We are in the book of Titus, looking at chapter 1 and verses 10 through 14 this morning. But before we do, would you please join me in a word of prayer? Father God, each day your mercies are new. We experience another day of life and we breathe in the air as a gift from You. Every day is a gift. Everything that we do here, Lord, is by your grace as we just sang under your sovereign direction and care. And I pray, Lord, that as your word is proclaimed, that you would bless it, make it fruitful in our hearts, that we would be attentive to what this means for us as part of the body and what we can learn from the Apostle Paul and his letter here to Titus and the situation in Crete. And we give thanks to you, Lord, for all good things. May we delight in this time and be nourished and fed. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Our passage this morning is Titus chapter 1, verses 10 through 14. I'm going to go ahead and read through verse 16 for context. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure. But both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. This morning we come to a passage that shows why it is necessary to have overseers. Situations like the one we find in verses 10 through 16 here, where there is disorder in the body, are the reason for the need for elders, as we saw in verses 5 through 9. So, if someone were to ask, why are elders important? These verses say, this is why. The Lord puts elders in place to keep the church on task. And as we learned, an elder is not a pugnacious man who goes looking for a fight, but sometimes the fight comes to him. And this is such a situation. The context needs to be laid out here because, so for instance, we find contrasting scriptures And one such contrasting scripture with this one, as we're dealing with here today, and dealing with troublemakers or problem persons in the church, Paul says in Colossians 3, 12-13, Put on, then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Forgive. So what's going on here? Because that there, what I've just read from Colossians 3, is the tone of the New Testament. That is how we are to live life together as the body, with grace and patience and all humility, because Christ died for us and forgave us. That characterizes us as believers. We are gracious with one another. We're forgiving of one another and patient. That's what God calls us to. But, here in our passage today, as we just read, Paul's telling Titus that certain persons need to be silenced. Their mouths need to be stopped, is what the Greek literally means, and sharply rebuked. That's pretty strong language. In fact, Paul even quotes approvingly a verse from a Cretan poet of the day, that Cretans are liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. Does this mean compassion and humility have just gone out the window? Is Paul saying one thing in Colossians and then another thing here? And what can we learn from all this about addressing conflicts in the church? That's what this passage is about, addressing disorder in the church. What does that look like? The answer to those questions is a resounding no. Paul's not inconsistent in any way. We are to be patient with one another. We are to bear with one another. We are to be compassionate, to be kind when wronged, to be gentle, and to deal with the failings of others with all grace and humility. That should characterize our lives. That should characterize how we treat one another. Yes, yes, and yes. But Paul and the New Testament writers also recognize that there comes a time when people within the church are acting so disorderly that serious measures must be taken. It's not a matter of to love or not to love. It's not a choice between those two things or to show grace or to not show grace. but it's a matter of what honors Christ and His body. What does the situation call for when the wayward individuals are threatening to harm or even destroy the peace and unity of the body, which is what we see here in the Cretan church. And so the answer of the New Testament and the book of Titus is unmistakably clear. when the very health and order of the church is threatened, there is no playing around." Now, it would be easy for us, then, to see this passage this morning as a negative passage, if you will. This is just a negative passage, right? We put it in the category of the Colossians 3 positive passage. This is a negative passage. A passage about how the church deals with the bad guys, you could say. And there's certainly an element of truth to that idea here. what I would argue and what I think the Apostle Paul is saying in context. We should primarily see this passage and passages like it as how to maintain peace and unity within the body in honor of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So this is about how do we maintain peace and unity? It's not as though these two things are opposed to one another. Think of the balance of priorities in the New Testament this way. I don't want to go to war, but if the peace and unity of the body is at stake, to war we must go." That's kind of the tenor here. That's the tone that we find in this letter because there's a serious threat to the health of the church. And ultimately, all biblical discipline and correction is motivated by love, and it aims for peace. That's important. This is motivated by love, and this is an aim towards a good and peaceful end for the church. But sometimes, the person who's causing trouble is a brother who needs to be brought back to the right path by being confronted with his error. He repents, is restored, and peace returns to the body. That's a good thing. Other times, however, God's means of restoring peace to the body is by exposing and driving out a wolf who was never there for Christ to begin with. Whatever the case may be, addressing the situation is the action called for. In situations where whole families are being misled, which is what we see here, and false teaching is spreading, inaction is not an option. That's the point. There is no option for inaction. Something must be done. This must be corrected. This must be addressed. There's no sweeping this under the rug. There's no ignoring the situation. Why? Because the health and order of the body is at stake. We as God's people are to be holy. We're to be a witness in a lost and dying world. How can we be a witness if we don't even take seriously the God that we proclaim among ourselves? So I will call the persons addressed in these verses troublemakers this morning. Why do I use that title? Well, it's clear that Paul has false teachers in view in this last half of Titus 1. That is, those who are teaching damnable heresy, those who are not walking in Christ, those who do not belong to Christ. But at the same time, There are also those who are misled and immature believers. They're genuine believers and they need correcting. And I do think that this is what Paul might be hinting at in verse 13. And so we'll get there. But the point is, troublemakers is a catch-all that includes disruptive persons who either need to be put out entirely or persons who need strong correction. So correction is two-pronged, and I know, I know, when we hear correction today, we hear discipline, it's just negative, negative, negative. I hope we see it in its biblical context today. I trust we will. I trust we will be edified by what we read here in our passage, because correction is a good thing. Correction done properly is a means that God blesses His church, even the person being corrected, yes. Because either the troublemaker is confronted with his sin... and he repents, and that's a win, right? That's what we want. We want someone to be restored. That's what we desire. Or the alternative, the troublemaker is called out and driven out so he can no longer disrupt the unity of Christ's body. Of course, in a situation where he is confronted with his sin and he refuses to repent and submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Now, when you hear someone say, don't correct the troublemaker, just love them, don't correct them, just love them. From a biblical worldview, what that means is don't love the troublemaker, don't love the church, he is troubling, and don't honor Christ the Lord. As we look at our passage today, my prayer is that we see this, that we see correction in a biblical light. We see correction properly done, right? Not improperly done, not abused, but properly done as a necessary action in such situations. Because these are situations where serious damage will result, if not avoided. addressed. And in the second or third points here, I will talk more about how do we distinguish the difference between, is this a bear with one another situation, or is this a avoid them situation? Is this a walk in humility and grace and forgiving one another and overlooking faults situation, or is this a address and expose kind of a situation. We'll find that scripture is more than sufficient to give us an answer to that important question. So, number one, troublemakers must be silenced. Troublemakers must be silenced. Verses 10 through 11 say, for there are many who are insubordinate. He's connecting this to what he's just said. This is why an elder needs to be in place. This is why he must be devoted to doctrine, for there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. So there are people in Crete And these people are stirring up trouble and they're spreading false teaching to the point that they are even upsetting whole households, entire families. with their actions. And who exactly these troublemakers are, we do not know. The text does not specify. But, Paul does say some things about it. He does say that they are of the circumcision party, at least some of them. And he does use three descriptive terms that give us an idea. Insubordinate, empty talkers, and deceivers. So let's look at these ideas. Let's look at these qualities of these troublemakers in the church at Crete. Because it's these three qualities that are sure to undermine the health and order of any church. And so this clues us in that when such characteristics are present, action is needed. We get this, okay? You've got an unhealthy body. What do you do? You take the right steps to get your body healthy again, right? If there's disorder in the family, you take the right steps to bring order. If there's disorder in the workplace, You take the right steps to bring order. Why? Because, is it motivated by some desire to just follow the rules aimlessly and without purpose, or to be mean and bring down the hammer? No, because order and structure are life-giving. They're life-promoting, as we've seen and as we've discussed. You know, a house that isn't built, right? You know, that's not a house I want to be in in the midst of a storm because I might be worried if the house is going to stand, if the structure is sound, right? Order and structure are good things. They promote life. They preserve life. These are good things. So first, Paul uses the term insubordinate. What does it mean to be insubordinate? Well, insubordinate describes someone who is out of order. They aren't going to be told what to do by anyone. It's an immature, rebellious spirit that says, I do things my way. They are out of line and they cannot be reasoned with. They are their own master, so they must be stopped. Why is it so serious? Why is insubordination so serious in Christ's church? Because God's house, again, is an ordered house. And an insubordinate person, by definition, will not recognize proper order. No one is in charge of these individuals. No one can hold them accountable to anything. They're insubordinate. They're out of line. Such persons are such a serious threat to the health and order of the church because you cannot have peace and stability among the brethren when someone refuses to be a team player, when we are one, we are united, we're one in Christ. You can't have one going their own way. It doesn't work that way. In fact, we all need correction to walk in line with God's good order. All of us, we all need correction, right? We don't walk perfectly in the spirit. We hold each other accountable. We exhort each other. We challenge each other, right? We encourage each other. And how can this happen, which is part of the function of the church, part of the function of the body, if a person refuses correction because they're above correction? To make matters worse, as we see in Crete and as is often the case, insubordination influences the rest of the body. One person says, I don't care what this church stands for, I don't care what these elders say, I don't care what the word of God says, no one's gonna tell me what to do. Others see that and they think, well, I guess I don't have to follow in this way either. And before you know it, the infectious mindset has spread. That is exactly what is going on among the churches in Crete. And so Paul says to Titus, cut it out now. He uses such strong language in chapter two, even saying this. He says to Titus, declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. It doesn't sound very nice, does it? Listen to those words, declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no one disregard you. That's not because Paul is being mean, and it's not because God wills unkind behavior in his church or ungracious behavior, but it is to protect the health and order of the church. And insubordination is a threat to that stability. It's a threat to the stability of the entire church. So that's why there are such strong warnings in scripture about insubordination and rebelliousness, some of which we read earlier in Jude, of going one's own way. It destroys the peace and harmony of the church. It takes attention off of Christ and puts it onto one's self. It makes little of him and his body and much of self. There are many practical examples we could go into with that, but I wanna keep going and we will touch more on that later. The second descriptive that Paul uses of these individuals, they're not only insubordinate, but they are empty talkers, he says. Literally empty talkers, empty words in the Greek. Empty talkers are those who utter nonsense and give little serious thought to what they are saying. They talk wildly, as one commentator puts it, and their speech misleads others. What we say with our mouths is no small matter. It's tempting to think it's really not a big deal. Empty talking, why does that matter? Consider what James said in James 3, 5 through 6. He said, And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell." Wow. That seems like exaggerated language. It seems like hyperbole. How can you say such a thing? Staining the whole body, a world of unrighteousness, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell? Don't miss the import of such language. James is trying to communicate totality here, totality of destruction by a very small instrument. That's exactly what's going on here. Does Paul not say they must be silenced in verse 11 since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach? Our words matter. Empty talking is not a small thing. And so these false teachers, these troublemakers are empty talkers. And such can devastate a church. In 1 Timothy 5, 13, when Paul is describing certain widows, young widows who don't remarry, he said, in some cases, besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not. Empty talk, gossip, stirring up trouble is not innocent. It is destructive. And finally, Paul calls these troublemakers deceivers. He said, deceivers are those who misrepresent facts for their own ends, those who lead others away from and not closer to the truth. If the church has a game plan, and that game plan is written out for us in the Word of God, it is not a good thing if someone is deceiving others and saying, oh, let's go this way, let's do this game plan, let's modify it in this way. In fact, that's gonna come up in the last two verses of this section, which we'll get to next week. that touches more on man-made traditions. That's why this must not be swept under the rug. Of course, there's many motivations for deception, jealousy, pride, selfish ambition, and so forth. Whatever the motive is, the point is this, it's not putting Christ and His church first. It's not. We are to walk in the light as He is in the light. Deception is the devil's game, not Christ's and His people's. So Paul says these troublemakers, he's specific, he says, especially those of the circumcision party, not entirely, but especially, so there must be some sort of legalistic twisting of the scriptures that Paul has dealt with already in Romans and in Galatians. And this was a group in the New Testament who still held on to the obligations of the Old Covenant, not seeing them as fulfilled in Christ. And they imposed the requirements of the Mosaic Law onto Gentile believers. And so, no big deal, right? I mean, the circumcision party just had another theological viewpoint, right? Not really something to worry about. Well, no, Paul doesn't treat it this way at all, because it's at the heart of the gospel and the life of the church. The first time we hear of the circumcision party is in Acts 11, 2-3, and this illustrates the point because Acts 11 says, so when Peter went up to Jerusalem, this is after Peter had seen this vision, right, and God said, I have accepted the Gentiles and they are clean now, accept them on the basis of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for them. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him saying, you went to uncircumcised men and you ate with them. It's the same thing we see in Galatians 2. So what's the big deal? Well, we see very clearly here, it's divisive. It's disruptive. It's treating members of the body of Christ whom he paid for with his own blood, it's treating them as less worthy or as second-class members of his body. This is no small thing at all. And I'll tell you what's important is it also illustrates what we've seen already in the book of Titus. And that is, there is a connection between sound doctrine and sound living. A connection between what we believe and what we do. It matters. These persons were creating a class system, an unbiblical class system within the body of Christ, which is to be united, to be one. And where did that flow from? It all flowed from unsound doctrine. They believed that circumcision was a non-negotiable part of being God's people. And because of that wrong belief, they refused to eat with or have any fellowship with uncircumcised persons. They failed to see what circumcision pointed to, a pure heart, a regenerate heart, to be circumcised in the heart. And so, Bad theology begets what? Bad practice. Bad theology begets bad practice. This is why sound doctrine is central to a healthy church. What we believe matters because we act on what we believe. And I mean, this is basic to everyday life. If I believe it's important I get in my basement when the tornado siren goes off, I go and I get in my basement. And if I don't believe it's important, I don't get in my basement. And if a tornado hits my house, well, guess what the result's going to be for the one who gets in their basement and the one who doesn't. So what we believe matters because we act on what we believe. That's why doctrine's so central. Let's look, maybe we can look really quick at 1 Timothy 1, 3 through 7. If you would turn there, just a left-hand turn, a couple of books. And this ties into this idea of faithful men, qualified men, being entrusted with teaching because doctrine is that important. It's that central. We can't get this wrong. So 1 Timothy 1, 3 through 7, look, we find here some pretty similar words Paul is saying to Timothy that he said to Titus. So this is a pattern. This is what Paul requires for all the churches. It's not just unique to Crete. Paul says, as I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. So it's important enough that Timothy remain at Ephesus so he can charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. Verse four, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. Excuse me. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions." It's not innocent, in other words. We have to get this idea in our head. It's not innocent, to be an empty talker, a babbler, someone who speaks as from a position of authority, who really has no authority to be saying such things. It harms the body. It is contrary to sound doctrine and practice. And so here in Crete, these disruptive persons are doing just that. And they're upsetting whole families by their teaching and their behavior. So Titus and the elders of the churches in Crete must act. They must do something. These empty talkers are disrupting the unity of the body with their poison. And we, you know, we think correction and rebuke are so unloving, but what we must continue to keep at the fore of our minds is it would be most unloving for Titus, for these elders, to turn a blind eye and to allow these troublemakers to continue hurting and harming God's people. Christ's precious bride. And before we move on to the next point, let me just, let me make the point this way. If that's, if that's not clear, if that hasn't sunken, think about it this way. And men, and you can apply this to yourselves as well, ladies, or you can apply this to various situations, but men, why are you offended when someone insults your wife? Just think about it. Why are you offended if someone insults your wife? Well, it's pretty obvious, right? Because she's precious to you, because you care about her, right? Why are you insulted when someone offends your wife or insults her? Because she's precious to you. Okay, so then conversely, why are people not offended when someone insults the bride of Christ and treats the church lightly? Why aren't they offended by that? Because the bride of Christ is not precious to them. Isn't it obvious? Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. You ever see someone says, who really cares about doctrine? Who really cares about order in the church? Who really cares about what the words of scripture say? My feelings are more important. Well, guess what's precious to them? Themselves. Not Christ, not the eternal God and what he's revealed in his word. I'm offended when someone insults my wife because she's precious to me. If I'm not offended when the church is disorderly or where bad doctrine goes unchecked, it's because the church isn't precious to me. And this is spelled out again and again in scripture. We're gonna touch on a few passages later. But the second point is, because we gotta keep moving along, Troublemakers must be corrected in their thinking. It's not enough to just simply silence troublemakers. At least if you can gain a listening ear, they must be corrected. And remember what I said in the beginning, this is motivated out of love. The aim is peace. We're going somewhere with this. This is not all negative. So Paul says something that really pops out to us. This should pop out to us because it doesn't sound very nice what Paul is saying here. but there is a reason for it. He says, This testimony is true, therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. So Paul here quotes a Cretan prophet and he appeals to what the Cretans themselves already acknowledge. They acknowledge this, this is a cultural norm that Cretans in general, of course this is not without exception, but in general are not honorable, trustworthy folks. Just a cultural norm. Paul's quoting this poet, whom he calls a prophet, as a cultural truism that everybody acknowledges. And that cultural truism, here's where this is important, that cultural truism has affected the church and it needs to be dealt with. What are we going to do about that? The church at Crete has become like the Cretans that everybody knows are liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. What are we going to do about that? So note what Paul does not say. This is so important, especially in our day. Note what Paul does not say. He does not say, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. That's just Cretan society for you. Oh, well. Does he say that? No. He says, rebuke them sharply. Rebuke them sharply. There are things in every society, including ours, that are normal for that society, but that does not mean that they should be normal or accepted in the church, okay? There are things in every society that are normal for that society, that does not mean that should be accepted in the church. Paul does not say, Cretans are just this way. You'll need to adapt your ministry, Titus, right? Does he say that at all? We see that all the time though, don't we? Cretans, this is just how Cretans are. You'll need to adapt your ministry, Titus, okay? You'll need to contextualize the gospel for the Cretans. No, he says rebuke them sharply. It's not acceptable how they behave. It needs to stop. This world walks in darkness. God is the light. We are the church, the salt and light of the world. And that means we must renounce the ways of the world in order to show the world the light, the true way. That's the point. You can't become like the Cretans. What gospel are you leading them to? The good news that Jesus doesn't change your life? If we're just like the world, and we're just an extension of society, I'm talking about the church, we're an extension of the society, then what are we pointing them to? And this is not a contest of we're better than you, we're more holy, we're more righteous, we're all sinners who do not deserve God's grace. But it's our worshipful, our grateful response to the God who saved us. And so we must be holy. We must be set apart as God is holy. That's what this is all about. And what do we have today? Well, what we have today, we might rewrite this passage to say, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. Therefore, be like the Cretans to reach the Cretans. Isn't it strange how the Bible will sometimes explicitly address these things, and we literally do the exact opposite of what the Bible expressly says, and then we will go and chastise other Christians who do exactly what the Bible plainly teaches. I mean, if you haven't seen that, I don't know if your eyes have been opened. This happens all the time. I mean, this is playbook 101 of modern evangelicalism. Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. Therefore, be like the Cretans to reach the Cretans. You haven't read a book on church growth if you haven't heard that. The culture watches garbage movies. So we should curate our sermons and we should adapt our churches to an audience that likes garbage in order to reach them with the truth. And if this were an advertisement, it might say, love your sin, but wanna follow Christ? Who says you have to choose? You can have both. Now, I say this, I'm not mocking the world. I'm not mocking what the world does. They're lost. I want them to be saved. I want them to know the truth. But I want them to see something that's worth coming to. It's not loving to anyone to do this. Correction is loving. Correction is biblical. Correction puts people on the right path, the life-giving path, the delightful path laid out by the living and righteous God. We have to scrub from our minds this notion that correction is all bad and always negative. If you see me going down a destructive path in my life, I hope you love me enough to tell me, Greg, that's destructive. You're hurting yourself. I'm not telling you out of a place of pride. I'm not telling you because I'm better than you and I'm, you know, rubbing it in your face. I actually, I love you, brother. And I was going down that path, or I might as well have gone down that path. Correction is loving. And it's biblical. So of course the text doesn't say, rebuke the person to make him feel stupid. No, it's rebuke them sharply. And what does the next clause say? That they may be sound in the faith. The goal of all correction is motivated by love. It's love for God's people. It's love for God. It's love for his truth. And again, there's only one of two responses. The corrected person will either repent and be restored, and we praise God for that, or if they have no intention of submitting to God, well, unfortunately, the reality is they are dangerous to the church, and it is good that they be put out, assuming proper steps have been followed. So one might say, see, or we should say, see, Paul is not against peace and unity, as is often claimed based on passages like this. Paul is not against peace and unity. That is exactly what he wants to protect. He's not against peace and unity. This is exactly what he is protecting. Why? Because you cannot have peace and unity where there are unrepentant, insubordinate, Empty talkers stirring up trouble in the body. Pitting one member against another. Undermining the leadership of the body. Putting themselves, and not Christ, and not His church, first. That's the point. He's not against peace and unity. That's what He's protecting. That's what He's maintaining. The church cannot have peace or a clear conscience before the Lord as long as such sin is tolerated. So listen to the words of 1 Corinthians 5, 6 through 8. We need to get this. We need to see this. The picture here is the church is gathered together and they are partaking of the Lord's Supper together, a symbol of their fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, a symbol of their unity as a body. And Paul says, because there is sin in their midst, a man has taken up a sexual relationship that is very perverse and it's not been dealt with in Corinth. So Paul says, Your boasting is not good. Oh, and by the way, the undertone of that passage seems to indicate that the Corinthians are boasting because they're so gracious and loving that they're tolerating this great sin in their midst. But what does the Apostle Paul say? The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and By the way, Paul ends that chapter saying, purge the evil one from among you. He's quoting something Moses said around a dozen times, purge the evil person from among you, put them outside, which entailed stoning, okay, capital punishment. This is a big deal. Paul's saying this person needs to be put out from among you. But it is for a good purpose, that his soul might be saved, that he might come to his senses. But back to this passage, the point is Paul is saying you cannot worship the Lord as the body with a clear conscience as long as you tolerate disorder in the body. Cleanse out the old leaven because all sin is lawlessness and it's disorderly by nature. All right, so let's return again then to this idea of walking in patience and grace with one another. The Bible says we are to bear with one another, right, forgiving one another. So again, how is it, how can scripture also use such strong language like this that we read today against troublemakers? Doesn't God promote kindness and grace? And this is when I want, here I wanna say a word about sola scriptura and tota scriptura. because confusion on this point is resolved by understanding something very simple about how we read and apply the Bible. I mean, this is what you do any time you approach a text of scripture and then you find another text and they seem to contradict one another. Okay, this is important. The Sola Scriptura, we're all familiar with Sola Scriptura, scripture alone. The word of God is our only infallible authority for faith and practice, right? This is our only infallible authority. No man, no council, no church, nothing else. This is the only infallible authority. We understand that. But Tota Scriptura is equally important because Tota Scriptura, it's just Latin for all scripture, means all of what scripture says must be taken into account. all of what Scripture says. Otherwise, you're just left with a proof texting war. If you've ever been in a conversation with someone, they quote a verse, you quote a verse, it goes back and forth. We have to account for what all of Scripture says. So let's look at an example of this. Let's look at an example from the last two chapters of the book of Romans. I'll make comments on that, and then we'll finish with our third and final point, and I'll be much quicker with that. But Romans 15, look at Romans 15, one through two. You're gonna hear Romans 15 quoted all the time in any kind of a situation where sin is dealt with in the church. And Romans 15 is an appropriate text to go to for the appropriate situation. Here in this context, Paul is saying, Live at peace with one another. Put up with your differences on secondary matters, on matters of conscience. And he says, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. There is that priority we find in the New Testament. Bear with others when they're weak. Look, overlook the faults of others. Be kind, walk in humility, forgiving one another. Be the stronger brother. Please your neighbor for his good in order to build him up. This is good and this is biblical. So how does that fit, though? I want my theology to be an all-Bible theology. I don't want my theology to be a nitpicking verses here and there theology. I want it to be an all-Bible theology. So what do we do in the very next chapter, the same Paul who's writing about peace and love and joy and unity in Romans 14 and 15, what do we do in the next chapter, the very next chapter when Paul says this? Chapter 16, verses 17 through 18. I appeal to you, brothers, To watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles, contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught. Avoid them. Avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. And by smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive. You know who the hearts of the naive are? Who are deceived? Those are the weaker brothers of Romans 15. Those are the weaker brothers of Romans 15. Context matters because the divisive person is not the weaker brother. The divisive person is a destroyer of the weaker brother. He hurts the weaker brother. So if you're going to maintain Romans 15, you have to apply Romans 16. Do we see how this works? We can't do this proof texting where we only pick the soft passages of scripture that make us feel good and not the ones that require something that is sometimes more difficult because it requires correction and confrontation. And frankly, I am amazed how many people in the church today They seem to think they love others, that they love others better than God himself. I mean, they pride themselves in never addressing sin. You've met these people. You've known them. Maybe you have been one of these people. They pride themselves in never addressing sin and giving approval to all sorts of wickedness. And they do this all in the name of love. So think about it. If the more you tolerate sin is the measure for how much love and grace you have, then you have more love and grace than God himself. Because God doesn't tolerate sin like that in his church. It's profoundly arrogant. God, in fact, by contrast, calls for exposing error. He calls for dealing with it in the body, not covering it up or ignoring it while his sheep get harmed. It's disgusting to me when you hear about sexual abuse cases and such in churches, all in the name of grace, because we're going to protect the offender and the violator? Who cares about the victim? Is that love? Should be the other way around. Correction is God's means of bringing people to the truth. And in the name of love, some people try to prevent that. That's not love, that's self-righteousness. Thinking that we are above God's own law, his own standard, his own righteous commands. And this is the problem with superficial readings of scripture. If our Bibles tell us there are two different situations here, why do we insist on only one? Why do we insist there is only bearing with one another, according to Romans 15, or there's dealing with sin? We can't possibly have both. That's foolish. There are weaker brothers in the church, and then there are divisive persons. It takes wisdom. It takes knowing the whole counsel of God. And that's why he designed the church the way he did. So we would be prepared and know how to handle these various situations. Because Romans 15 and Romans 16, they're both in the Bible. They're both written in the same author. Sometimes it's a bear with them situation, and sometimes it's an avoid them situation. And why? Because if you love the weaker brother, then you must deal with the divisive person. Because the weaker brother is the one, usually, who is getting hurt by the divisive person. And most of the time, they don't even know it. Many times the weaker brother does not even know they're being hurt by the divisive person, which is the point of Romans 15. You who are stronger should look out for the weaker brother. Paul says, the situation in Crete, they must be silenced. They must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. If you want to stop a forest fire from spreading to the rest of the forest, you cut off its fuel supply. You prevent it from reaching the rest of the forest. Because otherwise, everyone loses. And our third and our final point here. that troublemakers and unsound teaching go hand in hand. We've already seen this with the example earlier about the circumcision party who caused division in the church because they required Gentile believers to be circumcised. If you show me someone causing problems in the church, almost every time I will show you that there is bad theology behind it. If you marinate chicken in garlic sauce, you don't expect the chicken to taste like apples the next day. No, you expect it to taste like garlic, don't you? Because you've marinated it in garlic sauce. So if you spend time with fools, you will think and act like a fool. If you read books, attend conferences with a legalistic slant, you will have a legalistic slant. And what's the result going to be? Harmful. So troublemakers are often ill-informed. And because of this, they should be corrected. Because if they are not, their false understanding will come out in their actions and it will spread. What we believe matters. It leads to action. So Paul says these individuals should be corrected so that they are sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. Now, one commentator defines myths here as fantastic old tales that could not be proved to be true or false and that were devoid of reason. And the point is, these persons are devoted to what is speculative, unprovable, and unprofitable. Christians should not spend their time in such things. It does not profit. False premises lead to false conclusions. So if these troublemakers are to be sound in the faith, they cannot do so as long as they devote themselves to what is not sound. Again, it's healing for the body. It's healing for the person. Let's just say you have an example where someone is corrected, they're confronted, and they see that, yes, this is good. You have corrected me on a point that I was in error in. Well, what happens now? They can be restored. They can walk in the right path. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. That is where life is found. Correction is just putting someone back on the course to this life-giving path. They must, Paul says, devote themselves to what is sound and good, to what nourishes and sustains, to the peaceful fruit of righteousness that comes from discipline in the truth. And what is God's design to bring about such spiritual maturity but a well-ordered, healthy church? So in closing, I just want to leave us with some takeaways. What are the takeaways for us? What do we do? I think I've thrown a lot out at you guys this morning. Thank you for your patience. What do we do? What are some takeaways? Well, four things. First, we need to know sound doctrine. We have to know what sound doctrine even is. We have to know what The Word is proclaiming to us. God wrote us a book. We should take the time to read it. We should be instructed in it. We should study it. We should make it our aim to know this book and to do what it says. And of course, what's the context for that? It's reading scripture where it was meant to be read, in community, among God's people. God did not save a bunch of individuals who are just hands and feet, you know, disembodied, you know, wandering around, but he made us into a body. We need accountability, we need encouragement. And so the second thing is, so the first, we know sound doctrine. Secondly, we unite ourselves around sound doctrine. We all have skin in the game. It's not just the preacher man standing up there and preaching. What does Paul say in Ephesians 4, 11 through 12? God gives teachers to the church to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Whose does the work of ministry belong to? belongs to all of us. We all have a different role, and we all have a different function. And so what should we be united around? Well, Jesus Christ, of course. Well, yes, the Mormons believe in Jesus Christ, but it's a false Christ. Jehovah's Witnesses believe in Jesus Christ, but it's a false Christ. So who is Jesus Christ? We know that through sound doctrine. We must unite ourselves around sound doctrine. This must be a fixed conviction for us. And for us, we can't see any other basis for unity. It's that important because false teachers will come in. Deceivers will come in. And if we have different ideas of what sound doctrine is and one thinks it's important and one doesn't, that's easy for a false teacher to deceive and mislead. Thirdly, we equip ourselves to recognize those who cause divisions. That's mean. No, it's not. Paul said in Romans 16, be on the lookout, be watchful. Who is out to deceive and disrupt? Remember, Jesus responded to Satan with Scripture. We must be equipped as well. We must be armed. We must be ready. Because we can expect this. It was already happening in the first century, the time of the writing of the New Testament. It's certainly happening today. And fourthly and finally, It's one thing to know and to unite and to equip ourselves, but we have to put that into practice. We have to deal with those who cause divisions appropriately. Okay, again, appropriately. If someone's just misguided on something and they need a gentle correction, then we should gently correct them. If someone's not well-read or well-studied in the scripture, we don't beat them over the head about it, okay? We have to recognize the distinction between someone who is just misguided or immature in the faith and someone who is, they've got intent. They want to harm. They're here to divide and disrupt. So there is a difference, but we have to do something about it and not just affirm this in our heads. Now, I share this because this is a church effort. It's not just something that pastors and elders do. God calls us all to be holy, so we should prioritize this in our hearts. He tells us to watch out for those who cause division, and that's because they are out there, and sometimes even among us. So we cannot be passive, we must be actively in the Word, in prayer, and submitting to God's good order, and loving the brethren as we seek to honor Christ. There just is no other way. It's for Christ's honor, it's for the love of his people, and even love of the offending party, but it all must be in that order. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for Your Word, which is a light unto our path, Lord, that you reveal to us our own sin and our own brokenness, and that you are so good to us to graciously correct us and bring us along. And I pray, Lord, that we would be encouraged by what we've read today and by our fellowship that we have with one another because of your Son, Jesus Christ, and is giving his life for us on the cross in our stead, that we might exchange our sin, our filthy rags, for his righteousness. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.