The book of Titus has several themes running through its three short chapters, but perhaps the most remarkable theme is the idea that Cretans, who are by nature “always liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons (1:12),” can be transformed by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, in Christ even these immoral pagans can be sanctified to live righteous and godly lives. Titus 3:3 is a verse that reminds us that it is not just the Cretans who need to be transformed and redeemed.

“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.” – Titus 3:3  (Other passages to consider: Ephesians 2:1-3; 4:17-19; Romans 6; 1 Peter 4:3)

The first thing we must observe is this: It is a THEOLOGICAL FACT that ALL believers, before coming to faith in Christ:

• were once enslaved to lusts and pleasures (in a word, sin; John 8:32-36);
• were once deceived by the devil about our sinful state and about our terrifying fate;
• were once foolish and either intentionally or unwittingly made unwise choices;
• were once disobedient and willfully opposed to the commands of Scripture;
• malice, envy and hatred marked our lives.

Whether openly and shamelessly manifested or disguised under a layer of respectability and joviality, all men without Christ are helplessly sinful and live in a constant state of rebellion against God and against His holiness. Indeed, all their thoughts are marked by sin (Genesis 6:5; Hebrews 4:13), whether those sins are manifested or not. Because of Adam’s sin, we are all born into the kingdom of rebellion and darkness, and the only way to change kingdoms is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

So it is a theological fact that all men and women without Christ are slaves of sin (Romans 6) and are helpless (Romans 5:6) within themselves to change. Of course, sinners love the darkness (John 3:19-20) and so have no desire to forsake their sin, but if there was somehow some spark of a desire for holiness, there would be absolutely no ability to ever take the smallest step in a righteous direction.

Here in Titus 3:3 Paul is once again emphasizing the absolute nature of salvation and is making clear that you are only and fully in either one camp or in the other. You are either a saint who now loves righteousness and obedience and holiness or you are still lost and so still love sin and disobedience and rebellion. All people are in one group or the other and there is an infinite chasm between the two that can only be bridged by the cross. And we were ALL once foolish ourselves.

The question is, “Have you been rescued? Have you received Christ and His salvation? Or are you still foolish and enslaved to various lusts? Have you surrendered yourself fully to the Lord Jesus Christ or are you still a defiant rebel? There is no middle ground. If you have not willfully passed over from death to life (John 5:24), then you are still lost, no matter how genteel and proper and upright you may appear to be. Repent, therefore, and come to Christ.

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“The LORD has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all.” Psalm 103:19

The central and essential truth contained in this verse is that THE LORD’S SOVEREIGNTY RULES OVER ALL. The LORD is the King of the universe and all that occurs or exists in His universe does so by His sovereign decree. He rules and reigns and is in control of all that takes place. His sovereignty rules over all, and because His sovereignty rules over all, then . . .

APPLICATION  2 – I will pray to the Lord. The logic behind this statement is straightforward.

First, the sovereign LORD has granted me access to His throne room through His Son, Jesus Christ. In Ephesians, Paul declares that all believers, both from Jews and from Gentiles, have access to the Father through the Spirit. In 3:12 Paul says we have boldness and confident access through faith in Christ. Believers have access to all of heaven’s treasures because heaven’s King has chosen me and called me into His presence forever. I can enter His presence confidently, even boldly.

Next, the sovereign King commands me to pray to Him, so the blessings of prayer come to me as the blessings of obedience. The LORD commands me to pray to Him so that He can glorify Himself by answering.

Finally, the sovereign Lord does whatever He pleases (Psalm 115:3). There is nothing that the Lord desires to do or to accomplish or to create that is limited by His ability, so there is no prayer that I could pray and no request that I could make that would not come to pass because God desired to do it but lacked the ability. He is able to do anything that He desires or wills. There is nothing that is too difficult for the Lord. (Jeremiah 32:17, 27). The Lord is unlimited in His ability to answer my prayers. He has the power.

So because His sovereignty rules over all, I will pray to Him and expectantly wait for His answer.

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I begin a series of meditations on Psalm 103:19 in which I will explore this verse and find application to our lives.

“The LORD has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all.” Psalm 103:19

The central and essential truth contained in this verse is that THE LORD’S SOVEREIGNTY RULES OVER ALL. The LORD is the King of the universe. From the spinning of the largest galaxy to the function of every atom, all move and exist at His command. He rules and reigns and all circumstances are ordained and orchestrated by His holy and righteous decree. Even all my circumstances have been ordained by the glorious, Holy One. His sovereignty rules over all.

APPLICATION 1: I will trust in the Lord

From Psalm 131, I will not involve myself in great matters or in things too wonderful or difficult for me. Since the LORD is sovereign over the universe, I will let God be God and not try to over-manage the events of my life. The LORD is the one with all wisdom and all power. Therefore, I will trust Him to rule.

From John 18:11 – As the Lord Jesus drank the cup the Father had given Him to drink, so I will drink the cup that the Father has given me to drink. The cup He gives me is lovingly prepared to help me grow in sanctification and usefulness. I will drink and trust Him.

I will cease striving and know that the Lord is God. (Psalm 46:10). Striving implies an anxiety and a restlessness, but when I see that God is sovereign, my striving ceases and I rest instead. I rest in His power and His protection.

I will trust when I am frightened by this hostile universe (Psalm 56:3; Isaiah 12:2; Jeremiah 20:11), knowing that the Lord my God is in sovereign control. I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD is with me like a dread champion and He is able to defend me and protect me.

Because His sovereignty rules over all, my response to fear is to trust the Lord. I will cry aloud to Him (Psalm 142:1-2). I will remind myself of His power and of His sovereignty and remind myself that He is for me (Romans 8:31-39). I will remember that the God who rules the universe is my Lord and I will trust the LORD.

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I found this note from my archives. From May 31, 2010:

“I want to live in such a way that the devil throws a party when he hears of my death.”

As some of you will know, this is not original with me (I forget which saint originally penned this), but it does succinctly capture one of my deepest desires. I want to live a dangerous life; that is, I want to live a life that is dangerous to Satan and to his kingdom, a life that demolishes his strongholds. I want my name on hell’s Post Office wall. I want there to be an ongoing APB (all-points bulletin) for my arrest and capture by the forces of this present darkness. I do not want to go quietly. I want my departure from this earthly field of battle to bring a sigh of relief from the prince of the power of the air.

And so that will mean that there are two celebrations at my physical death. There will be one in heaven as I enter into the joy of my Master (Matthew 25:21) and I get to worship my great God face to face with all the redeemed of all the ages (Rev. 7:9). Yes, there will be joy in heaven (Luke 15:7, 10) as I enter in.

And there will be another celebration in hell as this combatant falls asleep and the kingdom of darkness is finally rid of me.

Let’s all live so that there will be two celebrations upon our death.

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Consider the joy and the beauty of possessing a defining moment in life. Because Jesus Christ has bought me as His bond-servant and because I have repented of my sins and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, all that I do is now focused on Him. My life is defined by my relationship with Him.

My life has a defining moment, a point in time when life that is truly life began, and everything that occurs after that event takes place with reference to that defining moment. All my plans; all goals; all activities; all relationships; all joys and all sorrows; all of my future, both in this life and in the life to come – all revolve around and refer to Jesus Christ and receive their significance in reference to Him.

I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what defines me, but that was not always so. There were 31 years when I did not know Jesus and therefore I had 31 years when my life progressed without anchor or compass. There was no foundation on which to stand and there was no direction in which to head. There was no destination to which I was going. There was no compelling, eternal purpose that was grand enough to live for and was valuable enough to die for. My life lacked definition because I lacked a defining moment.

But then I met the Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious God-Man, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the One who rules heaven and earth. He called me to follow Him (Matthew 4:19) and I obeyed and thus was born again. At that defining moment, my old life was gone and my new life began. From that moment onward my life has been defined by that moment. Now I have a destination – heaven (Philippians 3:20-21). Now I have a purpose – to be an ambassador (2 Cor. 5:20) and a witness to the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8). Now I have a lifetime task – to make disciples for Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19-20). Now I have a mission – to proclaim Christ’s excellencies (1 Peter 2:9). At every point in my life, I can find meaning and solid ground because of the defining moment of placing my faith in Jesus.

The Apostle Paul knew this defining moment as well as anyone and he is the Bible’s outstanding example of this (Acts 9), but it is the privilege and the heritage of every believer to define our life with reference to our initial encounter with Jesus. There is a “before Christ” part of our life that may (or may not) be full of events and activity, but is lacking a central theme, and there is an “after meeting Christ” part of our life, which is dominated by the glorious theme of telling of Christ and of exalting Him in our lives.

Now to the day of our physical death we live our lives with purpose, “pressing toward the goal for the prize,” because of the Lord’s grace toward us in giving us a defining moment, that moment when we first encountered the Savior.

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Ecclesiastes is a book of profound inquiry into meaning and significance, especially in the face of the finality of death. In the course of his inquiry, Solomon makes this observation:

For whoever is joined to the living, there is hope. Surely a live dog is better than a dead lion. (9:4)

This article explores the question, “Why? Why is a live dog better than a dead lion?”

The obvious answer to this question would be that it is always better to be alive than dead, especially if you are only viewing life from the horizontal plane, from the perspective of life “under the sun.” If you cannot see the eternal, then surely it is undeniably true that “a live dog,” whether purebred or mongrel, whether well-groomed or mangy, still has the ability to bark and to bite and to retrieve a ball and to take action, whereas “a dead lion,” however regal and powerful he may have been in life, cannot love or hate or take action of any kind. The legacy of the dead is fixed. “Wherever the tree falls, there it lies (Eccl. 11:3).”

It is from Solomon’s perspective, from the view that the living can still act and can still love and make decisions and make changes and the dead cannot, that I want to answer the question, “Why is ‘a live dog’ better than ‘a dead lion’?”

First I want to consider the believer, the true follower of Jesus Christ. Why for the believer is being ‘a live dog’ better than being ‘a dead lion’?”

The most important thing that you as a believer can do as long as you have breath is to proclaim the excellencies of Christ (1 Peter 2:9). Both Old Testament and New declare that believers are to be witnesses for the Lord (Isaiah 43:10; etc.; Acts 1:8; etc.), so as long as we are “a live dog” we are to testify of His glory. When the demoniac was converted and sent out to preach, Jesus instructed him, “Return to your home and describe what great things God has done for you (Luke 8:39).” There is no reason not to take Jesus’ instruction to this man as applying to all believers. While we still have time on this earth, we are to scatter seed and sow (Matthew 13:3) the word of God. The believer is commanded to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) of all nations, so all “live dogs” should be involved in that task. And we are called to love one another (John 13:34-35) and to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:24-25). The perspective of the believer is to be, “As long as the Lord has given me another day to serve Him as ‘a live dog’ here on this earth, I will make the most of my time (Ephesians 5:15-16) and glorify Him.” The believer sees death not as an end to be feared, but as a deadline that marks the completion of their work here on earth, a deadline that limits how much they can do for the Lord here. Because our days on earth are as mere handbreadths (Psalm 39:4-5), the believer labors with urgency while it is still the day (John 9:4), since soon his work will be done and he will become “a dead lion.” So it is better for the believer to be “a live dog,” since the believer can still pour himself out for the Lord.

Now we will turn to the much more dire consideration of the unbeliever, the one who has never truly come to faith in Christ. Why is it better for this person to be “a live dog than a dead lion?” Simply put, it is better to be alive because, as long as they are still alive, they can still be saved. As long as they are joined to the living, there is hope. The one who has never trusted in Christ lives in the perilous situation of being one heartbeat away from a godless eternity, but as long as they are living, there is hope. There is hope that they will hear the gospel and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. O, it is infinitely better to be still joined with the living, because the moment after death will bring judgment (Hebrews 9:27). O, unbeliever, now you are a live dog! Fly to Christ for salvation before it is forever too late. “Seek the LORD while He may be found (Isaiah 55:5).” Now you can still act. Now you can still repent. Now you can still believe. While you are still joined to the living, there is still time to escape from God’s judgment, but if you delay, though you be a dead lion, you will forever feel God’s holy wrath against sin. There is hope now, but you must heed the call and come to Christ. Receive the forgiveness that He gives to all who believe on Him. He died for dogs like you and me, so that we might live forever with Him.

“Surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.”

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Brothers and sisters, here are some verses that will help you in the battle against fear and anxiety. First, acknowledge that this is a battle and so progress will involve warfare. But also resolve that, with the Lord at your side, it is a battle that you will win. Your goal is to so fill your mind with Scripture and be so ready to pray and to recite truth that there is no space for the enemy to insinuate his lies into your mind. Refuse to give the enemy a foothold of any kind.

Psalm 46:1-3 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. THEREFORE we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea . . .”

Philippians 4:6-7 – “Be anxious for nothing . . .” Pray through these verses until you receive the “peace that passes all understanding.”

1 Peter 5:7 “. . . casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” I wrote seven blog posts on this verse on my Website (roybritton.wordpress.com) and they are practical and helpful.

Isaiah 43:1-7 – “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

Isaiah 41:8-16 – “Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

Isaiah 12:1-6 – verses 2-3 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will TRUST AND NOT BE AFRAID, for the LORD God is my strength and song and He has become my salvation. Therefore you will joyously draw water from the streams of salvation.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 – “. . . and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” In my opinion this is the key to victory in the battle against anxiety. You have got to grab hold of your thoughts and make sure they do not go where you do not want them to go. Take EVERY thought captive to the obedience of Christ. At first you must consciously do this a LOT and ALL THE TIME, until you break the habit of running down trails that lead to fear and anxiety. STOP THE TRAIN before it leaves the station! Do NOT let your thoughts go to fearful places. Do NOT let your mind play “what if” games!

Jeremiah 20:11 – “But the LORD is with me like a dread champion.” Imagine the Lord standing behind you with His sword out of the sheath as your great defender. The LORD is your dread Champion. He is your Rock, your Refuge, your Defender. Trust Him!

Psalm 34:4, 6 – “I sought the LORD and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears . . . This poor man cried and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.” How does the LORD deliver you from all your fears? Is that even possible? Yes! The Lord delivers you from all your fears by replacing your fears with trust in Him. If you trust the LORD fully, then all your fears will be vanquished.

Psalm 40:1-3 – “I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He pulled me up out of the desolate pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet upon a rock, making my footsteps firm. And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.”

Psalm 27:1-14 – “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life. Whom shall I dread?”

Romans 8:31-39 – “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also, with Him, freely give us all things? . . . for I am convinced that neither death not life . . . shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In the midst of a terrifying storm, our Lord stands up in the boat and speaks to the hurricane, “Hush! Be still!” And the winds and the waves heard the voice of their Creator and Master and instantly obeyed and a great calm resulted. Then the Lord speaks to His disciples and asks, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:35-41) O, how many storms do I have to go through before the Lord who has bought me at the price of His own blood will no longer need to ask me that question? O, Lord, let me be one who trusts You no matter how fierce the storm.

SDG        rmb        5/9/2017