Devotionals - Discover the Book - Feb. 18, 2012

Believing Right so that You Behave Right

Today as we return to Titus 2:7 we are looking at Paul explaining to Titus, how vitally Biblical Doctrine shapes the integrity of a believer’s life.

Paul admonishes Titus to live a life of integrity that has the moral purity which lines up in secret, with the pure doctrine that he proclaimed in public.

Paul has already challenged Titus to be an example of purity in doctrine in 1:9 and 2:1.  But now Paul turns to the hand that holds the Bible, the mouth that speaks the Word, and the life that is used in teaching others—that life must have consistency with that pure, orthodox, doctrine.

Satan’s Play Book Is Very Old

Satan has just one old playbook. His lies and tricks are old, have been used repeatedly through the centuries, and are all clear to spot. Each generation of believers faces very new and real attacks of these very old and familiar lies and deceptions.

Satan’s original pack of deceptive lies is in Genesis 3. They are still with us. Remember the tools Satan used in the Garden of Eden? Let me just state them again for you as we prepare to see them in action as we read our text. Satan convinced Eve to—

• Doubt God's Word:“Hath God said” (An attack on whether God has even spoken);
• Doubt God's Plan:“ye shall not surely die” (An attack on the Penal Substitutionary Atonement—only those who will trust in the perfect death of God’s Substitute will be saved).
• Doubt God’s Authority over Life:“your eyes shall be opened” (An attack on Biblical Epistemology—whether God's Word is the source of truth to live life God’s way.)

And those old deceptions are what we need to stand against as Paul aid with doctrinal integrity. Here is a simple plan:

1.  Doctrinal Integrity Action #1: Guard the Authority of the Bible

2.  Doctrinal Integrity Action #2: Guard the Cross

3.  Doctrinal Integrity Action #3: Guard the Truth

There has always been this same struggle within the church. A hundred years ago it was seen in what was called liberalism, today it is seen in what is being called the emergent church movement (ECM). Those same three lies that Satan pushed into Eden are now being pushed in Christ's Church.

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