1 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:06,720 Titus chapter 1. While you're turning there, 2 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:11,480 While you're turning there, where's your Bible? 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:15,240 OK, I see that phone. Thank you. 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:17,400 That's close. But while you're turning there, 5 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:21,360 I don't know if you've been shopping in Turkey and come 6 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:23,880 across come across a store like this. 7 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,200 For those who are listening, if you're on the podcast, my advice 8 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,960 is push pause and switch on. You're going to need to watch 9 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,760 this morning genuine fake watches. 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,560 I like that you know, they've they've front footed forward 11 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:47,360 with their products because, well, some fake products are 12 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,520 easy to spot. I don't know if you've seen 13 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:53,800 these. Maybe if you got a cold a 14 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:58,520 Beavers you'd like you're nearly there, but some are not so easy 15 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:00,640 to spot like this beautiful baby. 16 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:07,280 Oh yeah, 800,000 Rand if you buy from a legit store, but if you 17 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:12,000 go to replica Rolex expert, replica Rolex expert is only 18 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,760 8000 Rand. You know, I've, I heard this 19 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:20,440 week an intellectual property lawyer said that's the fake 20 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:27,560 goods industry makes about $464 billion a year. 21 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:31,840 Who would have known, hey, how much real money you can make 22 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,640 with fake goods, $464 billion a year? 23 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:38,040 And I just wanted to, before we get into the word, I just wanted 24 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,400 to give you a heads up because it's, it's Black Friday coming 25 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:42,240 soon. So this has got nothing to do 26 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:46,360 with my sermon, but I just yeah, this is adding value, you know, 27 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:49,320 but I was reading a lady by the name of Emma Jones. 28 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,480 She wrote wrote an article basically explaining what to 29 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:53,120 look out for. You know, the fact that if it's 30 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:55,400 too good to be true, it probably is. 31 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,040 If that price is like, oh, team, you, thank you. 32 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:02,040 Maybe not so much if the the quality of the product, if it 33 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,960 seems a little plasticky, it because it is, it's an inferior 34 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:06,680 product. And then of course, you can spot 35 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:09,120 a fake by the packaging. Always, you know, they they want 36 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,800 to spend as little as possible and make as much as possible. 37 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:13,360 But I don't need to tell you that. 38 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,760 I mean, this is 2024. This is, you know, everything is 39 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:19,200 fake. We live in fake worlds. 40 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,840 There's fake news, there's fake social media profiles, there's 41 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:27,360 fake tenders. Hey babes, we also posting about 42 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:29,400 our fake lives online all the time. 43 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:33,760 And sometimes these things are easy to spot, but sometimes not 44 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,440 so easy to spot. Here's my question. 45 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:38,120 This is what I want to go after this morning. 46 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:45,240 How do you spot genuine faith? How do you know if it's genuine 47 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:50,600 fake or genuine faith? The crazy thing is, in studying 48 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,680 Titus, I've actually noticed that Paul goes into this. 49 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,840 He, he, he leans in because he's telling Titus, listen, you need 50 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,800 to know you're going to be in a community and it's going to be 51 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:04,560 filled with genuine fakes and genuine faith. 52 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,120 And this is how you spot it. I'm going to go to Titus chapter 53 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,160 one verse 16 and it says the following. 54 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,680 He's he's not comparing in the Cretans to the Christians, the 55 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:18,360 genuine fakes to the genuine faith. 56 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,440 And he says the following. They claim to know God, the 57 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:25,040 genuine fakes, but by their actions they deny him. 58 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:28,440 So I want to look at this first. They claim to know God, but by 59 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:30,960 their actions they deny him. I'm actually going to divide 60 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:33,560 that verse in half and and pull two points out for us this 61 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:36,840 morning. How to identify a genuine fake 62 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:40,840 or genuine faith. So genuine fake. 63 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,600 They claim to know God, that the Greek word there to know God is 64 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:45,880 actually a very interesting word. 65 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:51,960 It means to know how not to know who to know how or to be skilled 66 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,280 in. I don't know if you know any of 67 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:57,120 these who are who claim to know God. 68 00:03:57,120 --> 00:03:59,200 They they know how they're skilled in it. 69 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:01,520 They know exactly when to say Amen, Amen. 70 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:05,960 Sniper 4. Sniper 4. 71 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,320 We have. You always put it at the end of 72 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:10,840 a sentence. That's right, Terrell. 73 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:12,240 Amen. Amen. 74 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:13,520 Here you go. Yeah. 75 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:16,279 We know when to say Hallelujah, when to raise our hands and when 76 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,680 not to. We've got our interpretive dance 77 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,720 to impress our friends. We know just which familiar 78 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,680 Bible to bring. Well, no, not to bring. 79 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,160 And you know how to dress Sunday morning versus Sunday nights. 80 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:36,000 But he says they claim to know God, they claim to be skilled. 81 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:39,120 I'm actually, I'm, I'm really good at this Christian thing. 82 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:43,120 Paul is saying that is not genuine faith. 83 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,520 That's genuine fake. So I had the privilege of doing 84 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:50,080 a wedding with a few couples and one of the couples I was 85 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:52,840 journeying with one time. I don't, I don't even know why, 86 00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:56,440 but the meeting was at like 4:00 in the afternoon or whatever the 87 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:58,400 case might be. But during the day, something 88 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:02,360 was scratching here to the point that when we sat down and, and I 89 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:06,080 was sharing, going through what what I normally do, I just push 90 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:07,560 pause. I say, listen, can I, can I ask 91 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:09,680 you, this sounds like a very strange question, but I want to 92 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,040 know, can you tell me when it was that you surrendered your 93 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:19,480 life to Jesus and the last came on Because what I got was, well, 94 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:23,400 you know, it's kind of an ongoing journey. 95 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:25,960 We're getting good at this thing. 96 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:29,640 You know, we're in church, we're coming regularly and we're, you 97 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:31,840 know, putting things in place. And I turned to her and I said, 98 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:34,160 and and you was there moment when you surrendered your life 99 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,280 to Jesus. And she said what what he's 100 00:05:36,280 --> 00:05:39,240 basically saying, you know, for the both of us is our hearts in 101 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:43,680 the right place. So like, OK, let me ask you 102 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:47,760 another question. And I went all evangelistic on 103 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:49,160 them. I said, listen, if you were to 104 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:54,120 die today and you might, and you were standing at the pearly 105 00:05:54,120 --> 00:06:00,360 gates and Saint Peter's there, or Angel Gabriel, or maybe Jesus 106 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:04,960 is there at the pearly gates and he asks you the question, why 107 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,240 should I let you in? What would you say? 108 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:13,400 Let me ask you the question, if you were to die today and you 109 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,640 might, and you're standing at the pearly gates because the 110 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:20,120 Bible says it's appointed for man to die once and then comes 111 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,640 judgment. You're standing there and Jesus 112 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:27,560 says, why should I let you in? What if your answer is genuine, 113 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:32,120 fake? All I got from them was, well, 114 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:33,120 yeah, you know, we're trying hard. 115 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:34,960 Actually, we're in a good place at the moment. 116 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,600 And I said to them, and I say to you, there's only one right 117 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:40,560 answer here. I want you to know this. 118 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:44,320 There's only one right answer. So I said to them, open your 119 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:52,360 Bibles and you can do the same to Romans chapter 3 and the 120 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:56,640 source in verse 9, it says Jews and Gentiles alike are all under 121 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:59,840 the power of sin. And to explain to them, because 122 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:02,080 they're new to these the scriptures. 123 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:04,840 I said the difference between the Jews and the Gentiles is, is 124 00:07:04,840 --> 00:07:07,120 the Jews are the good boys. You know, they got it all 125 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:09,040 together. They, you know, they never 126 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:12,000 smoked or drank and they never miss a last group. 127 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,560 And they're they're really humming at this Jew thing. 128 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,080 The Gentiles, well, they all came from the bluff. 129 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:19,760 You know, they got family in Broncos Sprite. 130 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:23,320 You know, they're not scared to go back to prison, you know. 131 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:29,560 But notice it says Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the 132 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,480 power of sin as it is written. There's no one righteous, not 133 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:35,920 even one. No one understands. 134 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:38,280 No one seeks God. All have turned away. 135 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:40,040 They've together become worthless. 136 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,400 There's no one who does good, not even 1. 137 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:47,640 And I saw in the eyes what I see in some of your eyes going like, 138 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,080 yeah, but I'd do good. Actually, I'm quite skilled in 139 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:55,400 doing good. So I said to them, I heard once 140 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,440 a guy named Francis Schaeffer is a Christian philosopher, and he 141 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:01,120 does this thing, he calls it a thought experiment where he 142 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,960 says, like, imagine if when you were born, Jesus puts a little 143 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,520 microchip in your chest with a solid-state drive there and a 144 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:12,440 microphone. And he programmed it only to 145 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:16,120 record and to switch on when you were making judgment calls on 146 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,160 how other people ought to live. So in other words, it just 147 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:23,560 simply recorded your standards, your standards of how to live, 148 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:28,120 how to handle finances, sexuality, drinking, language, 149 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:31,120 things you think of just your standards. 150 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:34,640 Now imagine you're standing before the throne of God and 151 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,080 Judgement Day and, and Jesus leans over and says, listen for 152 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,480 you, I'm going to, we're going to lower the bar and don't worry 153 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,080 about my standards. But we just I want to measure 154 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,760 you against your standards. He says not a person would 155 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:50,120 survive that judgement, that judgement. 156 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:55,160 How much more standing before a holy God who will keep you and I 157 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:58,520 accountable to every word we've said, every thought we've 158 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:00,440 thought, every linked we've clicked on. 159 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:05,440 Not a single person how we ever going to be able to stand before 160 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:11,960 God on that day because Romans 3 is telling us the condition we 161 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:15,440 will be it. So that's the problem. 162 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:19,200 So I said to them, you can't stand at the pearly gates and 163 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:24,200 say, well, I, I actually was quite skilled at this thing that 164 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,440 won't match up. So I said, let me show you the 165 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:29,720 answer. I said right next to your Romans 166 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:32,920 3, Romans 5, verse 8. And I had them turn to Romans 5 167 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:37,680 verse 8, and it says this. But God demonstrates His own 168 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:40,240 love for us in this. While we were still sinners, 169 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:45,040 while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 170 00:09:45,560 --> 00:09:48,160 We're getting closer to the answer that you need to give at 171 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,240 the pearly gates. Christ died for us while we were 172 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:53,280 still sinners. You see, it's not the sin that's 173 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:56,600 the problem. It's this death that's the 174 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:58,960 problem. Why did Christ have to die? 175 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:02,160 Well, I said right next to that. Romans 623. 176 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:05,920 I don't know if you've ever had a speeding fan. 177 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:10,320 If you haven't asked Rory, he's had plenty. 178 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:14,960 Don't edit that out. This is the truth. 179 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:16,320 Amen. It's the truth. 180 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,240 Amen. Sometimes. 181 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:20,880 What happens when you get that spinning fun? 182 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:23,800 I've heard from RAW that the guy will climb out the car. 183 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,920 The officer will will show you, listen, you were going 10 184 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:29,000 kilometres over the speed limit, so this is your fine. 185 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,440 Or you were going 20 kilometres, this is your fine. 186 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,560 Or hypothetically, you've got a brand new R1 and you thought, 187 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:37,720 let me see if I can reach 300 KS an hour between Pretoria and 188 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:40,320 Krugersorp and stop, stop back as a speed cop. 189 00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:43,360 Then let's go straight to jail. Do not pass begin, do not 190 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:44,560 collect 200. Why? 191 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,080 Because the penalty needs to match the crime. 192 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:55,280 Romans 6 verse 23 says the penalty, the wages of sin is 193 00:10:55,280 --> 00:11:00,160 death. That's why someone had to die to 194 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:04,600 either be you paying for your sins or what he said is the free 195 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:09,480 gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ who died in your 196 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,440 place. It's a free gift, but it 197 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:16,000 requires a transaction. Says if you give me all your 198 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,880 sin, I will give you the free gift of eternal life, 199 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:22,640 forgiveness. We're nearly there. 200 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:27,000 We're nearly through the pearly gates because the question is 201 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:29,040 OK, how do I do this transaction? 202 00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:32,880 So I said right next to you, Romans 623, write Romans 10 203 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:37,960 verse 9 and go there, which says if you declare with your mouth 204 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:41,600 Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him 205 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:43,760 from the dead, you will be saved. 206 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:47,040 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified. 207 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:49,040 I love this word. I don't know if it works in 208 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:52,440 other languages, but justified the Greek translated into 209 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:57,320 English is justified is simply just as if I'd never sinned, 210 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:03,320 just as if I'd never had this next, next bottle of wine, just 211 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,800 as if I never climbed into the bed, just as if I didn't pull 212 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,040 that trigger. Well, just as if I never 213 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:12,280 committed those 74 crimes that Interpol tracked me down and 214 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:16,080 threw me in prison for just as if I'd never sinned. 215 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:19,800 With your heart, you believed and are justified. 216 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:22,600 And it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are 217 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:24,240 saved. And then it goes on to say in 218 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:29,400 verse 13 for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be 219 00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:34,000 saved. And then I said to him, now what 220 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:38,120 did you say? He said back to me, he said, I 221 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:41,400 would like to be saved. And so we prayed. 222 00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:44,520 But you know, a lot of the time you have that conversation and 223 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:48,400 you get this war. And there's only one reason why. 224 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,040 Because you look at all of this and you come to the conclusion, 225 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:54,400 but it's not enough for what I've done. 226 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:59,480 You don't know what I've done. I don't know if you know. 227 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:01,840 The artist. Steven Curtis Chapman, a 228 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:06,840 musician released like 25 albums, had the privilege of 229 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:11,080 emceeing many of his concerts. He's got Grammy Awards and Dev 230 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:14,800 Awards and what have you. And in having such a successful 231 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:17,040 career, one of the things he and his wife felt to do was they 232 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:19,200 were going to adopt three children. 233 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:22,920 So they had three of their own. And then they got three young 234 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:25,760 little girls that they adopted as well, so six kids. 235 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:30,440 But the youngest, Maria Sue, passed away at the age of 5. 236 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:33,440 What had happened was, what's his name? 237 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:35,920 Will Franklin? They seem to like these double 238 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:38,840 barrel names. Will Franklin, the oldest son, 239 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:41,280 had just gotten his driver's license. 240 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:42,800 I think there was there was something that happened. 241 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:46,320 So he's now a young boy in America, like 16 or 17. 242 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:48,920 When you get to your driver's coming home, the family is 243 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:50,800 waiting for him to arrive to celebrate. 244 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:55,000 And Maria Sue runs out. He doesn't see her and she gets 245 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:58,680 knocked over at the age of five. And what happened was Stephen 246 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:02,800 runs to his daughter, picks up this lifeless little body, 247 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:06,680 climbs in the car, his cousin jumps in on the other side and 248 00:14:06,680 --> 00:14:10,520 they're rushing off to hospital to try and save this girl's 249 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:12,920 life. And he winds down the windows, 250 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:14,800 the father winds down the window. 251 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:19,840 And he leans out and he says. Will Franklin, your father loves 252 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:22,880 you. Your father loves you. 253 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:28,280 Your father loves you. And your heavenly Father leans 254 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,440 over the lifeless body of his Son on the cross and says. 255 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:35,480 Your father loves you. Your father loves you. 256 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:38,000 Young lady, your. Father loves you. 257 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,000 Loved you so much that he gave his. 258 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:43,680 Only. Begotten Son, that whoever 259 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:48,400 doesn't matter what you've done, whoever believes in him will be 260 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:52,280 saved. So I ask the question. 261 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:01,520 Have you called on the name of the Lord? 262 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:05,320 Actually, I'm going to ask the question. 263 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:08,240 Don't you want to call on the name of the Lord? 264 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:14,560 Now, if you were standing at those pearly gates and you were 265 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:17,280 trying to rack up some kind of a reason why you're not a 266 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:21,080 disappointment and he should let you in, I want to invite you to 267 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:28,440 take this, the free gift of salvation, and I want to invite 268 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:30,960 you to do it. Now, if you'd like to do that, 269 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:32,720 raise your hand. And I'd like to pray with you. 270 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:34,200 Now. Thank you. 271 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:35,360 I'll see that hand. I'll see you. 272 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:38,760 Anyone here? Hands, hands, hands. 273 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:42,480 Hands, hands, hands, hands. Lovely. 274 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,080 Thank you. Thank you. 275 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:45,640 We're going to pray. You know what we're going to do? 276 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:51,000 I call them the ABC's A. We're going to admit we're those 277 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:55,240 guys in Romans 3 all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of 278 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:56,320 God. We're going to admit that we are 279 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:57,600 sinners. B. 280 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:00,720 We're going to declare that we believe that what Jesus did on 281 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:04,320 the cross was enough. And then C, we're going to 282 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:05,840 confess him as our Lord and Savior. 283 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:09,440 So this is what we're going to do, and we're all going to do it 284 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:11,600 together because those who haven't raised their hands did 285 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:15,680 so at some other stage. So we want to join you in this. 286 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:18,760 So close your eyes and repeat after me. 287 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:23,240 Lord Jesus, I admit I'm a Sinner. 288 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:34,520 I admit I can't do enough to cleanse myself of these sins. 289 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:39,840 But you can. So please forgive me for my 290 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:45,880 sins. I believe in my heart that what 291 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:52,440 you did on the cross was enough. Now I'll confess you as my Lord 292 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:57,280 and Savior. I surrender my life to you. 293 00:16:57,280 --> 00:17:01,160 I surrender my life to you. Come and make your home in me. 294 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:05,599 Come and make your home in me in Jesus name, Amen. 295 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:07,880 Amen. Welcome to the family. 296 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:20,040 Your father loves you. Your father loves you. 297 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:27,160 They claim to know God, they buy their actions, they deny him. 298 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:29,520 So what do we do with these works? 299 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:33,360 I I love what what Rob said. You know, obedience is actually 300 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:36,560 just a sign of our salvation. It's not what gets us into 301 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,160 salvation. It's not skilled in. 302 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:43,200 But now what do we do? So you've just surrendered your 303 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:46,760 life to Jesus. You've just said, OK, it's not 304 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:49,240 this works. It's not earning. 305 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:53,360 And now I want to show you the grace is not against, well, 306 00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:56,000 grace is against earning, but not against effort. 307 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:59,680 So he says they buy their actions, they deny him. 308 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:02,600 What's fascinating about the book of Titus is right at the 309 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:05,760 very beginning, he talks about how the actions deny God. 310 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,560 And a little later on, he talks about how their actions are 311 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:12,280 signed or their devotion to God. And that's the difference 312 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,080 between genuine fake and genuine faith. 313 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:18,040 The one is a denying and the other one is a devoting. 314 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:23,160 Take a look in Titus chapter 3, it says that the following 315 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:29,120 Eugene, your mum's phoning you. It says at one time we too were 316 00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:32,800 foolish. This is all of us in three CR at 317 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:36,120 one time, we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and 318 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:38,920 enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. 319 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:44,000 We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one 320 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:45,800 another can put my name in there. 321 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:49,440 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He 322 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:53,160 saved us not because of righteous, the righteous things 323 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:56,560 we had done, but because of His mercy. 324 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:01,000 He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the 325 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,560 Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus 326 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:08,680 Christ our Savior. So that having been justified, 327 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:15,600 there's my word again, having been justified by His grace, we 328 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:17,960 might become heirs, having the hope of eternal life. 329 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:20,680 Now notice this. He says this is a trustworthy 330 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:23,840 saying, and I want you to stress these things. 331 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:28,360 What does he need to stress that you are justified by grace? 332 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:36,080 OK, stress these things so that what should come next so that 333 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:38,960 those who have trusted in God, those who raised their hands 334 00:19:39,120 --> 00:19:41,600 this morning and those who've raised their hands before may be 335 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:47,840 careful to devote themselves. He is saying the difference 336 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:52,880 between genuine fake and genuine faith is on the one hand, we 337 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:57,760 recognize that we are justified by grace and grace alone, but on 338 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:01,640 the other hand, we also in light of it, devote ourselves. 339 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:04,840 So we're saying November and we're. 340 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:08,880 Devoting ourselves to God. Now, whenever we talk about the 341 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:12,480 word devotion, I always think of a guy by the name of Josiah. 342 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:16,360 He's a king in, I think his second kings, one of the he's 343 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:20,600 one of the kings of Israel. What was amazing about Josiah, 344 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:24,440 he became king at a very young age, but the track record up to 345 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:27,440 that stage in Israel was utterly debauched. 346 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:32,400 His, his grandfather, Manasseh was one of the most evil kings 347 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:34,960 that Israel had ever had. We're talking about witchcraft 348 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,720 and child sacrifice. It was, it was horrible. 349 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:42,480 And his father, Josiah's father was actually assassinated by his 350 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:44,840 servants because they just considered them so godless. 351 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:49,760 Now Josiah comes on the scene and the Bible says that Desiah 352 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:54,280 devoted himself to God. We think about that. 353 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:59,200 All he knows is genuine fake, but he gives himself and 354 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:01,880 devotion to God. And I want to show you why this 355 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:05,760 is so important. Why are we talking November? 356 00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:09,640 Because there's something supernatural about our devotion 357 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,760 to God. So what he does is in devoting 358 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:16,680 himself to God is he sees a whole bunch of nose like he 359 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:20,320 cleans out the temple of all the idols and shrines. 360 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:23,880 He gets rid of the Asherah poles and the high places and the 361 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:27,560 shrine prostitutes, and he begins to go after the presence 362 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:29,480 of God. And what happens is the entire 363 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:34,360 nation, it seems like the entire nation of Israel, comes back to 364 00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:36,120 God and redevotes themselves to him. 365 00:21:36,120 --> 00:21:38,520 They come to him and the covenant with their heavenly 366 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:41,680 Father. One man, one person's devotion, 367 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,400 sees an entire nation turned upside down. 368 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:49,720 Didn't we just sing? Lord, awaken your people. 369 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,520 Awaken Pretoria. Yeah. 370 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:55,120 We, we sing, I was thinking this morning, we sing exclamation 371 00:21:55,120 --> 00:21:57,360 marks, but we kind of live question marks. 372 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:02,200 You know, it's like a question mark is, you know, an 373 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:04,400 exclamation mark that's been bent out of shape. 374 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:09,640 Hallelujah. But you go to work on Mondays. 375 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,160 The power, the difference is devotion. 376 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:18,120 So he devotes himself to God at the age of 26. 377 00:22:18,120 --> 00:22:21,960 There's nation national revival. And he goes on to say this says 378 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:25,840 this is 2 Kings 22. Neither before nor after Josiah 379 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:28,760 was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did, 380 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,920 who devoted himself to the Lord as he did with all his heart, 381 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,920 all his soul, and all his strength in accordance with all 382 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,800 the laws of Moses. He's saying, I'm devoting myself 383 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:42,320 to your word and to your ways with all my heart, all my soul, 384 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:44,680 all my mind. And this is what Scripture, this 385 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:49,600 is what Titus is calling us to. He is calling us to devote 386 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:53,600 ourselves to Him because one man's devotion can see an entire 387 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:58,280 nation changed, but one man's devotion can see generations 388 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:00,120 changed. I don't know if you know this. 389 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,480 Have you ever wondered where Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and 390 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:07,040 Abednego came onto the scene? I have. 391 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,240 I suppose it's my job. Like, where do these cats come 392 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:11,720 from? You know, you got they're, 393 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,200 they're in exile. They probably saw the entire 394 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:16,920 family executed. They're in Babylon, the most 395 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:21,040 wicked nation in world history. And yet they are standing as 396 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:23,720 fire in the presence of God among the people. 397 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:30,120 How does that happen, young men? Well simply because if you look 398 00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:33,280 at their family history you find that their families faith was 399 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,600 forged during the days of Josiah's devotion. 400 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,800 Because a genuine faith in the midst of genuine fake has power 401 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:46,680 to influence nations and generations. 402 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:48,920 And this is what we are calling you to. 403 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:51,760 This is what Titus is calling us to. 404 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:55,000 Now when we talk about one man's devotion, I often sit with 405 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:58,160 newlyweds or pre marriage counselling and I ask them this 406 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:02,320 question because this is real. This is real to me in terms of 407 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,600 the future of a marriage, of a family, the generations that are 408 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,120 coming after them. And I'll ask, do you know and do 409 00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:12,240 you know what are the statistics when it comes to marriage and 410 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:14,520 divorce currently? Don't know. 411 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:19,760 If you know this is 5050. So says to them, why do you want 412 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:21,560 to get married? No, because we're Christians. 413 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,280 I'm like, OK, do you know what the statistics are of divorce 414 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:31,920 among Christians? 5050 No amens for that. 415 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:40,520 Which means now if we were to divide 3 CI in half, me and my 416 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:47,480 wifey, now that's a wake up call. 417 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:50,680 But there's one guy you might know him, Doctor Phil. 418 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:53,120 He's a Christian psychologist. No, he is. 419 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:55,040 He's a Christian psychologist. And he looked at this and he 420 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,520 thought like, OK, but that's not so true about my church. 421 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,760 And that's certainly not true about 3 CI either. 422 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:03,920 It's not a 5050. And so he did some scratching 423 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:06,520 around and he realized, you know, the reason why it's skewed 424 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:11,640 is because they've included in his words nominal Christians or 425 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:16,280 of Christians who lack devotion. He changed 1. 426 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:20,160 He took the same study, the same pool that they tested and he 427 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:24,040 changed 1 parameter and he said the following If the married 428 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,240 couples relationship with God is at the point where they value 429 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:31,560 praying together, it's no longer one in two. 430 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:37,160 It's now only one in 10,000 of these marriages that fail. 431 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:40,880 The power of devotion. And Doctor Tom Ellis thought, 432 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:42,720 yo, this is incredible. Maybe there's more. 433 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:44,760 And he says what we have discovered is that Christian 434 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,280 couples who get married and remain engaged in their church 435 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:51,200 community together, devoted to one another, put a high value on 436 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,760 pray devoted to one another and their relationship with God 437 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,760 devoted to one another. The divorce rate, then is only 438 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:02,920 one in 59,000 marriages. Because there's something about 439 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,120 the power of devotion. And you see, what I wanted to 440 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:10,480 show you is not that there's some silly idea how. 441 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:14,160 Yeah, this is acute sermon title, the series titled 442 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:16,800 November. It's not some silly idea so that 443 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,680 you can really earn some brownie points in November because we 444 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:21,800 all know you're going to properly screw things up in 445 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,280 December. And so maybe, just maybe, we 446 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:26,760 might just get you through to January like, you know, with a 447 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,360 few things intact. That's not why we're doing 448 00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:32,600 November. We're also not doing November so 449 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,000 that we can have a devoted December. 450 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:42,280 We are doing November because that and that alone is what it 451 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,040 looks like to live a genuine faith. 452 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:51,240 That's what it looks like to live a life under grace. 453 00:26:52,360 --> 00:26:54,360 So take a look. I'll close with this verse. 454 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:59,920 Titus 2, verse 11 says for the grace of God has appeared that 455 00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:02,640 offers salvation to all people. That was my first point. 456 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:08,640 The grace of God appears that offers it's a free gift of 457 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:14,840 salvation to all people. And this grace teaches us to say 458 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:21,840 no, say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to devote 459 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:26,400 ourselves to live self controlled, upright and godly 460 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:31,040 lives in this present age. And those are my two points. 461 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:35,120 And that is my challenge to you. When you go home today, can I 462 00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:42,160 ask you, do not go home with a genuine fake, but instead lay 463 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:43,880 hold of your genuine faith? Amen.