Truth

[00:00:00] Teach our hearts to know your ways. We thank you for your Word in its simplicity, its plainness. [00:00:07] We thank you for its truth, that it teaches us the way of life. [00:00:14] We thank you most especially that it leads us to Jesus, our Savior. [00:00:20] For in knowing him, we have eternal life. In knowing him, we find forgiveness in knowing Him. And the more we come to know him, the more we are gripped by his love for us. [00:00:35] And we ourselves are stirred up to love to you and to those around us. [00:00:41] But we thank youk that it is not merely youy Word to which we come, but we come to the promise that yout are going to work in us by youy Holy Spirit. [00:00:52] For we know that no amount of our study or of preaching of the Word will avail to anything in us, unless you would work on our hearts by your Spirit. So we ask, O God, that you would pour your Spirit out on us today, that we might be filled with Him. And being filled with him, our hearts and minds might be drawn in the knowledge of the truth to Jesus our Savior, and in him. To all that we need. In his name we pray. Amen. [00:01:25] Our sermon text is from Titus 1. We'll read verses 1 to 4. [00:01:34] Titus chapter 1. I'm going to begin reading at the beginning. [00:01:38] Hear God's Word. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in His Word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior, to Titus, my true child, in a common faith, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Savior thus far. God's Word. Please be seated. [00:02:38] In the English language, in our common use, we use the word knowledge in a couple different ways. [00:02:49] We can use it to refer to ideas sort of abstractly, right? There's knowledge information, you might say. [00:03:00] But then we use the word knowledge in a different way, meaning our own understanding of those ideas. [00:03:11] Lots of ways to illustrate this. Think of learning to play a game. [00:03:15] If your family likes to play board games or card games, there's knowledge information, as it were, knowledge outside of you in the abstract that you can find as you read the rule book for the game. And of course, if you want to play a new game that you know nothing about, that's a first thing you got to do is you got to sit down and read the rule book and figure out the instructions, what are the different cards and pieces meaning and what are the rules? How does it all fit together and who gets to do what so that we can play this game? There's knowledge there in the abstract, in the rules, but then you come to knowledge in a different way when you come to understand. You come to a knowledge of the game and how it's to be played. And that knowledge isn't just abstract in your mind. [00:04:00] You come to understand how the game works, how each player takes turns, and how it is that you can use the different pieces and rules to your advantage, to advance through the game, to win, to beat your siblings or whatever it is. Right? There's knowledge in the abstract information, but then there's our understanding of it and our ability to use it to our good. There's lots of other ways in which we have these two different uses of the word knowledge. For example, medical textbooks can give instructions on the nature of the human body and how to perform, say, a sinus surgery. [00:04:42] There's knowledge there, right? [00:04:44] But I don't want just someone that has knowledge information from a medical textbook. If I'm going to go have sinus surgery, I. I want a skilled surgeon who is knowledgeable, who has knowledge about the human body, about the sinuses, how they're shaped, about how to use scalpels and all the instruments at his disposal to use that knowledge. Well, to bring healing to me when I go under the knife in surgery, right? There's two kinds of knowledge there. There's our understanding as well as the facts outside of us. And we could go on. [00:05:21] Repair manuals can tell us how to fix a car. How many people have bought a repair manual thinking that they were going to do a head gasket job, but they figured out they didn't really quite have the true knowledge to fix their engine. They had to take it to someone who had the knowledge to fix the engine. Not just facts. Take it to a mechanic, he is knowledgeable. [00:05:43] Or learning the piano. When I was a kid, we had the Alfred's Beginner books for learning how to play the piano. [00:05:50] There was lots of knowledge in those books about fingering and keys and the notes and how they relate to each other and scales and fifths and all this stuff. And I never really got much of that knowledge. I can't really play the piano. I don't have the knowledge within me to play the piano. Okay, you get the idea. [00:06:11] Now, Paul here, and when he talks about the knowledge of the truth, is talking about that idea of our understanding of the truth. [00:06:22] Not the facts out there, not the doctrines on their own, but our coming to understand it within us in such a way that we come to saving faith, in such a way that we come to godliness, that our lives are actually changed by that knowledge of the truth. And that is what we're going to consider this evening, where Paul here gives us the second aim or second objective of the Gospel ministry that God's elect would come to the knowledge of the truth that leads to or results in personal godliness. [00:06:58] We'll briefly review the text here. [00:07:02] We're looking at the first three verses of Titus 1. We read the first four. The first three are one big long sentence in the Greek canon in the English translation. [00:07:15] And we pointed out last week that here Paul is introducing himself to Titus, to us, his readers. And it's a little bit like a business card. Here he is, in brief, telling us who he is, what he does, what his ministry or work is, his objectives, the aims of his gospel ministry as well, as we said also, we'll look eventually at the promise that his ministry hangs on and the actual work that he's called to do, the preaching ministry. [00:07:47] We looked last week at the first of his ministry aims that the elect would come to faith, that all preaching ministry is aimed at the faith of the elect. This evening we're going to look at the second aim, the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness. [00:08:08] So the preacher, whether it's Paul or Titus that he's writing to, or the elders, the pastors that Titus is going to appoint in the island of Crete, or preachers today, we are to aim in our gospel ministry that you would come to the knowledge of truth that results in godliness. [00:08:31] Let's pick that apart. [00:08:33] First, what is Paul talking about when he says the truth? It's the knowledge of the truth. [00:08:40] This phrase Paul uses several places in the New Testament. The writer of Hebrews uses it as well. [00:08:46] It's used in the New Testament to talk about what we might call the Gospel or the teachings of Christianity. The knowledge of truth is just simply shorthand for the doctrines of the faith. [00:09:01] Paul uses the phrase in 1 Timothy 2, 4. [00:09:05] He says that God, our Savior, desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. [00:09:13] They come to salvation as they come to the knowledge of the truth. [00:09:18] How does one come to salvation? Because he hears the Gospel. He hears about who Jesus Christ is, what his sin is, and how he's called to repent and turn to Christ for salvation. [00:09:30] That's the truth that Paul is talking about here. [00:09:34] Or he speaks of the truth. Similarly, in Colossians 1:5, he says to the Colossians, there's a hope laid up for you in heaven. [00:09:45] You heard of this before in the word of truth, the Gospel. So the truth here in shorthand, is the Gospel or the truths that Christianity teaches, believes and so forth. And of course, the focus of that the nub is Jesus, the person of Jesus and his work. [00:10:09] Paul summarizes his preaching when he says to the Corinthian Church, that I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. [00:10:20] That's the truth that Paul went around preaching. [00:10:25] But Paul says that the aim of preachers is that not just to preach the truth, but that those who hear it would come to the knowledge of the truth. [00:10:35] If the truth is like ideas out there in the abstract, he says, we're aiming that people would come to know it, that you would internalize it, that you would understand it, that you would accept it. [00:10:51] Knowledge isn't just abstract ideas held in the mind. [00:10:55] It's not just ivory tower philosophers thinking about things, all the different things they think about. [00:11:04] The knowledge that Paul is talking about here is the truths that Christians come to understand, accept and believe. And the result of that is, is that they're saved and their lives are transformed in godliness. [00:11:20] We saw that in 1 Timothy 2:4. God desires all men would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. The result of understanding these truths is that they're saved. [00:11:34] So in understanding and believing the truths of the Gospel, they come to the saving knowledge of the truth. [00:11:42] So the truth, the knowledge of the truth. [00:11:46] And what ought to result in those who hear the preaching of the Gospel is that it results in godliness. [00:11:55] What do we mean by godliness? The old word would be piety. [00:11:59] And sometimes people hear the word piety or pious, and it sounds like a. A word we don't want to think about, a negative word. [00:12:09] What Paul means here is the Christian life. [00:12:12] The coming to the knowledge of the truth leads people to live in the fear of God, that our whole lives are now oriented to serving God, to doing what's pleasing to him, not ourselves. [00:12:28] This truth, the knowledge of the truth, should result in godliness. What does that mean? Well, of course it means worship, that we come to worship the true God, to know how to do that. [00:12:38] It means that our family lives are transformed. [00:12:42] Think of parts of the end, say of Ephesians, chapter. I'm sorry, Ephesians, the letter to the Ephesians where he talks about how Wives and husbands are to treat each other, how parents are to care for their children, how children are to honor their parents. [00:13:00] The Gospel transforms the family life. [00:13:03] It transforms our relationships with each other, church life. [00:13:08] In other words, as we come to the knowledge of the truth, everything should be transformed. [00:13:16] That's really broad. And that's exactly what Jesus commanded his apostles when he told them to make disciples and teach them to to observe all that I have commanded you. [00:13:30] It touches everything. [00:13:33] Now, why is this important that you would come to the knowledge of the truth that results in godliness? Why would Paul make this a principle? Not just a principle of his ministry, but an aim, one of his three chief goals. He wants you to come to faith. He wants you to come to faith, to the knowledge of the truth, and he wants you to have the hope of eternal life. Why would the knowledge of the truth be one of his three chief aims? [00:14:00] It's because this is how God changes people. [00:14:05] He changes us as our minds and hearts are changed and conformed to his truth. [00:14:12] This is the tool, you might say, or the means that God uses to to change you. [00:14:22] His Word is preached to you. His truths come into your mind, you come to understand them. His Holy Spirit uses that to change you, to make you more like His Son. [00:14:33] For example, Paul says in Ephesians 4:23, he calls the Ephesians to be to put away the old man, their sinful deeds. [00:14:44] And he says, you need to be transformed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. And then he goes on to exhort them to live the Christian life, to treat one another in kindness, gentleness, humility, to forgive one another. This all flows out of minds that have been changed and renewed by the working of the Spirit, as the truths of God's words are impressed upon your hearts and minds. [00:15:15] He says something similar in Romans 12:2. [00:15:20] Having laid out the whole of the Gospel in Romans chapters one through eleven, Paul then says, now, now that you know all of this, who God is, what your sin is, who Jesus Christ is, and how God saves you by the power of His Spirit uniting you to Christ. He says, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. [00:15:45] God transforms us as he, by the power of His Spirit, impresses His truth on our hearts and minds. [00:15:54] And the result of that changed mind and heart that's come to the knowledge of the truth, the result is godliness. [00:16:02] It flows out of a changed heart and mind. You could see why this would be pretty important, why Paul would say this is one of his three chief aims of his ministry. [00:16:14] Let's look at some examples. [00:16:16] This isn't just abstract, not just ideas here. [00:16:20] When Peter preached the gospel to the Jews at Pentecost, he was aiming at something he wasn't just telling the Jews, gee, you guys did kind of a bad thing when you put Jesus on the cross. [00:16:35] That wasn't very good. He wasn't just giving them a news article letting everybody know, hey, Jesus, the Messiah came, the Jews crucified him, and then he rose from the dead. [00:16:48] Peter was aiming at something very particular. [00:16:52] He was aiming at his hearers coming to a knowledge of the truth. [00:16:59] The result was that their hearts were convicted of their sin. [00:17:03] He said, you put Jesus on the cross, you took your Messiah whom God sent to save you, and you put him on the cross. [00:17:11] And their hearts were pierced through. [00:17:14] And what was the result of them coming to the understanding of the truth of their sin? [00:17:20] They pled with Peter, tell us what to do. [00:17:24] We know we've sinned, how can we be saved? [00:17:28] You see, his preaching aimed that they're coming to the knowledge of the truth of their sin. [00:17:34] And then of course, Peter told them, repent and be baptized. Put your trust in Jesus that your sins may be washed away. [00:17:43] There's another example, Paul, in his preaching to the Thessalonians, he tells us that he came and he preached to these pagans who didn't know who God was. They worshiped vain idols. And he says that as he preached the truths of the gospel to them, he aimed at their hearts coming to understand the truth of who God, the living, true God is and who his Son, the Savior of sinners is. And he says this first. Thessalonians 1:9. [00:18:12] They themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, how you received our preaching, how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. They heard about who God was and that they were worshiping empty things. [00:18:32] They came to understand that truthfully. And they said, we must turn from vain idols and begin to serve the living and true God. [00:18:40] Likewise, they heard of who Jesus the Savior was. And Paul says, further, you came to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead. [00:18:51] Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. [00:18:54] Paul didn't just give them a news story information, no, he was driving that they would come to repent of their sin and turn to faith in Jesus Christ. [00:19:05] We read Jesus own words about what he expects will happen when people Hear his preaching that men are like trees, that some will hear his words, accept them, and come to faith in him. And he's going to take them from being bad trees to being good trees. And as good trees, they're going to bear fruit. [00:19:28] They will have come to saving faith. And faith being the root, it's going to express itself in the fruit of godliness and righteousness that comes forth of it. [00:19:39] So you see here, Paul tells us that the preacher must aim at the knowledge of truth that results in godliness in his hearers. [00:19:50] That's the teaching of this verse. [00:19:55] Here's some ways we can begin to apply this in our lives. [00:20:00] First of all, we can apply this to preachers. That's me. [00:20:05] If this is what preachers are to aim for, then the preaching ministry, what I do here in the pulpit, week after week, is not simply to be a Bible study. [00:20:16] I'm not just explaining the grammar of the passage. I'm not just explaining the literary features of, say, a narrative story, a story in the Gospels or in the Old Testament, or the historical context so that you can begin to work through these things. [00:20:33] Bible studies are good, helpful. We need them. They're especially wonderful for equipping you to learn how to read the Bible yourself. [00:20:41] But in the pulpit, we skip most of this. [00:20:45] Our focus is on the truths, the doctrines that are revealed in God's Word. Because as you come to understand the teachings of God's Word, that you come to the knowledge of the truth. [00:21:00] Secondly, not only is it not just a Bible study, but it's also not simply a lecture. Whether it's a lecture Bible study or a lecture in doctrine, say in theology or in church history. [00:21:13] There are wonderful places for exploring these kinds of things, hearing lectures, they're edifying and helpful. [00:21:21] But we aren't just stating the truths of Scripture. [00:21:24] We are aiming at something more. We are aiming at you, coming to understand them and being changed by them, that there would be a result in your life of godliness. [00:21:36] And so we don't just state the truths of Scripture, we apply them, we explain. This is how you are called to live your life. [00:21:45] God's Word says this, and so you're called to repent. God's Word says that, and so you're called to believe. [00:21:51] We apply God's words. It's not just a lecture or a Bible study. [00:21:57] Preaching aims to persuade you both, to persuade you of the truth of God's Word, what it's saying, and to persuade you that you are called to live it out in your life. [00:22:10] We Aim for godliness. [00:22:14] You need to understand and believe what God is saying to you. [00:22:19] Think of Peter on the day of Pentecost. [00:22:22] His aim was that his hearers would be convinced of their sin and that they would be driven to Christ, their Savior. [00:22:29] Think of the prophet Nathan. When he comes to David after David's great sin with Bathsheba. [00:22:36] You remember what that Old Testament preacher does. [00:22:39] He tells this parable about a rich man who steals a poor man's. [00:22:45] The poor man has only one sheep that he cared for and loved. And the rich man comes along and steals it and kills it and eats it. [00:22:53] And David is incensed. He's gripped with the truth of that injustice, but Nathan aims it more. [00:23:03] David had grasped the abstract truth that that was injustice for that rich man to steal that poor man's lamb. [00:23:11] But Nathan goes a step further. As every preacher of the Gospel needs to do, he applies that truth to David's own heart. [00:23:20] You remember his application really short. [00:23:23] Thou art the man, David. You're the rich man who came and stole Bathsheba Uriah's wife and killed Uriah. [00:23:33] That was the application of Nathan's preaching. [00:23:39] This means that sometimes we have to get uncomfortable. [00:23:44] I have to say things I'm not comfortable saying, and you have to hear things you're not comfortable hearing. Why? Because I am called to confront your heart and mind with the truths of God's word, not just as ideas, but as things that you're called to live by, not just here on this life, but things that lead you to eternal life because they lead you to Jesus. [00:24:12] Well, there's some ways you can think about how this aim shapes, should shape the preaching ministry. [00:24:19] You think a little bit about how it should shape how you hear the gospel and how you think about the preaching ministry. If preachers are called to aim at the truth, the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, here's some things that are in error, things that you may hear that are clearly out of alignment with this aim of Gospel ministry. [00:24:43] Back in the 20th century, you probably still hear it sometimes here and there. Back in the 20th century, it was popular for people to say that Christianity is not a set of doctrines, but a way of life. [00:24:56] It's a way of life. It's not a set of doctrines. [00:25:00] And so people rejected the teaching of the truths of Scripture, saying, what we need to do is live like nice people. [00:25:09] This is wrong. [00:25:11] Clearly this is out of alignment with this goal of preaching. [00:25:17] In Biblical Christianity, the life of godliness flows out of the knowledge of the truth. [00:25:25] Think about what Jesus says in John chapter 15. [00:25:29] He says, I'm the vine and you are the branches. [00:25:33] And what does he say? If you're going to bear fruit, you have to abide in me. You have to remain united to me by faith. [00:25:42] So long as you're united to be my faith, you're connected to me. The vine, the power is going to flow from me. The life will flow out of me into you, the branches, and you will bear fruit. [00:25:52] If the Christian is to live the Christian life, he must always remain united by faith to Jesus Christ. And how does that happen? [00:26:00] Through faith. [00:26:01] You abide in Jesus by knowing who he is, by trusting in him, by relying on him, looking to him for power to live the Christian life. [00:26:10] And how does the preacher exhort you in that? By preaching the doctrines of the gospel, the truth. [00:26:19] Christianity is a way of life, but it's a way of life and godliness that flows out of the truths of the Gospel. As you hear them, you're transformed by them and you're drawn to Christ, the true vine, and you live in him. [00:26:33] There's a more popular error. It's similar, has a slightly different flavor, though I hear it pretty regularly today. [00:26:42] People say the Christian church is a community, not a religion. [00:26:49] I've heard people say, well, people join a church because of the community, not because of the teaching or the preaching. [00:26:58] This too misses what Paul is saying here. [00:27:05] It too is wrong. Jesus uses the truth to lead us to himself. [00:27:12] Christians can only have true community and fellowship with each other if they have fellowship and community with Jesus. [00:27:21] And how do you enter fellowship and communion with Christ? [00:27:25] By faith. And how do you come to faith? By hearing and believing the truths of the Gospel. You see the error here. There is no fellowship, no true Christian community in a church that does does not preach the doctrines of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. [00:27:44] You need doctrine. You need to hear the truth because it leads you to Christ and your life flows from it. [00:27:52] So here's my exhortation. [00:27:54] If all of these things are true, then as you open your Bibles to read them as families, as individuals, to study them, to think about them, as you listen to the preaching from the pulpit, wherever it is that you're hearing the truths of God's word. [00:28:10] Listen with an ear to understanding and believing. [00:28:16] Listen with an ear to understanding and believing. [00:28:20] It's not enough that you have the ideas in your head. They have to shape you, change you, and you need to learn to depend on them because they lead you to Christ. [00:28:29] Paul says this in second Timothy 3:15. He says that the Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [00:28:42] So listen so that you might understand and believe. [00:28:46] They make you wise to faith in Christ Jesus and salvation flows from Him. Or, as Jesus says it, confronting the Pharisees. He says, search the Scriptures because in them you find eternal life. [00:29:02] Listen to understand and believe. Listen to apply. [00:29:08] Seek to take the truths that you've heard and say, how can I live out godliness in my life? [00:29:14] This is what the preacher is aiming at week after week. How do I take this? And how is my life to be transformed this week? [00:29:23] Ponder it. [00:29:25] Jesus says, every man, everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. [00:29:33] And then he goes on to describe the man who builds his house on the rock, the foundation of Jesus Christ, received through His Word, and what happens as he builds his life, because that's what he's building. The house is representative of his life, founded upon Christ in His Word. [00:29:51] When the floods come, he's secure. [00:29:56] Or, as James says, don't just be hearers of the Word, be doers. [00:30:02] What does that look like? [00:30:04] Think about the Word. Pray about the truths that you've heard. Ask God to show you how you're called to repentance, to faith from the Word that you've heard. [00:30:14] Talk about it. [00:30:16] The pastor preaches a sermon on repentance. Dad, go home, gather your family and say, we heard about repentance. [00:30:25] Surely that means God's calling us as a family to repent of something. What are the things we need to hunt for in our life, in our family, that we can turn from so that we can seek forgiveness and Christ's power to change as a family. [00:30:41] Talk about what you've heard with your friends, with Christian friends. You talk about the weather, sports, how work is doing, how the kids are, all sorts of things. Your hobbies. [00:30:50] Do you talk about the truths of God's Word and help each other to apply them, Exhort one another to apply them in your lives? [00:31:00] Finally, if God changes us to make us more like His Son and to produce godliness in us through the knowledge of his truths, of His Word applied. [00:31:11] If he does that, he does it only by the power of His Spirit. [00:31:15] So the things he calls us to do. But at the same time, we need him working in us. [00:31:22] So what does that mean? [00:31:24] You can't do and I can't do any of the things we've been talking about ourselves? We need God to work in us. We need His Spirit filling us, changing us, equipping us, empowering us. [00:31:38] So pray. [00:31:40] Pray before you come to church. Pray on your way home. [00:31:43] Pray throughout the week. Ask God for His help. [00:31:48] James says if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. [00:32:00] Or consider the words of our Savior himself in his greatest sermon. [00:32:06] Remember what he says at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. [00:32:09] Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. [00:32:17] Jesus stands ever ready to give you what you need. [00:32:22] He says, ask even of the Holy Spirit, and your Father will give him to you. Let's pray. [00:32:28] Oh Lord, our God, we thank you for the clarity of your word. [00:32:35] We ask that you would help us to see that there is something different in your word and in the preaching ministry. [00:32:45] Help us to see that there's something that the world can't offer us. Whether it's therapists, whether it's even people who are truly wise in earthly things. [00:32:56] There's something here that we find nowhere else. [00:33:01] And that thing truly is the Lord Jesus revealed to us. [00:33:05] O Lord our God, we ask that by the power of your Spirit you would help us as a church to receive Christ. [00:33:12] Our hearts would be open to what he is saying to us, and that your spirit would change us, mind and heart, body and soul, that we might strive with everything that is in us, heart, mind, soul and strength, to love you and to give ourselves to youo, that by youy power we might bear the fruits of godliness. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.