A Religious Problem

[Hope4]

A Religious Problem

There are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers … They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.
Titus 1:10 and 16


Sometimes our greatest problems come from within the church, not outside it.


Such was the case in Crete, where Paul had left Titus to place the churches on solid foundations with godly leadership (Titus 1:5). Paul’s primary concern in his letter to Titus was not the rampant atheism, agnosticism, syncretism, or humanism that was present in the surrounding culture. A careful reading of Titus, and indeed of church history, indicates that the greatest threat to the church emerges from people inside the church who claim to know the Lord but deceive both themselves and others. Paul describes some people within this church as those who “profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.” They had a creed, but their conduct did not match it. They could say the right words, but there was no fruit to be seen in their lives.

Cretans as a whole had a reputation of being “liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons” (Titus 1:12). And the problem appears to have been that several who professed faith within the Cretan church and who had some influence over others looked no different from the surrounding culture. And when professing believers have a lot of “God talk” but very little godly living, their behavior not only matches that of the society outside but undermines the witness of the church to the society outside.

A church can be a dangerous place. If we’re not careful, churches can provide opportunities for people to make a few superficial changes while continuing to live just the same as everyone around them. They may believe that they have given their lives to Christ but in fact they are not willing to accept His lordship over any area of their life where change would be socially costly. In Crete, perhaps it should have been truth-telling, working hard, and moderation with food that would have set the church apart. For us, perhaps, it will be not making an idol of our kids’ education, eschewing materialism, and refusing to treat politics as the solution to everything.

We can easily go from being irreligious to being religious without actually being transformed by God’s grace. The danger is that religion itself may actually be what keeps someone from fully embracing the truth about Jesus. We ought to ask ourselves: Do my works give credence to my profession of faith in Christ? Or are they indistinguishable from those of my neighbors who make no claim to be Christians?

What is the antidote to such empty religiosity? It is to recognize that true Christianity not only gives us a new creed but will also change our conduct. And it is to understand that our lives are transformed from the inside out rather than the outside in—not necessarily all at once but certainly in a way that, over time, cannot be mistaken. It is as we look at God’s mercy in Christ that we are moved to offer our lives in worship.
Romans 12:1

July 9, 2023
Alistair Begg

[Hope4]

PLEASE READ THIS DEVOTIONAL…..

Don’t Defile True Doctrine

If you wield your tool on it you profane it.
Exodus 20 : 25

God’s altar was to be built of unhewn stones, that no trace of human skill or labor might be seen upon it. Human wisdom delights to trim and arrange the doctrines of the cross into a system more artificial and more congenial to the depraved tastes of fallen nature; instead, however, of improving the Gospel carnal wisdom pollutes it, until it becomes another gospel and not the truth of God at all.

All alterations and amendments of the Lord’s own Word are defilements and pollutions..

The proud heart of man is very anxious to have a hand in the justification of the soul before God; preparations for Christ are dreamed of, humblings and repentings are trusted in, good works are put forth, natural ability is much vaunted, and by all means the attempt is made to lift up human tools upon the divine altar.

It would be best if sinners would remember that so far from perfecting the Savior’s work, their carnal confidences only pollute and dishonor it. The Lord alone must be exalted in the work of atonement, and not a single mark of man’s chisel or hammer will be endured. There is an inherent blasphemy in seeking to add to what Christ Jesus in His dying moments declared to be finished or to improve that in which the Lord Jehovah finds perfect satisfaction. Trembling sinner, away with your tools, and fall upon your knees in humble supplication; accept the Lord Jesus to be the altar of your atonement, and rest in Him alone.

Many professors may take warning from this morning’s text as to the doctrines that they believe. There is among Christians far too much inclination to square and reconcile the truths of revelation. This is a form of irreverence and unbelief; let us strive against it and receive truth as we find it, rejoicing that the doctrines of the Word are unhewn stones, and so are all the more fit to build an altar for the Lord.

Charles H Spurgeon
July 14, 2023

Truth for Life.

[guest]

instead, however, of improving the Gospel carnal wisdom pollutes it, until it becomes another gospel and not the truth of God at all.

The most urgent questions facing CF adherents:

Is ‘the gospel of headship’ another gospel?

Does Victor Hall preach ‘the truth of God’?