The Danger of a False Profession

Titus 1:16 ~ “They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”
 
We looked upon the dreary condition of the troubled Christian soul yesterday, learning that our own self-condemnation does not weigh upon God’s heart when He has already given us His pardon and discharged our debts in Christ.
 
But there is a greater danger lurking, a deception that is deadly and borne in the heart of those who make some acknowledgement of God but have nothing that bears testimony of belonging to Him. These are the false professors who bear no identifying marks of being born-again. Now there is no way of hanging false fruits upon the life. Religious orthodoxy, no matter how pristine in external appearance, will not be of any value when the heart still loves its sin. The Pharisees were of such a condition and our LORD Jesus condemned them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27). And this condition in any heart, no matter how vocal the profession, will leave the person within God’s Divine judgment.
 
As we take a look at our text for today, we read: “They profess to know God.” Here, dear ones, you will need a minor Greek lesson, for there are two distinct words concerning what it means “to know.” One word is “ginosko” and the other is “eido.” The former word means to have an intimate knowledge or to know by experience. The latter is to have a knowledge of intellect or to know by intuition without experience. In our text today, it is the latter and not the former that is in play here. These who “profess” in our text have no real faith in Christ Jesus, but only an intellectual or, worse, a self-defined knowledge of God. Having an intellectual awareness of God is not a bad thing in itself. It is necessary to have some awareness of the Almighty and let that understanding move you to seek to know Jesus by faith. But for those who refuse to come to Christ, deciding that they are sufficient in themselves with the knowledge that they have about God, will find themselves on the receiving end of God’s condemnation.
 
How, then, will it be evidenced that a person though professing to know God, shows themselves apart from Him? Our text continues: “but they deny him by their works.” Now, the works of the sinful nature are evident. Paul describes them in Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” But there are other works that may not be as evident as the works described above. Our LORD Jesus describes them in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” The two texts above seem to pose an unassailable paradox. Yet, they do not. The first text describes the evident wickedness of man. The second text above describes the self-righteous pride of man. For in the text from Matthew, we see those who claim the LORD as the motivation—but themselves as the agent. “Did WE not...” is the cry of the self-righteous. You could read it like this: “we did all these things and that should be good enough.” No love for Christ or faithfulness to Him, only an effort-driven desire to prove to God that they could do the works of Christ on their own.
 
And that brings us to the final statement of our text today: “They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.” It is a dreadful judgment against the false professors, claiming an intellectual knowledge of God without any real desire to know Christ in humble submission to Him. Their works are sandcastles and when the tidal force of God’s judgment hammers against them, they will prove to be insubstantial. Beloved, it is a detestable thing to God to claim a knowledge of Him that has not moved you to truly know the Savior. A heart that loves sin and yet believes their self-righteous efforts will gain them glory are found in the false professors. My dear Christian friends, it will always be humble repentance and loving submission to Christ that marks the true believer.
 
In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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