Declaring Doctrine (Part 1) | The Importance of Doctrine | 2020-01-06
Tonight we are starting a brand-new series entitled “Declaring Doctrine”. And we’re going to spend many weeks on Sunday nights just going through a systematic study of the Word of God. And we’re going to look at some major doctrines in the Bible and I hope you’ll come and take notes. Sometimes people go to Bible College and they’ll take a Bible doctrines course, and of course we don’t agree with Bible College and those things but this might feel like that tonight. I want to begin with just kind of an introductory sermon entitled “The Importance of Doctrine”.
Let me begin by just answering this question, what is doctrine? What is doctrine? Now you’re there in Hebrews Chapter 6 and I’d like you to write down verse 1. The Bible says this, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,”. I want you to notice there’s a doctrine of Christ here mentioned. And of course the writer here is saying that people are leaving these principles. And he says but there’s a doctrine of Christ. “let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation”. So I want you to notice that he’s talking about the doctrine but he then he says that this is the foundation of. And then he mentioned several major doctrines here. “the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,”. Then in verse two he says “2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”. And this is not a comprehensive list of every doctrine in the Bible but here he gives us examples of these doctrines that we believe. There’s a doctrine of baptism. There’s a doctrine of laying on of hands. There’s a doctrine of the resurrection. There’s a doctrine of eternal judgment. There’s a doctrine of repentance from dead works and faith toward God. And of course, that would fall under the doctrine of salvation.
And when it comes to doctrine, we want to begin tonight by just answering this question of what is doctrine. Doctrine is a belief or doctrines plural is a set of beliefs that comes from the Word of God or the Bible. If you look up the word doctrine in the dictionary, you’ll find this definition: a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a group. Now when we’re talking about Bible doctrines, we would say that group is a church. But there are political groups and all sorts of different types of groups that have doctrines or that have beliefs. So, when we say doctrine, when we’re talking about doctrine, we’re talking about a teaching that comes and for us as believers from the Word of God. We’re going to be learning biblical doctrines from the Bible.
We’re going to look at a lot of passages tonight. Like I said, it’s very much going to be a topical Bible study. And we’re going to be looking at a lot of passages. I’d like to answer this question for you of why should we care about doctrine? You might be thinking, why should I show up on a Sunday night Series and learn about all these major doctrines from the Bible that we’re going to be covering over the next several weeks? Why care about doctrine? And the answer to that is this, as you study the life and Ministry of Christ, you’ll find that in the Gospels and in the Ministry of Christ specifically there is an emphasis upon his teaching of doctrine. Matthew 7 is part of the sermon on the mount and he ends that sermon with the application of the wise man versus the foolish man. But at the end of that sermon, I want you to notice verse 28. Matthew 7:28 “28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:”. The people were astonished. The word astonish means they were greatly surprised, impressed, amazed. Verse 29 “29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”. I want you to notice that Jesus was known in his ministry for teaching parables. And we know the parables were a big part of his ministry and he’s often known for that. But the Bible tells us that he not only taught parables, he taught doctrine, he taught biblical truths from the Word of God. And he did it having authority. He did it with authority. He didn’t apologize for what the Bible said. He just preached and he declared doctrine.
Go to Mark 4. Mark 4:1, the Bible says this “And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. 2 And he taught them many things by parables,” So, notice that he used a lot of parables. “and said unto them” Because the parables were really just a way or a tool to be able to teach. “in his doctrine,”. So, we see that Jesus in Matthew 7, he taught doctrine. The people were astonished at his doctrine because he taught it having authority. Then we see here in mark 4 that even as he talked parables, he told stories that were entertaining, he was teaching them doctrine.
Go to Mark 11. Mark 11:18 “18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him:”. I want you to notice these are the enemies of Jesus and they want to kill him. They want to put him to death. They’re trying to figure out how they might destroy him “for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.”. Did you realize that the Bible teaches that one of the reasons that the Scribes and the Pharisees even crucified the Lord Jesus Christ was because they did not like his doctrine. They did not like what he was teaching. You might think, doctrines are boring, what’s the big deal? Listen, doctrine is what we believe. Truths that we believe, teaching from the Word of God. And you say well why should I care about doctrines?
Number one, because it mattered to Christ. It should matter to us. But do you realize that it was so important to Christ he preached doctrine that was not popular doctrine, that was not accepted, that it even got him crucified? And you know today Verity Baptist Church has had persecution. We’ve had individuals and people that have attacked us and attacked our church. They don’t like our preaching about homosexuality. They don’t like the fact that you don’t allow a bunch of pedophiles and a bunch of sodomites at church. But you know, that preaching stems from a doctrine found in the Word of God that we believe called the doctrine of being a reprobate. So, you’ll notice that it is doctrine. See, it is doctrine. The set of beliefs, the things that we believe from the Word of God that make us who we are. And they sometimes even create enemies for us.
Luke 4:31 “31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. 32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.”. The same idea there that we saw in Matthew 7 that he taught them as one having authority. And the point is this, you say why should I care about doctrine? Well, you should care about doctrine because Jesus cared about doctrine. And if it mattered to Jesus, it matters to us. And when we talk about doctrine, there’s so many doctrines. I don’t know that we’ll cover every little doctrine that the Bible mentions. I don’t know that we can do that. We’re definitely going to hit the major doctrines. But we’re going to talk about things like the doctrine of the Word of God, the doctrine of salvation and eternal security, the doctrine of the end times, the doctrine of Church, laying out of hands, eternal judgment. We’re going to look at the major doctrines throughout the Bible systematically. But tonight I want to teach you about doctrine and the importance of doctrine.
I want to give you three thoughts in regards to doctrine. The first thought is this, understanding the types of doctrine helps you understand why we must spend time learning doctrine. Now there are two types of doctrines as far as I can tell in Scripture. And this is a basic thing but I want you to see it. The first one is, there is what the Bible calls sound doctrine. We would call that biblical doctrine. Good doctrine. The right type of doctrine. John 7:16, the Bible says this, “16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.”. Referring to God the Father. “17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”. And I want you to notice that Jesus said the doctrine that I teach. It’s not mine. It’s not made up things. He said my doctrine is not mine but his that sent me. And right doctrine, good doctrine, real doctrine comes from God and comes from the Word of God.
Let me just show you some examples of what the Bible refers to as sound doctrine. The word sound means competent, it means reliable, it means something you can trust. If it’s sound, it’s something you can put your faith or trust in. Titus 2:1, notice what the Bible says, “But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:”. Notice verse 7. Titus 2:7 “7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works:”. Now this is Paul telling Titus this. I want you to live your life, I want you to have a pattern of good works, I want people to be able to see your life and take a pattern from it. And then he says specifically in verse 7 “in doctrine shewing uncorruptness,”. He says when you teach doctrine, I want to make sure that it’s not corrupted. The word corrupt means this, honest, lacking integrity, not being true, not being sound. He says look, make sure your doctrine Titus is uncorrupted. “gravity sincerity”.
2 Timothy 4:3 “3 For the time will come”. This of course is speaking of the endtimes. And I believe this is the time you and I live in today. “For the time will come when they will not endure”. Notice these words, “sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”. So, notice what’s a doctrine. A doctrine is a truth that comes from the Word of God, that comes from God. So, when we’re talking about the types of doctrines, number one, you have to realize that there is sound doctrine. There is doctrine that is reliable. Doctrine that comes from the Word of God. But just the fact that the Bible mentions that there is a such thing as sound doctrine should give you the idea that there is another type of doctrine that is not sound. And this was mentioned in Scripture as well.
The types of doctrines you’ve got are number one, sound doctrine. Then you’ve got number two, satanic doctrine or what the Bible refers to as strange doctrine. 1 Timothy 4:1 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits,” Don’t miss it “and doctrines of devils;”. So, there’s sound doctrine that comes from God the Father, that comes from the Word of God. But then there’s satanic doctrine, the doctrines of devils. Because here’s what you need to understand, Satan is a religious being. Sometimes people think that the Devil is against religion but the Devil is more religious than you can imagine. The Bible says that he is transformed into a minister of light, that he is an angel of light. And he’s got his religions out there, he’s got his churches out there with their false doctrine, with their satanic doctrine, with their strange doctrine.
Hebrews 13:8 “8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”. And here’s what I think is interesting, the verse I actually want you to look at his verse 9 but I read verse 8 because I want you to understand that verse 9 is put in the context of verse 8. Verse 9 talks about doctrine but verse 8 tells us look, Jesus Christ does not change. He is the same yesterday and today and forever and so is his doctrine. So, there was a time when every church stood up and preached against homosexuality and nobody batted an eye. Now things have changed. Now you get up and say the things that we say and people say “I can’t believe that you would say that”. But look, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He hasn’t changed his mind on what he believes. He doesn’t change his mind on what he thinks. The Bible hasn’t changed. God hasn’t changed. Notice verse 9 “9 Be not carried about with divers”. What does that mean? Different types of “divers and strange doctrines.”. So, notice the Bible teaches that there are two types of doctrines. There’s sound doctrine. There’s strange doctrine. There’s a doctrine that comes from the Father and there’s a doctrine that comes from the Devil. There’s a doctrine that comes from the Word of God and there’s a doctrine that comes from false religion.
And what I think is interesting is that sometimes we get wound up with this idea about being able to refute false religion, and I’m sure there’s a place for that and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but instead of getting all caught up with false doctrines, learn the true doctrine. You say “What if I meet some snake-handling Pentecostal? How can I answer all of their question?”. Here’s the thing, you don’t need to know every little thing about false doctrine. What you need to know is sound doctrine. If you understand good doctrine, if you understand right doctrine, if you understand what the Bible actually teaches in regards to truth, then when you hear false doctrine you’ll be able to know that’s strange, that’s different, that’s diverse, that is not what the Bible teaches.
1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit,”. Like everybody that comes to your door with the Bible. That does not mean that they’re a good person. That does not mean that they’re teaching good doctrine or teaching the truth. Every TV preacher, every radio preacher, every guy with a camera on YouTube, etc…And look, we’re on YouTube and we’ve been on TV and we’ll go on the radio. I’m not saying that everybody out there is bad. But please realize that just because they come to you with the Bible doesn’t mean it’s good. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:”. You need to try the spirits, you need to check them up against the Word of God. Why? “because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”. You say well how do I know if he’s a false prophet? You say I’m listening to this guy on the radio, I’m watching this guy on YouTube, I’m watching this guy on TV, how do I know if he’s a bad guy? Well, if you know doctrine to understand, if you know the doctrine of salvation; that salvation is by grace through faith, not of works, you don’t earn it; and you hear somebody say you have to live a good life or repent of your sins, then you know based on their doctrine that they’re a false prophet. If you know the doctrine of eternal security, that we are secure in Christ, that we’re sealed until the day of redemption, that we can’t lose our salvation, and somebody says “Well you can walk away from salvation” then you know you’re dealing with the false prophet.
The problem today is that there are many Christians that don’t even know what they believe. So, we’re going to help you with that. I’m trying to teach you systematically through the Word of God and teach you and reinforce you on doctrine. We’re going to prove these things to you from the Word of God because that’s the only way that you can know what doctrine is. So, what types of doctrines are there? There is sound doctrine and there is strange doctrine. There is right doctrine and there is demonic doctrine. Like I said, this is going to be very much a study and teaching. We’ll try to make it applicable here at the end but this is more about teaching you and helping you understand who we are, what we believe. So, we began with this idea of types of doctrine. What are they? Number 1 is sound doctrine and number 2 is strange doctrine.
Secondly, let’s talk about the importance of doctrine. Why is doctrine important? Why do we even need doctrine? Why should we as a church even understand what doctrine is? Well number one, because doctrine unites us. It is doctrine that brings us together. John 18:19 “19 The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine.”. It was his doctrine that even led and helped in getting him destroyed and crucified. And here he’s been arrested and the high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine. Now the reason that those are connected is because this is what makes you a disciple. It is your doctrine. If you are a New Testament believer and follower of Jesus Christ, then you have to get your doctrine from the Bible, from the New Testament, from the Word of God. If you say well I’m a disciple of the Mormon Church, well then you get your doctrines from the Book of Mormon. If you’re a disciple of Muhammad then you get it from the Quran. And here he was taught and he was asked about his disciples and of his doctrine. Why? Because discipleship is connected to doctrine. In fact, if you take our discipleship course, you’ll find that we just take you through a bunch of doctrines, just fundamental doctrines that we think a new believer should know and understand. Why? Because that’s what makes you a disciple.
John 18:20 “20 Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. 21 Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said.”. I just want you to notice that Jesus did not hide what he believed. And by the way, neither do we. We’re not ashamed or embarrassed even if some disagree. I’m not ashamed of the Bible. I’m ashamed with this world. I’m not ashamed of the Bible. If people think the things the Bible teaches are crazy then guess what the Bible thinks, the world is crazy.
You say why is doctrine important? Well first of all because of the fact that it is doctrine that unites us. What unites this local assembly is doctrine. That’s why we come together. I mean I love our church. Verity Baptist Church is the most diverse Church I’ve ever been to. I mean red and yellow black and white, they’re here and they’re precious in His sight. And you know we have people at this church from all walks of life, from all sorts of social economic parts, lots of different places, all sorts of different careers and different backgrounds and different parts of the city and even different parts of the state. And we all come together. Have you ever thought about the fact that there are people in this church that you’re friends with that you would never be friends with, you would never even know them, you would never even get along with somebody like that if it wasn’t for the doctrine that we believe. Doctrine unites us. Doctrine brings us together.
I want you to notice what the Bible says about the New Testament Church when it first began there in Jerusalem. Acts 2:42 “42 And they continued” I love that word continued I hope that is your winning statement for the Christian life. “and they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship,” Now sometimes we emphasis the fellowship and that is key but first we need the right doctrine. Doctrine unites us. It is the thing that brings us together. “and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
I get an email probably every other week from the pastoral Association in Sacramento inviting me to come to their prayer breakfast and other places. It has people from the Neo evangelical community, Church of Christ, Lutheran Church, Catholics, they all just come together. They all go to different churches and they’ll meet once a month and they’ll pray and they’ll have breakfast and they’ll do this and they’ll do that. You say “Pastor, do you show up to those things?”. No, I don’t show up to those things because of the doctrine, because I’m not going to sit there and fellowship with a baby sprinkler. It’s just a difference in doctrine. They believe that you got to get baptized to be saved. I don’t believe that. And here’s the point, it is doctrine that unites us. It is the doctrine that brings us together. You say : “Well what is the purpose? What is the importance of doctrine?”. The importance of doctrine is that’s what unites us as a church.
Ephesians 4:13 “13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,”. It is the doctrine, what we believe, the truth that we get from the Word of God that unites us. Now let me go ahead and just give this disclaimer, I’m not saying that every person that you hang out with has to be doctrinally with you 100%. We understand that even here we’re not all 100% agreeing on every little thing. But look, it is the major doctrines of the Word of God that bring us together, that unite us, especially in a local church setting. This is why we do not allow people to come into this church amd teach other doctrine. They can visit and partake. I mean if somebody says I don’t know what I believe about the King James Bible then no problem. But if you become a member of this church, you better figure out what you believe about the King James Bible. Because we believe the King James Bible is the inspired, preserved, infallible Word of God. It is doctrine that unites. If people don’t know what they think about eternal security then we’ll try to get you saved and help you understand it but if you want to be a part of Verity Baptist Church you better believe in eternal security. Because it is the doctrine that brings us together.
Philippians 1:27 “27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;”. You say how do we come together as a church? We come together, we unite over doctrine. So what’s the importance of doctrine? First of all doctrine unites us. But I want you to notice secondly that doctrine matures us. It is doctrine that we believe that helps us grow. Ephesians 4:13 “13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man,” The word perfect means mature, completely or fully grown. “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children,” We want you to be a mature man, a complete man. “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine,”. Doctrine shows your maturity. You say, “I listened to this guy on the radio and he isn’t sure about eternal security.”. Why don’t you quit listening to people and just read the Bible and figure out what the Bible says? Figure out what the Word of God says? See it is doctrine that not only unites us but it is doctrine that matures us. And when you learn doctrine and when you understand doctrine and when you have the knowledge of Christ then we are henceforth no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine.
We need to become to the best of our ability like the Lord Jesus Christ, the same yesterday today and forever and that’s the goal. The goal is not to change what you believe on major doctrines 10 years from now. The goal is not for you to say “I used to believe the Trinity but now I’m not sure”. We don’t want to be carried about with every wind of doctrine, you don’t want to be carried about with every influence. Why don’t you figure out what you believe in? Just decide what the Bible says. It is doctrine that unites us and it is doctrine that matures us. And let me say this, it is doctrine that protects us.
You see, it’s not enough for you to know what you believe. One of the purposes of this series is that you not only know what you believe but you know why you believe it. That’s why I want you to take notes. Because it’s not enough for you to know what you believe. What if somebody asks what you believe? Let me tell you what the wrong answer is, “Well Pastor said”. Are you a follower of pastor or are you a follower of the Word of God? If someone asks “Why do you believe that about the homosexuals?”. You can say, “Let me show you.”. They say “Your Pastor said”. You respond “Forget about what my Pastor said, the Bible says this and that’s why I’m united to my Pastor because we believe the same doctrine that comes from the Word of God”. One mark of a mature Christian is that when someone pressures you to change, you can say “Well here’s the thing, I know what I believe based on what the Bible says. I made a decision on what I believe based on what the Bible says and I’m not going to be carried about with every wind of doctrine.”. Doctrine unites us. Doctrine matures us. But doctrine protects us.
Mark 12:38 “38 And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,”. And he goes on and describes them and preaches about them. But notice in his doctrine he told them “Hey, beware of the scribes”. Why? Because doctrine protects us. Doctrine will protect us and doctrine will protect this church. Romans 16:17, the Bible says this “17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.”. This is a passage in the Bible on church discipline, about marking and avoiding, identifying and throwing out people who come into this church and try to cause divisions based on the doctrine that we believe. So why would God do that? Here’s why, because doctrine is important. Why? Because it unites us, because it matures us, because it protects us. I’m teaching you about doctrine tonight and I’m explaining to you why you should show up on Sunday nights to learn about doctrine. And the reason we want to learn about doctrine is because there’s two types of doctrines; sound doctrine and strange doctrine. There’s sound doctrine and there’s Satanic doctrine. And the importance of doctrine is this doctrine unites us, doctrine matures us and doctrine protects us.
The question is, how do we apply this to our lives? What are we supposed to do with doctrine? Well number one, we should learn doctrine. 1 Timothy 4:13 “13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.”. Attendance means to pay attention. Give attention to reading. Now recently I preached a sermon on Bible reading and I applied this to Bible reading and that definitely is part of it. But notice he also says to give attention to exhortation. That’s what we’re doing tonight. When you show up and somebody preaches to you, they’re exhorting you, they’re preaching to you. And then he says this “to doctrine”. You’ve got to give attendance to doctrine. Because look at verse 16 “16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine;”. And then he says “continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”. He says look, we need to take heed unto thyself and take heed unto the doctrine. He says you need to give attendance to doctrine. You need to learn doctrine. So, we’re going to learn doctrine, biblical doctrine. Some will be super interesting and some might be basic. But it’s good for you to just hear it and be reminded and learn it and have verses and have cross references.
But secondly we should proclaim doctrine. 1 Timothy 4:6 “6 If thou put the brethren”. This is Pau; speaking to Timothy who is an up and coming preacher, a young man being trained for the ministry. He’s a Pastor. He says “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things,” You say, “I don’t want to show up at a sermon about eternal security.” Well you know the Bible says put the brethren in remembrance of these things. “thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.”. So, you need to hear another sermon on the doctrine of the Word of God. Now some will be interesting as we’ll talk about end times doctrine. I’m sure that’ll be super interesting to many of you. Maybe you haven’t learned it or studied it. We’re going to look at the end times and the timeline and all that stuff. But look, anytime you open up the Word of God it should be interesting to us because it is a doctrine of the Word of God. And it’s good for us to hear it, to be reminded. It’s good for us to be able to keep it in our hearts and have it ready. It should be something that we proclaim.
I want you to notice that not only should we learn doctrine but then we should proclaim doctrine. And look, this is important to me because today churches are the opposite of this. Most churches you go to, they try to hide their doctrine from you. They don’t want you to know what they believe which by the way, that’s why they give themselves names like “New Life Church” or Something Worship Center”. What does that even mean? And then in the Yellow Pages they’re under Assemblies of God, tongue speaking Pentecostals. Or “Capital Christian Center” but then it’s like Assemblies of God, tongue speaking Pentecostals. Here’s what I’m telling you, most churches today hide from you what they believe because doctrine is divisive, because it might offend you. The Bible says that we should proclaim our doctrine. We’re not ashamed of our doctrine. We put it on our website. We tell people about it. We preach it. We teach it. We’ll do a whole series on it. Why? Because we should proclaim our doctrine.
2 Timothy 3:10 “10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,”. And you know, by the end of the Sunday night series I hope that we’ll be able to say that. We’ll be able to say that people have fully known our doctrine. We didn’t hide anything. 2 Timothy 3:16 “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”. But notice, the doctrine is good. It’ll teach us. It’s profitable for doctrine. 2 Timothy 4:1 “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season;”. What does that mean? He says don’t be carried about with every wind of doctrine. Don’t worry about whether it’s popular or not. You just preach the word. “reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.”. We need to proclaim doctrine.
Acts 5:27-28 “27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, 28 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”. I want you to notice that the New Testament church, they weren’t just preaching the gospel. And I’m all for preaching the gospel. I’m big into soul winning, going out in the community, knocking the doors. But look, we don’t want to just fill this community with the gospel. We want to fill this community with our doctrine. We want everyone in this community to know that there is a church that believes in salvation by grace through faith, not of works, you must call upon Jesus in faith, once you have it you can’t lose it. But you know what, we also want them to know what we believe about the King James Bible. We’re not hiding anything. We want to fill Sacramento with our doctrine. Because doctrine should be learned and doctrine should be proclaimed and thirdly we should defend doctrine.
1 Timothy 1:3 “3 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.”. Titus 1:9 “9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort” The word exhort means to urge, advise, caution. “and to convince”. The word convince means to persuade by argument or evidence. “the gainsayers.” Did you catch that? He said there are people out there who are gainsayers, who deny what we believe, who oppose what we believe, who dispute what we believe. And we should be able by holding fast the faithful word, the Word of God, we should be able as we have been taught, we should be able to by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Why? Because sometimes doctrine needs to be defended earnestly. Contend for the faith. The word faith there is a reference to our beliefs, our doctrine.
So, what’s the application? Why learn about doctrine? Here’s why, because you need to proclaim and defend doctrine. It’s why Verity Baptist Church exists. Here’s the truth, we started Verity Baptist Church, why? Because of doctrine. When my wife and I went into ministry, I could have found a church that was a good church that went soul winning and provided our needs. But you know what Sacramento needed? It needed a church that believed these doctrines, that stood for these doctrines, that proved the doctrines that you and I believe, the things that we hold near and dear. It needed these doctrines. It’s what unites us. It’s what protects us. So, the next several weeks we’re going to systematically go through the Bible and just learn doctrine. Why? Because doctrine is important.
Next week I’m going to begin with the doctrine of revelation. Now I want you to understand that when I talk about the book of Revelation, that’s a different series, that’s a Wednesday night Bible study. One day we’ll go through the book of Revelation; verse by verse, chapter by chapter. We’re not talking about the book of Revelation or end times but on the doctrine of Revelation, how God reveals himself to man. And this is an important doctrine because it sets us up for the doctrine of the word of God. But it also answers a question for you. Because sometimes people will ask this question, they’ll say, “Well what about that guy you know in the Amazon who’s never heard the gospel? What about that guy in Africa who’s never heard of the gospel”. Well you know people who ask that question or are confused about this question don’t know the answer to the question because they don’t understand the doctrine of Revelation. So, next week we’re going to dig in and begin just a systematic study going through the Bible, just learning the doctrines, the major doctrines of the Word of God. I hope you’ll join us.
Let’s pray.