Lesson 14 What is Your Doctrine?

I ask that as we go through these lessons, that you get your Bible, read it, pray, study, and ask the Holy Spirit of the Living God, to help guide you into truth.

Since the first lesson we have been comparing scripture with scripture, and comparing spiritual things with spiritual things, this method allows us to discern truth from error. 

I would like to share with you now, when you take the Bible in context, and study it in it’s proper divisions, it becomes sound doctrine.

First a story,

I was speaking to a young man about his need to become a Christian years ago, sharing with him that he could have eternal life, and live forever in a glorified resurrected body, with the Lord Jesus, in a sin free world, throughout all eternity.

To my surprise, he was quick to reject the offer of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus.

He informed me that he had made his own religion, and that was what he lived by.

So I had to ask him, how he made up his own religion, and he shared the following.

Well Alfred, it was easy, I went to the Bible, the Koran, Buddha, Confucius, Hinduism, and I took all the positive things out of each of the world religions, and that is what I live by, that is my religion.

I have always felt any religion is ok to live by, the real discriminator is how is it to die by, that's the really important thing, where does it get you after you are dead?

I felt that I needed to remind him that Jesus stated that he was the way, the truth and the life and no man cometh unto the father by Jesus.

John.14: [6] Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Of course this did not persuade the young man, as he just saw Jesus as another great philosopher, or wise man, and not the God that created Heaven and Earth.

Matt. 1: [23] Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

John.1: [1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. [14] And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Col. 1: [13] Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: [14] In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: [15] Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: [16] For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: [17] And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

I am here to tell you that if Jesus Christ is not God, then he is one of the worst people ever to live on planet Earth, for him to falsely claim to be God, and give millions of people the false hope of “Eternal Life” if they simply confess him, and believe that he was raised from the dead. 

Romans 10: [9] That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

It doesn’t get any worse than this, for someone to give someone a false hope of eternal life!

I don’t want to hear Jesus was just a great teacher, or he was just a wonderful person. If that's all he was, then he was a liar claiming to be God, and did not rise from the dead! You can't accept Jesus' teachings without also accepting he claimed to be God.

Ok back to the point of this lesson, the majority of Christians that read the Bible are just like that young man. They want to just take the positive things in the Bible, and reject the negative.

The modern day Christian likes to hang out in the Gospels, mostly the sermon on the mount, with all the love, peace, and happiness that Jesus spoke of, and then turn right around and reject the “Hell Fire and Brimstone”, that the same Lord Jesus warned people about.

Christians today, I am afraid are guilty of creating their own religion, and trying to worship the Lord Jesus with unsound doctrine.

The people who are mingling the message of Grace, with the message of the Earthly Kingdom that Jesus and the 12 disciples were preaching, have created a distorted, or false gospel, and they are going to be in big trouble.

We simply cannot have a different church on every corner of the United States, teaching different doctrines, and really believe that they are all correct.

I get this all the time from people about doctrine, people complaining that they don’t like doctrine, or don’t want to discuss doctrine.

Well my question is always the same, can people have a right relationship with Jesus based on unsound doctrine?

With Jesus himself making the comment “in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men”.

Matt. 15:[7] Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, [8] This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. [9] But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

John.4 [23] But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. [24] God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

I would offer the following, 13 times the word doctrine is used in Matt.-John, and in all the places it was concerning Jesus.

In the Pauline epistles we have the word doctrine used 23 times, with the Apostle Paul speaking these words, (which I believe are the very words of Jesus, given to Paul to share with the believers of this dispensation, and that the words you find Paul speaking, carry just as much weight, as any of the red letter words in Matt.-John, as they were given to Paul, by Jesus from Heaven and apply to us believers today in 2015) ;

2Tim.4 [2] Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. [3] For the time will come when they will not endure 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. [5] But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

1Tim.4 [1] Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

 

I believe that if you, and I, as believers in Christ, sit down with the same Bible, and look at the same verses, and compare spiritual things with spiritual things, that we will be able to come to the same understanding on any particular subject.

Let's conclude this lesson with the following, If you take the Bible and just pick and choose the verses you want to live by, you are essentially creating your own doctrine, this is what the Pharisees and Sadducees were guilty of,  and the doctrine they created was unsound doctrine.

But guess what, we all have to pick and choose what verses we are going to live by, Paul said in Titus 2 that we should speak things which become sound doctrine.

Tit.2 [1] But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

There is a correct way to interpret the scriptures, and if you fail to see this, then you can never get your doctrine correct, and you will be as Paul warned, and cautioned against, being “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine”.

Eph.4 [14] That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

If you search the scriptures daily to see whether the things you hear on the radio, TV, at church, read in these lessons, etc. are correct, and ask the Holy Spirit of the Living God to help you understand his word, I believe he will do this for you.

I also believe if you just kickback as a lazy Christian, and don’t ever open your Bible and read it for yourself, the Lord will let you believe any doctrine, even unsound doctrine.

Acts.17  [10] And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.  [11] These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

The words of our Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles!

2Tim.2 [15] Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Come join with us as we study God’s Holy Word!

Remember most unsound Bible Doctrine, is sound Bible Doctrine misapplied to the wrong time period, or wrong group of people.

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