Transcript

We’re in Titus 1. Titus 1. I begin, uh, this unpacking, this shrink-wrapped thing that is called a salutation where Paul just crams in here rich rich theology and this simple salutation that you could preach on for weeks and weeks and weeks. And we’re going to expand it some, but we have to use some restraint or we’ll never get through Titus and, uh, Titus is writing probably from Niocuplet, whatever the word is, I don’t know. I’m fumbling around this morning, Nicopolis, and he’s writing to Titus so that Titus might set things in order among the churches on the Greek island of Crete, sort of the southeastern area the sea there off the mainland of Greece. It’s a rough place. Paul himself says in chapter 1 that Cretians are well known for being lazy, evil beasts and gluttons and liars. Well, sometimes you have to characterize a people like that if they’ve lived up to it, and that’s what Paul says they are. So how would you like to form a holy and godly local church out of that group? Now Brother Ryan might say I’ve been trying to do that for years, but that in in effect we all are. I mean, sinners are sinners everywhere. Flesh is flesh everywhere. But that’s what Titus is up against, and Paul writes this salutation introducing the letter and here’s what he writes, beginning in Titus 1:1.

1 Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, 3 but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior, 4 To Titus, my true child in a common [or according to] common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I’m convinced that the reason Paul puts such weighty things in the salutation is to remind Titus afresh, “Titus, everything I’m about and now you as an extension of me, everything that you are about is all of God. It’s all of God. It’s all the sovereign work, the sovereign purposes of God. So Titus, don’t be discouraged. Don’t be downfallen in spirit. Don’t give up. Get up the next morning, do the next thing, biblically speaking, you’re to do as a man of God. It’s all of God, Titus, and God’s work will prevail and achieve his ends.” I’m convinced that’s what Paul is doing here. Actually, I don’t have to be convinced of that, in the balance of the whole letter that’s basically what he’s doing is instructing and guiding and encouraging Titus.

So I’m going to review where we got to last time this became a two-parter, and then we’ll go further. Now we’re talking a lot about God’s absolute sovereignty here because the salutation just is pregnant with that truth, and I reminded you that kings and rulers and dictators and tyrants throughout the ages have claimed their sovereignty, but in truth none of them ever had sovereignty. When the earthly powers strut about and boast of their great power and sovereignty, God, the Bible says in Psalms 2:4, sits in the heavens and laughs. Only our God is truly sovereign.

So as Paul sets forth the absolute sovereignty of God to strengthen and encourage Titus, we come to the first point, this is still review, the sovereignty appointed position. He says in verse 1, “I’m a bond-slave and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” So he begins by saying, “Titus,” now Titus knew this, this wasn’t information but it’s written for affirmation. It’s written to affirm afresh in Titus’s mind that God started all of this. All of this is of of God. God’s bond-servant. That means the lowest servile servant, Paul, was then placed in the ministerial office of apostle and then that apostle ordained me and appointed me to be an extension of his ministry. So this is all about God. God sovereignly set this up and it gives us an occasion to remind ourselves that you’re no different than Paul. There’s a different in responsibility, there are no apostles today. Very few of you are called to the office of pastor. But all of us are bond-slaves. We sang a song earlier about all the change being released, and that’s certainly a truth but in one truth it’s incomplete because you’re on somebody’s chain, the world, the flesh and the devil or Jesus’ chain. He said, “Take My yoke upon you,” but it’s a yoke that’s easy and his burden is light. But we’re all under somebody’s yoke, we’re all chained to someone. Thank God for the glorious and good chaining to Jesus Christ. But you’re bond-slaves. Moms, you don’t get to be the kind of mom you want to be because you have another Master. Dads, you don’t get to be the kind of dad you think is right because you’re under another Master. Young people, you don’t get to be like the other young people at school, you’re under another Master. We’re bond- slaves. It doesn’t mean God does not let us enjoy a lot of the common graces of this life and world, certainly he does, but we make no problem, we do not kick against the goad of his yoke being the precious and blessed bond-slave of Jesus Christ.

It brought out a couple of thoughts here, an amplified element of of his… well, let’s go to II, that’s what I should do. The sovereignly appointed purpose. “Titus, I’ve been sovereignly appointed to this position and for this sovereignly appointed purpose. In other words, God has ordained what I do, administering what the end of my ministry is to be.” And that is, how does he say it there in verse 1? “For the faith of those chosen of God.” What it simply means is, “God called me to preach, placed me in the office of apostle to the end that those who are God’s elect will come to faith and their salvation then be activated, if you will, in their personal experience.” That’s the way Paul viewed it, and that’s the way he wants Titus to view it. As I told, tell you often, the Bible requires us to move out of the man-centered human perspective and view afresh from the God-ward perspective of God’s absolute sovereignty. It does not mean we do not equally preach that man is responsible to repent and belief, certainly it is, but that’s all under the sovereignty of God. “Well, pastor, how do you reconcile that?” I don’t reconcile old friends. It’s always been that way, but it’s all under the sovereignty of God.

Paul says, “This is my purpose, that I might preach the gospel,” and we know primarily that meant to the Gentiles, “that those chosen of God among the Gentiles will come to faith.” Then he amplifies that out a little bit more and says, uh, “and how the knowledge of the truth,” remember, the scholars tell us that means the full knowledge. You might say there’s true knowledge, and then there’s the true true knowledge. Mathematics gives us true knowledge, 2 + 2 is 4. It is true knowledge that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and there are untold numbers of true facts about reality that we can look at, but those, that knowledge, if you will, may be true knowledge but it’s not saving knowledge. And Paul is saying we know the true true knowledge. Paul’s saying, “Titus, we know the full knowledge of God and that is that everything centers on God’s work through his Son Jesus Christ, and that through Him men and women, boys and girls, can be cleansed of their sin and become the children of God outside of the philosophies of the Greco-Roman world and outside of the legalisms of the judaistic world is through Christ and through faith alone that you come to know God and have your sins forgiven.” This is the true knowledge. Again, you might call it the true true knowledge. This is the full knowledge that we have been given.

So Paul tells Titus that, “We’re about something special, Titus. This is all of God. He sovereignly put me in this place being a bond-servant, an apostle. He has sovereignly appointed me my purpose for the faith of those chosen of God.” And then we’ll go to III” the sovereignly unalterable promise. He continues on in verse 2, “in the hope of eternal life,” obviously, I didn’t unpack everything in the last part of verse 1, first part of verse 2, because I’ve already preached that, alright? We’re still reviewing. So he says in the last part of verse 2, “which God who cannot lie promised long ago.” God is sovereign which means he, his promises are unchangeable. They’re unthwartable. They can’t be diminished or altered in any way. When it says he promised long ages ago, it means he promised before time began.

So that brings us to IV and this is new material. IV is the sovereignly appointed time for revealing the gospel. The sovereignly appointed time. He’s saying, “Now Titus, it’s all of God. I mean from everything God did in eternity past to the point in time when God converted me, made me His bond-slave, called me to this office of apostle and then gave me my purpose for my ministry to bring about the faith of the chosen, and He promised this thing a long time ago,” but he continues on there in verse 3, “at the proper time manifested, even His word.” The proper time means in due time. In other words, in God’s perfect timing. You see, time begin in Genesis 1:1 when God created the heavens and the earth and time will end when God creates the new heavens and the new earth and does away with this old one. We use the phrase a lot. I’ve mentioned this a lot lately, that we think Jesus and the gospel is the answer for the world. I know what we mean by that, but it’s not really biblically that accurate because when Jesus comes again, he’s not gonna fix the world, he’s gonna get rid of it. He’ll keep his children, the redeemed, but everything else will be done away with, and then he’ll create a new heaven and a new earth and time ends right there. Time begins, Genesis 1:1, time ends at the new heaven and new earth.

But in time, Paul says, God picked the proper point to reveal this glorious truth, to manifest it, make it unveiled, if you will. “God chose a particular time, Titus, that He would take what was taught in shadows and in types in the Old Testament, and He would bring in an open view for those of us in this New Testament era, manifest what was hidden in God is now exposed for all of us to see.”

So I worded it this way in my notes: in God’s perfect wisdom he picked the perfect place in time to reveal what he preordained before time. That’s what Paul is saying. He picked the perfect place in time that he created, he created time, then he picked the perfect place in time to make open and reveal to man what he foreordained to take place before time began. “Titus, this is all of God. Everything we’re about.” Can I say, Grace Life Church of the Shoals, if we’re biblical, not Jeff Noblit’s fanciful, creative insights, that doesn’t matter, but if we’re biblical then this is all of God. You didn’t pick it out. I didn’t pick it out. I didn’t come up with it. You didn’t come up with it. We’re just in the flow of Almighty God’s eternal sovereign plan to glorify his name and have for himself a people for his own possession. Man, that’s some good stuff we’re getting in on. Most of the world thinks we’re crazy and we are crazy about the truth.

V. The sovereignly appointed pattern for gospel ministry. The sovereignly appointed pattern. That doesn’t mean that this is all a gospel minister does, but it means whatever else he does he must do this. Notice the word there at the proper time, verse 3 again, “proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation,” proclamation, “with which I was entrusted.” Proclamation is preaching. Paul is preaching. It was Paul that wrote to the Corinthian church and says through the foolishness of preaching, the world would say it’s a foolish approach in these days, modern man will not receive it, and Paul says, “Very well, it’s foolish to them but to us it’s the power of God and the salvation of God.” That’s God’s primary means that he sovereignly has appointed for God’s preachers. He he ordains us that this thing that he has unfolded being made known, be further manifest in calling and using God-called preachers to preach the whole counsel of God and the excellencies of Jesus Christ.

Now VI. Aren’t we moving along just fine? The sovereignly appointed commission of Paul. Well, you say, “Well, we you, you gave us his his his position earlier as apostle,” but yeah, he reflects on it and elaborates on it a little further here when he says… Well, let me read all of verse 3, get the flow of the context, ” but at the proper time manifested,” what was hidden in God is now bared open for all the world to hear and see, “even His word, in the proclamation,” you could say, amplified in his preaching, “with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior. This has been entrusted to me by the commandment of God. The point is, it’s a trust which I could not escape. It’s a commandment God has given to me. Oh, by the way, Titus, I told you earlier I was a bond-slave so when my Master entrusts this to me, and when my Master commands this of me, we don’t call a committee meeting, we don’t decide to study it for a year and find out what our doctrine is,” he said, “It’s settled. The full authority of God is put behind this, that God has called me to this ministry and I must preach God’s truth about it.” The great parallel truth in 1 Corinthians 9:16 and 17, Paul writes to the church at Corinth and says, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion,” I had no vote in this or choice in this, “for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily,” which he’s saying in this context, “I I didn’t volunteer for this. I was appointed for this. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.” So in a figure of speech, Paul is not saying he does not love Christ and love the gospel and love preaching it. Of course he did, but he said, “In back of all of that, God’s behind all of this. God moved on me. God knocked me off the horse. I saw the ribbon risen Christ on that road when I came off of my horse and I turned and said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And He saved me and He called me to preach, and He’s given me this apostleship and He’s given me the pattern, the sovereignly appointed pattern of my ministry is to preach and woe is me if I do not do it. I’m not a volunteer. I’m a bond-slave that’s been assigned a task.”

Now, does he glory in it? Yes, he does. Does he joy in it? Of course he does. Brother Ryan, there’s some days when I wake up in the morning and I’m not rejoicing in it like I ought to be. It’s not the joy that it was maybe last week, but I still have a calling and my Master has given me a task. And can Grace Life Church, can I splash this over on you? Your pastor isn’t the only one in this room who’s a bond-slave. Your pastor isn’t the only one in this room who’s been sovereignly appointed a role, a job, and that centers in you being a part of this local church to use your spiritual gifts, your financial resources, whatever God’s given you to help make this church all it can be that God might get all the glory he can get. I don’t know about you, but this stuff helps me. Just kind of just wipes the slate clean and says, “Okay. Brother Jeff, here’s you again, God’s bond-slave called of God. This is what you do”

We were in a, in a board meeting recently for Anchored in Truth, ironing out some stuff and God’s blessed the ministry so wonderfully they’re just growing pains and stuff we have to iron out. And I I told the guys in there I said, “Here’s what I want you to understand: no matter what you do with me, for me or I’m gonna do what I do regardless,” because I’m not under a board in the final analysis, I’m under another Master. All of us as preachers are not in the truest sense accountable to the other elders, certainly accountable to a board of directors who are accountable to them to be accountable to God. Did you get that? There’s a difference there, accountable to them but that I might be genuine to my true Master. Well, we need to move along.

VII. The sovereignly established relationship with Titus. He tells Titus, “Titus, you and I have a connection. We have a bond. We have a relationship that we didn’t figure out. God’s behind all of this, Titus.” So he says verse 4, ” To Titus, my true child [according to or] in a common faith.” Titus, my true child. His idea is, “Titus, you’re not a son after the flesh, that would give the idea that I had something to do with it. No, Titus, our relationship is deeper. It’s greater than that. We have a spiritual relationship. You’re a true son, Titus. You’re one who is born of God like me. Titus, you’re the genuine article. Titus, you bear the traits of the true family of God evidenced in a deep, abiding repentance, in a deep, abiding treasuring and joying in Jesus Christ. Titus, your life bears the unmistakable marks of the blood-bought and the Spirit-born.” What an application that is for us, brothers and sisters. Our relationship as people in this local church is not because, “Well, we think Tom Clay is so wonderful, we just wanted to join that church.” I think Tom Clay is wonderful, but I wouldn’t join any church for him. “Well, I think Brother Jeff’s preaching, if nothing else, I can’t doze off. He’s too wild. He’s too loud, so I go because it keeps my interest.” Well, I wouldn’t join a church because the preacher had certain antics. I have to know God sovereignly established this relationship. You didn’t just join Grace Life Church, you have to know God appointed me to this place and this time to serve him.

As I breathe before you, I am 100% certain God called me in the ministry and he called me the to be the preaching pastor of this church. Trust me, I would have left long ago if I didn’t believe that. It hasn’t always been this fun. We’ve had many years now of sweet, blessed unity and oneness and harmony, but it wasn’t that way for the first 20-25 years. You’ve got to know God put me here. It’s a sovereignly established relationship. “Yeah, but pastor, I I knew this person, I met this person, I visited and I liked this and liked that.” Yes, but a sovereign God, God’s behind it all. So you don’t just join a church, you are welcomed into membership of a church. You don’t attend a church, you can attend a church service, you belong to a church. It’s a sovereignly established relationship. “But pastor, you’re kind of dogmatic about that.” No, I’m bulldog-matic about it. God put us here for a special purpose and in a special time for his great glory. I would say this: if you don’t believe that get out of the way, but I won’t say that because that’s kind of harsh and strong.

He says, “Titus, this is a you’re my true child according to a common faith.” They both had the faith of the “chosen of God,” Paul’s words, the chosen of God. Not that faith that springs from our human nature but a faith which is of the Holy Spirit and the new creation which is precious being the gift of God and being of the power of God.

Now we go to VIII as Paul in this lengthy one run-on sentence salutation where he’s packed rich, doctrinal, theological concepts and truths all in it to remind Titus, “Titus, this is all of God.” Well, let’s see kind in a progressive way where he’s come to so far. He said, first of all, “Titus, I have a sovereignty appointed position, and as an extension to me, Titus, you do too. I have a sovereignly appointed purpose for the faith of the elect. Titus, that’s what you’re about too. Not two different roles for two different pastors. We all have the same book. I have the sovereignly unalterable promise. In other words, Titus, God decided this before time began that He would do this. Now that time has come and we’re we’re getting in on it, Titus. God’s behind all of it. It’s all of God.” Then the sovereignly appointed time to reveal the gospel has come. God in this New Testament era has unveiled these things, and the Apostle Paul received by direct revelation the great truths of the gospel, which by which he wrote 13 books of the New Testament. But there was a proper place in time when God did that. Then the sovereignly appointed pattern for gospel ministry. He said that, “And I took that truth God gave us at this proper time and I’ve been proclaiming it, preaching the word.” Then the sovereignly appointed commission of Paul. He says, “Titus, now look, in case you hadn’t gotten anything I’ve said so far, I’ve been entrusted to this role. It’s the command of God, Titus, and so that extends to you, Titus. You’re now for the island of Crete entrusted with this same truth th and commanded of God to be faithful in it.” And then 7 , the sovereignly established relationship with Titus and, “Titus, you’re my true child in the faith. You’re you’re born of God through the gospel preaching ministry just like I was. We all have been saved by the same power of the Holy Spirit and the same truth of the gospel.”

Now lastly, “Titus, let me leave you with the sovereignly sustaining grace and peace.” Here’s how you keep on keeping on when it’s not fun, when it’s not encouraging, when people are leaving you, when people are saying all kinds of evil against you falsely to kind of put you in the worst light, always spinning things to make you look bad. Titus, here’s how you keep going.” Last part of verse 4, “Grace and peace from God the Father and in Christ Jesus our Savior.” The grace of God is, you know, the unmerited favor of God but as we live out our Christian life, we must amplify another aspect of grace and call it it’s the provision of God for continued faithful service. There’s a sense, brothers, are you listening to me? Oh, it’s more than a sense, it’s the totality. The totality of your service for God in your local church is dependent upon the grace that he gives you. Not the strength that you have naturally. Not the wisdom that you have in the natural man, but that God gives you an unmerited, undeserved flow of grace that gets you up and says, “I’m going to my small group and love those brothers or love those sisters even though in my flesh, quite frankly, I don’t like them.” Amen? You see, that’s that’s one reason why you can go to your small group and you can choose to love those people because you can love anybody. They may not make you happy, they might irritate you to death, but you can love them. They might not like your ball team. God forbid somebody didn’t like our idol. But you can still love them because love didn’t seek anything back.

Oh goodness, I remember so clearly years and years, that’s two years plural, when I went to Walmart or to a local restaurant, and without fail, I’d see 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 people who did not like me. I know that’s hard for you to grasp. They didn’t like me. Their countenance showed they didn’t like me. Their snubs showed they didn’t like me. And I grew up with a lot of rejections. That was tough for me and God taught me a little thing, I’d pull up in the parking lot of Walmart and I’d put my car in park and I’d turn the key and I’d say, “I can always love. It doesn’t matter what they do to me, I can always love.” So you got to be that way in the local church. God sovereignly placed us together and you can always love even if they’re not a lovely person. They might learn through your unselfish love to be more loving themselves.

I need this reminder. Oh, I need this reminder. So I’m going to give it to you because we all need it. It’s not about you. It’s not about you. God sovereignly established the relationship that you have in this local church, to this local church, to the end that our God might get greater glory in the earth. And if you’ll do that, you’ll be more happy than if you try to find a church that makes you happy. Y’all getting this? We need grace to do that, though. “Lord, here I go. I’m going in there again. God, give me grace. She’s gonna be in there and she’s gonna be talking about her back and her knees, oh my. She’s got, he’s gonna be in there.” It doesn’t matter. You can still love. And by the way, there are times when love means a loving but firm correction to somebody who may be hogging the whole class with their petty stuff. Be wise there and long-suffering there, but there is a place for that.

I need grace to preach. We all need grace upon grace. I need grace to prepare to preach. Deacons need grace to do those anonymous, unknown, difficult tasks so the preaching of the word goes forth unhindered. That takes grace. Deacons may need more grace than anybody. Deacons are the white blood cells of the church. They run around and knock stuff out that’s infecting the body so the body could be more healthy. Now you don’t see white blood cells. They’re just in there doing their thing. Well, you do see them if you have an open festering wound because that pus is actually white blood cells that are dying for the task. So we don’t need to see deacons unless you’re dying to keep the local church healthy. It’s a good analogy. It really is very biblical. You gotta have grace to do that, guys. You can’t serve that way selflessly unless God’s grace helps you get that done. You small group leaders need grace week after week and go in there and say, “It’s not working. Nobody’s coming.” Well, call some more and pray some more and get ready to teach some more and show back up next week. I’ve had years with a lot more leaving than were coming, but I kept preaching and it’s only grace that got me there.

Then he say grace, and he says, “Titus, another, uh, sovereignly appointed element that keeps you going in ministry is peace.” And that’s God’s peace and it flows out of grace. It it’s that unmerited blessing and favor. It’s it’s the peace with God and peace of God, all a gift of God. It’s peace in our conscience. Oh, to go before God with all the weakness and failures that we have and know that our conscience is clear through the merits of Christ and the blood of Christ. What a treasure beyond compare a clear conscience is. Peace with men not being bound up in petty, immaterial, unimportant stuff with with with care and quarreling and complaining. We need that kind of peace. And I’m sure Titus is going to face a lot of quarrelsome cranky people as as Paul says, um, verse 16 of chapter 1, “You’re gonna have a lot of people who profess to know God but by their deeds they deny Him. They’re being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.” Sounds like some Baptists I’ve known, and every pastor will have those kind of people and Titus is gonna need the peace of God to reign in his heart to get through this. You say, “Pastor, I need I need more of that peace.” Well, you’ve come to the right place. I can fix your lack of peace. Well, I actually cannot fix it, but I’ve got a word for you that will fix it. Draw near to Jesus. Draw near to Jesus.

I’ve told you about this many times because when you’ve preached somewhere for 43 years, you say a lot of things many times. I read an article years ago. It was a one page article in a Christian magazine and the title of the article was “Out of the Blue,” and it was about how to overcome depression, and he said a simple but profound thing in that article. The writer said, “You’re depressed, you’re anxiety-ridden, you’re stressed and you want more peace and you go to God and for two to four minutes you ask God for peace and rest in your soul. And then it doesn’t happen and you forget that and you go to the doctor and get some pills.” Now I’m not saying that’s always wrong, but it should never be viewed as the final solution. With your doctor’s oversight, see if you can find greater peace with God and work your way off of the substances that may not be helping you as much as you think they are. I think it’s always interesting that when you turn on the television, they now have a drug that helps the other drug that’s supposed to stop your depression but it didn’t stop it, so they’ve got another drug to help the other drug because the other drug’s not working. Doctors aren’t evil for doing this, that’s not what I’m saying, but I’m saying there’s a reservoir of peace. And the guy goes on in the article and he said, “For two to four minutes you ask God for peace. It doesn’t happen, so you run to the world’s remedy.” He said this, “Have you ever taken your Bible and locked yourself in a room for 24 hours and read the word and cried out to God and said God, ‘I’ve gotta have peace.'” He said, “Why not try that for one day instead of trying meds for 10 years?” And maybe you have to do both for a while. Paul says, “Titus, I I leave you grace and peace and that’s found in drawing near to Jesus.”

Now he continues, we’re we’re we’re circling the field for sure now. He said, “This all is from God the Father. Titus, I’ve been telling you it’s all of God, everything we’re about is all of God.” God the Father is the source of everything that’s good, brothers and sisters. He’s the source of everything that’s good. Everything we have that is of any true worth comes from God the Father. James 1:17, James writes and reminds us, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights with whom there’s no variation or shifting shadow.”

Then he elaborates out to the last part of verse 4 in this lengthy run-on sentence salutation, packed full of theological truths, kind of shrink-wrapped in this little container here and he says, “and Jesus or Christ Jesus, rather, our Savior.” You see, Christ is the channel of God’s blessings. Christ is the conduit. Christ is the chosen vessel of God’s grace and peace to his children. And notice he uses the plural pronoun, “our Savior.” Christ Jesus our Savior. He’s not just your Savior and he’s not just my Savior. He’s not just Paul’s Savior. He’s also Titus’s Savior. He’s our Savior. And by the way, there again you have the source of the oneness between Paul and Titus. “Titus, we have something that bonds us together that no, no element of human reality can sever. We both have the same Savior.” And that’s the glue that holds us together as a local church, we all have this. We may disagree on this and this and this and this and this, secondary things that don’t matter, but the thing that, the foundational thing that does matter is Christ is all of our Savior. That builds a humility which builds a unity. So Grace Life Church, let’s model to the world the miracle of Christian unity, and you’ve done that for a long time now. If Satan tries to disrupt it, let’s put our heel on his neck and say, “You’re not disrupting this body of Christ.” So don’t be hanging around the neck of Satan. Not a good place to be.

And finally, a word to those of you who are not yet saved, and maybe not yet baptized. I go back to the simple phrase in the middle of verse 2, “which God who cannot lie.” Remember, I told you that means he has, he’s un-lie-able, he’s un-lie-able. He has an un- lie-ableness. It’s impossible for God to lie. Do you believe that? No, no, no, hold on, do you believe that? This God said, “Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, weary of trying to find your way to God through all the works of the flesh, and the laws that man creates, and religious activities. That’s wearisome. Come unto Me,” God says, “if you’re weary of that and I will give you rest, i.e., by basic simple faith in My Son.” Do you believe that? He’s the God who cannot lie.

He says in Matthew 9:6, “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” plural, sins. Do you believe that?

Hebrews 13:18, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” That means he has authority to forgive your sins of the past, he has the authority to forgive forgive your sins of today, and he has authority to forgive your sins of tomorrow. Do you believe that? He’s the God who cannot lie.

Psalm 51:7, “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Do you believe that? No self cleansing. You can’t fix yourself. You can’t clean up yourself, not in any way that’s pleasing to a Triune holy God. You might make yourself a better person, a better neighbor neighbor in this world, but no self cleansing here. He forgives. He cleanses. And he alone can do it when you trust in his cleansing. If you keep thinking you can cleanse yourself and you maintain that mindset, you’re going to be scrubbing all the way to hell. Do you believe he cleanses me from all sin? I do. I do believe it. I do believe it. And that’s my only hope, and that’s my stay, and that’s my assurance.

John 3:15 Jesus said everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. He said, “I’ll forgive you of all sin past, present, future. I’ll cleanse you of all unrighteousness before Me. I’ll give you true righteousness, My very righteousness, and I’ll grant you eternal life.” Let me ask you, he’s the God who cannot lie, do you believe him? Do you believe him? You’re not saved simply because you don’t believe him, you’re not saved because as of now some of you still believe he’s a liar. “I don’t believe in Him. I don’t believe. I’ll not believe on Christ today. I’ll not approach baptism today because I don’t believe it’s right.” And you’re still scrubbing on yourself and not resting in him. You know, throughout, especially Hebrews, but throughout the Bible there’s that phrase “enter into His rest.” His rest.

Matthew 28:18 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” That’s basically saying go out there and form local New Testament churches. That’s what God’s commanded us do. That’s the right thing. Do you believe him? Then you ought to come for baptism and membership in this church, casting all your anxieties, your worries and your stresses about your own performance on him and saying, “I believe Him. Now I want to serve Him by His grace the best He enables me to serve Him.” He’s the God who cannot lie.