 Good morning, and thank you both for joining class. We'll begin then the others can join in. So Let's just pray. Kanan, can you lead us in prayer, please? It would be possible for you to lead us in prayer. Can you hear me ma'am? Yes, I can. Okay, let's pray. Thank you for this wonderful day and allot, and thank you for this wonderful day a lot. Thank you for the subject plot. I'll give us some more good things. The things that we learn from your word a lot help everyone to join an on-time lot. There are no continuity issues or network issues a lot from the end to the from the starting to the end. You help, you give your help a lot to understand everything a lot. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. So last week we were looking at Titus chapter 2 where Paul is instructing the church at Crete and Titus and you know, he's giving instructions for older men and women in the church and he goes on also to talk about in verses 4 to 8, he gives instructions for the younger woman and men in the church and then he gives instructions for born servants or slaves in the church. We see this in Titus chapter 2 verses 9 to 10 and then he ends this whole chapter by giving us an eschatological hope which is a hope for all men in verses 11 to 14 and he's talking there. He mentions three ways that grace trains us. He says grace trains us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires. Grace trains us to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age and then he says that grace trains us to live in godliness by looking ahead that is looking at the head is looking ahead of the coming of Jesus Christ's second coming and behind which is looking at the cross at what Jesus has accomplished on the cross for us. And then we look at the summary verse 15 where we stopped here. He says, speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no one despise you and so this is a summary of Titus chapter 2 and this is given to us in verse 15. So you know Paul is indicating that different approaches are needed with different people. For some of them we need to exhort them, some of them we need to you know, rebuke them with all authority and so he says, you know, just a word is for some people you just tell them one or two words of sentences, they're all that is needed to get them back on the right track or the right path. But for others you need to give them strong exhortation for some they need convincing proofs or they need to be convicted that they are wrong and then they will you know, come back to the right path. So it says different people are different and so we need to approach different ones differently. And so he says, exhort the Greek word exhort is parakelio, which means to press with earnestness, that means a leader or a minister of God when he is you know, sharing godly doctrines he should not do it as if they are simple things, but he must urge them with earnestness and importance and he must call all of them who are hearing him or who he's preaching to and teaching that they not only be hearers of the word, but also be doers of the word so that they may be blessed. Okay, so that is what is the meaning of the word exhort and you know, if you look at the Greek word for exhort is parakelio which is also a word that is related to the word used for the Holy Spirit. The word for Holy Spirit is parakeletos Parakeletos means somebody who comes alongside us and aids us and helps us. Okay, somebody who comes alongside for assistance. So the thought here is in exhorting people as you come alongside them come alongside somebody who's doing wrong to assist them and help them to know what they're doing is wrong and to help them to do what is right and to act upon the truth. So that is what he says is exhortation. He says for some people you have to exhort, for some people you have to rebuke rebuke relates to communicating with one who knows the truth and is acting against the truth. So somebody who knows the truth is acting against the truth then you need to rebuke them in an attempt to bring them back to help them to realize their position where they are that they are in the wrong position that they need to change their position. So you need to rebuke them. It also relates to conviction, which means you need to convict them with words. And then Paul is saying, you know, do all this with authority. You know, Paul has all the authority in the church at that time, but he extends his authority to Titus and he's saying Titus use every bit of that authority. And then he ends this chapter by saying, let no one despise you. Okay. Let no one disregard you, which means he's telling Titus, just like he said, Timothy, you know, don't let anyone disregard you, but be an example in life, in conduct and in speech. As he says, tells Timothy, he's telling Titus, be an example of godliness and good deeds, which he mentions in verses seven to eight, so that people, when they hear your message, when they hear you teaching, they will know that, you know, your actions, your life, your very life, your action backs it all up. And so that is how he ends chapter two. Okay, so we couldn't finish verse 15 last Wednesday, so we just looked at verse 15 now. Okay, any questions on or any doubts you have on chapter two? Questions, doubts on chapter two? If not, we'll move on to chapter three. How many of you would like to read chapter three this morning? Anyone would like to read chapter three? A few verses? No one wants, okay, Kanan, anyone else? Okay, Kanan, there are 15 verses, so maybe you can read the first eight and I will read the rest, seven of them. So you can read the first eight verses of chapter three. Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves, we are also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God are saviour toward man, appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. But according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our saviour, that having been justified by his grace, we should become hairs according to the hope of eternal life. Thank you. Verse eight, this is a faithful saying and these things I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. Project a divisive man after the first and second admonition. Knowing that such a person is wrapped and sinning, being self-contained. Then I send Artemias to you and Taikikis be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Send Zenith the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste that they may lack nothing. And let our people also learn to maintain good works to meet urgent needs that they may not be unfoodful. All who are with me, greet you, greet those who love us in the faith, grace be with you, all are men. Okay, so let's look at chapter three. Let's study chapter three in a little more detail. We just finished looking at chapter two and even as Paul ends it, you know, he says, let no one despise you, you know, but set an example in godliness and good deeds. It's something that we also need to can receive for our lives as well because most of you are young, you know, and as young people when we happen to be teaching and preaching in church, you know, people will not receive our message if they do not. If our works, if our lives, if our character does not portray godliness, if it does not show forth a godly lifestyle, they will not accept or receive what we are preaching or what we are teaching them. So it's very important that we all grow in Christ's likeness, in maturity, in Christ's likeness. And then when we release the spiritual things, you know, people will receive it if not they will not receive it. Okay, so that is very important. It's not our preaching skills, our styles, the doctrines, the words we use, but it's our own lives that people see and read. Because our lives are an open book, and people see our lives and, you know, it's very important to maintain a godly lifestyle, a godly living, godly mannerisms that are Christ's like, so that people can receive our message or receive our leadership or receive what we are telling them and we can be able to minister to them as well. Okay, so here in chapter three, verses one to two, Paul is writing to the church at Crete, and he's telling them to respect authority, okay. Now, why is he telling the Cretan people that they need to respect authority? Because, you know, if you look at the background of the Cretan people, we will understand why Paul is writing to them and telling them to respect authority. Because commentators, commentary writers have said that Cretans were notoriously turbulent and quarrelsome people who were impatient with all authority. That means they were turbulent and quarrelsome means they used to fight among themselves in their own country, not fighting with other nations, other people, but fighting within their people in their own country, people with their own people groups, people with different religious backgrounds. They were very quarrelsome people and also they were very impatient with all authority. And so Paul is writing here and asking them to be subject to rulers and authorities. The other reason also here is that, you know, the Jewish believers, those Jews who became believers, you know, they were also rebelling against government civil authority, government leaders and rulers. And they used to say that there is for a believer, you know, that no believer in the true God had any responsibility to civil government and its laws because they said that these things were purely human. So he says, you know, you shouldn't be adhering to human government civil laws and, you know, coming under the authority of civil government because these are purely human. So if you're a believer, then you're putting your faith in the true and living God, then you need to only be subject to God's laws, rules, his authority. But here Paul is reminding the Cretan people that they, you know, as part of our witness, it requires us to be subject to rulers and those in authority. You know, sometimes even we will find it very difficult to, you know, pay our taxes or, you know, come under laws and rules of the government of those in authority. Also to respect some of our leaders because those in civil authority because of their lifestyle, the way they're doing things, we can see there's so much of misappropriation or funds and the way they're living. But, you know, the word of God teaches us that we need to be subject to civil government to civil authorities, those in leadership positions in the government and we also need to respect the rules and laws of the land. We need to come under it and we need to do everything to live peacefully with our neighbors, with people of different religions, also peacefully with the government rules and their rules and their authority. Okay. So he says that is part of our witness. So one of our witnesses not just preaching and teaching, but our witnesses also and how we respect authorities and the rules and the laws that govern the land. And he says we must obey the laws of a society. But if those laws, you know, are against God's standards, his standards of righteousness holiness, and it requires us to disobey the law of God, then we need to choose to obey God's laws, rather than man made rules and laws. Okay. And then he says be ready for every good work. So apart from being obedient to government authorities, he's saying that believers ought to take an active role or an active part in engaging in good deeds in good activities that promote welfare of the community. So, you know, do things that will help in welfare of the community. You know, whether it is helping people in your street, your area, whether it is standing up for something that's wrong that is happening, or wanting something to be good roads or street lights or whatever to be put up in your son to stand along with other people. And do good, which will help in promoting the welfare of the community. Then he says, you know, speak evil of no one, be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. So he's talking here about how Christians need to act towards outsiders, towards everyone. We need to be good and pleasing in every way. And especially mentioning the secretions because there are people who are troublesome, turbulent, quarrelsome, fighting. You know, so he says stop refrain from attacking people by words, by deed. You know, be considerate to others, have an yielding spirit towards everyone. So if somebody has wronged you, you know, he says you need to try to you know, resolve the differences and make peace, not fight, not engage in being quarrelsome, attacking each other, fighting with each other with words or with fists or with your hands. And he says it's more important for us to maintain good relationships with our neighbors than stand for our right. Sometimes we know our neighbors can do things that are not right. Yes, we need to speak about it. But you know, when it's very, very important, it is something that is very important and we stand up for our rights, but we say it and do it in a very peaceful way. But sometimes we know we can, if it's not very important, something that is very insignificant, then we can just let it go. So that, you know, we can just have peace with our neighbors, we can be in love with them, maintain a love relationship rather than, you know, angering them or saying things that will hurt them. Just for little things that, you know, can be overlooked, which is not really kind of disturbing or bothering us, you know, we needn't have to stand up for our rights at that time. We can just let it go so that we can maintain good relationships with our neighbor. Okay, so he's talking about this in the context of for the cretins constantly fighting with each other, but also applies to us even as we live in a neighborhood, even as we work in, you know, a different places. We mingle with people, you know, we just can sometimes just give up our rights just to maintain good relationship with our neighbor. We're not just talking about neighbors who live beside us. Neighbor can be even people who are working in our workplaces or also people who, you know, who are traveling along with us, just give up our rights sometimes to maintain good relationships so that we can show forth our witness that we are believers of Christ. Then he says talks about humility here, do it all in humility. Humility means meekness, be meek. Okay, but some people think humility means weakness showing forth your weakness. It does not mean weakness, but it's rather, you know, strength under control. That means you're somebody who's a strong personality who has knows what is right and wrong, can even talk for your rights. But you are somebody who's learning to control exercise control to know when to say what and what circumstances, when to give up your rights when to stand up for your rights. So you have that kind of control. So he's saying here that in our dealings with outsiders, we should be under the control of the Holy Spirit, you know, responding graciously and even kindly. Even when people wrong us, even when people do things that are hurting, you know, people, even when people, you know, are being partial or they're not being right. You know, we know that we are being wronged and we can get angry. But at that time, we need to respond graciously and kindly because we are under the influence or under the control of the Holy Spirit. And then Paul goes on to mention what should inspire us to behave in this way. He says that we ourselves, you know, in our own nature, we were bad, you know, or we were really sinful people, we were living even wicked lives before we became believers. And how did God treat us? Did he treat us, you know, tit for tat, did he treat us the way that we deserved? No, he treated us kindly. He treated us lovingly, was gentle, patient with us. And he saved us even though we did not deserve it. Okay. So when we have received the kindness, the mercy, the grace and the love of God, then how much more we need to be kind, gracious, compassionate, merciful and loving to people of other faiths who are, you know, under bondage of Satan, who are living in their own sinful nature, like we used to live one point of time and we used to be the same, you know, but now we are changed. So we need to understand their situation, understand who they are, where they are, where their situation. And we need to show them the love of God and it's only the love of God that can change them. Okay. I'll just give you a simple example for my own life. You know, once we were traveling in a tourist bus that was taking us, you know, to a good tourist destination just a little away from Bangalore. Our whole family was going in that tourist bus, dad, mom and three of my siblings, so including me, four of us. And we were the first ones to get into the bus, so we, you know, got seats next to each other and we were very happy, comfortable. And then as the bus kept going in its journey, kept picking up different people from different points in the city, even before it went to the destination. So there were mostly all of them were young married couples who were recently married, they were going for their honeymoon. But, you know, towards when the bus was getting filled, we realized that, you know, there were just about four seats that were, you know, on the aisle side and all the window seats had been occupied. Obviously, because people are traveling, they want to look out, they enjoy the beauty. So there were about seats, all single seats in the aisle row and, you know, these married couples, they wanted to sit next to each other and so they started requesting the people who are sitting the window seats if, you know, if they could move in front to the aisle seat because we are married, we want to sit together. And, you know, they were not willing to move and finally it ended up in a big argument, you know. There were some, these couples were arguing with these people who were traveling single, arguing with them, fighting with them. So finally we decided that, you know, just to have peace and to enjoy because they're all going to be traveling the same bus, have some peace. Let's take, occupy the single seat. So we said, okay, don't, please don't fight. We will all occupy the single seats. You all can sit on the, you know, you can take our seats. So we had to all move out and our family was all scattered and we were all sitting on the aisle rows in the single seats. And after everyone sat down, one of the couples, they asked us, are you all Christians? And we were shocked, you know. And we said yes. And then we asked them, why did you say, why did you ask us that question says, you know, only Christians can do this. You know, only Christians, you know, can show love to others. And we were really shocked because, you know, we didn't think of this, but look at how people are reading our lives, seeing our lives. And they're saying, you know, only Christians can do this and we people, you know, we are very selfish people. We don't care for others. We see that Christians are caring, they're good. They love others and we just kept quiet. But, you know, it kind of just impacted me so much that, you know, little things that we do can create such an impact in the lives of others, can speak about our religion, can speak about our God. So, you know, we need to sometimes even put down our rights just to, you know, so that, you know, our God can be glorified so that his love, his compassion can reach out to people. Any of you have any examples you'd like to share? Anything that you'd like to share? Do you have any four of you in the class? I hope you'll are here. No, really. That things happen when outsiders expect a lot when we do something. For example, I know one boy, very close to me. So, he say, I know one brother like you. He won't get angry at all. He is also Christian. He was working with him. So, what the boy shared, he's working in a tailoring shop. Somebody has given the new dress. So, when he cutting the dress to stitch the material, he cut wrongly. So, entire piece went waste. But that owner is a Christian guy. He didn't scold anything, but he comforted them and he bought a new dress for he himself and stitched the new cloth for the customer. So, he shocked. So, Christians sometimes show kindness beyond the measure. They won't get angry like you people. Like that, the boy shared with me. Yeah, that's really something that's amazing for the owner of the shop not to shout at his, you know, at the one who is working there because he has to go and buy the dress material and stitch it again. I mean that's really the fruit of the spirit that the Holy Spirit is manifesting in his life to self-control, goodness, love. I think that's only when we can do it, when we're abiding in the wine, abiding in God and it's only the Holy Spirit that can help us to live like that. Otherwise, it's just humanly not really possible. Yeah. Okay. Thank you for sharing Thomas. Let's move on. We look at the response to the savior versus three to eight. So Paul is saying that, you know, when Christ himself was showed treated us kindly, graciously, mercifully, in love, even when he didn't deserve it, he died for us. Then, you know, we need to also show it in our good deeds. We need to also be kind, gracious, gentle, patient with other people. And so he goes on to talk about what should be our response to our savior in versus three to eight. So in verse three, he says, for we ourselves are also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, seeing various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and and be hateful and a hately one another. So Paul in this verse is basically reminding us who we used to be. We used to be all of these things, a few of these things when we were living in our own sinful nature. And so the V here signifies believers or Christians. It says it's easy to become angry and impatient with believers who act selfish. If we want to behave as Godly people towards them, then we need to remember that before we met Christ, we acted in the same way that these people do. Before we met Christ, we lived for our own selfish desires and pleasures. So he says, Keeping in mind how we used to be will enable us to treat ungodly people with grace and compassion. And then he lists seven characters of unbelievers. First one, he says, we were once foolish. That means we were without spiritual wisdom and understanding. We did not know God. And so our foolish hearts were darkened. And then he says that the second characteristics he says is disobedient. We were disobedient to God, to his laws. We were disobedient to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The third characteristic he says is we are deceived. That means we had gone away from the truth. We wandered away from the right path, all because of our ignorance, our unbelief and because of our own lustful desires and pleasures. And hence we were deceived. And then he says the fourth characteristic is he's saying that serving various lusts and pleasures. And serving means he's talking about that we were slaves. We used to be slaves of all kinds of lusts and pleasures. And then the fifth characteristic he says that we once spent our lives in malice. Now malice is a general term for wickedness or for evil or every kind of evil. But here the word malice is a desire to do harm to others. And desire to do harm for others is from selfishness and wanting our own way, even if it means harming someone to get it. So he says you cretins, you were living like this once before but do not continue to live in malice. That means don't desire to do harm to people because your ego has been hurt because it stems from your own selfishness. You want to have your own way and you end up having it and in the bargain you end up hurting or harming someone because you want to have your own way or you want to do what you think is right or you want to have things in your own way. The sixth characteristic he says is we once spent our lives in envy. Envy is when we are not pleased when we see others happy and prosperous and you want what someone else has or you desire the position that they are in. So he says that we used to live like that, we were living as envious people and also the last characteristic he mentioned is that we were living in hatred. But in verse 4 he says but when the kindness and the love of God are saviour toward men appeared. So the but here reminds us of who we were as sinners that there was nothing good in us, nothing deserving of us to receive salvation. All we deserve is the wrath and the judgment of God but God because of his great kindness, love and mercy he saved us and this verse gives us the basis or the cause of our salvation. What is the basis or the cause of our salvation? God's kindness, his love and his mercy. So the kindness of God our saviour and his love for mankind appeared when Jesus Christ who is the eternal God took on human flesh, entered our world, he died in our place for our sins and we personally experience his mercy, his compassion in our very pitiful stage when we were slaves to sins, slaves to devil but when God showed his compassion, his mercy, his love we were saved. And in verse 5 he says not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Now this verse gives us the effects of our salvation. The previous verse we see that he talks about what is the basis or what is the cause of salvation in verse 4 and in verse 5 he is talking about the effects of our salvation. So what is the effects of our salvation here in this verse mentioned in verse 5? What is the effects of salvation mentioned here in verse 5? He mentions regeneration and renewal and in verse 7 he mentions justification. So Paul is giving us the means of our salvation. Also here he is giving us the effects of salvation. What are the effects of salvation, regeneration and renewal? In verse 7 he talks about justification and he also gives us the means of our salvation. What is the means of our salvation? The means of our salvation is to the power of the Holy Spirit that is in work, the power of the Holy Spirit through the work of Jesus Christ. So here he mentions two things. One is the effects of our salvation which is regeneration, renewal and justification and he also gives us the means of our salvation. How do we receive it? It is to the power of the Holy Spirit through the work of Jesus Christ. So the work of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. So Paul states here that we are not saved as a result of the works of our own righteousness by our own good deeds or acts. None of our good deeds or none of our acts can make us right in God's sight. But he says we are saved because of God's mercy, His kindness and His grace. Now what does it mean by washing of regeneration? What does it mean by this term washing of regeneration? Now many commentators interpret this washing of regeneration or commentary writers they say it is referring to baptism. But many say it's not. This is not baptism though it's talking about washing of regeneration. This is not baptism because in the New Testament baptism happens after we are born again, after our new birth. So baptism is a testimony of what God did in saving us and in us receiving our new birth or we have made new creations and baptism is a testimony or a symbolic thing that we have washed from all our sins. But the Greek word that's used here for the word washing is Lutheran. And it's only mentioned here and it's mentioned in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 26. So it means a vessel for bathing. It means a vessel that is used for taking a bath as a vessel used for bathing. So in Titus chapter 3 verse 5 Paul who knows the Old Testament very well must be thinking of Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 4 where God speaks metaphorically of Israel's birth as a nation and then in Ezekiel chapter 16 verses 4, 6 and verse 9 we read that in verse 4 he says as for your birth on the day you were born your naval cord was not cut you were not washed with water for cleansing you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped with clothes. So God is talking about how Israelite as a nation was given birth to their birth was one which you know nobody cared for them when they were born nobody cut off their naval cord nobody washed them with the of the blood and the water and everything that was there nobody cleaned them up nobody rubbed salt you know salt is for cleansing purification and nobody put you know clothes around them you know all that we see parents or midwives or nurses do for babies when they are born and God says you know I took pity on you because you were left as a nation nobody cared for you nobody bothered about you you know he says nobody took pity on you and you were just thrown in a field and left to die that's what he he says and then God says in chapter 16 verse 6 of Ezekiel it says it got passed by and saw her squirming in her blood so you know it was like God saw the nation of Israel struggling crying out you know for their life for their very existence and God saw their pitiful state and he said live and later in verse 9 of the same chapter of Ezekiel chapter 16 he tells them how he himself bates them with water washes off their blood and it's a picture of how you know also it's a picture of what God did for the nation of Israel and how he brought them to the promised land the state they were in as slaves but how he restored them how he you know helped them and then it's also a picture here that we can see of when how we are born spiritually you know previously we are like just like this baby you know born nobody to care for nobody to wash it clean it purify it clothe it but you know God looked at our pitiful sinful state and then you know God you see that when we are born spiritually God washes away all of our filth our sins our dirt and he clothes us with his righteousness he clothes us with his holiness with his purity we are called sons and daughters we are not left as orphans and we see that we are cleansed of all our sins so here this is what it means about washing and not referring to baptism the regeneration actually refers to new birth regeneration is you know becoming new so it's new birth or it's talking about when we are born again so when God saves us he raises us up from spiritual death to life the new birth is God's doing and it is according to his will and then Paul says that we are also renewed by the Holy Spirit so you know once we are born again God washes us of all our sins but inwardly we are being renewed once we are regenerated once we are born again once we are made a new creation Romans chapter 12 verse 2 says there's a renewal that is happening of our mind and it's something that this ongoing process that takes place you know every moment you know after we are born again it takes place after we present our bodies as a living sacrifice our minds are being renewed in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 23 and Colossians chapter 3 verse 10 then Paul talks about putting on the new man which is being renewed in the image of the one who created us so while God created us in our new nature and this is done by the power of the Holy Spirit we must walk in the spirit which means we need to be transformed and renewed in our minds in our emotions in our will because when we are born again we are born again only in our spirit man but our minds and our bodies are the same old minds and bodies and we need to be transformed and renewed and this renewal process is something that is ongoing that is happening every moment and every day and how can we be renewed in our minds and in our bodies? how can we be renewed in our minds and our bodies? yes by the word reading God's word thank you Erin reading the Bible what else renews our minds and our wills and our emotions not only just reading the word of God but also prayer fellowship with other believers praise and worshiping God so all of these are ways that we can be renewed in our minds and in our bodies and in our spirit and verse 6 he says whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ abundantly means richly so God has poured out the Holy Spirit upon each one of us richly through Jesus Christ our saviour and we have not received small portions but God has poured out the spirit without any measure the Bible says that Jesus had the spirit without measure we also have the spirit without measure the spirit on us is poured out richly through Jesus Christ so we see that all three people of the Trinity are involved in this wonderful gift of salvation that we have received from God so God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are all three personal trinity involved in the work of salvation and in us receiving the wonderful gift of salvation verse 7 he talks about having been justified by his grace we should become his according to the hope of eternal life so to be justified means that we are declared not as sinners but declared as righteous before God we'll pause here, it's time for our break we'll take a break and come back we'll continue with verse 7