Termites in God’s Holy Church

Titus 1:10-16
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, March 01, 2015
Copyright © 2015, P. G. Mathew
Language [Japanese]

The visible church in the world is not perfect. It is composed of three kinds of people. First, there are those who are born of God and who live godly lives. Second, there are those born of God but who are temporarily living backslidden lives. Third, there are those who are not born again and so are living sinful lives, pretending to be Christians when they are not.

In the pastoral epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus), the emphasis is on good works. Your faith must lead to holiness, godliness, God-likeness. If it does not, then you are a termite.

Paul commissioned Titus to straighten out unfinished matters of the church on the island of Crete. He was to appoint pious and learned ministers of the gospel in every church. These pastors and elders were to be men who held firmly to the gospel, thus being fully qualified to teach and refute all opponents. Most pastors today could not qualify for this job. They are not pious and learned in the holy Scriptures. They are incompetent to interpret Scripture correctly.

Some people wrongly think that churches in the apostolic age were very holy. The New Testament tells us a different story. In Titus 1:10–16 we find the true story, that there were many termites in the early church. These leaders appointed by Titus were required to deal with them, and Paul instructs how to do so in this passage. First, then, we want to examine the nature of the termites in God’s holy church.

 

The Nature of Termites

1. REBELLIOUS

First, these termites are rebellious. “For there are many rebellious people” (v. 10). The Greek word is anupotaktoi. In the New Testament church, many were rebellious, unruly, insubordinate, and autonomous. They did not submit to or obey the Lord Jesus Christ and his ministers.

The authority of God-called and commissioned ministers who preach God’s word faithfully is the authority of Christ himself. They preach the word of God in the name of Christ.

Having termites in the church is nothing new. We read of such people throughout the New Testament. John writes, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us” (1 John 2:19).

We also read,

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. (Heb. 6:4–8)

 

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb. 10:26–31)

 

These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.” (2 Pet. 2:17–22)

 

Termites do not serve Christ; they serve the devil. Some people say they are autonomous, but they are not. There are a few people who are controlled by the Holy Spirit. Of them Paul writes, “As many as are being led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). The vast majority of people are led by the devil. John declares, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).

But there is no true autonomy in the world. People either serve our Lord Jesus according to the Bible or they serve the devil. Many people, even in the church, are rebellious toward the Lord, who is given all authority in God’s universe. In Psalm 2 we are told that God rules the rebellious with an iron scepter and dashes them to pieces like pottery, in his wrath and in his own time.

The word for rebellious, anupotaktoi, is also used in Titus 1:6. The children of the pastors are not to be rebellious but obedient and believing. Rebellious people are those who despise God’s authority. Of such people, Jude writes, “In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings” (Jude 8). Peter says, “This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings” (2 Pet. 2:10). In 1 Samuel 15:23 we read, “For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.” And Paul writes, “These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you” (Titus 2:15).

 

2. EMPTY TALKERS

Paul says, “For there are many . . . mere talkers” (v. 10). The second characteristic of termites is that they are mataiologoi, empty talkers. These termites talk much; they are like some politicians and most of the preachers today. They use flowery language but say nothing. They simply expel the hot air of destruction. Their words are “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Their words have no gospel, no salvation, no atonement, and no Jesus Christ of history. These termites want their listeners to be healthy, wealthy, and famous. They pretend to be full of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But, in fact, they are filled with the gifts of demons. They prophesy to people and tell them what to do. They invoke the Holy Spirit when they are, in fact, speaking by the devil.

Such termites intend to destroy as many as they can in a deceptive, sly manner. Their every word is designed to make people feel good so that they can empty their pockets. They are like shepherds who kill their sheep and then eat them (Ezekiel 34). They are empty of the gospel of grace. They only entertain. They say Jesus is Savior, but not Lord. They say, “Believe in Jesus, sin all you want, and you will go to heaven.” They are warped to their very core. They are spiritual quacks, medicine men, engaged in active deception to make money, which is the god they worship.

 

3. DECEIVERS

Next, Paul says that they are “deceivers” (v. 10). Everything these termites say has a purpose, which is to deceive their listeners. They are like their father the devil. Paul writes, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:1–2). Such people are today’s televangelists and evangelicals who refuse to preach the gospel.

 

4. SPIRITUAL CRETANS

Then Paul says, “Even one of their own prophets has said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true” (vv. 12–13). Termites are spiritual Cretans. In the sixth century BC, the Cretan poet Epimenides of Knossos said of his own people, “They are always liars.” Cicero later said in his Republic, “Cretans consider highway robbery honorable.” Of such people John wrote, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death” (Rev. 21:8).

Paul, then, concurred with Epimenides and said that Cretans are always liars. This is true of spiritual Cretans in most churches throughout the world. They are “always liars, vicious beasts, lazy gluttons.” Elsewhere Paul writes of such people, “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things” (Phil. 3:19). These people love pleasure, not God. They run after these things. They worship their stomach and keep feeding it until it bulges out.

Termites are also lazy gluttons. They pick the pockets of gullible Christians who do not care for the gospel. They are lovers of pleasure, full of lusts. They eat a lot but refuse to work. These characteristics describe many pleasure-loving, spiritual-Cretan ministers of today. They ruin whole families and churches with their hedonistic, money-grabbing, garbage teaching. Occasionally some of them go to prison, but as soon as they get out, they go back to ruining people and making more money.

Paul refers to such people: “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God” (2 Cor. 2:17). He understood that many preachers of his time were peddling the gospel for profit. Today we see many so-called ministers making a lot of money by not preaching the word of God.

Jude says of such ministers, “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion” (Jude 11). Balaam prayed that he may die like the righteous, but he did not, for he was not righteous (Josh. 13:22). Peter writes, “They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness” (2 Pet. 2:15).

Paul writes elsewhere,

If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Tim. 6:3–10)

 

Professor Jay Adams of Westminster Seminary said this: “Lives are ruined by religious shysters concerned about little else than making money.”¹

 

5. CANCEROUS

Paul writes, “They are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach” (v. 11). The teaching of the termites is cancerous. By it, they ruin people and send them to hell. They do everything to amuse and entertain. They teach psychology, sociology, science-fiction, Jewish and Christian myths, religious pluralism, and entertainment. They teach everything but the gospel about Jesus Christ, crucified and risen and reigning.

Elsewhere Paul writes, “Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness’” (2 Tim. 2:16–19).

He also warns, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ” (Col. 2:8). Some churches are there to trap people. If a church preaches the word of God exegetically and expositorally, then it is God’s holy church, because the preached word is the primary means of grace.

Paul also writes,

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (Col. 2:16–23)

 

So he tells us, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound [healthy] doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:2–4). But we must listen to what we don’t want to hear, when someone is telling us about our sin and need to repent.

The termites’ teaching is contrary to Scripture. It is demonic. And there is no freedom in Christ’s holy church to teach non-biblical garbage. That freedom is available everywhere else, but in Christ’s holy church, we must teach God’s word only. We do not teach myths and commandments of men who reject the truth, the gospel of the triune God. “Let God be true, and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4).

 

6. UNCLEAN

Paul explains, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure” (v. 15). Spiritual termites are impure. They are totally depraved in their intellects, wills, and emotions. They misunderstand God and his creation. They choose always to sin. Their emotions are always malfunctioning.

This is the doctrine of total depravity, found throughout the Bible. In Genesis we read, “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5). Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). No man understands, but God does. Jesus said, “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean’” (Mark 7:21–23).

The minds and consciences of these people are permanently defiled. In the Greek, the word (memiammenois) is in the perfect tense. They are stained and defiled in the past, and they continue to be stained and defiled.

Such people see everything through their dirty minds and dirty consciences. They see good as evil and evil as good. They are like the fool who says in his heart, “There is no God.” They do so because they refuse to believe in God. They are defiled. Only the word of God and the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse such minds and consciences.

In Acts 15:9 Peter said about the Gentiles, “[The Lord] made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith,” meaning faith in the gospel, faith in the blood of Christ. Elsewhere Peter wrote, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Pet. 1:22). The truth makes us clean. Jesus said, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you” (John 15:3). Paul writes, “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:5). He began this epistle, “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness” (Titus 1:1).

Examine your own life. If you are living a sinful life in an ongoing manner, you are not a Christian. Paul writes, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:11–12).

 

7. CORRECT CONFESSION, CONTRADICTORY LIFE

Paul says, “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him” (v. 16). These termites do speak correctly about the true God. (PGM) They publicly confess with their mouths, “Jesus is Lord,” and agree with all the apostolic doctrines of the church. They are duly baptized and become members of Christ’s visible church on earth. They regularly attend all worship services and regularly receive holy communion. Yet they remain termites, not born of the Holy Spirit and so incapable of saying “No” to ungodliness and living a godly life.

Termites confess correct doctrine, but by their works they deny the true God. They believe, but they live the same old sinful life. Paul speaks of our old life outside of Christ: “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another” (Titus 3:3).

But the Holy Spirit brings about radical change in the life of every believer. We go from being darkness to light, from being dead to being alive, from hating God to loving God and all his children. Paul writes, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret” (Eph. 5:8–12).

Paul also says, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:9–11).

He also says, “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness’” (1 Tim. 2:19). John writes, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6). He also says, “The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4).

Jesus said, “You shall know them by their fruit.” To some who came to him and said, “We prophesied and did many works in your name,” he said, “Go to hell, because you are workers of iniquity” (see Matt. 7:20–23). Paul says such people have “a form of godliness but [deny] its power. Have nothing to do with them” (2 Tim. 3:5). And in Ezekiel 35:31, the Lord told the prophet, “My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.”

 

8. DETESTABLE, DISOBEDIENT, DEPRAVED

Then Paul says, “They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good” (v. 16).

 

1. These termites are detestable (bdeluktoi, which literally means excrement). That is the word the Holy Spirit uses. They are disgusting people. They are not called the light of the world, they are not pure in heart, they are not justified or being sanctified, and they are not adopted children of God. Termites are still without hope and without God in the world. They are children of the devil, on their way to eternal hell.
2. They are disobedient (apeitheis) to God, to his word, and to his ministers.
3. They are depraved (adokimoi), unable to do any good work. Those born of God do good works. Termites are not born of God and so they cannot do any good work to please God. Paul says:

 

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Rom. 1:28–32)

 

Ministry to Termites and Others

What do we do about termites—about those who are corrupted and refuse to believe the gospel, but are in the church? Pastors are given the responsibility to deal with them in several ways so that they may become sound in the faith.

Paul writes, “They must be silenced . . . rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith” (vv. 11, 13). Pastors are to stop the mouths of the rebellious, those who despise God’s authority. When any true minister, called and commissioned by Christ, speaks the word of God, he is speaking by the authority of Christ because he is preaching the word of God in the name of Christ. His people will hear and do, and be saved and blessed. When Christian parents speak, they are also speaking in the authority of Christ, and their children are to obey them.

Pastors who are filled with the Holy Spirit and the word of God are to silence the rebellious termites in the church. They are to put muzzles on them to stop them from teaching the anti-gospel of human ideas that contradicts the objective gospel of the person and work of Christ. They must work as pest controllers to stop the destructive work of these termites in three ways.

 

1. PREACH THE GOSPEL

First, they must deal with the termites in the church by preaching the pure gospel. They must set forth arguments based on God’s word. They must preach through the entire Bible. They must preach expository sermons. The primary source of grace is the preached word.

If you go to a church that does not preach the Bible, it is a synagogue of Satan. Run from it, because that church will send you to hell. The church is to be the pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15).

To silence the errorists, pastors must preach the truth. To dispel darkness, they must shine the light of God’s word, exposing and condemning errors. Preaching truth means preaching Christ, as promised in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament.

Why do we preach Christ? We do so because only Jesus can save sinners. Only the gospel of grace can save the ungodly and make them godly. Nothing else can do this. So pastors must preach the gospel clearly, directly, powerfully, compassionately, for it alone is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. Pastors must teach, rebuke, correct, and train their people, so that they themselves may live the gospel and oppose all errors.

 

2. WARN THE ERRORISTS

Second, pastors should warn the errorists, the termites, so that they may repent of their errors and be brought back to the sound faith of the gospel. We are to preach the gospel powerfully, fearlessly, clearly, and directly. If a pastor does not preach the gospel, he is not showing love to his people. Such a person cares nothing about his flock. He is simply there to make a buck.

A minister must preach the word, and warn and oppose those who teach and practice error. In the previous passage, Paul told Titus to use certain criteria when choosing elders. The elder or pastor “must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught [by the apostles], so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (Titus 1:9).

The job of a pastor is certainly difficult. He may be preaching to multi-millionaires, or people with multiple PhDs. Who is he to tell them what to do? But a true pastor is entrusted with the very word of God. He is to declare truth to them, without discrimination. Paul writes, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Tim. 4:2). A pastor must speak with the authority given to him by Christ.

So Paul exhorts, “Rebuke them sharply.” Jesus himself said, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent” (Rev. 3:19). If we are not rebuked and disciplined, we are illegitimate children (see Hebrews 12). If our pastor rebukes us or our father rebukes us, it is because they love us. They rebuke us so that we can come back to our senses and do what is right in the sight of God.

The psalmist says, “Let a righteous man strike me; it is a kindness. Let him rebuke me; it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it” (Ps. 141:5). A rebuke is a blessing, in other words. May we appreciate our pastors and parents and anyone else who in love will rebuke us. “It is oil on my head.”

 

3. EXCOMMUNICATE THE WICKED (OR EXERCISE DISCIPLINE)

The final action pastors must take is what most churches do not practice. It is the third mark of the church. The first mark is preaching of the word, the second is valid administration of the sacraments, and the third is excommunication. If people do not want to change when they hear the preaching, warning, and rebuke, then the church has no choice but to put them out and hand them over to Satan that he may destroy their flesh (1 Cor. 5:4–5).

Paul speaks much about exercising such discipline in the church. Later in this epistle he says, “But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned” (Titus 3:9–11).

Elsewhere, Paul encouraged Timothy to hold on “to faith and a good conscience.” But then he added, “Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme” (1 Tim. 1:19–20). Elsewhere he exhorts, “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people” (Rom. 16:17–18).

To the Galatians Paul wrote, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let him be eternally condemned. As we have already said, so now I saw again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned” (Gal. 1:8–9). The word for condemned, or cursed, is an Aramaic word: anathema.

 

Conclusion

This is my counsel to the true people of God. First, I encourage you to become a member of a healthy church, if you are not already in one. A healthy church is a church where very pious and learned pastors preach the gospel and nothing but the gospel, and oppose all errors.

Consider Paul, who wrote a book of very necessary theology: his epistle to the Romans. Without such theology, we would remain naïve and gullible. We may be emotional, but we have no understanding of the gospel. Paul said in Acts 26, “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God, and prove their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20).

If there is no proof in a person’s life, his profession that he is a Christian means nothing. Such people profess to know Christ, but by their deeds they deny him (Titus 1:16). They are detestable, disobedient, and depraved to do any good work. Godliness is so important. If we believe in the gospel, it must lead us to become godly by doing the will of God.

If a church does not preach the gospel, it is a synagogue of Satan. The pastor is sick, and his sickness is contagious. He will make his whole congregation sick by not preaching the sound doctrine (1 Tim. 6:3-5). Run from such a church!

If a pastor is a shyster who is interested only in making money for himself, his church is not God’s holy church. Run from that church! Find a church with pious and learned ministers, even if it is a little far from your home. In doing so, you will save your soul as you hear and do the word of God.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” He was not speaking about those who are detestable, disobedient, and depraved. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Without holiness no one will see God.” This is why Peter tells us, “Make your calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:10).

Only one thing is needful. What must we do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

 

¹ Jay Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Commentary: 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus(Hackettstown, NJ: Timeless Texts, 1994), 102.