I want to look at the book of Titus. We've been working our way through this for several weeks now. We'll be in here for a while. Titus chapter one. Last week, we looked at the qualifications of a pastor and we noted that ninety three percent 93% of the qualification was on character. Only 7% was on teaching or preaching the Word of God. Kind of an astounding difference from what we might think. Titus chapter 1. If you look at verse just 10 and 11 this morning. Verse 10 reads, For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. All of this comes off of verse nine. I just want to read that to you. Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince the gainsayer. One of the things that any soldier knows is that in order to win the war, It's not enough just to have the right weaponry. You have to know how to properly use them and how to discharge them. Over and over in the news, we hear things like, this dangerous country or this dangerous dictator has nuclear capability, but they don't have the ability to deliver them or discharge them. Or they have nuclear weapons, but they don't have the intelligence to know how to use them in a profitable way. And that's what we see here in Titus chapter 1. It's not enough just to have the word of God. It's not enough just to have the weapon. You have to know how to properly use it. In verse 9, Paul says, holding fast to the faithful word as he has been taught. In other words, you have to know how to use the word of God to do two things. One, exhort the people. And number two, convince the gamesayer. This last year, I went deer hunting and found myself, you know, every hunter knows that when a deer comes by, I mean, that's just exciting. Your heart starts to pump and, you know, you're picturing Bambi on the table and, you know, just coming home with a triumphal entry into the house, showing pictures to your wife. And as I'm in a tree and the deer walks out in front, and I've never even shot at a deer, immediately I'm picturing this thing already killed and on the table, and sure enough, I have the right gun, I have the scope on, I pull the trigger, and I miss the deer. This doesn't shock anybody who goes hunting with me, though it may shock you. And it occurred to me at that point, this is a lot harder than it looks. You know, you kind of think, as long as you have all the mechanics, everything will fall into place. You have the right location. You have the right gun. It's all scoped in, though I'm still blaming the gun. That's a whole other sermon. And yet, not everything always comes together in that fashion. You have to know how to properly discharge or use a weapon in order for it to be effective. See, when Paul says in verse 9, holding fast to the Word of God, he is saying this is the way to convince the gainsayer. You have to have skill with the Word of God. You have to know how to preach the Word of God because, verse 10 and 11, there are many unruly and vain talkers. And he goes on into the heresy sections. One of the things we see right off the bat in chapter 1, it is of utmost importance that a pastor is able and willing to hold fast to the Word of God. This section tells us why a man should be qualified as a pastor. Why you should be apt to teach. It's not just because it would be hypocritical not to be qualified. It's not just because, you know, you're supposed to lead by example. And if you're if you're not, you're going to lead people astray. The pastor needs to be qualified because he is the first line of defense. That's what these verses are teaching. Humanly speaking, there are many lines of defense in a church. Now, the Bible teaches that the deacons are a line of defense against error in a church. First Timothy three, nine says they hold the mysteries of the faith in a pure conscience. The teachers in a local church, they also are a line of defense. The congregation as a whole is a line of defense. But the pastors here aren't just a line of defense. Paul presents this, they are the first line of defense. They are supposed to handle the Word of God. I want you to notice something. The text says in verse 9, that they are to hold fast the faithful word as He has been taught. And folks, it's not enough just to stand up with a Bible and read it. You have to do it as the apostles taught the Word of God. That's the picture here. There's a right and a wrong way. Now, Holy Spirit makes it clear here, pastors must be able to handle the Word of God. 1 Timothy 3, 2 says the bishop must be blameless and goes through a list of qualifications. Then he says he must be apt to teach, skilled in teaching. 1 Timothy 5, 17, the elders let them rule well and be counted worthy of double honor, especially those that labor in word and doctrine. And we talk about that word labor, that's the same word that Matthew used when Peter was laboring with the nets as a fisherman. And you have a picture of a very bloody-handed man as he's pulling these nets in night after night, his ribs are sore from leaning up against the side of the boat as he pulls. And the picture of his intense labor. 1 Timothy 2.15, a famous verse, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. That phrase rightly divided. What it means is able to cut a straight line, that's what the literal idea is there. The picture of rightly dividing for us is a carpenter who has to make a freehand finish cut on something important that just demands a straight line. Picture for me, if you will, a carpenter who is on a job site and he has very limited resources, very few tools. And he has to finish the job just with what he has left. One of them is a jigsaw. The final project he has is in the kitchen. He has to take two Formica counters and bring them together into one mitered edge. And so he must cut two perfect 45 degree angles to do this. And so he steps back, he draws the 45 very carefully with his pencil. And just before he begins to pull the trigger on the saw, the seriousness of this cut hits him. I mean, if this is not a perfect cut, there's going to be gaps in the seam and the job is going to have to be redone. And so he must strive for perfection and accuracy. The carpenter takes a deep breath. He pulls the trigger. He very carefully, deliberately and precisely begins to cut. He will not rush. Time is not the issue. Accuracy is the issue. It doesn't matter if it takes two or three times as long. And with a very steady hand, he carefully moves the blade, not just on the pencil line, but on the outside mark of the pencil line. He is rightly dividing. He is cutting a straight line. That's what Paul had in mind when he wrote that verse. With great care, with great precision, the man of God is called to be deliberate and precise. rightly dividing the Word of Truth. In order to do this, the Bible says, he studies to show himself approved. He is not a loose cannon. He is not to get up in a pulpit and just share his experiences. He is not to stand up that morning and just say, well, here's what the Spirit has led me to say today. Nor is he supposed to look at the congregation and find all the felt needs and come up with a short story that might encourage them. No, Paul says he must give great time, attention and diligence to the word of God. He has to know how to rightly divide the word of truth. I love that verse because it said study to show thyself approved. And that word approved means has the idea of being approved of God, not approved of man. In the ancient world, there was no banking system like ours. And there was no paper money. All the money was made from metal and they would heat this precious liquid and kind of, of course, pour it into the the moles. And so they would find their coins that way. And once the coins were cool, they'd have to take the coins and kind of smooth off the uneven edges. These coins were very soft. And so some people, as they would smooth off the edges, they would shave off a little bit more than they should. It was a very clever form of theft. And after getting so many shavings off the coins, they could make enough for another coin. In one century, more than 80 laws were passed just in Athens on how to stop this practice of shaving the coins. Some of the moneychangers had integrity. They would not accept these counterfeits. And this is the word Paul uses for those such moneychangers. Approved. It's the same word we have here. Men of integrity. Study to show yourself approved unto God by rightly dividing the word of truth. See, in God's eyes, what brings approval is not niftiness. It's not novelty. It's not even meeting the felt needs. It's rightly dividing the word of truth. And let me add one more thing before we even look at our verses that we get from the text here. The best way to refute error is by being armed with the truth. Do you see it here? Look at verse 10 and 11. These are verses on heresy. And yet, how do you combat heresy? Notice what Paul doesn't say. He doesn't say, go out and learn all about the cults, although I think there's merit to that. He doesn't say, you know, give all your time to learning about these false religions so you can better deal with them. He says, no, he says, verse nine, learn to hold fast to the real word, the faithful word. In other words, the best defense is a good what? It's a good offense. That's what he's saying here. I think it's important. to study the false religions so they can be refuted. But more importantly than that is that you and I know the truth. And the best way to be armed to refute the error is by being armed with the truth. I think the old illustration really rings true here. The best way to know what the counterfeit is, is by knowing what the real is. And the best way to convince the gainsayer is by expounding the truth. In just two verses, verse 10 and 11, we find six reasons, and I'm going to go through them fast. Six reasons why a pastor must be faithful to the word of God or why he must defend the truth of the gospel. Let me give you six reasons, and I think you'll see these in the text. Number one, a pastor must hold fast to the word because of their proliferation, because of their majority, we might say. Look at verse 10. For there are many." You know what Paul's saying there? They run deep. They are perhaps even a majority. I'll put it this way, brethren. If we're not outnumbered, we're at least surrounded. I think that's what Paul is saying. And what Paul is saying is this. Titus, do not look to the masses to validate what you believe. Look to the faithful Word of God. See, the key question in Titus' mind, how will I know if I'm on the right track? How will I know if I'm doing the right thing? By following the many or staying faithful, verse 9, to the Word of God. What will Titus look to to validate his beliefs? There are two extremes or two errors that you and I might have in seeking validation in the ministry and what we do. Some of us are prone to seek validation by looking to the majority. We kind of look around in the world, look around in Christianity, and wherever people are flocking to, that must be right. That must be good. I mean, certainly if the ministry is drawing a lot of people or a lot of results, that's a good thing. This is especially probably true with team ministries. Many of us seek validation by looking to the majority. We take a lot of comfort in that there are a lot of people around us doing the same thing. But folks, the other extreme is true too, isn't it? Some of us don't seek validation by being in the majority. Some of us seek validation by being in the what? The minority. Do you know how many people have that martyrs complex inside of them? Where, you know, it's a small church and many people oppose it. Obviously, brother, they're just holding to the faith, right? Obviously, because nothing is happening there. Obviously, then they're faithful. You know, some people talk as if the truth only resides in a small few. That if many people are getting saved, they must be compromising. And as long as a counterculture movement over here stays small, they must be fighting for the truth. Some people almost have a form of self-righteousness, and that their ministries lack any kind of result. Both of them. The problem, listen, the problem with seeking validation from the majority or the minority is one thing, and it's this. Both of those are seeking validation apart from the Word of God. That's the problem. And I'll just apply it this way, at Subaru Baptist, let us never feel, let us never feel that we have to be a part of the majority or have numbers in order to be right with God. On the other hand, let us never feel ourselves to be righteous because we're part of a minority. Now, for Titus here, he is intimidated by the masses. There are many unruly and vain talkers. He is surrounded by this kind of opposition. In June 4th, 1926, Senator James A. Reed from Missouri stepped out onto the Senate floor and delivered a famous speech titled, Majority Rule. And here's what he said. He said, the majority crucified Jesus Christ. The majority burned the Christians at the stake. The majority drove the Jews into exile. The majority established slavery. The majority chained to stakes and surrounded with circles of flames, the martyrs. The majority grinned and jeered when Columbus said the world was round. The majority threw him in a dungeon for having discovered a new world. The majority said that Galileo must recant or that Galileo must go into prison. The majority cut off the ears of John Pym because he dared to advocate liberty of the press. And the point is true, brethren, the majority is not always right. Amen. And what Paul is saying to Titus is this, hold fast, young man, because you are swimming against the current. I just want to leave you with a thought here, congregation. Listen, whenever you feel pressure to follow the crowds instead of following God, I want you to open your ears and remember the cry of the crowd as they crucified the Prince of Life and let Barabbas go free. When Pilate stood out on the steps and said, who shall we let go? And the majority cried what? Barabbas, Barabbas. There may be safety in numbers, but the truth is not always found in the numbers. So, number one, a faithful pastor must seek validation from the word of God. Number two, a pastor here is called to hold to the word of truth because of their character, not just because of their numbers, but because of their character. Look at verse 10 again. He says they are unruly and vain talkers and deceivers. Now, this word, if you want to get an idea of what the word unruly means, look at verse six of chapter one. Paul says, if any be blameless, the husband of one wife. Having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly, that's the same word, in other words, you have to have children that are in subordination, that's the idea. And what Paul says, he applies the same word to the heretics here. He says there are some who are insubordinate. They're unruly. They're not given to any authority at all. They refuse to fall under the authority of the gospel, the authority of Christ or the authority that the apostles have set up. They are also vain in their talking. They don't really communicate anything. They are deceivers, Paul says. They speak in biblical terminology. But nothing really comes out that's helpful. They will say anything to build their empire. And the word of God must be held up in the local church because of this kind of character we're up against. Number three, a pastor must hold fast to the word of God because of their credibility, their credibility. Verse 10, again, he says, there are many. Here's their character. And look what he says. This is this is probing, especially they of the circumcision. Isn't that interesting? Namely, them of the circumcision. These are Jewish people who have converted to Christianity. Now, here's the question I want to ask you, folks, where are the attacks coming from? This is so important. The heresy in these churches at Crete, where is this heresy coming from? And the answer is it's coming from religious insiders. This is, listen, this is not the reprobates attacking the church. I'll tell you what, if we would expect an attack like this to come from the outside, I wouldn't expect somebody who grew up in a Christian home to come into a church and begin to tear things down. You would expect this kind of dissension from an outsider, at least someone who wasn't grounded in the faith. But we find here this attack is not coming from someone new to the faith or someone with a really shady background. This is coming from someone who was brought up in the religion. These are religious people who, by the way, have a pretty high standard of living, according to verse 15, where it talks about food laws. They're very careful about keeping what they perceive to be biblical standards. I'll tell you, one of the things you find in the Bible is that dissension in the local church usually comes from the religious people. You know, people who claim to be godly, claim to have high standards, people you would expect to have it together. It's not the druggies. It's not the alcoholics. It's not the prostitution. It's those that grew up in the truth. Paul says they are the ones bringing the dissension into the body. And a pastor must handle the Word of God because he is up against people with credibility. He's not standing up speaking against people that are obviously out of the will of God. He is speaking against people who seem to be very religious, who have credible roots in their history. Number four. A pastor must hold to the Word of God because of their potential. Because of their potential. In verse 11, he's got a powerful phrase here. He says, whose mouths must be stopped. They must be stopped. This is very powerful language. Look what he says. They must be. It is necessary for the welfare of the church. There's a real feel of urgency in this verse, isn't there? You know, when I was studying for this, I tried to think of a way that I could soften this idea, you know, that, you know, to be as fair as I could possibly be to what this verse is saying. But, you know, there's no way out of this. This is a remarkably harsh statement. It means to shut the mouth by muzzle or gag. This isn't talking about The little bit that you put in a horse's mouth, this is talking about putting a clamp over a dog's mouth to keep it from barking and biting. Calvin says, a good pastor ought therefore to be on the watch, so not as to give silent permission to the wicked and dangerous doctrines to make gradual progress. There's a picture of urgency here. It is necessary to silence them. If you want a good picture of this, just picture you're out with somebody for a walk and a dog walks up and the dog opens his mouth to bite or to bark and you have to reach out to kind of clamp the mouth shut. That is exactly the language Paul is using here. Must be silenced. There's an urgency to the call, brothers. Number five, pastor must hold fast to the word because of their collateral damage, their collateral damage. Verse 11 says they subvert whole houses, whole houses, teaching things that they ought not. The word subvert means to turn over. It's the same word in John, chapter two, where Jesus overturns the money changing tables. The picture here is probably that the false teachers don't stand up in a worship service and teach. What they do is they go to the individual houses. I mean, they're not just going to bring this out into the front. They're doing it in a very secretive way. And the picture we have is that false doctrine, when it enters a church, it does not just peel away one or two. It really peels away whole families. And if you've been in the church long enough, you've seen something like this happen. There's collateral damage involved. And finally, number six, the last one. A pastor must hold fast to the Word because of their motives. because of their motives. What is the motive of false teaching? Most of false teaching comes back to just one thing. Why would somebody stand up and say the Word of God says this when clearly the Word of God does not say that? The answer is one thing. And listen, look at verse 11. For what? For filthy lucre's sake. Money. Religious mercenaries, religious prostitutes is the idea here. You know, today, if I could just apply this, I think there's two ways that people minister for dishonest gain today, and we want to be very careful to avoid these. The biggest one I see today is the seed gift. Now, I'm not trying to lump everybody into one category, but what I'm hearing is things like this, sow your seed gift to me and then you'll reap a kingdom benefit. Brother, I want you to know if you sow your seed gift to him, you're sending him to Disneyland and he's going to reap the kingdom benefit, all right? You can hardly turn on any religious station for 20 minutes without somebody asking you to send them a seed gift. What's the problem with this philosophy? The problem with this philosophy is that it goes against everything that the gospel teaches. The gospel teaches that God blesses us by grace, not by things that we have done. The seed theology teaches that it's not grace that saves you, it's what? It's the money you give. And the more you give, the more you'll be blessed. In fact, if you keep giving, giving and giving, God will give you a great abundance and he may even let you into heaven someday. You know what happens? Now, listen, hear me out if you're a seed gifter, just hear me out. I believe that you are trying to make a contract with God. And in some ways, if you think it through, you cease to be the debtor. And who becomes the debtor in this? God. In the word of God, I believe we only have one clear example of seed gifts. You want to see it? Turn over to Acts 8. One clear example of seed gifts, and it's not a positive one. It's not a positive one. Somebody who wants to offer a seed gift. It's with Simon Magnus. And if you look at verse 14 of Acts 8, The apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, and they sent unto them Peter and John, who when they came down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost, for as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only they which were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And they laid their hands on them and they had received the Holy Ghost. And here's what happened in verse 18. And when Simon saw that through the laying on of hand, the apostles hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money. Saying, give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may also receive the Holy Ghost. You see what Simon is doing? He looks and he sees the blessing of God. He sees that God is blessing a certain group of Christian leaders. And he says, I will give you a gift of money. And if I give you this gift, I want you to command God to bless me with the same gift. That's what the seed gift is. To give God's leaders money. And then God will bless you. Give us money, and He'll give you money. Give us money, He'll give you power. Give us money, and He'll give you abundance. You know what Simon was doing? He was trying to give Peter a seed gift. And you know what Peter doesn't do? He doesn't look at Simon and say, good job, Simon. Now just send it to Peter Ministries, box 40404. He didn't do that. What does he do? Verse 20, Peter said unto him, thy money perish with thee, because thou thought that thou could purchase the gift of God with money. He threw it down and he said, Simon, your money perish with you. How dare you think you can make a debtor out of God? How dare you think you can enter into a contract with God? Listen, never mind, ask for a seed gift. Peter wouldn't even accept the seed gift. And what is being called seed gift today, I think, is really religious prostitution. You pay someone and they tell you what you want to hear. You pay them and they tickle your ears. And this is exactly what the false teachers were doing in Crete. You pay them and they tell you what you want to hear. They are guilty of filthy lucre. Now, let's bring it down to where we all live, because we don't all live in seed gift land, do we? There's another way to minister for filthy lucre and it's this. Some folks today, especially those in the pastorate, the way they might seek dishonest gain is a much more crafty way. It's not by seeking a personal empire, but by seeking a ministry of an empire. They're not going to pocket the money personally, they're not going to take the money into their own house, but they perhaps in their heart, rather than building the kingdom, you know, we might try to build our own empire here. where they can be the pastor or the leader of a very large building and thriving ministries. Money in their pocket is not what they're after. They're after their own empire. And to accomplish this feat, they also engage in religious prostitution, but it's of a different kind. They tickle the ears of the listener. They will do and say whatever draws the crowds and money, not so they can drive a Rolls Royce, but so they can have an empire that doubles as a church. And they might find great satisfaction and prestige in pastoring or leading a large ministry. Both of those are very crafty ways of ministering for filthy lucre. And Paul says to Titus, be the kind of man that can handle the word of God because the motives in the heart of us run very deep and very wicked. Now, before we take the Lord's Supper, Let's just close with two principles that can lead us to this. I want to state the most obvious thing that we can say about about the number one, the gospel is worth protecting. That's so obvious, it's worth it. I mean, is it really worth all the effort and the trouble? Isn't it easier just to let things go? I mean, after all, who wants to be called divisive? I certainly don't. Is the gospel worth protecting? And I think according to Paul, absolutely it is. You say, how much is it worth protecting? It's so much worth protecting that you're better off standing by yourself than with many that are going against it. That's what he's saying to Titus. Second thing is this. We need to be in the fight. We need to be in the fight. Let me ask you, is this a true statement? Can God take care of these things without us? Do you believe that? Do you believe God can take care of everything without us? I believe he can. You think God can defend His own gospel, defend His own truth? Absolutely! You know what though? According to this, He's glorified by us standing in this fight and taking up for the truth. He has decided in His wisdom that He is glorified by us engaging in the battle. Folks, what is the gospel? What is this thing that is worth giving your life for? Let's get ahead of ourselves to lead in the Lord's Supper. Look at chapter two, verse eleven. Here's the gospel. For the grace of God. That bring us salvation has appeared to all men. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that glorious hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us. that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." This is the Gospel. It's the grace of God. It's verse 14. Jesus giving Himself for us. And verse 11 says, it's all by grace. As we come to the Lord's Supper, that's what we celebrate. We celebrate Jesus giving Himself to us by grace. We celebrate Jesus dying on a cross for us, Jesus shedding his blood for us. But I want to take it a step further. That's not the whole gospel. That's part of the gospel. You know what the rest of the good news is? And let us never leave this out. Sprinkled throughout these verses is the idea of change. Did you notice that? Like verse 12. teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, sober, righteous, godly. Look at verse 14. He's going to redeem us from what? Iniquity, purify, zealous of good works. You see this? In other words, the gospel is not just that Jesus gave himself for your sins. That's not the whole gospel. The good news is Jesus gave himself for your sins. You know why? So that you can change and be like Christ and glorify God in your change. That's the gospel. He saved us so that he can change us. And let us never leave that out. I think we ought to arm ourselves against those that don't believe in grace. I believe that. You know what else? Those that believe in grace but don't believe in change. That's not the gospel either. Jesus gave Himself so that we could change. And so that we could grow and be like Christ. So that the grace of God would teach us certain things. And as we come to the table, let us not just remember that Jesus died for us. Let's remember why He died. Because He is purifying a people unto Himself. Verse 14.