All right, let's go to 1 Timothy
chapter one, the glorious doctrine of Christ. Starts out Paul, verse
one, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. These apostles were appointed
by Christ. A lot of people differ on, are
there, did the office of apostleship continue after Paul? You know, Judas was a false apostle,
so there were 11. They cast lots, you remember,
in the book of Acts and brought a man named Matthias in. Was
he the twelfth apostle or was Paul the twelfth apostle? I have
a tendency to believe that Paul was the twelfth apostle and that
office has stopped because these were men who received their revelation
directly from the Lord. Now, of course, Paul didn't receive
it until he was on the Damascus Road and the Lord appeared to
him. But they were men that were chosen to be the forerunners
of the New Covenant Church, the New Testament Church, and to
help bring the written Word of God together. Paul wrote more
epistles than anyone. You know, he's the human author.
But we know that the Bible is the Word of God, and we'll stand
with that. So this letter is written to
Timothy. Now Timothy was a young man who
had learned the gospel from his mother and his grandmother over
in 2nd Timothy chapter 3. Paul mentioned that about Timothy
when he's he and he's encouraging Timothy here and he said over
in 2nd Timothy 3 Verse 14, continue thou in the things which thou
hast learned, and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast
learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,
whatever scriptures they had in the Old Testament, and he
says, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through
faith which is in Christ Jesus. And Paul had mentioned Timothy's
mother and grandmother who taught him. So these women taught their
son and grandson the gospel. And that tells me, you ladies,
just because you're not allowed, according to the word of God,
to hold an office in the church and have authority over a man,
doesn't mean that you're not needed and you're not important
and vital in the kingdom of God. And one of the main things that
a woman is supposed to do is to teach her children. And of
course, the father's to do that too. Don't get me wrong, but
a woman has a special place there, I think. But also teach the children
in our church. You can do that. We men, we just
don't have it in us to do that sometimes. But that's special. So understand that. Well, he
says in verse one, by the commandment of God our Savior, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, which is our hope. So he establishes the fellowship
through these words. He says in verse two, unto Timothy,
my own son in the faith. Paul had a spiritual relationship
with Timothy. Now, you know, the Bible says
that we're not to call any man father except God. That's talking
about salvation. We have earthly fathers. in a
physical relationship that we call father, not giving them
the esteem that we give our heavenly father, who is the source and
originator of our salvation, but we call them father out of
respect. Well, in a spiritual way, Paul was Timothy's teacher,
his guide, and Timothy was a companion. He was a fellow laborer with
Paul in the gospel. And so Paul establishes this,
he's an apostle, he held that office according to the commandment
of God our Savior when Christ stopped him on the Damascus road
and he was converted and then he went to be taught. And so he attributes salvation
and his apostleship to God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ,
which is our hope. Now we're going to see that the
doctrine of Christ, the glorious doctrine of Christ, is founded
in the truth of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
in just a moment. We'll look at that. But this
is what he's talking about. God our Father, God our Savior. You know what the name Jesus
means. It means God our Savior. And the Lord Jesus Christ, which
is our hope. That hope is the certain expectation
of eternal life and glory based upon what Christ accomplished
in the glory of his person and the power of his finished work.
So Paul says to Timothy, verse two, my own son in the faith. The faith. Now what is the faith? Well, we're gonna see. That's
the doctrine of Christ. Timothy and Paul believed the
same thing when it comes to how God saves sinners. And that's
what establishes our fellowship. That's what established fellowship
between Paul and Timothy and all of his companions. We believe
the same gospel. Now there are things that believers
can and do disagree on. They are the non-essential things
that are in the scriptures that are not related to as what we
would call essential truth of the basic gospel. So you know,
like for example, we may differ on a particular interpretation
of a verse. We may differ on a lot, lot of
different things. Now there's some people, you
can't differ with them on anything. I don't care, you know, whatever
it is. And they're wrong, you know.
So understand it. And we're gonna talk about the
basic gospel doctrines today. Because I wanna, before we go
into Timothy, this book is full of encouragement to abide in
the doctrine of Christ and that's a lot of when it talks even when
it talks about holy living or godliness it's all founded upon
and motivated by the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes. So my own son in the faith. Paul was not the first one to
teach Timothy the gospel. His mother and grandmother were.
But Paul was a teacher of this young man. Paul was an older
man. And what happened here, I believe, and I've got this
in your lesson. I think Paul had been in prison. And he got out and he got Timothy
and took Timothy to Ephesus. Now you know the church at Ephesus,
read the book of Ephesians. And he took Timothy to Ephesus.
Paul stayed there three years and then he left and he left
Timothy there to be their pastor, their elder, their teacher. And
so when Paul left, he wrote this book to Timothy. And the other
one too, first and second Timothy, when Timothy was in Ephesus.
And he's encouraging Timothy to make sure that if there's
any teachers in that church that are teaching contrary to the
doctrine of Christ, to stop them. Stand firm for the doctrine.
We'll get there in just a moment. Verse two, he says, grace, mercy,
and peace. That's Paul's usual salutation
from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Peace with God,
reconciliation with God, God reconciled to his people, his
people reconciled to God is based upon his grace and his mercy,
which are found in the person and work of Christ. We're at
peace with God through the blood of the cross. And that's how
it's established. Somebody says, well, you've got
to make your peace with God. Well, you got to understand what
people mean by that. A lot of people mean by that,
what they mean by it is heresy. You don't establish peace between
you and God. Christ did that. But by nature,
we're enemies of God. And so we must be reconciled
to him. Of course, we know we're not
going to be reconciled to him unless God works first. to bring
us into His family. And so God is, listen, God is
reconciled to us long before we're reconciled to Him. He's
reconciled to us, I believe, in eternity because He set up
in the covenant of grace, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit,
and that agreement that they had. And I know it's hard to
understand eternal matters, but God chose a people to save and
gave them to Christ and made Christ our surety. But now when
we're born, we're anything but reconciled to God. We're enemies
of God. I'm gonna talk a little bit about that in the message
today at 11 o'clock. One Step to Sainthood, that's
what it's called. One Step to Sainthood. And I'll
show you why I got that title too. But anyway, this establishes
that we're a family. grace, mercy, and peace from
God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. This establishes that
we're in fellowship, that you're my brother and my sister in Christ,
and I'm your brother in Christ. And apart from this grace, mercy,
and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord, we
don't have any spiritual unity. Fellowship, you say. And that's
what we'll talk about. Verses are three. He says, as
I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus. You're a brother
in Christ. What happened? Okay, he said go on. That's my
twin. As I besought thee to abide still
at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest
charge some. Now that word charge means command.
This has the force of a commandment. This is not a choice. See, this
is not up to you and me. If we're brethren in the faith,
well, put it this way. If we're saved by grace and we're
brethren in the faith, this is a command that we all must fix
in our, God must fix in our hearts. And that's to stand firm in the
doctrine. But he says that thou mightest charge some that they
teach no other Now, again, understand what we're
talking about there is what John in 2 John 9, turn over to 2 John
9, is what the Apostle John calls the doctrine of Christ. And as
I said, you know, believers can differ on some things, like for
example, eschatology concerning the end
times. Now, believers can differ on
that, but now let me caution you this way. Whatever difference
you have, like for example with me or anybody else on that subject,
neither one of us can hold a view of eschatology that denies or
confuses the gospel. Do you understand that? You say
well, you know I believe that Christ is going to come and then
this is going to well listen to me now This this idea. I'll give you an example of the
heresy that's prevails In a lot of people who hold a bad eschatology
They say Christ is going to come back again take his people up
and then he's going to give everybody else a second chance That's heresy
You understand that? That's not going to happen That's
not biblical. That's anti-gospel. We talk about
the issue, Jim, we've been dealing with it for years now, the timing
of justification. I hold that God justified his
people in eternity because it's God that justifies and God never
changes his mind. And it's based upon what Christ
would come and do in time, in redemption. Others say, no, it's
at the cross. Others say, no, it's at faith.
But you see, God doesn't change his mind. But now if you hold
a view of the timing of justification, that denies the gospel. For example,
there are people who believe that God justifies his people
based upon their believing. That's heresy. God justifies
his people based on the blood of Jesus Christ, period. You
see what I'm saying? So I think that's important. Well John, look at 2 John and
verse nine. He says, whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. Now is that clear? He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. And then he says, if there come any unto you and bring not
this doctrine, the doctrine of Christ. Now, the word doctrine
just simply means teaching. You know, to some people who
claim to be Christian, doctrine is almost a dirty word. And you
know, it's the last thing that a lot of people, you know, if
you're seeking a church, the last thing that most people,
well, lost people think of is what doctrine is taught there.
All they're worried about is who's there and can I feel warm
and fuzzy and do they make me feel welcome or do they jump
and hop and sing out and entertain me? But the first thing you should
look for when looking for a church is what doctrine do they preach?
What do they teach? What do they believe? And it's
gotta be salvation by grace. I know everybody says that, but
you listen to him and discern. So he says, if there come any
of you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house,
neither bid him Godspeed. The house that John is talking
about here is the house of God, the church, not the building.
But what he's saying, if they come in with another doctrine,
don't receive them into your fellowship, your family. And
he says, verse 10, if there come any unto you and bring not this
doctrine, receive him not in your house, neither bid him Godspeed,
for he that biddeth him Godspeed is a partaker of his evil deeds.
That's how important this thing is. So we need to understand
what's happened here. Apparently in the church at Ephesus,
going back to 1 Timothy 1, there had been some of the teachers
there who were teaching other doctrines contrary to the doctrine
of Christ. And so Paul writes Timothy, he
says, you be sure to command them that they teach no other
doctrine. And we'll see in the next verses,
Lord Willem will get to next week, some of the things that
they were saying. They were talking about tales
and fables and myths, human ideas, human stories. They were using human illustrations
to establish doctrine, rather than using doctrine as illustrated
by good illustrations. And we'll talk about that later.
But let me give you this. I've got this on your lesson.
I think it's a good thing for everybody to keep and to have.
Listen to this. The doctrine concerns the glory
of the triune Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, revealed
in the glorious person and finished successful work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, what that means is anybody
who denies the Trinity denies the gospel. Because the salvation
that we enjoy is the work of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. And the Bible teaches that. I put in here, well, for
in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we're
complete in Him. And I put in here, it sets forth
the work of all three persons of the Godhead in the salvation
of sinners. And you can read There's several
passages you can go to on this, but Ephesians 1, 3 through 14
is a beautiful summation of that. Read it sometime. Ephesians 1,
3 through 14, the work of the Father, the work of the Son,
and the work of the Spirit. So it tells us of God's absolute
sovereignty. That's who God is now. That's
the doctrine of Christ. He's sovereign. He doeth as He
will among the nations of the earth. He doesn't wait on you.
He's not reactionary. He doesn't change. He's all-powerful. He never fails. That's our God. And so, He's absolutely sovereign. He's absolutely just and holy,
as well as being a God of grace, love, and mercy. Yes, we talk
about God's love. His sovereign love, His mercy,
His grace sovereignly, as well as His justice and His holiness. And so we come to this point.
The doctrine of Christ identifies God as both a just God and a
Savior. Remember He said in Isaiah, look
unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I'm
God and there's none else. He's a just God and a Savior.
He's the God who justifies the ungodly by His grace, based on
the righteousness of Christ, freely imputed to His chosen
people. The true doctrine of Christ identifies
and distinguishes God the Father, who represents the sovereign
rule of the Godhead, who chose a people to save before the world
began. and conditioned all of their
salvation upon Christ, appointing Him to be our surety, our substitute,
our redeemer, and our preserver. Therefore, to deny the sovereignty
of God in election is to deny the gospel. To deny the security
of the saints, security of God's people, is to deny the gospel.
It's all conditioned on Christ. And then God the whole, so God
the Son is represented as the one who established the very
righteousness upon which God saves us and our dealings with
the Father. And what the Spirit does in us
at the new birth, it's all based upon what Christ in the glory
of his person, as God manifest in the flesh, and the power of
his successful finished work on the cross, obedience unto
death, his righteousness accomplished. Therefore, there's no dealings
with the Father, and there's no power of the Spirit, except
that which comes to us through Christ, our intercessor, our
mediator, our Savior, our Lord. Everything that God has to do
with us as His chosen, redeemed, regenerated people comes through
Christ. And it's all conditioned on Christ.
Therefore, if anybody preaches salvation conditioned on sinners,
they deny the doctrine of Christ. Christ fulfilled those conditions. The Holy Spirit is the sovereign
agent who by the new birth imparts to us spiritual life. Righteousness
is imputed, it's not imparted. but it's imputed, it's legally
charged to our account. But from Christ comes spiritual
life in the new birth by the Spirit, and he gives us spiritual
life, spiritual knowledge, faith, repentance, perseverance, all
worked in us by God. The true doctrine of Christ identifies
and distinguishes Jesus as God the Son, the second person of
the Trinity, Manifest in the flesh, God with us, the word
made flesh, therefore to deny his humanity, his sinless humanity
or his deity is to deny the gospel. The fundamentals of the faith.
He came from heaven to earth to save his people from their
sins. This is the gospel, the doctrine of Christ of substitution,
suretyship, substitution, imputation, satisfaction, all of that. He
is the propitiation for our sins. By His one sacrifice for our
sins, He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. It
identifies Christ in the glory of His person and the power of
His finished work as the very righteousness of God. And there
is no other. He's the one Savior of sinners.
All other ways are false. To say that there are other ways
of salvation other than Christ crucified and resurrected from
the dead is to deny the gospel, is to deny the doctrine of Christ.
The true doctrine of Christ identifies God's chosen people as sinners
who deserve and earned nothing but death and hell, and makes
it clear that there's no possibility of our salvation if it were conditioned
on us. We fell in Adam into a state
of death, depravity, blindness, And it tells us if we're saved,
it's not by our works, it's not by our wills, but it's by the
power of God. It's based upon Christ's righteousness
imputed. It's applied to us personally
by the Holy Spirit in the new birth, which comes not by our
natural birth, not by our works, and not by our wills, but by
the will of God, the power of God. And the doctrine of Christ
tells us that any sinner who truly believes in Christ for
salvation, it's because that sinner's been born again from
above. And again, John 1, 12 through 13, born of God, as we
say. So think about this. The doctrine
of Christ, this is the last one, tells us that godliness and obedience. Now Timothy, in 1 Timothy and
2 Timothy, Paul talks about godliness. Talks about those who have a
form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. Well, the
true godliness and obedience of a child of God can only be,
here's number one, it can only be accepted by God through the
blood of Christ. Our good works, Timothy, Paul
says a lot about good works in Timothy, our good works Our godliness,
our obedience, all right, can never be meritorious. You see
that? In other words, it's not given
to earn God's favor. It's not given to dissuade his
wrath. It's not legalism. It's not a
mercenary. But it's the activity of God
working in us, through us, to do that which is pleasing to
him as accepted in Christ, motivated by grace, love, and gratitude,
and aim towards the glory of God. Is that clear? Anything else is legalism. And
Paul's gonna talk about that later on. So we see that. Now let me conclude with this. Years ago, the first time I think
that I got in trouble with a bunch of preachers, And you all know
over the years I've been in trouble with a lot of preachers. Was
over this thing about doctrine being downplayed. Okay? And it was often, I often heard
in messages from other preachers, they would say something like
this. They'd say, you don't arrive at Christ through doctrine. You
arrive at doctrine through Christ. The implication of that is that
you can be saved, you can be regenerated and converted, without
knowing anything. All right? And that's wrong. Now, first of all, I'll say this. It's not doctrine that saves
us. It's Christ who saves us. You
understand? Christ is our Savior. But how
does He take a sinful, unregenerate person and bring that person
into the kingdom of God? by the new birth. It's through
the preaching of the gospel, isn't it? The gospel is the power
of God unto salvation, the doctrine of Christ. God brings you under
it, and he gives you ears to hear it. And he teaches you the
right doctrine, the right teaching, the gospel. So that he brings
us to conviction of our sin, and conviction of righteousness,
and conviction of judgment, and drives us to Christ. and we arrive
at Him, and we know that the Christ that we're coming to is
the true Christ, not a counterfeit, not a false one, and how do we
know He's the true Christ? By right doctrine. You see what
I'm saying? So, understand, we do arrive
at Christ through doctrine, but that isn't, it's not the doctrine
alone that saves, it's Christ who saves us. But this is how
we arrive at Him, by faith, It's revealed from faith to faith.
As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Okay.