Preached Sunday, April 11, 2010
from
Titus 1:15-16
Theme: Those who seek to establish moral purity through external matters end up making themselves impure in the sight of God.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
I ask you to turn with me, this morning, to the closing words of the first chapter of Paul’s letter to Titus. Verses 15-16 read as follows:
To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work (Titus 1:15-16).
Those words seem pretty harsh—and they might not sound as if they would make for a very encouraging sermon. But I believe that the more we consider them carefully and in their context, the more we’ll find that the principle of God’s grace that lies behind them constitutes something very encouraging and liberating,
These two verses address something known as “legalism”—a dreadful spiritual error that teaches that we can be made righteous or holy before God on the basis of a faithful adherence to religious laws and ceremonial rituals, or through the avoidance of any external objects or practices that might defile us. It’s a spiritual error that, sadly, holds many people in bondage to religious rituals and man-made regulations. The words of these two verses, rightly understood, strike a decisive blow against that horrible spiritual error. And in its place, they call us to a standing of grace Jesus Christ that truly sets a believing woman or man free.
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Now; to appreciate these two verses properly—and the great truth God would have us learn from them—we need to review what came before them and see why it is that Paul wrote them.
Paul had been writing to his ministry partner Titus, who was serving the churches on the island of Crete. Paul had left him there to minister in his place; and he wrote to encourage Titus to be sure to establish good, strong, biblically sound, pastoral leadership over those churches. Paul wanted each one of those individual churches to be led by man who was, among other things, “holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict” (Titus 1:9).
And Paul had a very practical reason for this. False teachers had made their way into the churches and were inflicting a great deal of harm upon the Cretan Christians by teaching things they ought not to have taught. These false teachers were even causing whole families to be corrupted with respect to the simplicity of faith in Jesus. Their destructive teaching needed to be silenced, and the people of God needed to be prevented from falling victim to any more of their errors. And so, Paul was very insistent that strong, competent pastoral leaders be established to combat their words; and to establish the people of God in good, healthy, sound doctrine.
And when it comes to these last two, seemingly harsh verses at the end of Titus 1, it’s very important to understand the nature of what these false teachers were doing to the people of God. One of the problems was that the churches on Crete existed in a very sinful and morally corrupt culture. As Paul said—quoting the most famous of the Cretan philosopher—”Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons” (v. 12). These churches were formed and grew up in the midst of an environment that was very sinful. And you would think that the devil would capitalize on that environment and tempt the people of God to live in the sort of sinful ways that the wicked people around them lived.
But that’s not what the devil’s particular method was of attacking the churches of Crete. In addition to the problem of the wicked culture that surrounded the believers, the devil was also raising up false teachers who taught the people to go to the opposite extreme—that is, to follow a bunch of religious rules and regulations that were designed to keep them from entering into any areas of sin. This, by the way, is a very clever tactic of the devil—one that he has used many times to bring harm to the people of God. As a rule, he will do anything he can to keep us from fixing our faith completely and exclusively on the Lord Jesus Christ; and if he can’t tempt us away from Jesus through wicked behavior, he’ll seek instead to pull us away from a simple faith in the sufficiency of Jesus through a whole bunch of burdensome religious rules and ritualistic ceremonies. He’ll make us think, at first, that these are simply “tools” that help us keep in a holy walk with God. But pretty soon, the “tools” morph into “rules”; and before we know it, we’re no longer trusting in God’s grace, but are depending instead on a conformity to a rigid set of “rules” to make ourselves holy before God.
In the case of the Cretans, it appears that there were some people—most likely people who were Jewish in background—who professed a faith in Jesus outwardly, but who had inwardly retained a commitment to the laws and ceremonies of Judaism as a way to make themselves pleasing and acceptable to God. These Judaizers—whom Paul calls “those of the circumcision”—were trying to bring the Cretan Christians under bondage to the rules of Judaism as a way of keeping them “holy” and “pure” with respect to the sinful influences of the culture around them. Perhaps they were even insisting that the Cretan Christians become circumcised. And as a result, the people were no longer trusting in God’s grace through Jesus Christ; but were trusting instead in the rules and rituals and religious traditions of men.
And don’t we often deal with that very same tendency today? We affirm that a man or woman can never be made holy in the sight of God through religious works, or rituals, or ceremonies, or ‘good deeds’. We hold instead that a man or woman is made righteous by virtue of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross alone. As the Bible teaches, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). We are made 100% acceptable in God’s sight by our faith in the finished work of Jesus on our behalf, and by His own righteousness credited to our account. There is no religious ceremony or ritual that could ever make us more acceptable to God that we are in Jesus; and because of our relationship with His Son, there is nothing we could ever do to make God the Father love us more than He already does. What could be more liberating than that? And yet, people still turn away from a simple faith in Jesus, and place their trust instead in religious rituals, rules and regulations—”Don’t eat this.” “Don’t touch that.” “Don’t go there.” “Wear this.” “Don’t ever wear that.” “Observe this holy day.” “Honor this feast.” “Fast during this period of time.” “Observe this ritual.” “Keep that ceremony.”—and all in a vain effort to make themselves more acceptable and holy in God’s sight through external things. What bondage!
Paul wrote to Titus and said, “Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth” (vv. 13b-14). And I hope that all this helps you appreciate why this morning’s passage—harsh as it may sound—is in reality a wonderfully encouraging word of the liberating power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; there is no ritual you can perform, nor any set of religious rules you can keep, that will ever make you more holy and acceptable in God’s sight than God Himself can make you through faith alone in His Son. Once in a relationship with His Son, you are as holy and accepted to God the Father as is His own beloved Son.
In Christ, you are set free from the burden of religious rituals and ceremonies! You are free to follow and serve and obey the heavenly Father—not in a relentlessly burdensome effort to become accepted in His sight, but because you already are accepted in His sight through faith in His Son! And by contrast—as this passage shows us—those who seek to make themselves holy and acceptable to God through the external means of man-made religious rules and regulations actually end up making themselves unholy and impure in His sight.
This is a very important passage. But it’s also very good news. And I’m truly eager to share it with you. What’s more, I’m eager to share it with you in such a way as to equip you defend the grace of Jesus Christ upon which we stand; and to share that liberating gospel of His grace with others.
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Let’s look, then, at these two verses a little more closely. I see three basic principles they teach us. First, I suggest they teach us that . . .
1. TRUE PURITY OF HEART BEFORE GOD THROUGH CHRIST MAKES ALL THINGS PURE TO US (v. 15).
Paul is speaking of “purity”—true, moral purity in the sight of God. And what he lets us know is that purity before God isn’t something that we bring about on the ‘outside’ through religious rituals and rules; but rather, it’s something that is brought about in us on the ‘inside’ through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Look at how Paul stresses this. He says, “To the pure all things are pure . . .” And what he means is that, when it comes to those who are truly made pure on the inside, there ceases to be a concern about which of the external things are “pure” and which are “impure”. There’s no longer a question about whether I can “touch” this, or whether I can “eat” that; or whether I must observe this “feast” or observe that “fast day”. I no longer have to walk around on spiritual ‘egg shells’ all the time—worrying and fretting about my contact with the external things of this world. To the man or woman who has truly been made pure through Christ, all things are pure.
Now; you probably recognize—without my even having to tell you—that many people have taken those words of Paul dreadfully out of context. Some people have allowed themselves to indulge in very impure activities with the excuse that “to the pure, all things are pure”. But Paul isn’t saying that the sinful practices that God condemned in the ten commandments can now be considered ‘pure’. Perish the thought! Rather, he’s saying that when it comes to the good and legitimate things of this world that God has made, we who are in Christ no longer need to concern ourselves about whether or not any of them will defile us. We are already made completely pure in Christ; and can enjoy them freely.
I think a passage that shines light on this can be found in 1 Timothy 4:1-5. Paul wrote to Timothy and said,
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer (1 Timothy 4:1-5).
Whenever God’s word says that I must not do something, then I must not do it. But when something is “sanctified” by the word of God—that is, when something is given approval in God’s word as something good, or when God’s word does not forbid it; and when I can then, in prayer, receive it with thanksgiving; then I’m set free to enjoy it to the glory of God. It does not affect my purity before God one bit; because I’m already made pure in Christ.
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“To the pure,” then, “all things are pure . . .” And rightly understood, that’s a wonderfully liberating truth. But look at what Paul then goes on to say; “. . . but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.”
Pay special attention to that word “unbelieving”. Underscore it in your mind. That’s the real problem: unbelief. These “impure” ones do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or in the sufficiency of His atoning sacrifice to make us 100% acceptable in God’s sight. And because they do not believe on Him, they remain “defiled” by the guilt of their sin. As John 3:36 says, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Because they do not believe on the Lord Jesus, they remain “defiled” in God’s sight—and no amount of religious rules and regulations on the outside will ever take that inner defilement away.
In fact, the defilement on the inside of those who do not believe actually makes everything else on the outside impure to them. Paul lets us know that their unbelief leaves their mind and their conscience—two key moral dynamics within a person—in a state of defilement. The mind has to do with what we see and understand to be true around us; and the unbeliever’s capacity to evaluate things correctly remains “defiled” by the guilt of their sin. He can’t think rightly about things. The conscience has to do with how we evaluate, on the basis of what the mind sees, the moral ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’ of particular courses of action; and the unbeliever’s inward moral ‘indicator’—his conscience—is as defiled as his mind. He is defiled on the inside; and thus, he defiles everything he touches—including the very religious rules and regulations he believes will make him pure in the sight of God.
Perhaps you remember how the scribes and Pharisees once challenged Jesus and His disciples because they were eating food without first washing their hands in the ‘ceremonial manner’ that the Pharisees and scribes had prescribed. Jesus responded by telling the crowd, “Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man” (Matthew 15:10-11). Later on, Peter asked Him what He meant by this; and Jesus explained;
“Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man” (Matthew 15:16-20).
True purity before God isn’t a matter of external things. It’s a condition of the inner man. And the inner condition of a man is only made pure by faith in Jesus Christ. He alone took all the guilt for our sins on the cross; and it’s by His righteousness alone that we are made acceptable to God. And to those who have been washed clean by faith in Jesus Christ—that is, to those who are truly “pure” as a work of God’s grace—then all things become pure. But to those who remain defiled by their sins because they will not believe on Him—to those whose very mind and conscience remains defiled—nothing in this world is pure.
How important it is, then, to make sure that you have been made pure on the inside by faith in Jesus!
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So; the first principle to notice is that true purity before God is not an outside job. It’s an inside job. True inward purity before God through faith in the finished work of Jesus makes all outward things pure to the woman or man who trusts in Jesus.
But that leads us to a second, very sobering and startling principle . . .
2. TO SEEK PURITY THROUGH EXTERNAL MATTERS IS TO DENY GOD IN UNBELIEF (v. 16b).
Paul goes on to say of those who rely on external rules and regulations to make themselves holy before God, “They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him . . .”
Jesus—in that passage we just considered from Matthew 15—speaks of this. The Pharisees and scribes who had insisted that He and His disciples only eat food with ceremonially washed hands certainly would have insisted that they believed in God. In fact, they would have insisted that, because they washed their hands in the proper manner before they ate, they were demonstrating that they knew God better anyone there! But Jesus said,
“Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men'” (Matthew 15:7-9).
They didn’t really know God at all. They serve as an illustration of people who are, as Paul says elsewhere, “ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:3-4). When people willingly reject the offer of God’s free gift of 100% acceptance in His sight on the basis of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and set about instead to develop a system of religious rules and regulations through which they hope to make themselves ‘pure’ and ‘holy’ in God’s sight, they actively deny Him with their “works”—even though they may profess to know Him with their “lips”.
This, dear brothers and sisters, is why what the false teachers were teaching to the Cretan Christians was such a dreadful thing that needed to be stopped! Attempting to make ourselves righteous before God on the basis of our works—or even attempting to make the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf more “complete” on the basis of religious rituals and rules and works—is tantamount to denying God! God tells us that we can only be made righteous in His sight by virtue of our faith in the work of His Son; and yet, we dare to set up a different way to righteousness and demand that He accept it—thus denying the very God who sent His Son! The Bible warns us that, if we seek to make ourselves righteous and pure in God’s sight on the basis of religious rules and regulations, then we have become “estranged from Christ”, and have “fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4).
No wonder Paul was insisting that these false teachers be stopped! They were turning some of the professing Christians in Crete into what they themselves were—people who professed to know God with their lips, but in works denied Him!
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And this leads us to a final principle—a principle that shows the dreadful paradox of trying to make ourselves righteous before God on the basis of outward rules and regulations . . .
3. THOSE WHO THUS DENY GOD’S GRACE IN UNBELIEF MAKE THEMSELVES IMPURE IN HIS SIGHT (v. 16b).
Paul says that those who profess with their mouths to know the God who sent His Son as our Savior, and yet deny that very same God in unbelief by trying to earn His favor through religious works, are characterized as “being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.” That’s a horribly far cry from being pure in His sight!
Paul says that such a person is “abominable”; or, as some translations have it, “detestable”. To get a good idea of what that means, just think about that long-forgotten Tupperware container that’s been sitting in the hard-to-reach part of your refrigerator since last Thanksgiving. Just think of pulling it out and opening it up. What would your reaction be to what you find inside? That’s a good way of thinking of this word “abominable” or “detestable”. It describes something—if I may put it this way—that causes God to turn away in disgust. That’s what those people are who, in disbelief on God’s Son, set up religious rules and regulations for themselves—abominable to God. All their ‘righteousnesses’, as Isaiah says, “are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).
What’s more, Paul says that they are “disobedient”; and the reason is obvious. God has called them to believe on His Son in order to be made acceptable in His sight; and instead of trusting in Jesus, they trust instead in their own rules and regulations. The Bible tells us that “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (John 5:29); and yet, when they refuse to do His clearly-appointed “work”, and seek to set up their own work instead, they disobey God’s clear command, and build a system of “religious works” all around this fundamental act of disobedience to Him.
And finally, Paul says that they are “disqualified for every good work”. Having made themselves abominable in God’s sight, and having based their attempts to make themselves “righteous” through disobedience to the gospel call, they are utterly rejected and unable to do any good work that pleases Him. What what a dreadful situation they’re in: (1) they try to avoid any of the “detestable” things of this world, and yet make themselves detestable in the sight of God in the process; (2) they set up a whole list of religious rules and regulations to be obeyed, and yet disobey God’s most basic command to believe on His Son; and (3) they try to make themselves “qualified” for God’s favor through their works, and yet end up disqualifying themselves for any work that would be pleasing in His sight at all.
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These are harsh words. They need to be harsh words; because they spoke to a dangerous situation. But in all of it, dear brothers and sisters, let’s not miss the good news that stands behind them.
If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you have placed your faith in the only Savior provided by God who is absolutely sufficient to make you 100% acceptable in His sight. If you are in a relationship with Jesus Christ by faith, you are already in God’s favor—and there’s no ritual, or ceremony, or religious rite, or man-made moral regulation, that can ever add one bit to your standing before Him.
As Paul said in Galatians 5:1; “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Don’t trust in the religious rules and regulations of men. Rest instead completely in Jesus Christ. Trust that you are made “pure” before God through faith in Him alone.
And then know, with certainty, that “to the pure, all things are pure.”