1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560 We haven't met. My name is Cole Lee, pastor here 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:04,280 at Frontier Church. If you've got a Bible, go ahead 3 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:07,280 and get that open to the book of Titus that's in the New 4 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:09,360 Testament. If you don't know where that's 5 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:13,760 at, that's fine. Keep on going to the back 25% of 6 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:15,320 your Bible and you'll you'll find it there. 7 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:18,240 If you don't have a Bible, there should be one in front of you. 8 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:20,520 If there's not, that's OK. We'll have all the words on the 9 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:22,560 screen in front of you really quickly. 10 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:25,360 I've got a a lot to say this morning, so let me tell you what 11 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:27,320 to expect over the next 40 minutes. 12 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,680 OK, over the next 40 minutes, all I'm going to do is I'm going 13 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:36,320 to point at a very, very, very small bit of text at the very 14 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:38,040 beginning of the Letter of Titus. 15 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:39,240 We're going to read that out loud. 16 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,920 I'm going to circle one word that stands out in that text 17 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:45,080 after I've circled that word for us. 18 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:49,400 We're going to go as deep as we possibly can by forming kind of 19 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,560 a biographical sketch of what's going on in these churches that 20 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,160 Paul is writing to. It's happening on this island 21 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,480 called Crete, this small island where a couple, strangely 22 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,440 enough, a couple small churches have popped up. 23 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:05,640 And we want to know how that happened, what's going on there. 24 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:09,920 It's going to feel incredibly, incredibly out of touch. 25 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:12,400 You're going to be frustrated for probably 30 minutes in the 26 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:16,240 sermon being like, dude, I just want to know if God is real and 27 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,640 if he loves me and you're talking about the soil 28 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:22,200 conditions of an ancient island and if you can stick with me, I 29 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,200 swear there will be a payoff at the end. 30 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:27,040 I'm just not going to skip to it. 31 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:29,280 Sound good. You guys with me. 32 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:31,120 Cool. I'm going to pray then we'll 33 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:33,200 jump into it. Heavenly Father, please open up. 34 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:41,280 Please open up your word to us. I pray that through joyful 35 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:45,040 faithful preaching and joyful faithful listening to the Word 36 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,600 of God being preached, my prayer is that these words just, they 37 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:55,280 don't remain ink on a page. It requires the work of your 38 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,520 spirit to make it come to life. And so often when we read it, 39 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:03,440 it's ink on a page. We skip words. 40 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:09,600 We read without wonder and we miss it. 41 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:13,280 We miss it. And so my prayer is that the 42 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:17,080 Holy Spirit would magnify the words on the page, make them 43 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,600 leap off the words of the page, give them arms and legs so that 44 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,760 the words can run around, coach us, speak to us, fill us with a 45 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,920 life, and that we might actually exit this morning as different 46 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:31,400 people than what we walked in the building as. 47 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:34,480 And so, Lord, May, may nobody walk out this morning. 48 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:37,960 I don't care how good or how bad the sermon is, I don't want 49 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:40,880 anybody walking out this morning without hearing and believing 50 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:42,840 the gospel. So would you grip a heart this 51 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:47,280 morning, Father, for those who don't know or don't believe that 52 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,880 Jesus Christ was crucified for their sins and to give us his 53 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,680 very own righteousness, would you open those hearts up this 54 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:58,360 morning? Work a work a miracle among us 55 00:02:58,360 --> 00:02:59,920 this morning. It's in the precious name of 56 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:01,840 Jesus that all God's people prayed. 57 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:06,520 Amen. I was, I was watching a stand up 58 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:10,440 comedian a couple weeks ago and the guy was not a Christian, but 59 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,560 he was, he was funny. And so that's probably going to 60 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:15,160 become evident in the story that I tell. 61 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,000 He was he was doing stand up comedy and he had this little 62 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,160 bit where he talked about getting into an argument with 63 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,600 his and this was his words, not mine, his quote UN quote very 64 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:28,800 devout Catholic brother-in-law. And so he got into an argument 65 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,800 with his brother-in-law over some theological issue. 66 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:33,440 I don't even know what it was. They were arguing about 67 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:35,600 religion. You can probably guess, right, 68 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,520 that a family gathering, they're arguing and in the middle of the 69 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,520 argument he says his brother-in-law looks him in the 70 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:48,160 eyes and says, well, what do you think about what Paul wrote to 71 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,800 the Corinthians in First Corinthians about this issue? 72 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,720 To which he said, I'm not a Corinthian. 73 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:58,680 And by the way, what are you doing reading somebody else's 74 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,320 mail? Isn't that a punishable offense? 75 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:04,000 And I thought it was funny. You didn't. 76 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:10,000 That's OK, but you liked it. Spade is a stand up comedian. 77 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,040 That's the only approval I need yours and gods. 78 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:18,200 It's an interesting question though, isn't it? 79 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:23,080 Who is going to become really evident as we read these first 80 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:27,680 couple sentences that Paul is writing for the sake of these 81 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,800 Christians in Crete a long time ago? 82 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:34,920 And that begs the question, are we just reading somebody else's 83 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:38,160 mail? Who? 84 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:42,120 Who was the book of Titus even written for? 85 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:50,720 Was it written for the Cretans a long, long time ago, or was it 86 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:56,120 written for you and me and us? If you're able, let's go ahead 87 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:57,640 and stand for the reading of God's Word. 88 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:00,720 And you'll see Paul pretty clearly says it's for the 89 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:08,040 cretins. Here's how Paul signs on verse 90 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:10,120 one. Paul, a servant of God, an 91 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,000 apostle of Jesus Christ. That was last week's sermon. 92 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:19,160 For the sake of the faith of God's elect. 93 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,120 Who's he writing this for? For God's elect, which we'll 94 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:27,080 find out in the next paragraph, is these churches, these 95 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:31,480 Christians in Crete, this little seemingly insignificant island, 96 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:34,280 for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge 97 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:37,720 of the truth which accords with godliness in hope of eternal 98 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:41,600 life, which God who never lies. And this is in conjunction with 99 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,200 the doctrine of election he mentioned earlier, which He 100 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:48,160 promised before the ages began and at the proper time 101 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:53,440 manifested in His Word through the preaching with which I have 102 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,520 been entrusted by the command of God our Savior. 103 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:01,600 And next week we'll focus on 2 Titus, my true child, in a 104 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:05,240 common faith, grace and peace from God the Father and from 105 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:11,560 Christ Jesus our Savior. Who's this for the elect? 106 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:19,760 You can have a seat. Really quickly, let me give you 107 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:23,120 kind of the exegetical feel of the overall trajectory of these 108 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:24,920 couple verses. Here's what Paul, Paul is 109 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:26,840 saying. Paul is super clear upfront 110 00:06:26,840 --> 00:06:28,360 about why he's writing these Christians. 111 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:29,920 He wants to make his purpose really clear. 112 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,800 What he's about to write them is going to help them with their 113 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,640 knowledge of the truth. Did you see that in verse 1 so 114 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:39,880 that they would grow in truth? It's going to help them even 115 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:41,760 with their godliness and practically how to live their 116 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:43,520 lives. That's at the end of verse one. 117 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:48,160 And interestingly enough, Paul wants them to know that this has 118 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,920 actually always been God's plan to save these Cretans, to build 119 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,480 them up, to help them walk in godliness, to help them know the 120 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,280 truth since, and these are Paul's words before the world 121 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:01,360 even began. Did you notice that in verse 2 122 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:07,040 he says this is in the hope of eternal life which God promised 123 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,920 before the ages began, even though he waited thousands of 124 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:14,120 years to reveal this plan through Paul's preaching of 125 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,400 Jesus Christ. That's how it's coming to bear. 126 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:18,600 That's verse 3. It's coming through Paul's 127 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:22,080 preaching of the gospel, through Paul's preaching of Christ. 128 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:24,600 And so here's kind of the big ideas of verses one through 3. 129 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:28,600 Paul saying, cretin Christians, I want you to know before I say 130 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:34,440 anything to you that God has always had his eye on you and 131 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:38,960 before you did anything good or bad, He has chosen you to be his 132 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:42,680 precious possession since before even the world existed. 133 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:47,200 And so this letter I'm writing to you is coming at exactly the 134 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:51,400 right moment in time to help you with your theology, help your 135 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:55,760 brain get filled with truth and your ethics, how to actually 136 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:58,160 live your life and follow Jesus in a practical way. 137 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,280 What Paul, this is Paul's very unique and wordy way of saying 138 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:03,240 what you're about to read is going to be the most mind 139 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,360 melting, brain blowing, spine stealing, spiritually edifying 140 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:08,200 letter that you've ever received. 141 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:14,680 And what he calls them is what if you have a pen, a 142 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:16,840 highlighter, a pencil, grab that right now. 143 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:24,760 If not, just follow me. He calls them God's elect. 144 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:32,000 What's that mean? It's not the way he always 145 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:36,320 starts his letters. If you read the Corinthians, he 146 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:42,720 says to the churches in Corinth. If you read Galatia, he says to 147 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:47,920 the Saints in Galatia, but to this group of ragtag Christians 148 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:52,120 all the way in Crete, he wants them to know that they are gods 149 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:55,240 elect. What could that possibly mean? 150 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:57,160 And that's the subject of the rest of the sermon. 151 00:08:57,160 --> 00:08:59,240 And as you can imagine, to answer that question, we're 152 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:03,880 going to take the back roads. So Frederick Nietzsche, he was a 153 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:06,800 famous anti Christian philosopher. 154 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,440 He famously said that Christianity, and this was his 155 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:12,680 biggest criticism of Christianity, that it was a 156 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,960 religion for the weak. So if you read Niche, what he 157 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:19,840 says is quote Christianity is the religion of the downtrodden, 158 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:21,880 the boldly, the weak, the poor and the slave. 159 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:26,200 And Niche's famous essay called The Antichrist, he says quote 160 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:31,040 Christianity has taken the side of everything weak. 161 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:34,160 That's why Nietzsche hated Christianity so much. 162 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:37,120 She believed that the only way you could form a strong society 163 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:40,240 was by allowing the strong to devour the weak. 164 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:43,560 And he hated Christianity because he said it propped up 165 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:47,440 the weak and gave them significance that biology had 166 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:49,960 not imbued within them. And that was his famous. 167 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:51,800 That was actually, yeah, his famous critic. 168 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:53,640 We look at that and we're like, yeah, it's great that it was for 169 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:55,440 the week. That was his criticism of 170 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,400 Christianity. So a long it kind of in the wave 171 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:04,000 of Friedrich Nietzsche comes a classic American lit author who 172 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,280 I think is one of the best classic American lit authors of 173 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:08,000 all time. His name is Jack London. 174 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,040 Anybody read Jack London here. Phenomenal. 175 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,320 Of course, Casey, the phenomenal author. 176 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:15,480 Actually, he's who I have a son named Jack. 177 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:17,640 That's who we named our son after, right? 178 00:10:18,560 --> 00:10:22,160 No, we didn't. But I do have a son named Jack. 179 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,800 And Jack London was a tremendous leader. 180 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:27,520 And what London would do was he took Nietzsche's ideas that the 181 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:30,120 weak should be devoured by the strong, and he framed those 182 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:34,680 ideas in the form of fiction. So Jack Lennon has a fantastic 183 00:10:34,680 --> 00:10:37,080 short story that's called The Law of Life. 184 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,560 And what the short story is about is it's about an aging 185 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,960 week older chief. It was part of this tribe. 186 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:47,680 And this tribe, their land goes dry, their land goes barren. 187 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:51,640 And so the tribe needs to move and find different land that's 188 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:55,880 more fruitful. And what they do for the old 189 00:10:55,880 --> 00:11:01,880 man, since he's old and useless, is they build him a bonfire and 190 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:06,440 they leave him to die. And as the title of the short 191 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:08,920 story suggests, this is just the law of life. 192 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,800 This is the way things are, is what London is saying. 193 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,280 And the ending of the short story is horrifying. 194 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:17,720 And no, I'm not going to paraphrase it for you. 195 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:20,680 You have to read it. Here's what goes on. 196 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:25,480 London says, quote. Kushkusha's. 197 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:27,600 He's the the chief who gets left behind. 198 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:34,600 Quote for long Couscous pondered on the days of his youth, till 199 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,120 the fire died down and the frost bit deeper. 200 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,560 He replenished it with two sticks at this time, engaged his 201 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:45,000 grip on life by what remained. For a while he listened to the 202 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,960 silence. Perhaps the heart of his son 203 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:54,400 might soften and he would come back with the dogs to take his 204 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,920 old father on with the tribe to where the Caribou ran thick and 205 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:02,280 the fat hung heavy upon them. He strained his ears at that 206 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:04,680 fire. His restless brain for the 207 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:06,680 moment stilled. He's blind. 208 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:11,800 Not a stir, nothing. He alone took breath in the 209 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,320 midst of the great silence. It was very lonely then. 210 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:19,640 Hark, what was that right? He's alone out of fire. 211 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:22,880 He's blind. He hears something. 212 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,520 What was that? A chill passed over his body and 213 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:30,800 the familiar long drawn howl broke the void as it was close 214 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:32,360 at hand. What's he here? 215 00:12:33,880 --> 00:12:39,360 A wolf? A cold muzzle thrust against his 216 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:43,600 cheek, and at its touch his soul leaped back to the present. 217 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:47,240 His hand shot into the fire and dragged out a burning stick. 218 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:50,320 The wolf retreated, raising a prolonged call to his brothers. 219 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,440 But greedily his brothers answered, till a ring of 220 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:58,160 crouching jaw slobber Gray, was stretched round about the fire. 221 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:01,640 The old man listened to the drawing end of this circle. 222 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:07,240 Surrounded by wolves, he waved his bran wildly, and the sniffs 223 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,320 turn to snarls. But the panting brutes refused 224 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:12,840 to scatter. Now one of the wolves wormed his 225 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:17,360 chest forward, now a second, now a third, but never A1 drew back. 226 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:22,360 Couscous thinks. Why should he cling to life? 227 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:28,600 He asked, and he dropped the blazing stick into the snow. 228 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:34,120 It sizzled and went out, and Couscous dropped his head 229 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:38,320 wearily upon his knees. What did it matter after all? 230 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:45,240 Was it not the law of life? So he's left behind because he's 231 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:49,360 weak, he has nothing to offer. He's fragile, he's blind, he's 232 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:52,720 left behind by his tribe to be devoured by wolves. 233 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:56,520 And London is saying that's just the way life is. 234 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:00,160 And the reason why I want to read that story for you and the 235 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:02,080 ending of it. I want you to hold it in your 236 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,560 imagination, because when I read that story and I think about 237 00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:09,400 Couscous, this old unwanted man who no longer brings anything of 238 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:12,880 value to his tribe, what I think about is I think about the 239 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:16,000 island of Crete. This is the island that has 240 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,320 Christians on it now that Paul is writing to and in the ancient 241 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:21,920 world, one of the most important things to understand about the 242 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:26,080 island of Crete is that it is undesirable, small, weak, and 243 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:28,240 immoral. It is an island that is the butt 244 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:31,680 of all the jokes. It's not Jerusalem, right? 245 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:35,240 Jerusalem's got morals and that's where the temple's at. 246 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:39,360 It's not Rome, right? Those guys aren't moral, but at 247 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:41,440 least they have political power, right? 248 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,000 Crete is neither of those things. 249 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:47,520 It's filled. It's probably the least likely 250 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:49,640 place in the ancient world to be touched by Christianity. 251 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:52,160 It's filled like Jacqueline and Story, with wolves. 252 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,960 There are these snarling, hungry, voracious wolves on the 253 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,400 island who want to devour and destroy all that is true, good 254 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:01,440 and beautiful. You would not expect the Gospel 255 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:03,800 to penetrate the soil there on Crete. 256 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:07,600 If anything, what you would expect Christian to do, what 257 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:11,560 you'd expect the Apostle Paul to do, is just leave Crete behind 258 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:15,120 like Kush Kush to be devoured by the wolves. 259 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:16,800 Let me put some flesh on this claim right here. 260 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:22,640 I'm going to give you 3 reasons why Crete was populated by 261 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:25,720 wolves, and this is going to take about 10 minutes. 262 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:28,040 And this is the part in the sermon that's going to feel 263 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:31,280 really disconnected from your life, but I promise you it has 264 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:33,040 relevance. OK, so this is going to form 265 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:35,200 kind of a biographical sketch that's going to be helpful for 266 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:37,680 the rest of the sermon series about the island of Crete. 267 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:40,200 Here's the first thing that strangely you have to know about 268 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:41,960 the island of Crete. The first thing you need to know 269 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:47,080 is Crete had bad soil. And I swear this is weirdly 270 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:49,800 relevant. So the soil on the island was 271 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:51,640 bad. And the reason why this is 272 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:54,560 relevant is because soil conditions played a massive role 273 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:58,800 in the agrarian world in shaping where cultures would pop up. 274 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,560 And then what type of culture it would become creates an island. 275 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:05,560 And not just any old island, it's an island dominated by 276 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,800 three massive mountain ranges. Which is important because if 277 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:12,120 the island was dominated by mountains, what was there? 278 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:19,240 Not a lot of room for farming. Not a lot of room for farming. 279 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:23,200 Even more so the soil that was on Crete because of the mountain 280 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:27,240 ranges was rocky and because of that it was infertile. 281 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:31,720 Now, most cultures in the ancient world were agrarian 282 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,080 cultures, and that means that they were shaped by what they 283 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,600 were shaped by. Farmers, good old fashioned 284 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:42,840 Bible Belt farming, people who work hard and are honest. 285 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:44,520 That was most of your ancient world. 286 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,400 Because of the agrarian nature. That could not be the case with 287 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:50,560 Crete. This They just didn't have the 288 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:52,920 soil. There wasn't a lot of soil. 289 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,960 The soil they did have was bad. There was some farming, but it 290 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:59,480 was not dominant, which poses A gigantic question. 291 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:03,400 And the question is, there wasn't a lot of farming on 292 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:06,680 Crete. How did they even form a local 293 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:09,480 economy? And I'm glad you asked, because 294 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:11,640 that brings us to a second important point. 295 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:14,119 Here's the second thing you have to know about Crete. 296 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:21,319 Because of that, Crete was populated by literal pirates. 297 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:24,880 So since they couldn't generate a lot of their economy from 298 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:27,200 farming, they had to find other creative ways to generate their 299 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:28,920 economy. And so here's where it gets 300 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:30,920 strategic. Crete was an island that was 301 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,040 situated between a lot of major trade routes. 302 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:37,400 You've got Egypt on one side, Greece on one side, Asia Minor 303 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,280 on the other side. And do you know what goes 304 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:42,400 through a lot of major trade routes? 305 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:48,240 Big trade ships. What's on big trade ships? 306 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:54,480 Lots of stuff, lots of wealth, lots of things they didn't have 307 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:58,040 on Crete. And that's how Crete got a lot 308 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,680 of its wealth. And so it became a a haven for 309 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:05,120 literal pirates, people who wanted to live in a strategic 310 00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:09,480 place where they could intercept trade ships so that they could 311 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:13,280 see those trade ships coming by, hop on their little boats, go 312 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:17,240 intercept them, hold them hostage, steal their stuff and 313 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:20,200 bring it back to Crete. And that means that Crete is an 314 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:22,520 island filled with literal pirates. 315 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:26,400 It's not the Bible Belt. I just, I know I'm saying a lot 316 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:28,520 of things to prove this point to you, but a lot of times we read 317 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:31,880 the Bible and we're like, oh, that was written to like 1950s 318 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,120 Leave it to Beaver families. No, it was not. 319 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:37,720 This letter was written for pirates. 320 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:41,600 I like what would what would be? Where is Creighton? 321 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:43,240 It would be like planting a church in, I don't know, 322 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:49,360 Clinton. Who would ever want to go plant 323 00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:52,760 a church in Clinton? Rocky soil over there. 324 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:55,160 Cutthroat. Hostile. 325 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,160 I'm talking about Crete. Now you got it. 326 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,480 Rugged, hostile, cutthroat island filled with wolves. 327 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:06,480 Those are the normal type of people who wanted to live on 328 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:08,480 Crete. But it wasn't just pirates. 329 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:11,800 Which brings us to our third important point about 330 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:14,280 understanding Crete. The third thing is that Crete 331 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:18,760 was populated by the worst kind of soldiers. 332 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:22,640 Mercenary soldiers. Now, again, think of Crete 333 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:25,040 strategic location. It's situated between major 334 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,960 areas like Egypt, Greece, and Asia Minor. 335 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,560 So if you were, I don't know, say the type of person, the type 336 00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:35,120 of violent person who was willing to sell yourself to 337 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:38,880 whatever army paid you the most money, which is what a mercenary 338 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:42,080 soldier was, where would you want to live? 339 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:46,000 You would want to live in an area that's situated between a 340 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,200 lot of major areas you would want to live in like the ancient 341 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:51,920 version, the transfer portal, right? 342 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,240 That way, all these major areas could bid on you and you could 343 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:58,360 sell yourself to the highest bidder. 344 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:00,920 So because of this location, Crete also became a haven for 345 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:05,080 mercenary soldiers who of course are the worst type of soldiers. 346 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:08,360 They were not loyal soldiers who were loyal to their cause and 347 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,000 loyal to their nation. They were gold diggers who were 348 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,160 known for being deeply disloyal because they were they were 349 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:18,200 military hookers who pimped themselves out to the largest 350 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:20,680 bidder of armies. That's what they did. 351 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,880 They they would fight for whatever army would pay them the 352 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,000 most money because they were soldiers for for hire. 353 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,120 And so armies from the east or West would come to creep with 354 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:34,400 their nil money, probably to hire soldiers and allure them to 355 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,160 fight for their cause and and and in wars. 356 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,400 And so all of the sudden, do you see how this shapes the culture? 357 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:46,480 Not the Bible belt, right? This, this, this makes creep an 358 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:50,560 island that gets filled with a bunch of disloyal fighters, 359 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:55,320 violent brutes who burst into fights all the time on the 360 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:57,480 island. Which is why ancient historians, 361 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,960 if you read about Crete, they describe it as a place of quote 362 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:05,400 on ceasing strife and fighting again. 363 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:11,040 It was filled with wolves. Yeah, bad soil. 364 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:15,880 Yeah, literal pirate. Are you got literal pirates? 365 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:22,240 You got mercenary soldiers? Little island? 366 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:28,680 How the heck did the gospel even get there? 367 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:36,960 You circle it on a map. If you did, and you would say 368 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:42,720 that's the least likely place for the gospel to ever go, you 369 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,680 would look at cretins in the ancient world and you'd be 370 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,560 tempted to say those are the kind of people who would never 371 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,640 become a Christian. How did the gospel get there? 372 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:55,320 How did these churches even start to pop up on Crete? 373 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:58,640 Right? This places places wild. 374 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,320 The temptation would be to write off rule, dismiss, prejudge and 375 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:05,560 marginalized Crete as a place that will never become spiritual 376 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:07,640 or religious. Nobody was looking at Crete 377 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,600 thinking, let's strategically plan a church there. 378 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:15,160 How this how did this happen, and I don't want you to get 379 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:18,040 brain matter everywhere, so I'll try to not blow your mind, but 380 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:20,720 the scriptures actually provide the answer for how these 381 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:28,000 churches got there on Crete. It's not it's not here in Titus, 382 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,520 but if you don't have to, but if you turn back to the book of 383 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:37,080 Acts, it actually tells you hence at exactly how there were 384 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:39,720 even churches on Crete. OK, check this out. 385 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,320 This in Acts chapter 2. I'll pull it up on the screen 386 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:43,760 for you. That's the famous Pentecost 387 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:45,840 scene. What's happened is Jesus has 388 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:48,920 just died. He's resurrected, he's ascended, 389 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:51,600 and he's promised to send his Holy Spirit to his people. 390 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,240 But then he doesn't, at least not right away. 391 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,400 What Jesus does is he waits for this season of Pentecost. 392 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,920 Why? Because during Pentecost, all of 393 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:04,200 these ancient Jews over all across the world would all 394 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:08,560 pilgrimage back to one place, Jerusalem, for this festival. 395 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:14,280 So Jesus waits till that moment and on Pentecost he sends down 396 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:19,040 the fire of his Holy Spirit to this diverse, ethnically 397 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:21,200 diverse, geographically diverse group of people. 398 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:28,280 And Acts tells you who is there. Is this boring? 399 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,160 It's kind of fun, right? Here's what Acts says. 400 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,840 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from 401 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:40,760 every nation under heaven, Parthians and Medes and 402 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:44,760 Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, 403 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:50,840 Pontius Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia in Egypt, and the parts of Libya 404 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:54,200 belonging to Siren, and visitors from Rome. 405 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:56,960 And Jews. Oh, and proselytes. 406 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:13,200 Oh, and Arabians and Cretans. You see that there's our people. 407 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:20,040 What happened is the fire of the Holy Spirit fell on these Cretan 408 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:24,280 Jews. They become born again and they 409 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:26,320 went back to Crete. With what? 410 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:32,200 The gospel in the Holy Spirit. That's how these churches got. 411 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:37,560 What a coincidence, right? Gosh, right place at the right 412 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:39,480 time. Luck. 413 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:43,400 Lucky Crete, right? No, this is not coincidence. 414 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,600 This is not luck, this is not chance or a matter of the right 415 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:46,640 people being there at the right time. 416 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:51,200 What this is, is the the brilliance and ingenuity of the 417 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:55,200 sovereign imagination of the God who controls everything. 418 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,240 Before the foundation of the earth. 419 00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:01,160 God looked at this island that nobody else wanted, before it 420 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:04,720 had done anything good or bad, and said I want that island. 421 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:10,960 And then what did you do? He sent Jewish people from 422 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:14,440 Crete, the Pentecost, and then sent them back with the Holy 423 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:18,760 Spirit and with the Gospel. He really needs, he needs, OK, 424 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:22,360 he needs the Cretans to understand this because he 425 00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:26,960 actually doesn't describe these people as Cretans until verse 5. 426 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:31,640 What's the word he uses for them in his introduction? 427 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:42,600 Elect. What's that, friends? 428 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:44,440 That word literally means chosen. 429 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:49,200 That's why some translations use the phrase to the chosen ones 430 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,000 and verses one and two there, which is a perfectly good 431 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,760 translation. The the word elect means to be 432 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,840 chosen by God before the beginning of time, and 433 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,920 specifically to be chosen by God apart from any human doings or 434 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,880 achievements or merits or good works. 435 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,560 And now I want you to bring this to bear on the biography that 436 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:13,680 I've been painting of the island of Crete. 437 00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:21,520 How do you think it felt for these Cretan Christians who are 438 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,080 unwanted, the butt of every joke in the ancient world? 439 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:31,640 Of all things to be called the elect, how do you think that 440 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:35,000 felt? They were just coming to earth. 441 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:36,760 They were overlooked. They were unwanted. 442 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:39,840 The world looked at these cretins and said yuck. 443 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:44,040 If you grew up feeling unwanted, insignificant, or overlooked, 444 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:48,320 imagine hearing, maybe for the first time, that you have been 445 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:52,080 loved and chosen by God for all eternity. 446 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:55,880 This is stunning. What the world looked at, Crete, 447 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:57,960 what the world looked at and said, yuck. 448 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:07,840 God looked at and said, mine, mine, my love is going to be set 449 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:10,120 upon these Cretan Christians, right? 450 00:27:10,120 --> 00:27:13,800 The election is it's at the core of God's character. 451 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:18,320 What's the word? What's the word for God's choice 452 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:24,760 to elect to set His love upon small, cosmically insignificant, 453 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:28,920 mostly overlooked, microscopically puny people 454 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:33,120 without those people earning, grossing, or deserving that love 455 00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:35,880 in any way? What would you call that besides 456 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:39,360 bonkers and crazy? There's a word for that. 457 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:43,240 The word for that pops up a lot in the Bible. 458 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:49,280 The word for that is grace. But this is the grace of God 459 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:53,480 operating in real time by electing to love these Cretan 460 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:56,400 pirates and mercenary soldiers. That's what this is. 461 00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,760 It's grace. They've there's not one single 462 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:05,440 thing about Crete, nothing that you can point at and say, oh, 463 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,600 that's why God loves him. Nothing, right? 464 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,240 If Crete were on Tinder, God would have swiped left, you 465 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:15,120 would think. Nothing in their biography 466 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:18,760 that's attractive. Nothing. 467 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:22,280 You can't point at anything. Well, they're nice people. 468 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:28,560 No, they're not honest, hard working people at least. 469 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:31,640 Nope, they're pirates. They steal. 470 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:34,560 Probably have the eye patches. I don't know. 471 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:40,160 Well, good soil at least. Nope, not even that. 472 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:44,160 So why does God love the Cretan Christians? 473 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:49,440 There's nothing in them to and this is clear throughout the 474 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:50,920 Scriptures. At one point in time, God even 475 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:54,040 says it to Israel in the Old Testament, he in Deuteronomy 7, 476 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:57,480 he says the Lord your God has chosen you. 477 00:28:57,520 --> 00:28:59,520 It's the same word as election elect. 478 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:03,560 He has chosen you and he says to his people, not because you're 479 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,240 the most powerful or the most numerous or the most strong. 480 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:10,960 In fact you are the weakest and the smallest nation of all the 481 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:12,560 world. So why does God choose him? 482 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:16,120 He says in Deuteronomy 7, he gives the most frustrating but 483 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:20,440 deepest answer God could give. He says I chose you because I 484 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:23,720 love you. That's his answer. 485 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:30,320 There's nothing in Crete that God could be like, oh, that's 486 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,920 why I chose you. So if there's nothing in Crete 487 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:36,840 that made God choose them, what made God choose them? 488 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:42,240 Something within himself, his love because of his own love. 489 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:44,440 And so why does God love these Cretan Christians? 490 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:46,960 Because before the foundation of the earth, before they did or 491 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:49,240 said anything, before there was even a single star burning 492 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,800 brightly in the black void of space, God looked at these 493 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:58,120 dishonest, undeserving mercenary soldiers and said, you're mine, 494 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:00,440 I love you, I'm going to choose you. 495 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:03,440 And that is what it means to be elect. 496 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,560 One of the reasons why this pops up in so many of Paul's letters, 497 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:11,760 if there's kind of a whole vocabulary around that, 498 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:14,160 sometimes it's election, sometimes it's predestination, 499 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:16,400 whatever. But one of the reasons why I 500 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:19,640 think this pops up in Paul's writing so often is because I 501 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:22,240 think Paul sees himself in Crete. 502 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:25,560 I know it's a geographical island. 503 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,440 It's not a person, but I think when Paul thinks of the island 504 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:33,000 Crete, I think Paul sees himself in the island. 505 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:34,360 I mean, think about last week's sermon. 506 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:38,760 Why is Paul so big on election? Because of his own personal 507 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:40,880 experience. Paul was running away from 508 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,840 Jesus, doing nothing to earn Jesus's love in the midst of a 509 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:47,840 plan to murder people who follow Jesus until the grace of Jesus 510 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,800 horse collar tackled Paul and transformed him. 511 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:55,960 Paul has personal experience with being elected by God and 512 00:30:55,960 --> 00:31:00,240 being like, well I know that you chose me before my life began 513 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:03,600 because you certainly would not have chosen me after my life 514 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:06,000 began. Had to be that way. 515 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:12,200 Paul's going the opposite way. God horse collar tackled him and 516 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,320 just showered his grace and mercy on Paul. 517 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:18,880 And so when Paul thinks of the Cretan island, he sees himself a 518 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:22,880 disobedient, undeserving place running the opposite way of the 519 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:27,240 way of Jesus, but whose only hope is the electing grace of 520 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,240 God. Paul sees himself in Crete. 521 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:35,960 And I hope, I hope that you see yourself in Crete too. 522 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:41,040 I know it's it's so easy to look at the historical context of 523 00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:44,720 this letter and be like, well, I'm not a pirate. 524 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,240 Are you not though? Are you not? 525 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:53,280 Well, no, you're not. You're something worse than a 526 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:56,640 pirate. I don't care if you grew up 527 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:58,680 sleeping on a bed of Bibles. I think that's great. 528 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:02,120 I don't care if you were the Bible verse memorizing champion 529 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:04,640 that made your mom and dad say that's our good Christian kid. 530 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,800 I think that's great. But no matter who you were, 531 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,160 Paul's description of the way that you were born is not on 532 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:18,960 third base. Paul uses words like dead and 533 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:23,880 blind in an enemy of God. You were running the opposite 534 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:26,360 direction of Jesus, maybe not with your feet, but with your 535 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,800 heart and the wild, sovereign, undeserving grace of God, 536 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:33,160 despite all the odds, haunted you down, kicked you off your 537 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,320 horse, then made you into a trophy of grace. 538 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:39,840 That's what you are. You're a trophy of grace. 539 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:45,280 I've said this story before. I'll say it again, though, I I 540 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:50,440 went back to my hometown like 10 years ago for the Franklin 541 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:56,600 County Fair and I bumped into my I bumped into my football coach. 542 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:00,800 He was like, dyke, do you still teaching English? 543 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:04,720 To which I said, no, I'm a pastor now. 544 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,760 To which he said, I won't use his exact words. 545 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:15,240 I'll be darned didn't see that coming, but it's not didn't see 546 00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:17,200 that coming. That's Crete. 547 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:22,680 That's you surprise Martin Lloyd Jones, phenomenal theologian. 548 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:28,480 He says, quote, if you're going to write anything down that I 549 00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:31,480 say this morning, write this quote from Martin Lloyd Jones 550 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:38,040 Now he says, quote, there is no greater proof of the fact that 551 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:43,480 we have received the grace of God then that we are surprised 552 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:50,560 at it. Are you surprised that you're a 553 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,720 Christian? That's such a good metric for 554 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:59,160 are we actually making contact with the gospel of Jesus in our 555 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:00,600 own life? Is are you surprised? 556 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:02,600 Like on my worst days, these are my bad days. 557 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,800 On my worst days, I'm just not surprised sometimes that I'm a 558 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:10,960 Christian. You know, my, my bad days, I 559 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:14,440 walk around and I think, I mean, it was mostly God's grace, but 560 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,040 I, I get it. I get why God saved me. 561 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:21,080 I'm a, I'm a pretty hard worker. I'm pretty good with words. 562 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:23,560 Some people even say I'm fun to be around. 563 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:28,840 I'm a decent draft pick. That's, that's the Antichrist 564 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:31,000 right there. That's anti gospel. 565 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,560 It's the opposite of the gospel. You cannot think those things 566 00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:40,960 and have any meaningful contact with the gospel of God's grace, 567 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,040 right when you think that way. When I think that way, I'm 568 00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:48,679 rejecting God's grace because that thought, I mean, I get why 569 00:34:48,679 --> 00:34:49,840 God picked me. That thought. 570 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:52,080 It does not make me love God more. 571 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:57,600 It makes me love me more. It diminishes God and it 572 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:01,520 magnifies me. That's what it does, right? 573 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:07,480 When I'm like, I'd get me before the trade deadline too. 574 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:11,160 No, that's death, right on my healthy days, I think. 575 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:15,320 I can't believe I woke up today a Christian. 576 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:23,160 Wow, after all of my sinning yesterday, all the stupid stuff 577 00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:27,200 I said and didn't say, my lack of all that stuff, I woke up 578 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:29,800 this morning as a Christian. Brilliant. 579 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:32,600 That's amazing. That's shocking. 580 00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:36,480 God's grace is still on me. I was dead in my transgressions. 581 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:40,360 I was perishing in my darkness. Nothing desirable within me. 582 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:42,400 Running away the opposite direction. 583 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:46,240 The only reason I'm a Christian today is grace. 584 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:50,040 Amen. And when you think like that, it 585 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:53,680 doesn't magnify you, it magnifies God. 586 00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:57,840 Like, wow, wow. I, I love you. 587 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:01,480 I love you so much. Wow, I love God so much. 588 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:04,480 Every day is just an extraordinary exploration of his 589 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:06,000 grace in a million different ways. 590 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:09,760 May we never be on shocked by our spiritual condition. 591 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:14,720 We were patients who were pronounced dead who are walking 592 00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:18,280 around. You have a relationship with 593 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:23,360 Jesus that's amazing. I mean like picture, picture a 594 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:26,000 picture a pirate in your mind's eye for a second. 595 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:27,480 Like a literal pirate from Crete. 596 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,160 Like even it probably didn't look. 597 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,280 They probably didn't look like Captain Jack Sparrow. 598 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:36,040 For the sake of your imagination, picture Captain 599 00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:39,080 Jack Sparrow. OK, Picture all of Jack Sparrow. 600 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:41,520 OK, did right? The sword in his hand, the 601 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:45,320 stolen gold underneath his arms, right. 602 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:49,120 The even the little patch over the eye, a sword in his hands. 603 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:55,040 The temptation is to to look at him and to categorize him into 604 00:36:55,040 --> 00:37:01,040 one of two different categories. Either a the type of person who 605 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:05,000 seems likely to become a Christian, or be not the type of 606 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:06,840 person who's likely to become a Christian. 607 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:10,600 Where do you put Captain Jack Sparrow? 608 00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:14,480 You don't have to tell me, right? 609 00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:19,120 You put Captain Jack Sparrow in not likely to become the type of 610 00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:20,800 person who might become a Christian. 611 00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:24,760 Where's that thought coming from? 612 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:30,640 I can tell you. I can read your mind that that 613 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:33,640 thought is a fruit that is sprouting from the seed of 614 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:40,880 pride, namely the pride which says, well, I am the type of 615 00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:42,760 person who is likely to become a Christian. 616 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:46,520 She's not, though. He's not. 617 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:53,240 And the Bible repeatedly says Bull, What are Paul's? 618 00:37:53,240 --> 00:37:55,720 What's the Bible's language for you before you were a Christian? 619 00:37:56,120 --> 00:37:59,000 Blind, deaf, enslaved, even better. 620 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:01,080 Dead in your sin, dead in your trespasses. 621 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:05,440 Let me ask you a question. Are are dead people the type of 622 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:07,240 people who are likely to become Christians? 623 00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:15,000 No, dead people are the type of people who are likely to rot. 624 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:19,480 That's the only thing that dead people can do. 625 00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:29,240 They deteriorate. It's nature unless there's a 626 00:38:29,240 --> 00:38:35,360 miracle, unless grace, unless God breathes into the dead 627 00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:39,680 person. That's your story that happened 628 00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:41,360 to you. That's what grace is. 629 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:47,320 Apart from anything you did, God breathing his regenerating grace 630 00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:50,080 into you so that you woke up 1 morning and thought, I think I 631 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:53,800 love Jesus now. God's grace broke through and 632 00:38:53,800 --> 00:39:01,040 chose you. Let me see if I can strike one 633 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:05,840 more nerve and I'll be done. I read it. 634 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,200 I've said a lot of things this morning, and it really it 635 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:13,800 doesn't bother me if you don't 100% agree with the way that I 636 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:15,480 formulate the doctrine of election. 637 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:18,520 I'd say probably 50% of the people in this room are like, I 638 00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:20,720 don't, I don't think I see election that way. 639 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:22,240 And that's, that's, that's totally cool. 640 00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:25,600 This is a safe space for you to kind of tease that out and to be 641 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:29,400 like, is it really unconditional and is it really individual and 642 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:31,160 not corporate? That's that's totally fine. 643 00:39:31,240 --> 00:39:32,840 You don't have to agree with everything I've said this 644 00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:35,320 morning. It doesn't bother me at all, but 645 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:36,440 I do. I need you. 646 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:42,320 You need yourself to embrace your identity as the elect. 647 00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:47,360 You might define it a little bit differently than me. 648 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:50,440 I wouldn't, but you might. And that's OK. 649 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:54,440 But I need you to know that that's what you are. 650 00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:57,600 You need to embrace that identity because you don't. 651 00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,880 You don't got it in you. You don't have it in you to go 652 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:04,720 through life and to experience the rejection of this cruel, 653 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:08,320 bitter, mean world and to hold on to Jesus. 654 00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:12,480 You don't have it in you, right. And what I've experienced is 655 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:17,480 that the people who just they think election is the sweetest 656 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:20,360 thing. It tastes so sweet to them, it's 657 00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:25,000 so warm to them. It's not a means of anxiety and 658 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,440 hypothesizing. It's a means of comfort. 659 00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:30,000 Wow. God, the people who get that the 660 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:32,440 best are the people who have experienced a lot of rejection 661 00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:39,840 in life. There's something about like I, 662 00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:43,400 I grew up and I'm really grateful that I didn't 663 00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:45,800 experience a lot of rejection. I grew up in small town in Iowa. 664 00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:48,280 As a result of that, I just didn't experience a lot of 665 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:50,080 rejection, and I'm grateful for that. 666 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:55,760 But I think in a lot of my walk with Jesus, it caused me to be 667 00:40:56,240 --> 00:41:00,280 ungrateful to the Lord's kindness and grace to me because 668 00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:02,000 I didn't know what rejection felt like. 669 00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:06,120 It's hard to know how sweet it is to be accepted by the God of 670 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:08,600 the universe before time began when it feels like the world 671 00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:12,360 pretty much just likes you too. So I just did experience a lot 672 00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:15,560 of rejection growing up and then I became a pastor. 673 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:22,000 And one of I think one of the things about pastoral ministry 674 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:24,200 and you don't need to be a pastor to experience a lot of 675 00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:25,840 rejection. But I think one of the things 676 00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:29,160 about pastoral ministry that I'm most grateful for is that it has 677 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:36,840 taught me how to receive rejection with gratitude to God. 678 00:41:39,840 --> 00:41:43,120 It makes it so sweet. Like I remember six years ago, I 679 00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:48,320 got invited to interview for a pretty elite young leaders 680 00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:51,200 program in in church and I interviewed for it and they were 681 00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:53,520 taking like 7 or 8 leaders to form this cohort. 682 00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:56,280 And I got it. But then COVID hit. 683 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:00,120 And so they're like, actually we're not taking 7 or 8 leaders, 684 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:01,560 We're only going to take two or three. 685 00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:04,560 And then I got the other e-mail, which was the rejection e-mail. 686 00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:08,720 And I remember reading it was a really sanitary way of saying 687 00:42:08,720 --> 00:42:11,680 it, but like, we are not going to actually be moving forward 688 00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:13,200 with you for this cohort anymore. 689 00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:18,960 And I remember thinking, wow, I don't like that feeling. 690 00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:28,920 And if the inhale was out, the exhale was please. 691 00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:34,120 And in that moment, I just remember the sweetness of having 692 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:39,160 God's unconditional predestined acceptance of me. 693 00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:41,280 It just became sweet in that moment. 694 00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:45,360 And when you experience, you don't need to be a pastor to 695 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:48,600 experience rejection. It certainly accelerates it. 696 00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:52,200 But if you're a part of a church for any significant amount of 697 00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:53,760 time, you're going to experience rejection. 698 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:56,280 People are going to walk into your life, into your homes. 699 00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:58,080 They're going to want your time. They're going to want your 700 00:42:58,080 --> 00:42:59,560 energy. You're going to invest in them 701 00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:02,560 and they're going to leave. Sometimes they'll ghost you. 702 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:04,760 That's fine between them and the Lord. 703 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:10,320 Sometimes they'll send mass text messages out to other people 704 00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:14,320 about you. And when that happens, when that 705 00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:18,640 happens, you just, you need to throw yourself upon the elected 706 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:23,680 grace of God and that's why it's going to happen to you. 707 00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:25,760 Some of you are going to do it in here. 708 00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:28,880 Some of you, you're going to walk into a church, maybe even 709 00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:33,280 this church and you love it at 1st and then I'm going to say 710 00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:36,160 something. I'm going to make a decision or 711 00:43:36,160 --> 00:43:40,760 I'm not going to make a decision and you're going to walk out and 712 00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:42,480 you might even throw me underneath the bus. 713 00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:47,160 And when you need and when you do that, I need you to know that 714 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:49,240 I will be grateful to the Lord for that. 715 00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:52,880 I don't want you to. But when that happens, I will 716 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,520 throw myself upon the doctrine of God's election and I'll 717 00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:59,920 remind myself that God has chosen me and God has loved me, 718 00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:03,400 and that will get me up. And when you experience that, I 719 00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:08,680 want you to do that too. You're the elect if you're in 720 00:44:08,680 --> 00:44:11,000 Christ. And so that that's the answer to 721 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:13,720 the question, who was this letter written for? 722 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:19,960 Was it written for the cretins or was it written for you and 723 00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:21,680 me? And the answer is yes, because 724 00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:27,960 it was written for God's elect, leaving behind the weak, the 725 00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:30,120 unable to be ripped apart by wolves. 726 00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:33,640 It might be the the law of life. I'm not arguing with Jack London 727 00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:36,120 short story. It does seem that that is the 728 00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:38,120 way of the world. That is what life is like. 729 00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:41,320 That is the ordinary rule of life in the fabric of reality. 730 00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:44,720 But the law of life is not the law of Christ. 731 00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:50,280 The law of Christ is grace. Think back to Jack London's 732 00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:52,720 story. Kous Koush was unwanted, so his 733 00:44:52,720 --> 00:44:55,960 tribe built him a small bonfire, packed up their bags to move and 734 00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:57,560 left them to be devoured by wolves. 735 00:44:57,840 --> 00:45:01,480 Suppose someone from his tribe wanted to go back and save him. 736 00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:03,280 What would this person need to have done? 737 00:45:04,960 --> 00:45:07,960 They would have need to leave their tribe, March towards the 738 00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:12,280 fire, grab a log from the fire and beat the wolves off of Khus 739 00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:15,680 Khus. That's the gospel, that's the 740 00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:18,200 doctrine of election. That's what Jesus has done for 741 00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:20,760 you. He left heaven, went to the 742 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:23,840 fire, came for you, forgave you, covered you in his 743 00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:27,280 righteousness, made you part of his tribe and his bringing to 744 00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:29,160 you to his destination in heaven. 745 00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:32,880 And that's why Jesus will not, he will not leave this little 746 00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:35,600 island of Crete to be ripped apart by the wolves that are 747 00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:37,920 there. Jesus is on a mission to save 748 00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:41,520 the weak and to relocate them with himself in heaven. 749 00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:45,880 Even the unlikely undeserving ones that we count out even 750 00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:47,880 yourself who you sometimes count out. 751 00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:56,080 So do you know who you are. You are the elect in Jesus 752 00:45:56,080 --> 00:46:00,440 Christ heavenly Father. I pray that you would help us 753 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:13,640 believe that that is the fight is it doesn't feel that way 754 00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:18,440 sometimes. It feels sometimes like we're 755 00:46:18,440 --> 00:46:23,240 doing all the work down here clinging on to you and that's 756 00:46:23,240 --> 00:46:27,200 not what's happening. The Bible opens up our eyes and 757 00:46:27,200 --> 00:46:28,600 shows us what's really happening. 758 00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:31,720 You're doing all the work and holding on to us. 759 00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:34,880 It feels like we choose to follow you on a daily basis, and 760 00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:38,800 that's a choice we need to make. But really we are just 761 00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:41,600 responding to a choice that has already happened before the 762 00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:44,240 foundations of the world. And that's your choice of us. 763 00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:48,960 And you loved us. Jesus, or John, makes this so 764 00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:54,600 clear. He says we love God because the 765 00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:57,560 operating thing that makes us love God. 766 00:46:58,440 --> 00:47:00,960 We love God because he first loved us. 767 00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:07,040 And so when it comes to love, nobody in this room beats God to 768 00:47:07,040 --> 00:47:11,880 the punch. He's already done it, and he'll 769 00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:14,400 keep us to the very end. So in the precious name of 770 00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:15,960 Jesus, all God's people prayed. Amen. 771 00:47:18,720 --> 00:47:21,560 And let's stand and let's worship this God together.