Titus 1

Hello all!  I pray that you are having a wonderful day, and are looking forward to sharing God’s incredible gift of grace this weekend.  I’m just finishing up preparations for Norcal Fire, the first local evangelism conference our team is organizing, and I’m very excited to see what God will do.  With that in mind, I’ll try to keep this short, though I hope you will still be encouraged.  Our suggested passage is Titus 1, and much of the greeting by Paul at the beginning of the chapter shows the heart that we should have when we are sharing the gospel.  I pray that it will not only be instructive and convicting to those who hear the word preached, but to us as well.  I look forward to your testimonies, and please be in prayer for the conference.

Introduction – Your name, and about Project Ezra

READ TITUS 1

Much of this message from Paul is the same message we would like to share with you today

Though not apostles, chosen to be used by God to reveal his word, so many of these sentiments describe us

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ

We are here as ambassadors and servants of God and of Jesus Christ

For the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with Godliness

We are here to share the truth of God, that those who will believe will be called to Him

In the hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began

We are here to share a message of hope, the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ, and through Him alone, the promise of God for all those who believe

And at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior

We have been entrusted, by the command of our Savior, to preach His word.  And it is because of His command, and because of our care for you, that we are sharing that word today.

Hold to the trustworthy word as taught, and give instruction in sound doctorine

God’s word is trustworthy, and He cares that His truth is presented rightly. 

It is our responsibility to rebuke those who contradict God’s word.  We have a responsibility to be faithful to Him, and we have a responsibility to tell them, and you, the truth.

Many profess to know God, but deny Him by their works.

Could it be that this describes you?  Do you profess to know God, but prove otherwise by your works?

No man or woman can keep God’s word perfectly, but if your mouth says one thing and your lifestyle says another, you have reason to fear.

God’s word has much to say about hypocricy, and about those who claim to follow Christ but do not.

I am asking you to examine yourself, as God’s word commands, to see if you are in the faith

Take a moment to consider yourself in light of God’s law.  God gave His law to show us what sin is.

GO THROUGH THE LAW

Are you living in sin?  Is your life characterized by a daily desire for sin, a desire that you live and love to carry out?

God’s word says the wicked, those who practice sin, will not inherit the kingdom of God

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.  (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV)

It tells us that if you continue in your sin while saying you believe, you are a liar and the truth is not in you

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.  (1 John 2:4-6 ESV)

You cannot live in ongoing, unrepentant sin and be right with God

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:26-29 ESV)

But you also cannot live a righteous life on your own, in your own power.

Only through Jesus Christ, through His death and resurrection, and through His life-changing power, can you be made right with God.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV)

On the cross Jesus Christ, who was fully God and fully man (see John 1) suffered under the wrath of the Father, taking on the sin of the world so that by His sacrifice, those who repent and trust in Him could be freed for the curse of sin and death, and brought into a right relationship with God

We worship a living God.  Three days after He died Jesus rose again from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father as our advocate, our lawyer for the Day of Judgment.

When you repent and trust in Jesus Christ alone, through the gift of faith, your sins will be cleansed and you will be seen as righteous before God, because of the righteousness of Christ

My friends, have you done that today?  If not, don’t presume on God’s patience.

None of us is promised a tomorrow, and no earthly thing is worth your soul.

While God has given you time, repent and trust in Christ along, and be saved!