Doctrine Schmoctrine. . . just give me Jesus!
OK. . . What “Jesus” would you prefer?
It don’t matter. . . as long as doctrine ain’t involved. Doctrine
only confuses me & causes trouble. All I want to do is love &
serve the Lord. Im trusting in Jesus... lemme alone!
In my last study I showed the necessity of sound doctrine for salvation. I began by giving a principle & showing passages in support of such. This will be somewhat of a continuation, showing more Scripture that teaches the necessity of sound doctrine both in salvation and the Christian life.
Let me restate the principle here. . .
Apart from sound doctrine there can be no gospel; and apart from the
gospel there can be no salvation. In short, No Doctrine. . .
No Truth. . . No Salvation. This is of course very upsetting to that
form of ‘theology’ known as Arminianism because most if not all Arminians
begin their ‘Christian’ walk by some ‘experience’ that has little to do
with the truth of the gospel. Notice, I chose my words carefully;
I did not say “nothing to do with Christ & the Bible”. . . for
many do indeed ‘hear’ about Jesus & the Bible. But what folks
preach, teach & hear about Christianity is not always what the Bible
says it is! And since God saves men by belief in the truth,
those who preach & believe in falsehood cannot be saved. This
is graphically illustrated for us by the teaching of Christ Himself;
Notice...
Matt 16:5 And when his disciples were come to the other side,
they had forgotten to take bread.
6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
At this the disciples went into head-scratching mode trying to figure out what the Savior meant by this. In His forbearance, after they deliberate over what He should mean He tells them...
11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake [it] not to
you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and of the Sadducees?
12 Then understood they how that he bade [them] not beware
of the leaven of bread, but of the. . . *doctrine* of
the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
We see at least two things by this passage; 1. The need to be concerned for sound doctrine and 2. False doctrine is most often found among those of the religious community, especially those who occupy the place of prominence! These guys were the religious leaders who taught the people the ways of God... or so they thought. But Christ exposes them for what they truly were. . . propagators of false doctrine! And Christ said that the days will come when false Christs who propagate a false message will arise & those days are upon us right now!
Mt 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mt 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here [is] Christ,
or there; believe [it] not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall
shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they
shall deceive the very elect.
False prophets & teachers who point us to false christs are upon
us. And we are not talking about Moonies & Muslims. These
people are obvious & decieve no one. Jesus said that these false
prophets would function in such a way as to almost fool the true people
of God. That means that they are propagating religious teaching that, for
all intents & purposes, looks good. It looks almost like the
real thing. But it will not fool the elect of God. And why
not? Because the true people of God will know their doctrine.
And why is the knowledge of doctrine necessary? Because in this context
it is the one & only... only... only means whereby
the elect will be able to be protected from the lies of false teachers.
This is clearly spelled out in the following passage...
2 Timothy 3. . .
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of
those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead
captive silly women laden with
sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also
resist the truth: men of
corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
In the context Paul is warning Timothy against reprobates, who manifest a form of godliness... they look good but they are enemies of the gospel! From such people Paul tells us we are to turn away. Avoid them. They are lost; reprobates concerning the faith! Then in vs 10 he begins to show what it is that will safely protect us from such people and what is the first thing he mentions? "But thou hast fully known my.... *Doctrine* !! It is the Doctrine of God that is the main instrument against any and all movements of men that *look* good, for they have a *form* of godliness... but they are utterly void of power! Now... in this context Paul is going to give Timothy that which is the greatest remedy & protection against such... a good dose of the gospel of God's salvation in vss 14-17. So he first exhortes Timothy to continue in the things he has *learned* vs 14... and what is the source of his learning? It is nothing else but the Word of God... which has the ability of making one... "wise unto salvation" vs 15. This is a "gospel passage". The Scriptures, says Paul, are the one and only place men can find deliverence from their sin for they are the only place that tells us of God’s gospel of salvation. Therefore we may correctly note; No Word of God... No Salvation ! No Scriptures... No Salvation ! It is the Scriptures & them ONLY that are able to make a person "wise unto salvation"! And without the Scriptures there is nothing but damnation! And so we have such a passage as...
Rom 10: 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
A wonderful verse we all like to quote when we are witnessing!
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not
believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
and how shall they hear *without a preacher?*
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it
is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that *preach the gospel
of peace,* and bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah
saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
So we see clearly that this is a gospel passage showing that it is by the preaching of the gospel that men are saved. And what is the one & only place where men discover this gospel of salvation?
17 So then faith [comes] by hearing, and hearing by the... *word of God.*
Thus if a person's "faith" does not have its foundation firmly rooted in the Word of God his faith is vain! But to continue in the Timothy passage... After reminding Timothy of the source of spiritual strength against ungodliness as being found in the salvation of God as it is presented in the Scriptures he goes on to enforce his encouragment to Timothy in vs 16... which we all love to quote to prove Divine origin of the Bible... and he tells Timothy that the entire scope of the Scriptures... [meaning then the OT] are profitable for the protection that he needs and what is the first element Paul brings up as the leader in the parade of items that will keep Timothy & all others from perishing in ungodly heresy? What's the First thing Paul mentions? The same thing as is found in vs 10... Doctrine !! All Scripture is... profitable for Doctrine. So then in answer to the question... what must a sinner believe in order to be saved? He MUST believe in Doctrine!! And... not just any old doctrine but that which is clearly laid out in the Scriptures of the living God... both Old & New Testaments. Therefore, if a man's gospel doctrine is not in accordance with the Word of God... No Salvation ! Additionally he exposes himself to the w-i-d-e variety of false doctrine that is circulating in our present day & will continue to do so until the Lord ends it all by His glorious second Advent! I will continue this in another article....