 Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining class this morning. Just give me a minute, please. Yeah. So, last Wednesday, we were looking at Titus chapter 1. Okay, we reached up to um, verse 15. So, can you please turn in your Bibles to Titus, the book of Titus chapter 1. And what was he Paul talking about in the last few verses in Titus chapter 1? Anyone has an idea who he was talking about? Who was Paul talking about in Titus chapter 1, the last few verses, verses 10 to verse 16? No one wants to answer. Who's Paul talking about in Titus chapter 1 verses 10 to 16? You can look at your Bibles as well. You can type your answer in the chat section. He's talking about bishops. We're talking about we are in Titus, Titus chapter 1, the book of Titus chapter 1. Who's Paul talking about in verses 10 to 16? He's talking about the false teachers. Hello class, if all of you there following, yes, who are the people who talk and win? They are the false teachers. So, he's basically talking about, you know, the characteristics of the false teachers and helping Titus to identify who are these false teachers. So, sometimes we think, you know, why are we studying these books? It was written, you know, so long time ago. It was basically referring to a particular cultural context, a particular situation to particular judges. We don't need it. But if you look at these letters, they're quite relevant for us today because, you know, do we face, do we have false teachers in our times today? Yes, no. Yes, we do. We do have false teachers. Thank you, Dave. Thank you, Prince. And so, we need to know, you know, what are their characteristics and like, you know, you have mentioned in the chat, you know, they are people who are liars, you know, people who talk and win, who twist the truth. And so, Paul is telling Titus to be aware of these false teachers because these are not somebody who come from outside, who can really, we can identify, but they are within the church, those Judaistic believers, that means Jews, who have become Christians, who are teaching these false teachers, teachings and doctrines. Okay. So, we read verse 15. We look at verse 15 and verse 16 and with which we will end this chapter. So, can one of you please read verse 15, please? Can one of you please read verse 15? On to the pure. All things are pure. But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. But even their minds and conscience is defiled. Thank you. So, here it says, you know, all things. Okay. So, here it's basically talking about food that got created for consumption. So, these false teachers basically choose, they're saying, you should eat certain kind of meat, certain kind of food in a certain kind of way. So, they're bringing in a lot of legalistic rituals and laws and saying, so, you don't just receive salvation by faith, but also by keeping all of these Old Testament rituals and laws and also by circumcision. Okay. So, these false teachers were teaching that Jewish food laws are still applied to Christian believers. And Paul is saying that all food is clean as it says in Mark chapter 7 verse 15. It says in Mark chapter 7 verse 15 that nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him. But the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. Okay. So, Paul is saying to those who are eternally pure, all things are pure. And that means, it does not mean that, you know, including sin, sin is never pure. So, you know, if internally we are pure in our thoughts, in our motives, you know, living a holy life, pursuing a holy and righteous life, then we will see all things as pure. The word defile here is a means a person who in the Greek, the Greek meaning of this word defile here, means a person who either rejects the truth of salvation by grace. Or somebody who forces someone else to receive salvation by any other means. So, here the word defile means a person who rejects the truth of salvation by grace, like an unbeliever who says, you know, after hearing the salvation message, preach them to the gospel of truth, preach to them, they reject it. Or it can also be those who reject the salvation by grace. Or, you know, because of what other people are teaching them, or these false teachers are teaching them, they're saying that you need to add to the work of salvation, or you have to maintain, or you have to add to the work of sanctification, or you'll need to maintain your salvation by, you know, keeping all the rituals and laws. And so he's saying that such kind of person, people who teach these things, they are defiled in their minds, that means their minds are polluted. And hence, not only their minds are imputed, polluted, sorry, but their conscience is also affected. And it's that their faith and their actions also are influenced. And hence, their actions and their faith is also defiled as well. Okay. So, when we think that, you know, we can receive salvation, or we can work out our salvation every day with fear and trembling by keeping rituals and laws. Or when we think that sanctification can be brought about, or we can be made holy, or, you know, the sins that we have done once we have become believers can be covered up or can be forgiven when we do some good things, you know. And many people think like this, you know, when they think that one of the good things is going to church and taking communion is one good thing. Or the other thing is feeding the poor, or giving to the orphans, or giving clothes, or money to orphanages, or helping those who are in need. And people think when they do this, their sins will be forgiven, you know, they will receive the blessings of God. And, you know, this is a wrong kind of thinking because we cannot, you know, receive salvation or maintain our salvation. Or we cannot be sanctified by good works. It's only, you know, by the work of Christ that he has already completed, which he has finished on the cross, on the cross Christ paid for our sins, he paid the full price for our sins, and no nothing else is needed for us to, for salvation, to maintain our salvation, or for our sanctification. But it's only our obedience to God, obedience to His Word, obedience in walking according to His will and fulfilling His plan and purpose. And also it is, you know, by consecrating our lives, by recommitting and resubmitting and dedicating our lives to God, okay? So here in Titus chapter one verse 15, Paul is demonstrating to us that true purity lies not in just observing external rules, but in the inner purity of the heart, okay? So we can also think sometimes, you know, we're serving God, we're doing so much for God, but God is not interested in how much we do, He's more interested in our, you know, how intimate we are in our relationship with Him. How much time is spending just reading His Word, praying, communing with Christ, fellowshiping with the Trinity, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's how much we are doing His will. We can do ministry, but we can be doing what we want or what we desire, what we like. We can also be doing things that will give us a good name or favor or, you know, give us a place of good position or money, but it will not be a place that God wants us to be in or where He wants us to serve. So it is all about, you know, obeying God, the pure heart is about obeying God, living a life that is totally committed and surrendered to Him, okay? A life that has been cleansed and regenerated through our personal trust in the person, work of Christ that has been finished and completed for us, for our salvation, okay? So that is what Paul is stating here in verse 15. So it's not about keeping rituals, not about food, it's not about the way we dress, but what we wear, but it's about inner purity of our hearts, the motives, the attitudes of our heart that God is more concerned with and our relationship with Him. Verse 16, can one of you please read verse 16, please? They claim that they know God, but their actions deny they are head full and disobedient, not fit to do anything good. Thank you. So in verse 16 Paul is stating a fact here, which he's trying to sum up this whole matter that he's been discussing about in verses 10 to write up to verse 16, and it's the matter related to false teachers. He says these false teachers are not necessarily unbelievers, but here it says they profess to know God. It simply means that these false teachers, they simply profess to know Him as Savior, but it could also be the profession to know Him in a deeper and a more intimate way by observing rules and regulations which they are seeking to impose on others. So it's a kind of a false truth that they are portraying to people that they know God, they know Him as a Savior, but also they're saying that if you observe all of these rules and regulations that are in the Old Testament, it's a way that you know Him in a more deeper and an intimate way. And they're trying to impose this on others so that others will also come into this wrong kind of teaching and will follow it. And he says these are some people who profess to know God, but in works they deny Him. Denying Him means they reject or they do not accept Him. It means that they fall back on their previous relationship with Him. They fall back into unfaithfulness again. It also means that they abandon their fellowship with the Lord. In other words, these false teachers who are saved have actually slipped back into false legalisms or works and they have fallen away from the grace of God or the grace way of living life or the previous grace relationship they had with Jesus when they accepted Jesus Christ. So it's no longer by grace that they are living their lives or they have accepted Jesus Christ as a person Savior, but it is by rules and by keeping rituals and keeping certain rules and regulations. And Paul then goes on to use some very strong words here being abnormal, disobedient and disqualified for every good work. So this word abnormal in Greek means somebody who is detestable or it carries an idea of being disgusting. So it basically means here that those who turn away from the grace that has been given to us freely in Christ Jesus by what he's accomplished on the cross and they move away from this grace into keeping just rituals and laws or move away from grace into legalism and teach others to do this. Paul is saying that they are detestable in God's sight. Now is this a problem only in the early church or is this a problem even in our churches today? What is your thoughts on this about legalism, rituals, laws? Do you think it's some problem that happened only in the early church during Paul's time or is it a problem even today? Come on, all of us are part of a church. We see things so we can then Dave says, yes, we still have it. It's even there today. So how is it? How is it there present even today? Can you mention some of your instances where you see legalism still there in the church where people are not receiving things by grace but by being legalistic? No thoughts. I think have you seen in your churches or in other churches, it would be nice if you can share some of your inputs of what you have seen, how people keep rituals and laws and make people follow it where they can just receive it freely by grace. Okay, let's talk about our own churches, the Protestant churches. In our own churches, whether we are coming from traditional churches or even independent Pentecostal churches, how is legalism brought into the church or still prevailing in our church today? What about Holy Communion? Is Holy Communion served to everybody who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior? So what are the criteria the church is put? Come on, this is a good discussion that we can have. Only those who are baptized, yes, thank you. They say only if you're baptized, you can take Holy Communion so they don't give Holy Communion to, they give them only to certain ages, not even to children who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior whose parents feel that they can take Holy Communion. So only if it's not, Holy Communion is not given to people who have accepted Jesus Christ but they should have been baptized and only then they can receive Holy Communion. Yes, anything else? You know, even if people desire to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, they, you know, they say you're just born again, you're not even baptized in water so you cannot be baptized in the Holy Spirit, you cannot speak in tongues. I know of one of our house helps who was a living maid and she's from one of the villages in North India and she came from a non-Christian background and, you know, she accepted Christ here in her family and she was very desirous of being filled with the Holy Spirit, being baptized the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. So when she asked the pastor and the elders of the church, they said, you know, you have to wait because people who have been accepted Christ Jesus as a person, save us three months now, you know, they have not, they have not been baptized into the Holy Spirit so you have not even been baptized in water. How can you be received the baptism of the Holy Spirit? And they said, no, so, you know, they've just put all of these conditions but because she so desired it and she just kept praying about it one night when she was praying, you know, she started speaking in tongues and even if her mother was asking her or siblings were asking her any question, she opened her mouth to speak, she would only just speak in tongues and the next morning the same thing continued so her mother got really scared. They thought that she was possessed by a evil spirit and she ran to the pastor and the pastor said, no, you know, she's baptized in the Holy Spirit and all of them were shocked because how can you be baptized in the Holy Spirit? It's not even three months since you have, you know, accepted Christ, you've not been water baptized. So we have all of these rituals that, you know, people or, you know, church elders or pastors put on people, they don't baptize them in water, they don't, the Holy Spirit baptism, even don't give them the Holy Communion. Holy Communion is, you know, you just accept Christ as a person, Savior, let people just enjoy the benefits of what Christ has done on the cross. So these are just few things. There's so many other areas where, you know, people bring in legalism when the grace of God is just freely available for people to receive and enjoy everything that Christ has purchased for us on the cross. So when Christ has not put any limitations, we as pastors, you know, future pastors of churches should not put any limitations or hurdles on people. Anyone else wants to share anything happening in your churches about how legalism is taking precedence over the grace of God? Okay, let's continue. Then he says about, you know, that these four teachers are disobedient. Disobedient means is a result of a lack of trust. They have a failure to trust or rest in the person and work of Christ as a Savior or just trust in what Christ has completed on the cross, His death, His resurrection, that He has, you know, what He has done on the cross and what they can receive. So they fail to trust or rest in the person and work of Christ as Savior as an unbeliever or to rest in the sufficiency of the death and resurrected life as a Christian leads to disobedience to the will of God. Okay. And he says that such people are also disqualified. That means they are, it means that they are rejected. They do not stand the test. They are unqualified, worthless and unfit to even teach or preach or, you know, to hold a position in church. Okay. And then Paul ends this whole verse in verse 16. He says that this qualified for every good work. So one of our purposes in life is, you know, to be useful in the service of Christ by ministering to others. So when we have received salvation, you know, we've received it not as just as a privilege, but it's a responsibility to share this with others as well, to be useful in God's Kingdom by sharing this with others and bringing others into God's Kingdom. So it's only through faith in Christ and through what He has done on the cross that we can be saved, that we can receive our sanctification and we can also become fit for every good work that we can do to minister in His Kingdom. Okay. So with that, he ends chapter one. Any questions, any doubts? Any thoughts on chapter one? Okay. If not, we will move on to chapter two. Okay. We lead chapter two. So please turn in your Bibles to Titus, chapter two. And like all of us to read a few verses, Titus chapter two. There's 15 verses. So I think, can all of you read or do you have some of you have issues reading? Who are the people who who are willing to read Titus chapter two, a couple of verses? Just give me a minute, please. So who would like to read? Okay, they will read anyone else? Siddharth? Okay. Anyone else would like to read? Prince? Okay, Erin. Okay. So since four of you have, no worries, Kiran. So each of you can read three verses each and two of you can read four verses each. Okay. So we'll begin with Titus chapter two. Dave, would you like to read the first four verses? Sure. But speak now the things which become sound of Him, that the aged man be sober, grave, temperate, sound-intrepid, in charity, in patience. The aged woman likewise, that they be in behavior as becoming holiness, not false accusers, not giving, given too much wine, teachers of good things. That they may teach the young woman to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. Thank you. So, Erin, can you read the five, six and seven, please? To be, to be self-controlled and pure and to be good housewives, who submit to their husbands so that no one will speak evil of the message that comes from God. In the same way urge the young man to be self-controlled in all things you, yourself, must be an example of good behavior. Be sincere and serious in all, in your teaching. Use sound words that cannot be criticized so that your enemies, enemies may be put to shame by not having anything bad to say about us. Thank you. Slave art. Yeah, did you read verse seven? Till verse seven? Yeah, till verse eight. Oh, till verse eight, okay. Okay, so Prince, would you like to read nine, ten and eleven, please? So, excerpt point seven to be obtained to their own master, to be well-pleasing in all things, not answering back, not preferring, but showing all good, fidelity that they may, they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior in all things. Four, the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live separately, righteously and godly in the present age. Thank you. Verses 13 to 15. Siddharth. While we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself, for himself a people that are his own. You got to do what is good. These then are the things you should teach, encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you. Okay, thank you all for reading. So, in chapter two, anything that caught your attention, anything that you felt came alive to you, anything that struck you, or something that brought back, something that you had read sometime back, or maybe even God spoke to you something this morning, even as you were reading this, would you like to share? It would be nice if all of us can share one or two thoughts about what you picked up or what you learned or what caught your eye in Titus chapter two. Like to share, please. Summon or you can type it in the chat section, whatever you think you've learned. Just one or two things or just a verse you like to read. The God's grace for everyone, that is salvation. So, when we receive His grace, our life should righteously and godly in this. Thank you, Prince. So, He says that we have received salvation because of the grace of God. And as a result, we need to live holy and righteous, bright lives. Thank you. Karen says verse four, we must be an example. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, in chapter two, who do you think Paul is talking about here? Okay, Dave says verse eight was control what we speak and no evil should come out rather exhausting others. Thank you. In chapter two, who is, what is basically Paul telling Titus? Or what is he writing to Titus about? This would be easy because it's there in your Bible, you can just see and so what is he is writing to Titus about in chapter two? Character or someone who is in ministry, okay. Thank you. Anyone else? He's giving instructions about what? Or on whom is he giving instructions? He's basically instructing how older men, older women, younger men, younger women in the church and even slaves who are part of the church, how they should live their lives. And also he goes on not just to talk about older men, older women, younger men, younger women and also instructions for born servants, the church, but also how Titus as a young person, how he should conduct his life as a leader, okay. Did Paul talk about this in Timothy as well or to write about this to the church at Episcis? Yes, no. Yes, thank you. Yes, he did. Okay, so he's also writing here to the church at Crete because there is a need. So we look at what are the instructions he gives for older men and women in the church that we look for at the instructions he gives for younger men and younger women and also for born servants or slaves. So this is not something that is going to be irrelevant for us. It's very relevant because some of you are older men, we don't have older women here, but you know, some of you, most of you are younger men and younger women. So we can see from what Paul is trying to, he's right, he has written to the church at Crete or he has written to Titus, okay. The worst one he says, but as for you, the things which are proper for sound doctrine. So he says, but as for you, is a contrast Titus with the false teachers that Paul has just described in chapter one, verses 10 to 16, where he says that these men are rebellious, empty talkers and deceivers who kind of upset whole families for the sake of gain, dirty gain. He also says that they are teaching Jewish myths, which are the commandments of men rather than the truth in God's word, which he talks about in verse 14. And he says such unbiblical teaching does not lead to godliness and to good deeds. So in contrast to all of these things that he has spoken, Paul is telling Titus to speak the things that are proper for sound doctrine. Does Paul use this word sound doctrine before? Yes, no. Has he used this word sound doctrine before? I think so. Yes, he's used this couple of times, this word sound doctrine he uses even when he's writing to Timothy. And he says the things, speak the things, the things Paul has mentioned in verses two, right up to verse 10, he says, speak those things, those things that are pertaining to truth, attitudes and actions that are based on biblical truths. He's telling Titus to speak those things. And he says, which are proper for sound doctrine. Now, just for us to understand this phrase, proper for sound doctrine, I've put in some different translations, what it says, the living Bible says, speak up for the right living that goes along with true Christianity. The new living translation says promote the kind of living that reflects right teaching. And the passion translation says your duty is to teach them to embrace a lifestyle that is consistent with sound doctrine. So why I've put these translations here is the idea behind this phrase is not just about right living. It's not just about sorry, right thinking, but it has to do with right living. So sound doctrine, we read in Titus chapter one verse nine, where he writes there about sound doctrine. It's more focused on teaching sound doctrine to refute those who are false teachers, who are bringing about false teachings and errors against the truth. But the focus here in chapter two was one, the same word, sound doctrine is more a practical application of the sound doctrine. So we see that all always ties together sound doctrine with practical Christian living that flows out of the teaching that we receive. So sound doctrine is yes teaching, which he mentions about in verse chapter one verse nine. But here when he's talking about sound doctrine, it more has to do with not just about teaching, but what you have been taught is to, you know, you need to apply that it's more practical application, practical Christian living as a, as a, which flows out as a result of the sound doctrine that you have received or that you have been taught or that you have learned. Okay. So in verse two, he says that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sounding faith in love in patients. So he's talking about how older men should be. And he says, you know, Paul wants Titus to know that older men must live with maturity and wisdom, which means that they need to live sober, reverent and temperate lives. And it's the command to, and he says, you know, come, he's commanding Titus to teach these things, because these things don't come automatically, even though these are older men, they're much mature in age or they're much older, not sorry, mature, but they're much older in age. All of these things does not come automatically, but they have to be taught these things. So if you are older, and these qualities do not describe you, then you need to focus on them, rather than going on as you are. So what are the qualities that older men should have? The first thing is sober. What is the meaning of sober? We talked about this in first and second Timothy being sober, reverent, temperate. What's the meaning of sober? Anyone? Sober means to be vigilant. That means to be watchful, older men should be watchful over themselves, watch over their conduct, their conversation, what they're saying, in case they act evil, or they speak things that are evil or live evil lives, then there would be a wrong example to the younger people in the church. He says that they need to also be reverent. That means they should live honorable lives in the way they behave, in their speech, in their dressing. They should be temperate. The word literally means here not to be intoxicated by wine or strong drink, but it also means to be sober-minded and clear-headed. And they have to be sound in faith. That means sound means be healthy in their faith. So the older men should be healthy in their faith in God, which comes from trusting God in practical matters of life, which they have lived or experienced over the years. They should be sound in their minds, in the doctrine of faith, so that they don't lead other younger people into error or in the wrong way. But their faith in Christ should appear to be right and genuine. And he says, in love, as older people grow old, they become very grouchy. They become very hard to live with. They're kind of complaining over everything, murmuring, grumbling. And Paul says they should not be like that, but they should be more loving. They should be more intolerant. They should be more tolerant to people, rather than being more intolerant and hard in towards others. They should be more gracious and compassionate. And then the last thing he says is they should be sound in faith in love and in patience. Patience means being steadfast, an active endurance, not like a passive waiting. Once you come to an old age, we see that older people just sit down, do nothing, just waiting for that to die. Just patiently waiting to die and to spend life in eternity. But here he says, they need to be active, actively endure things that come, the challenges of life they have, the difficulties that they face, challenges of the old age that they face. And they should continue running their race with endurance, fixing their eyes on Jesus, the authentic perfecter of their faith. Like we read in Hebrews chapter 12, verses one and two. So he says, when older men who have these qualities, when they have all of these qualities, they will stand out in the world and they will reflect Christ's likeness or they will reflect the beauty of Christ. Verse three, when he comes talking about older women, how should older women be here? What does he say? How does he say that older women should be? It's given in verse three, you can how should older women be? What does Paul say in verse three? What are the characteristics they should have? They should live a holy life, yes, not given too much wine, teaching good things, yes. Thank you, Erin and Dave for not being slanderers. Okay, so older women, he's talking about those who no longer have child-reading responsibilities that children are all grown settled. So they must be typically around 60 years of age. And he says the older women should have these qualities, they should be reverent. So the Greek word here reverent is used only here in the Bible. And it conveys an idea of being priest-like. That means acting as a representative of God. And so this is a word that Paul uses to describe a devote godly character of an older woman. There should be someone who is priest-like, somebody who is acting like a representative of God means presenting God himself in the way that they live, the way they act, the way they speak. So the older women have to live holy lives, live like holy priests, serving in the presence of God. And their personal devotion to God or to the Lord will influence others and also influence every aspect of their personal life. So they have to give themselves a holy to serving God and be in the presence of God. And their behavior is basically talking about their inner character. They should not be slanderers. It's very interesting here that this word slanderer, what is the meaning of slanderer? Anyone? What's the meaning of slanderer? No idea, slanderers. Basically those who talk ill or bad or evil about others. It's very interesting to read that you know the Greek word here for slanderers is diabolos. That's this word, Greek word diabolos, bring back any idea about who diabolos is or who is referred to as diabolos. Who else is, who is called diabolos? The Greek word, Satan. Okay, Satan, the other name for Satan is diabolos, the Greek word. And this name of Satan is used 34 times in the New Testament. And we know Satan is called as the false accuser. So each time, you know, a believer, you know, talks or accuses or talks evil or bad about somebody else, they're doing the work of Satan. Okay, so when older women or anyone else slanders and gossips about somebody else, you know, talking bad about somebody else gossiping about them behind their back, they're doing the devil's work. So he says, godly women are never to surrender their tongues to the devil. So it's not only just godly women, but it's all of us. You need to remember that any time we're talking ill or evil or bad about somebody behind their back, we're actually doing the work of Satan. It's slanderers here is diabolos, the name of Satan, who's falsely accusing people. So we need to watch our tongue and we need to also surrender our tongues to God daily so that we can talk things that are pleasing and holy and acceptable in his sight. Okay, we'll stop here, we'll take a break and we'll come back after the break. Thank you.