they're detestable, disobedient, unfit. Their hearts are too twisted to do what God has asked. Next question, why rebuke? Why do they need rebuke? Well, the first reason is verse 11. They're upsetting people. There's a way in which a good lie, a believable lie, a temptation, a whisper of doubt, it can be upsetting. It confuses other believers. That household could be either the household of God or it could be the household of families. But they're causing disagreement. They're causing confusion. What seems to be here happening is if you were to add to the law, the reason they need to be silenced is there's a way in which false teachers bind the conscience of believers in an ungodly way. Now this can be very confusing. I want to be very clear about this. I pray that if you were here or listening last week, your conscience was informed and bound by what we read and looked at in chapter one, verses seven and eight. We should have our consciences informed and bound up by the word of God. But a false teacher causes disruption when they want to bind the conscience up and bound the conscience with things that are not in scripture. That's what Jesus is calling hypocritical. to want to call people and expect people and appeal to people to obey Jesus, that's not legalism, it's called worship. But a false teacher says, you have to do this the way I think you should do it. A false teacher adds to the word of God and insists upon his own rules. They must be rebuked because they're causing disruption. They're causing confusion. They also need to be rebuked because they're devoted to false teaching. A house divided cannot stand. You can't have a dad giving instructions this way to a child and then a mom coming and contradicting them or vice versa. That's confusing for the child, right? That's actually pretty abusive. for the parents to be in such disagreement that the children don't know what to expect. If they obey one, they'll be punished by the other, or they'll have discipline from the other. That's confusing. Church can't be divided with different truth, with contrary expectations. There needs to be a way in which we're saying these are the truths of God, here's how we believe them, here's how we're gonna obey them, and we need unity. That's what Jesus prayed for in his last prayer. the Father. May they be unified. There's no competition for truths in the church. There's one truth. It's been delivered and we are to contend for it. And elders are to protect it. And we'll say this, there is a place for competition in the church. Romans 12.10. Out do one another in showing honor. That is the freedom that someone has that believes they've been saved by Christ. They don't need to puff themselves up. They don't have the discontent that needs to prove themselves or have some kind of gain. There's an outdoing of showing honor. That's what a sheep does. That's good, healthy competition in the church. Why they should be rebuked. They're upsetting families. They're committed to the wrong truths. Verse 15, the third reason they need rebuked. They cannot lead to godliness and good works. They're unfit for them because they themselves are not committed to it. They are not lovers of good, they are lovers of self. They need to be rebuked to turn away from self and toward God. Next question, how to rebuke? How to rebuke? There's a number of different ways in which you're supposed to rebuke them. One, you silence them. There is a time to tell someone, you need to stop teaching. And it may not mean they're a false teacher, it may just mean there's some confusion here, there's something that we need to work through, we need to make sure we're on the same page, we need to make sure we're not confusing the sheep and the church with your teaching and this teaching. There's a way in which sometimes we need to silence. To be very clear, we've had to silence, and I can tell you that no one's ever thanked us for silencing them. We've had those when we've asked, what are you teaching and why? And those conversations are oftentimes healthy, but when we've actually had to silence somebody, it's never been received well. And that is, we might have to tell somebody, you're not going to be reading Scripture up front anymore. You're not going to be praying up front anymore. You're not going to lead in a certain way. And we do that not because, well, because it's necessary for the body and unity. Silencing means those who might be gaining influence in teaching and we're questioning what they're teaching, we're going to ask them to stop. It is not a right of a church member to teach. The second thing is rebuke them sharply. Notice there, it's not just rebuke those who contradict it, there's an adverb, sharply. There's severeness. If you see your child running in the street and a car's coming, what are you gonna say? Oh, you know, please stop with a quiet, nice voice. I don't know where the accent came from, that just came out, sorry. No, there's a seriousness. It's not harsh, it's clear. Now, let's pause here because there's a number of ways in which the Bible tells us to talk to one another. We already heard from 1 Thessalonians 5 that you admonish the idle believers, you encourage the fainthearted believers, you help the weak believers, you're patient with all believers. We also know that in Galatians 6, Paul says, when someone is caught in transgression, you gently restore them. There's something there, they're a believer. There's also the Romans 14 when someone comes and says, I have opinions and I know their opinions. Paul says, welcome them as God welcomed you with those opinions. That's different than saying my opinions are the word of God. You don't welcome them, you sharply rebuke them. It's also different from those who are discouraged. and need admonishing. There's a way in which we approach one another. And again, the whole point of rebuke is to expose what's wrong, to invite them to the word of God. That's actually what's so amazing in this whole passage. And let's just, we gotta focus in here. It begins by describing them as insubordinate, empty talkers, deceivers. It ends by saying they're detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. But notice the purpose for why they need rebuke sharply. That They may be sound in the faith. Those who believe in the gospel never lose hope in the power of the gospel. If you believe in the gospel, it's able to save anyone and everyone who would recognize their error and believe. That's why rebuke is an invitation. The goal isn't to put them in their place and shame and be violent as a bully. The goal is to say, this is what's wrong. You're insisting on this tradition. And it's contrary to the word of God. Come, believe in the living God, who's God our Savior, who's appeared to save you from your sins. We never lose hope. That's what's really amazing is that there's a rebuking with severeness and sharpness and clarity and the goal. It's for the protection of the church. The goal is for the protection in the name of Christ. The goal is for the salvation of their very souls. That they would come to Christ out of their lives. The third way you rebuke, this is actually found in Titus three. I'm gonna go ahead and jump ahead because I think these are the same people. Three, nine to 11. He's just said, insist upon these trustworthy and profitable things. Now he's going to turn and say, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. There's things you talk about and there's things you don't talk about. As for a person who stirs up division, that is like the person in verse 11, they're upsetting whole families. After warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self-condemned. This isn't canceling, this is simply Paul warning you can't spend all your time trying to help someone who doesn't listen. Remember Matthew 18, what escalates the process of discipline? He wouldn't listen, he wouldn't listen, he wouldn't listen. When someone doesn't want to listen, if someone is committed in their own heart, they're showing the fruit of someone who doesn't have the Holy Spirit. Whenever you can clearly show this is how your teaching or your life does not align with scripture, they're demonstrating that they are that detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. You rebuke them sharply with the hope they would come out with the hope. But a pastor can't spend all of his time trying to constantly correct someone who does not want to be corrected. So we silence, we rebuke sharply for the hope that they would actually be sound in the faith. If they will not listen, we have nothing to do with them, and that doesn't mean we don't pray with them, it just means we pull back. It may mean church discipline. Here's the fourth thing. Elders, we need to teach sound doctrine. Church, we need to be teaching sound doctrine. What is the best defense? No coaches in the room? What's the best defense? A good offense. Now, as a guy who always played defense, I've never liked that, but I think it's probably true. The way to help the church not be susceptible to the infection of bad teaching, of lies, is to make sure that they are so saturated with the truth that they recognize it. They smell it. They see it coming from a distance and they're not susceptible to it. This is why we fence things. This is why we make a process for membership. We have a process for those who are in leadership. Church, we wanna make sure that we're investing in you in such a way that you have a healthy diet of healthy teaching so that if you hear things that are off, your antennas go up. We want you in chapter two to be teaching these things to one another and to be embracing these things. We hope this church will be intimidating to a wolf. We should be intimidating to a wolf. We're not gonna hear those things. We're not gonna allow that kind of slander, that kind of gossip, that kind of deception, that kind of disorder. We're not going to permit it. Church, I again implore you, make sure you're hearing the gospel truths that should be declared and should be insisted upon from chapter 2, 11 to 15, and chapter 3, 3 to 7. This is the examples of sound teaching. The call today, Christian, is to make sure we have elders who are going to have the kind of lifestyles, the homes, the conduct, the character, the faith that would allow them to be able to teach and be able to correct. That is something you need to be praying for. We need to be praying for as a church. We would have godly leaders. We'd have a godly membership. We'd have godly homes. These are things we've covenanted around. There's a call to want to be guarded so that we can grow. There's also a realization that there is a scary danger of being a Christian. It's dangerous. When you believe in Christ and you profess him publicly and you want to make him known by your faith and your profession and your works, you just asked for one of the great enemies, Satan himself, to fledge a full-on attack. It's dangerous. The nations rage against God. Persecution comes against the church. There will be many who want to come in wearing the wool of sheep to devour. Christian, this is a call to be watchful. It's a call to realize there's a real danger. Jude is a letter written to encourage the church that's facing trials of false teaching. We read the beginning of it earlier. Those who are in the common faith contend for the faith, for many have crept in who are denying our Savior for the purpose of using His grace as an excuse for sensual pleasure. The body of that letter is interesting. It's an assurance to the church, God will judge those who attack His church. The body of the letter is about how God is going to keep those who are coming in and hurting the church. There's gonna be a judgment. And then it ends with a charge. But you, beloved, building yourself up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. and have mercy on those who doubt. Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. There's a charge there. It's like chapter two, verses one to 10. Building one another up. Be built up in the holy faith with prayer, keeping ourselves in love of God. And then he ends with a praise. God says, keep the faith. I'm gonna keep those who are attacking the church, I'm gonna keep them in judgment. I love the church, I will judge them. You keep yourself building up in the love of Christ. Verse 24, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen. Contend for the faith. Fight the good fight. Keep your self-love of God, knowing that He keeps you. Your assurance is the good work you wanna commit to, it's blessed by Him who will keep you. Will you pray with me?