Recently, a friend of mine, a
believer, found himself in a discussion with two men on the subject of
religion. One of the men he knew and the
other man he didn't. And it became very obvious to
my friend that these two fellows just love to debate. They just
love to argue. They love to discuss doctrine. Love to argue about it, really.
And the man that knew my friend had engaged in many conversations
with him and pretty well knew what he believed, but the other
man didn't have a clue. So the one that knew my believing
friend said to him, he said, tell Joe, we'll call him Joe. He said, tell Joe about this
predestination and election doctrine that you believe. And my friend
said, well, it's what the Bible teaches. God chose a people before
the foundation of the world, before they had done any good
or evil that the purpose of God, according to election, might
stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth. And the fella my
friend knew said, you see, Joe, he doesn't believe that Jesus
died for the whole world, just for the elect of God. And then
he looked at my friend and he said, tell Joe how you don't
believe that God loves everybody. And my friend, getting a little
perturbed, said, the scriptures say in Romans chapter 9 that
God said, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. The Bible
says that God hates all workers of iniquity. He then said, tell
Joe how you don't believe that you chose to make Jesus Lord
of your life. And my friend said, well, the
Lord Jesus said, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you. And you do know that the scriptures
teach that we love Him because He first loved us. Joe, he don't
believe that you give your heart to Jesus. And my friend said,
our heart's deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. He said, God doesn't want our
hearts. God has to give us a new heart, a heart that believes
and trusts Him. And my friend told me that at
that point, Joe just shook his head, just shook his head, and
he said to his friend, he has a lot of doctrine, but he don't
know nothing. You see, his doctrine certainly
was different from theirs. But my friend knows what few
do. No, let me rephrase that. My
friend knows who few do. What is your doctrine? Have you
ever really thought about it? We've all heard the word doctrine,
but what does the word doctrine mean? Well, our English dictionary
defines it as a set of beliefs by a church or a political party
or any group or organization for that matter. The word doctrine
means a creed. You know what a creed is. It's
a strong belief. It's a stance. It's a position,
a persuasion that you have great conviction about. But it's very
interesting to note that the word doctrine, as it is used
in the Scripture, as it's used in the Bible, gives reference
to instruction. It gives reference to something
learned or something being taught. The spiritually profitable doctrine
of Scripture is not something that we naturally know and understand. That's something that the Bible
is actually very clear about. The doctrines of God have to
be revealed. They have to be manifested. They
have to be taught. You see, the natural man, man
in his fallen state, receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. They are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. They're spiritually
hidden. And they have to be revealed.
When Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, as the Son of the
Living God, do you remember what the Lord said to him? He said,
Peter, you sure are a blessed man, if I can paraphrase. He
said, you sure are a blessed man. He said, flesh and blood
have not revealed this to you. Man didn't reveal this to you.
The preacher didn't reveal it to you. The church didn't reveal
it to you. But my Father, which is in heaven. The Bible talks a great deal
about doctrine. As a matter of fact, the word
is used over 56 times in the Bible. And as you might expect,
there's mention in the Scriptures of true doctrine, doctrine that
is of God, the doctrine of Christ. And then there's also mentioned
false doctrine, false teaching, false learning that is of man. There is Christ's doctrine, which
is true, and there's the doctrine of devils, which is not. There
is doctrine, remember the definition, teaching and learning. There's
teaching and learning that's right. And there's teaching and
learning doctrine that is wrong. And I know we've talked about
this. We live in a day where being right or wrong is pretty
much a thing of the past. It's no longer popular to win
or lose. Everyone needs to just feel good
about themselves. Don't make somebody feel bad
because they lost. No winners or losers anymore.
Nobody keeps score anymore. Well, let me let you in on a
secret. God does. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. And He knows how many of them
there are. And friends, He knows how many hairs are on their head.
You see, He knows everything. God keeps going. There's still
winners and losers when it comes to salvation. Some know Christ
in truth, and some don't know Him at all. There is sound doctrine
that God teaches, and there are the doctrines of men that men
teach, that's not sound at all, and not according to God's Word.
So, how can we know the truth from the false? Well, I think
I can help you with that. First of all, does the doctrine
you believe, does the teaching, the learning that you have, exalt
Christ? Or does the gospel you believe
exalt man? That's a tell-tale sign. Does
the gospel you believe preach man low and preach God high? Or does man get all the glory
in the gospel you believe? Turn with me, if you would, in
your Bible to 2 John. There's only one chapter and
only 14 verses. Just one page of Scripture. The
second epistle of John. It's here in this short letter
that John talks about an essential doctrine, a necessary doctrine
teaching that we must have. And it's called The Doctrine
of Christ. That's the title of my message, The Doctrine of Christ. Look at it, 2 John 1 verse 9. Whosoever transgresseth, whosoever
sins, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God."
Those are blunt and strong words. The one who sins and doesn't
have the doctrine of Christ doesn't have any hope of salvation. If
you're without God, you're without hope in this world. And you don't
have salvation. Did you notice that this doctrine
of Christ is for those who abide in it? The word abideth means
to continue, it means to dwell, it means to endure. Our Lord
said those that endure till the end shall be saved. Those that
continue, those that dwell, those that stand and stay in the doctrine
of Christ. To have the doctrine of Christ
is to have been taught of God. The Lord said in John chapter
6 verse 45, it's written in the prophets, and they shall be all
taught of God. Now who's the all there? All
God's people. All God's elect. All God's sheep. God's going to teach them. Did
you hear me? God's going to teach them. Every
man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father
cometh unto me." That's what the Lord Jesus said. And they
will. Every single one of them will come to Him. Will there
be any lost in hell that Christ died for? No, sir. Perish the
thought. And when will a sinner come to
Christ? Well, when God teaches them what
they are. And when God reveals to them
who they need. Child of God, you know it so.
The doctrine of Christ, it involves so much, much more than just
believing that a man named Jesus lived on this earth. There's
a lot of people that know that. About everybody knows that. Believing
in Christ is much more than knowing that He died on a cross and that
He was buried in a tomb, or even that He rose from the dead. The
doctrine of Christ concerns His person. We talked about that
in the first hour. He's the Son of God, and yet
He's the Son of Man. He is the union of two natures. There's never been another one
like Him. He's the God-Man. He's 100% God, and He's 100%
Man. And He's the only one that can save us. He's the only one
who can justly save us. The only one of His kind. The
Old Testament foretold of His coming. We've been studying now
for six, seven years the Old Testament on Wednesdays. And
what have we seen so clearly? We've seen the Lord Jesus. We've
seen the Gospel. and how God in mercy died for
the ungodly. Oh, the Old Testament foretold
of His coming. He's the one mediator of the
covenant. He's the surety of a better Testament. And in the Old Testament, He
fulfilled in picture and in type the offices of prophet and of
priest and of king. He is all three. The doctrine
of Christ concerns Christ's person and His work. It concerns His
offices. It concerns His incarnation. Christ became a man. And you
may say, well, preacher, why is that so significant? Let me
tell you why it is. God took on flesh and blood,
and as a man, He was made of a woman and made under the law,
that He might redeem them that were under the law. Now you think
about that. God, who wrote the law, became
a man and became subject to His own law. Why did He do that? To fulfill the law and to satisfy
God's justice for you, sinner, child of God. And He chose to
redeem God's elect that were under the law, that they might
receive the adoption of sons. You're a joint heir with the
Lord Jesus Christ if God's done this for you. All that belongs
to Christ belongs to you. And being the perfect God-man,
He perfectly obeyed the law in His flesh. He was a man, but
He was God. And He told His Father that very
thing. He said, I have glorified You on this earth. That means
in His flesh, in His own body on the tree. That's why the Lord
became a man. And as a man, He loved God perfectly. Our love is so imperfect. Our
love is so fickle. Our love is so conditional. Oh,
it's easy for us to love those that love us, isn't it? It's
not so easy to love those that hate us. He loved God perfectly. He obeyed God perfectly. He honored
God perfectly. But He must do so as a man in
order to redeem man. He had to become what we were.
Flesh and blood, yet without sin. He knew no sin. He had no
sin. He was made to be sin. Whose
sin was put on Him? Our sin. The sin of God's elect.
And He put that sin away by the sacrifice of Himself. The doctrine
of Christ, oh my, it concerns the perfect righteousness of
God that's found only in Him. The doctrine of Christ concerns
His death, it concerns His resurrection, it concerns His exaltation, and
it concerns His return. And this is what John is saying
in verse 10, look at it. He says, if there come any unto
you that doesn't bring this doctrine of Christ, He is not of God. He doesn't have, he doesn't possess,
he doesn't even know God the Father or God the Son. You may not have to turn back
a page, but look at 1 John 5, verse 11. The same writer, John the Apostle,
the one that was found always leaning upon the Lord's breast. He says in verse 11 of 1 John
chapter 5, and this is the record that God has given us eternal
life. And this life is where? It's
in His Son. Could it be any plainer? Could it be any simpler than
that? Life, eternal life, is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
in God's Son. Look at verse 20. John added,
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an
understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are
in Him that is true. even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God in eternal
life. And this, friends, is the doctrine
of Christ. And that was the ministry and
the message of all the apostles and all the disciples, and it's
of all true preachers today. That's what Paul said. He said,
Jesus is the sum and the substance of our message. In 1 Corinthians
2, verse 2, he said, For I determined not to know anything among you
except this, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. who He is, and
what He's done for His people. That's what that doctrine is.
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. God, God Almighty, died on the
cross to put your sin away. That's how horrific your sin
was. Paul said, we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Christ's
sake. He said in another place, he
said, he that plants, he's nothing. He that waters, he's not anything. But God, oh, he's something. He's the one that gives the increase.
He's the one that makes you to differ from another. The Apostle
Paul, as you probably know, spent the last two years of his life
in Rome under house arrest. You can read about it in the
last chapter of Acts chapter 28. Let's do that. Let's just
look at it. We're close. Acts chapter 28. Look at it with me. Acts chapter 28 verse 30 sums
up pretty much the last two years of the Apostle Paul's life. Acts
28. Look at verse 30. And Paul dwelt two whole years
in his own hired or his own rented house, and received all that
came unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching
those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence. Jesus Christ was Paul's message. He's our message. This is the
doctrine of Christ. And to have it is to have Christ
and to have His Father, John said. Someone told Brother Mahan
one time, he said, Brother Mahan, you've made an idol out of Christ. And Brother Henry said, he didn't
mind that too much. You see, an idol is an object
of complete worship and devotion. And that's what Christ was to
him. And that's what Christ is to me. Now we like to use other
words instead of idol. He's our God. He's our Lord. He's our Master. He's our Savior. He's our substitute. He's our
sacrifice. But if you want to call it making
an idol out of Christ, go ahead. I don't have a problem with it.
Because He is the only object of our worship. John said here
in verse 10 of our text, If there come any of you, and bring not
this doctrine, Don't receive Him. Receive Him not into your
house, neither bid Him God's speed, for He that biddeth Him
God's speed is partaker of His evil deeds. Now, if anyone comes
to you, and it doesn't matter if they're walking down the street
selling Bibles, if they don't bring with them the doctrine
of Christ, don't you listen to them. Don't you let them in your
house, and whatever you do, don't wish them Godspeed. Don't wish
them well. Don't tell them to have a blessed
day. John said in verse 11, For he that biddeth Him Godspeed
is partaker of his evil deeds. How can light have fellowship
with darkness? And the Apostle Paul agreed.
He wrote in Galatians chapter 1, if any man preach any other
gospel unto you than that that you have received from us, let
him be accursed. He said, do I now persuade men
or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. No, it's not of man, is it? This
is the doctrine of Christ, not the doctrine of man. He said,
For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it,
but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. And there we have it
again. If God doesn't reveal it to us, we'll never see it.
And there's another pretty good way to tell if you're sitting
under the Gospel truth or not. Does it please men? If it pleases
men, then I'm not preaching it right. That's what Paul said.
He said, I'm not the servant of Christ if what I preach pleases
men. Because men by nature think it's
foolishness. Christ Himself said, no man cometh
to the Father but by me. The Bible teaches other foundation
can no man lay than that which is Jesus Christ. There is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. Salvations of the Lord. The Lord
Jesus sent the disciples out into the world to preach the
gospel and He said, go preach the gospel to every creature
and he that believeth. He that believeth. Did you hear
that? He that believes." Believes what? The gospel. The good news of
Christ and Him crucified. He that believes the gospel and
is baptized shall be saved. And he that believeth not. Believes
not what? The gospel. The gospel of Jesus
Christ. The doctrine of Christ shall
be damned. Now, is there anything about
those statements that you don't understand? It's pretty clear. It's pretty narrow. It's pretty
cut and dry. You know, the Gospel is narrow.
It is. When it comes to religion, I've
been accused of being narrow-minded. We better be. The way to Christ
is a narrow way. The doctrine of Christ is cut
and dry. And not everyone has it. Not
everyone has learned it. It's not been revealed to everyone
in the world. I'm not trying to be narrow.
I'm not trying to be fanatical. I'm not trying to be radical.
I'm just telling you what this book says. This is what God says. And I challenge you and encourage
you to get in this book and see if what I'm telling you is so.
It is. It is so. He that hath the Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, has life. And he that has not the Son has
not life. Eternal life is not in the church.
It's not in the altar. It's not on a mourner's bench.
It's not in a sinner's prayer. It's not on a Roman road. Forgiveness
is not in the preacher's hand. It's not in the priest's absolving. No, sir. Eternal life is in God
the Son. Did you hear what I said? Eternal
life is in God the Son. And this is the doctrine of Christ. Christ bought it. He purchased
it. He fulfilled it. He accomplished
it. It was by His obedience. It was
by His death. He fulfilled the law. He satisfied
God's justice. What do you think of the words,
Christ is all? Have you ever stopped to think
about that? What does that mean? It means exactly what it says.
Christ is all. He's everything. This book declares
that Christ is all. He's before all things. And all
things are created by Him. In heaven and in earth. He created
it all. Whether visible or invisible.
God the Son is behind it. Whether it be thrones, dominions,
principalities, and powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. This is all about Christ. This
is all about His glory. Let me show you that from your
own Bible. Turn with me to the book of Colossians
1. Colossians 1. Verse 17. Again, speaking of
the Lord Jesus. Colossians 1. Verse 17. And he, speaking of
the Lord Jesus, is before all things, and by Him all things
consist. 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." Now that word
simply means superiority. For it pleased the Lord, and
now look at this, let's don't read over these words too quickly.
For it pleased the Father that in Him, in Christ, should all
fullness dwell. And have He made peace through
the blood of His cross, that's speaking of Christ's cross, by
Him, the Lord Jesus, to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, by Christ, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath He, Christ, reconciled. Where did He do that? In the
body of His flesh through death. Jesus Christ died and was crucified
in His people's place. Why? He tells us right here,
to present them holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. If God's going to save you, it's
going to be in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ. I can
assure you of that. Does anyone believe differently
than that? There's only one doctrine, there's
only one teaching, one truth, one divine revelation that will
save you. And that's the doctrine of Christ.
And it's the teaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The
doctrine of Christ concerns the Lord Jesus, who knew no sin,
who was made to be sin, so that you and I might be made the righteousness
of God and Him. And it's God that made Christ
sin. And it's God that made His people
righteous. And it's God that's behind it
all. Salvation is of the Lord. Christ said, Moses wrote of Me.
He also said, search the Scriptures for they testify of Me. Christ
is Noah's ark. All who are in Him are safe from
the wrath of God that will soon be pouring down. It's coming.
It's coming. Christ is our Passover lamb sacrificed
for us. All those with His blood covering,
God will pass over. Christ is that rock in the wilderness
from which flow rivers of living water. Christ is that manna that
fell from heaven that all that eat of Him shall never hunger
again. Christ is the tabernacle. The
priesthood pictures Him. Moses pictured Him as our prophet.
Aaron pictured Him as our priest. David pictures Him as our King.
And all the sacrifices picture our substitution by Him. All
the types, the shadows, the patterns, the pictures point to the Lord
Jesus who is coming. Old Testament Scripture says
there's one coming. The New Testament Scriptures
say He's here. The Gospels say He's here. And
the Epistles say He's coming again. This is the doctrine of
Christ. And Christ dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And you are what? Complete in
Him. Oh, I want to be complete in
Him, don't you? All that God is, friends, Christ
is. And if you're in Him, all that
Christ is, you are. You know, our destiny, and a
lot of people don't like that word because they think that
it means fate, fortune, or luck, but our destiny has been predestinated. I don't believe in fate, I don't
believe in fortune, and I don't believe in luck. I've told you
that many times. I don't believe there's any such
thing. But let me tell you what there is. There's predestination
and there's providence. And everything comes from the
hand of God. God predetermined and God purposed
in eternity that all, everything comes to pass, it comes to pass. And God has committed all judgment
unto His Son. Have you ever really thought
about that? In John 5, verse 22, it says, For the Father judges
no man. And that word judge there means
distinguishes or decides. It means also to condemn or to
damn. Now stay with me, please. Christ
is so much God that the Godhead appointed the Lord Jesus Christ
to be the fullness of. He's the representative of the
Godhead. He and the Father are one, but
He is the fullness of the Godhead in a body. God has committed
all judgment, all the deciding, all the distinguishing, all the
condemning, all the damning, and all the mercy, and all the
grace. It's been committed to the Lord
Jesus Christ. God committed, delivered all
that to Him. That's the doctrine of Christ.
You're in His hands. Salvation is of the Lord and
Jesus Christ is Lord. So what is the doctrine of Christ?
Well, it's not doctrines. It's not plural. It's a doctrine,
singular. It's a singular teaching. It's
a singular message. Are you ready for what the doctrine
of Christ is? Drum roll, please. Jesus Christ
is the doctrine of Christ. Jesus Christ is our message.
He is salvation. He is the teaching of God. He
is the instruction, the revelation, the salvation of God's people. Jesus Christ is the gospel. Salvation is in a person. Jesus
Christ is the good news for sinners. The doctrine of Christ is Jesus
Christ. Is that what you are about? If
you don't, you have no covering for sin. And when your sin, your
sin that's against God and against God only, your sin is in disobedience
to His law, His holy justice demands that you be punished
because the soul that sins, it shall die. And John says here,
whoever transgress, whoever sins, whoever violates the law of God
and abides not, lives not, dwells not in the doctrine of Christ,
he don't have God. You can't have God as God if
you don't have Jesus Christ as Lord. Now you think about that. You can't have God as your God
if you don't have Christ as your Lord. You can't stand before
God unless you are as perfect and holy as God Himself is. What's my doctrine? Christ is
my doctrine. And in Christ I stand before
God, we read it a moment ago, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in His sight. You know, some would say, like
old Joe said about my friend, that I don't know nothing. But
I'm determined not to know anything among you, or anyone for that
matter, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You see, the question
this morning is this. What think you of Christ? What
do you think of Him? Whose son is He? Is He your Savior? Is He your substitute? Is He
your sacrifice? Are you trusting in Him and in
Him alone to have put away your sin? If so, then Christ is your
doctor. Oh, may God enable you to trust
in Him as your doctrine. You know, I've been taught by
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, He's my doctrine. But the time has
come when men and women will not endure sound doctrine. But
after their own lust, it says, they heap unto themselves teachers
having itching ears. That's what's going on in religion
today. Don't give them your ear. Don't do it. Don't do it. To abide in the doctrine of Christ
is to have both the Father and the Son. And to have Christ in
the Father is to have eternal life. What else more could you
ask for? May God be pleased to add His
blessings to the preaching of His Word.