They Profess to Know God

 Titus 1:11-16 ESV

“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.”

Paul wrote to Titus, instructing him to appoint elders, and then he told him God’s spiritual qualifications for those elders. And those qualifications were in contrast to what he talked about next, for here he was warning him that not all who talk the Christian life are of genuine faith in Jesus Christ. Many of them were insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers. So it is today.

And they were teaching false doctrines of salvation, not based on the teachings of Christ but on the thinking, reasoning, and philosophies of human beings. And they were teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. So it is today. For today a large number of them are altering the message of the gospel to make it more acceptable to human flesh.

And the reason it is for shameful gain is that it is not about delivering people out of slavery to sin so they could live holy and godly lives for Jesus Christ, but it was so they could draw in large crowds of people from the world into their gatherings in order to build their earthly kingdoms and to increase their numbers. So the liars need to be rebuked and silenced so they don't lead people astray.

And the whole reason to rebuke them is to hopefully turn them away from the lies and to genuine walks of faith in the Lord Jesus. And what lies are most predominant today in leading people astray? They are the ones which teach that we can profess faith in Jesus Christ one time and now all our sins are forgiven and heaven is guaranteed us when we die regardless of how we live.

But the truth teaches us we must be crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. For if sin is what we practice, and if godliness and obedience to the Lord are not what we practice, we don't have eternal life with God.

Yet, there are many people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are convinced they are saved from their sins and that heaven is their eternal home, but by their actions they deny Jesus Christ as Lord. And those who do so knowingly and deliberately are detestable, disobedient, and unfit to do the good works of God which he prepared in advance that we should walk in them.

My Heart’s Desire

Loved Ones, Oh, my heart’s desire

Is that you might come to Jesus.

Many appear zealous for God,

But they do not trust in Him.

They have not submitted to the One

Who saved them from their sins;

Not forsaken their sins,

Nor have they obeyed their King.

The word of the Lord is near you:

The word of faith we’re proclaiming:

That you must confess your faith

In Jesus as your Lord and King:

Believe in Him as your Lord,

And follow Him where’er He leads.

Share the gospel; be a witness,

And meet others’ needs.

Beautiful are the feet of those

Who bring the good news of Jesus:

Anyone who would come to Him

Must deny himself today;

Die to sin and self, and

Let the Spirit transform you in heart;

Put on your new self in Jesus,

Yielding to the cross.

An Original Work / June 29, 2013

Based off Rm. 10; Lu. 9:23-26;