For We Also Once Were Foolish Ourselves

Well, last Sunday, as I was here, I preached from Titus 2. And so I was thinking, what will I preach this week? Well, I know. How about Titus 3? And actually, you can't really imagine, I don't think, a more appropriate passage for us today than Titus 3. If you remember, I'll just take this opportunity to do what Titus 2 told me to do as a pastor last week. I'll just do it again. I urge you younger men to be sensible. All right. Would you please stand with me as we read Titus 3? We're going to read verses 1 through 11. Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy. by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement, and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.

But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Remember, if you were here last week, the last line of chapter two, if you have your Bible open, you'll see it. The very last thing he says at the end of chapter two, again, the apostle Paul writing to Titus, the pastor, telling Titus how to shepherd the flock, right? The last thing he says to Titus in verse 15 of chapter two, these things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority, let no one disregard you. Remember that? And then chapter three, verse one.

Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient. This is really important for us. God calls us, he commands us to be subject to our authorities. Of every realm, right? In the home, he commands us to be subject to our fathers and our mothers. Children. In the church. As you see here, chapter 2, verse 15, he gives authority. God gives authority to the pastor and commands the pastor to use his authority. If the pastor decides not to use his authority, what is that pastor then? He's a rebel, you see. He doesn't have a choice because God commands him. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. If a pastor says, well, you know, I'm just going to be a buddy and a friend and I'm not going to.

We don't need that kind of hierarchy stuff. Authority, we don't, you know, that's, well, then he is therefore a rebel. Same thing of fathers. Same thing is true in the civil realm. And that's what he's talking about in chapter three, verse one. He says, remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient. Now notice that he says, remind them. What does that mean? They already know. How would they know? Well, this is all over the place. This is all over the place in the New Testament and in the Old Testament. I mean, think about this. Look at this verse, verses 1 and 2. Just kind of get the big picture for a second. Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. There are really two big things here that he's saying.

And they correspond to the two big things. You remember when the lawyer asked Jesus, what is the greatest commandment? What does he say? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. And the second is like it, which is what? Love your neighbor as yourself. That's what this is. It's actually both of those. How is that? He doesn't say anything about God here. Well, remember, Scripture tells us, okay, we might as well read it. Romans 13, every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. What is he saying here? If you reject authority, you are rejecting God. This is why If you reject authority, you're breaking the commandment of God, right? Every authority that God has established in the world, including in the civil realm, in the church, and in the home, is a representation of him. This is why we hate authority, because we're bent against God. We're bent to hate him. So any kind of representation of authority, we naturally hate. This is why our world hates authority.

This is why our world hates fathers. This is why our world hates civil leaders, actually. It's why we hate pastors. Because they all stand in the place of God. In the sense that God has given them authority, right? And so these verses 1 and 2, that's the first thing to see here. He says, remind them of these things because these things are written all over the Bible. and they're written in our conscience. Everybody knows this. We are to respect authority. God says it over and over again. Fear God, honor the king, right? In fact, that's in 1 Peter 2, where he says this in verse 13. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority or to governors as sent by him for whom.

for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right, you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Over and over and over again. This is the grain of scripture, right? This is to be our most basic instinct as Christians. Towards authority is submission, obedience, and honor. Again, this is true in the home. We all love it, dads, husbands, don't we? We all love it when we're talking about it in the home. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the home. Yeah, fathers, husbands, yeah. Pastors and elders, we all love it when we're talking about it in the church.

And here it is in the civil realm over and over again. We don't like that so much, especially today. Christians right now are not doing well with this. Remember what I just read to you in 1 Peter 2, verse 15, such as the will of God that by doing right, you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Well, we're not doing a good job of silencing the ignorance of foolish men today. As I said last week, the world isn't stupid, actually. I mean, they're foolish. We'll get to that in a minute. But they're not stupid. And so when they see, okay, this is what the Bible says, and this is what Christians say and do, remember? Well, it just must all be a joke. That's what the world says when they look at us. It must just all be a joke. They don't believe it. They don't believe that authority is established by God.

If they did, they would obey it. But they don't, so it must all just be a joke. All right? This is what the world thinks of us. And it's our fault. So easy for us to come up with all the reasons why this doesn't apply to us. Right? Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient. Fear God, honor the king. Submit yourself for the Lord's sake to every institution of man. Obey the governing authorities because every authority that exists has been established by God. Yeah, but that doesn't mean us. That doesn't mean Joe Biden. Why? We all know that Joe Biden is illegitimate because of election fraud. Now, okay, maybe. I mean, seriously, very much maybe. All right? Okay. Who was the king when?

When the apostle Paul wrote this, do you all know? Nero, how did Nero become emperor? His mother, he and his mother conspired to assassinate his predecessor. That doesn't sound very legitimate to me. That's some fraud right there, right? And then he killed his wife. No, no, then he killed his mother. And then he killed his wife. And then he took Christians and wrapped them up in animal skins and threw them to the dogs. And then he took Christians and wrapped them up in oilcloth and burned them as tiki torches in his patio parties. Seriously, this is Nero. But Nero held an office, just like every one of you fathers holds an office. And your wives and children don't get to say, well, I don't like him. Therefore, I'm not going to obey. He's wrong sometimes. Therefore, I'm not going to obey. Is this how authority and submission works?

We all kind of, sort of, maybe begin to get it at home. Maybe. But then when it comes to the civil realm, it's all totally different somehow. But it's not. It's not. Over and over again, Scripture calls us to this. And so we look at our current situation and we think, well, this doesn't apply to me. I'm not going to submit to that. And so by our... Words we profess to know and honor and fear God, but by our deeds we deny him, right? I've heard other excuses. You know, well, you know, none of this applies to us. Romans 13 doesn't apply to us. First Peter 2 doesn't apply to us. Titus 3 doesn't apply to us. Why? Well, because we don't have rulers, actually. We have a constitution. So we don't actually have to submit to anybody because there is no one person.

who is the ultimate authority in the land. The Constitution is the law of the land, and that's that. And so it depersonalizes it, and we don't have to actually, conveniently, none of this applies to us. We're Americans. Huh. Isn't that neat? No, actually, that's hogwash. And you know it. This applies in all cultures, in all political systems, in every place. This is the word of God, and it is eternally true. And we don't get to just decide with your eraser, well, actually, no, this doesn't apply to me. When it's talking about rulers and authorities and being obedient and submitting to government, well, conveniently, that doesn't apply to me because we have a different system. Fear God, honor the king. Oh, there is no king. That means that doesn't apply. That's poppycock. All right? It is, and you know it.

This is us trying to wiggle out of what God commands us here. Here's the other thing that gets thrown up constantly. If anyone even begins to say, you know, oh, remember Romans 13 tells us, oh, so you think that we should just blindly obey everything that the government ever says, no matter what. unquestioning obedience to everything the government ever says. That's what you think. You statist. Quoting Romans 13, you're ignorant. I mean, you hear this all the time. Don't you hear this all the time? I hear it all the time. Of course not. Come on. You know, it's such an absurd thing to say. You take something that's very clear and you reduce it to meaninglessness introducing an absurdity? No. Nobody's saying that if the government tells you to disobey God, that you must disobey God. Right? No. No one's saying that. You'll notice in Scripture, whenever subjects of state government authorities disobey those authorities, and there are many examples of this. We could list them for a long time.

Think about the midwives in Egypt where the Pharaoh tells them, go kill the babies under two years old or whatever it was, or the male children, remember this? And the midwives said no. And they kind of cheated and snuck around and made it such that that didn't happen. And God honored them for it because they feared the Lord, right? You have all kinds of examples of this. The Apostle Paul himself. When the state is out to get him unjustly, he gets let down the city walls of Damascus in a basket. And he runs. This kind of thing you see all over the place. But what kinds of issues are at stake when you see that going on? Or when the apostles in the book of Acts are commanded by the authorities not to preach anymore. And they say, we're going to obey God rather than men.

Whether we should obey God or men, you decide, is what they say to those leaders. And then they go and preach. It says they keep right on preaching, right? And they get whipped for it and they get in prison for it. Some of them get beheaded for it. What is always at stake in those kinds of examples of people refusing to obey state authority? What's always at stake? Either life, like the Hebrew midwives and the babies, or what? The gospel. That's it. Not things that you deem to be onerous. Okay? Just look at what the Bible says. I remind you. I remind you what the Bible says. Here it is. Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient. Don't constantly make yourself excuses for why this doesn't apply to you. That is rebellious. Alright? Honor your father and mother.

That's a placeholder for authority. Then he says this at the end of verse 1. He shifts gears. So he's been talking about, I think, that Godward command, right? Honor authority. There are real authorities that you have to honor because they've been placed there by God. You dishonor them, you're dishonoring God. So don't do that. Then he says this, to be ready for every good deed. To malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. This is love your neighbor, right? To be ready for every good deed. This is like, you know, prepare yourself. Be primed. You know, have a hair trigger for doing good deeds. Be ready for them. Be always on the lookout for an opportunity to do good deeds. It's not the kind of thing that you're supposed to, oh.

Well, wait a minute. Oh, yeah, maybe. Oh, I guess I should. Huh? No, be ready. Be ready. Be looking for opportunities to do good things to your neighbors, for your neighbors, to be ready for every good deed, he says. You know, go out of your way to do good things for people. Then he says this, verse 2, to malign no one. You know what it means to malign someone? You know, to revile them, to say bad things about them, to put them down, to belittle them, to slander them. You know what this word is? This word is the word blaspheme is the word. Literally, that's the word, blaspheme. He says, don't blaspheme anybody. Oh, you can only blaspheme God. No, you can blaspheme people too. And that's interesting, isn't it? Because why? Remember what James says?

Hold on. James 3, talking about our tongue, verse 9. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. So it's perfectly appropriate. Here it is. The Holy Spirit uses this word blaspheme, not for God, but for men. To malign men, to curse men, is to curse God. That's what James just said. Because men are made in the image of God. So here we are again. Oh, praise God, bless God, bless God. I hate that guy. What an idiot. These things ought not to be, James says. Now look, we are, again, we're not doing well with this, generally, right now. Brothers and sisters.

I mean us Christians. We have decided none of these commands apply to us when it comes to the government. We can say whatever we want. We can malign them all day long. In fact, it's a sign of our righteousness the more we malign them. Right? To malign no one, he says. Then he says to be peaceable. That's pretty self-explanatory. Don't fight. Don't be obnoxious. Don't be pugnacious. To be gentle. Showing every consideration for all men. Think about what that means. Don't you like it when people show consideration for you? Okay, I'm sorry. I realize you had a bad day. I realize you're going through some hard things right now. You know what? I'm sorry. I'm going to, you know, try to take the load off. We love it when people do that to us. When they show consideration for us. He says show every consideration for all men.

Now, I don't know about you, but man, these two verses just, they just hit me hard. They hit me hard when it comes to the government. They hit me hard when it comes to my neighbors. You guys know my neighbors, literally, you know? And it's hard. Man, I like to talk bad about them. We've got a, I work two days a week for a home builder and we're building a house right now. They're not watching. And there's some particular clients that are just so difficult. Oh my goodness. And so this doesn't come naturally. We don't want to do this. We want to find every opportunity to actually malign, to be pugnacious, to be harsh, to read everything in the harshest terms possible instead of showing every consideration for all men. No.

We're going to, you know, read it in the worst possible light. This hits hard, and it's not easy. It does, in fact, cut against our grain, doesn't it? Everything in this. It's like, no, I can't do that. And so God is very kind to us here in Titus 3 because he could just say, do these things. I'm the Lord. I'm telling you to do them. Or to stop them. Do this. Do it. And that's that. Why? Because I said so. He would be perfectly in his rights to do that. But God is very kind to us because he actually gets down and kind of starts reasoning with us. And giving us and helping us think this through. Okay. So that's what he starts doing in verse 3. He starts helping us think this through. He gives us reasons. That's why verse 3 begins with the word for. You see that? Because.

Let me help you here. Let me help you understand why and how, actually, to do this. Verse three, for we also once were foolish ourselves. So what is he saying here? What this tells us is when he's talking about being subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men, what he's talking about is our Our interaction with unbelievers. Verses 1 and 2 is all about unbelievers. Okay? How do you know? Because of what he says in verse 3. For we also once were foolish ourselves. Do you see this? Yeah, they're foolish. That's exactly the way you used to be. He's talking, so all of our interaction, verses 1 and 2, is not about...

people inside the church that it's easier to love and to be peaceful with and all that? No, no, no, no. He's talking about the people outside. He's talking about unbelievers. He's talking about people who are trapped and dead in their sins. So he's reasoning. He says, look, you need to be kind to them. You need to be patient with them. You need to be peaceful with them. You need to be gentle with them. You need to show them every consideration. Why? Well, because you used to be just like that. Just like that. Look at the words he uses. For we also once were foolish ourselves. This is the opposite of sensible. We also once were foolish ourselves. A fool is the one who hates authority. That's the mark of the fool. Read the Proverbs. When he's rebuked, He hates it. When he's instructed, he hates it. When he's given any direction, he chafes against it. That's what it means to be a fool. Don't you remember what that was like? For we also once were foolish ourselves. Disobedient. Don't you remember what it was like to hate authority? Just to hate it. And to throw it off at every opportunity. Deceived. Don't you remember what it was like to be deceived?

To not know the truth. To follow after whatever it was for you. Enslaved to various lusts and pleasures. Don't you remember what that was like? To not be able to stop, right? To have no hope. To even know what you were doing was wrong, but still, you couldn't do anything about it. You were enslaved by various lusts and pleasures. Lusts and pleasures of all sorts. Spending our life in malice. You know what? Malice, malice, that hatred, that anger and envy. What a poisonous mix. Malice and envy. I hate everybody and I want everything they've got. I hate everybody and I wish I was them. Don't you remember that? Don't you see that out there? Spending our life in malice and envy. Hateful, hating one another.

Hateful here is not what we do, it's what we deserve. So hateful and hating one another go together. Hating one another is, okay, we used to hate everybody, right? Hateful means we deserve the hate of everybody else. We deserved hate and we gave it back. We got it and we dished it out. That's what life is like apart from Christ. What does he say? Also, once were all of that. That is what everybody is apart from Christ. Look at that list. It's awful. It's really, really awful. This is everybody. You're either this way or you used to be that way. That's true of everyone in this room right now. You either used to be like this or you are like this now. That's it. It's pretty harsh.

It's pretty brutal, but it's true. Why does he bring this up here? Because he's telling you how to relate to the people outside, the people who are unbelievers, both in the government and on the street, right? How are you to relate to them? Well, peaceful, gentle, ready for every good deed. Don't talk bad about them. Show every consideration for them. Why? Because you used to be exactly the same. Don't you remember that? What makes you think you're any better than them? You're not any better than them. You're exactly them. No, we're not, because here we are. I mean, look, we're better than that, aren't we? Well, yeah, he does say you used to be that way, but what made the difference? What made the difference? How come you're not that way anymore? Verse four, but, but.

When the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy. Think of that. Think of it. How else could it possibly be? That description is really us. How could we possibly get it into your mind that, oh, he saved me because I was righteous? No, you weren't. You were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending your life in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. That was you. And somehow, some people, you still think, yeah, and if I try real hard, I can make God like me. I can do works that will cause him to receive me. Really? Good luck with that. Because this is who you are. There's no hope. Are you kidding me? There's no hope.

Stop it. Some of you are still trying. Some of you still think, if I actually get it perfectly right, God will accept me. No, come on. This is where you have to start, right? If you don't believe, if you don't accept, if you don't see and acknowledge that this is you, you have no hope and you'll never have any hope. Because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. And when he saves someone, he makes them humble. Strips the rug out from under them, knocks them down, shows them their sin, and takes away from them any kind of hope of deeds, being rewarded for deeds that they have done in righteousness. No. When the kindness of God, the kindness, when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared. This is why you cannot...

be a Christian and continue to have this bitterness, this hatred, this malice, this envy towards other men. Do you remember the story that Jesus tells of the king who has a servant who owes him this ridiculous debt, this ridiculous astronomical debt? Do you remember this story? And the king, the servant says, I can't pay it. He falls down on his face and says, please forgive me. I can't pay this. And the king says, okay, I'm going to forgive you. Remember this? And what does that guy do next? Yeah, he goes out and finds a guy who owes him five bucks. And it says he strangles him and says, you pay me. And what does Jesus say about that guy? Outer darkness, weeping, gnashing of teeth. Do you see this? Our God.

Your God, you claim to be a Christian, has been kind to you. He's been kind to you. His heart towards you is full of pity, compassion, tenderness, love, forgiveness. And he doesn't, you're not twisting his arm. He doesn't, this is who he is. God is love for crying out loud. This is what he's like. He loves to take pity on poor sinners. He loves it. The kindness of God, our Savior, his love for mankind has appeared, and so he saved us. That's why you can't be filled with malice anymore. You can't be filled with anger and envy and bitterness. You can't have a hard heart towards people. You can't walk out of here and see the people out there and look down on them.

The only reason you're different from them is because God was kind to you. And he saved you. Not on the basis of deeds which you have done in righteousness. There are no such things. You don't have any. But according to his mercy. His mercy. Getting the opposite of what we deserve. That's what mercy is. Deserving death, getting life instead. How? How does he do this? It says, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us. How? Stingily? Miserly? No, richly. Through Jesus Christ, our Savior. The washing of regeneration. He gave you a new heart, took out the heart of stone.

put in a heart of flesh, took out the hard heart, gave you a soft heart, caused you to be born again, renewed you by the Holy Spirit, which is why he says in verse 3, for we also once were, not anymore. You've been washed. You've been renewed. God is at work in you. You have the Holy Spirit. You don't have just the little bit of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been poured out on you richly. Not just a little sprinkle, but a... Right? Why? Verse 7. So that being justified by his grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. What in the world do you have to be angry about with your neighbor? You're an heir of eternal life. You're justified. You know what that means? When God looks at you, he doesn't see your sin. He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ and he treats you like that.

He gives you what Jesus deserves. What does Jesus deserve? Life, glory, honor, blessing. That's what Jesus deserves. This is what it means to be justified. For God to look at you and treat you not as you deserve. That's what happened. Jesus got treated how you deserve. Crushed, killed. That's what you deserve. No, he treats you. Exactly how Jesus deserves to be treated. Life. Blessing. You are an heir of eternal life. And you get mad at your neighbor for how they mow the grass. How they drive. How they vote. Well, let me finish up the rest of the passage. Because it looks like it gets a little disjointed here. But it is really all connected. So let me read it. Verse 8.

This is a trustworthy statement. Of course it is. And concerning these things, I want you, so now he's talking to Titus, the pastor again, right? This is a trustworthy statement. I want you, Pastor Titus, to speak about these things confidently, right? Why? So that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. Good deeds. You're not saved by doing deeds that you do in righteousness. No, that's impossible. But when you think about the mercy of God, when you think about the kindness of God, the love of God, the free, rich generosity of him pouring out his Holy Spirit upon you, remember last week I talked about motive and power? Well, here it is again. These are the things that you think about so that you can be careful.

to engage in good deeds. This is the motivation and the power that you need. Then he says, these things are good and profitable for men. It's really good if you will take hold of these things and do them. This will be good for you, actually. Good and profitable for you. Now, verse 9. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. All right. Young men. Talked to you last week. I'm going to talk to you again because that's what most of you are. Young men love to get into all kinds of foolish controversies, strife, disputes, about all kinds of things that God calls unprofitable and worthless. What's profitable, he just said, is these things. You know, like submit to your rulers and your authorities and be obedient and don't be malicious.

Be kind and peaceful to all men and think about the fact that you once were just like them and now you're not. And the reason you're not is not because you're great, but because God had mercy on you and loved you and caused you to be born again and justified and poured out of spirit. Think about those things because that's actually profitable. Argue about that all you want. You know what I mean. Talk about that stuff all you want. If you have questions, sure, argue about it. But don't argue about stupid stuff. What's the point? Unprofitable and worthless. And then verse 10. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and sinning, being self-condemned. You know what factious means? The word here is heretical. Heretical, we think of doctrine, right? A heresy is a bad doctrine. A heretic is someone who teaches a wrong doctrine, right?

But all that word means is, well, this word, factious, divisive, is what that means. You can be a heretic and be perfectly orthodox in your doctrine. But if you're divisive in the church, you're a heretic. It doesn't have to be doctrinal division. It often is. It doesn't have to be. You could just be a rebel. And you want to, you know, put a little word here that... It makes people not trust this guy over here and put a little word over here. It makes people think, hmm, maybe I should, yeah, I don't know about that. Hmm. You know, and then you're dividing the church. And then you're destroying the church. The Apostle Paul has very strong words against people who destroy the church. He says in 1 Corinthians, if you destroy the church, God will destroy you. That's what he says.

And that's in the context of division and fights. So, think about this. This all goes together. We live in a time that is just ripe for division in the church. Why? Well, because we hate authority. We're rejecting our government authority. We're rejecting fathers and mothers in the home. We're rejecting pastors in the church. And in a weird way today, all of that's mixed up together. And we are ripe for division. Ripe for it. You have the perfect setup for this. I saw a text yesterday from a man who was sent to a man in one of our sister churches in Evangel, Presbytery. And this text was a man warning this guy in the church in Evangel that his church was statist, right?

I can't remember the words he used. But that the bottom line is that man who received this text should flee the yoke of his pastor. That's literally what he said. Some of you have stood shoulder to shoulder with the man who sent that text down at Planned Parenthood. And this is what he thinks of you. And of me. And of the other pastor. Okay? And so we are ripe for division. This is a man trying to do all that he can. To get people to reject their pastors. Because they don't do things exactly the way he thinks they should. But we're willing to work with this guy. Very dangerous. Trust me. Very dangerous. Reject a factious man. How many warnings? Two. This is kind of a fast track. Right? And why? Reject a factious man after a first and second warning. Knowing that such a man is perverted.

To be factious in the church, to being division in the church is perverted. And what? He is perverted and he is sinning, being self-condemned. I mean, this is like if you walk into the Supreme Court, bring a gun into the Supreme Court, walk up to a guy and shoot him, right? Do we need a trial? I mean, you know, there it is. There it is for everyone to see. That's what he's saying here. This divisiveness in the church is that simple and that awful. Immediate action. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning. Knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned. Like I said, this text, I think, is perfect for us. It's what we need. It's what we need. Blow out the fog of all the voices that are telling you otherwise. Blow it out. Come back to your senses.

Be reminded of what Scripture actually says. Know your heart. Know what you used to be. Know that those things are still in there. Put it away. Remember the grace of God. Love your neighbor. Love the peace and purity of the church. May God help us. Let's pray.