This morning I want to speak
to you just a few minutes on this subject, the doctrine of
Christ. The doctrine of Christ. And this
is from the book of 2 John that Brother Mark just read, especially
in verses 9 through 11 where the apostle wrote, 2 John 9,
whosoever transgresseth abideth not in the doctrine of Christ
hath not God. Can that be any plainer? He that
abideth in the doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the
Son. Now let's stop there just for
a moment. The preaching of doctrine for the most part today has been
relegated to the background in most so-called professing Christian
churches. It is said today that, even by
some, that we don't preach doctrine. Well, then you don't preach anything.
And then others will say, well, doctrine divides. And it does,
but it also should. What is the word doctrine? Well,
the word doctrine is just teaching. The Apostle John, when he began
this short letter written to the elect lady, as he says, he
talks about the truth. And so the doctrine of Christ
in verse 9 is the same as the truth in verse 1. Doctrine is
truth. Christ taught doctrine. Christ
is the embodiment of truth. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And that's the doctrine. Years
ago, I began to hear some of the most doctrinal preachers
you would ever hear beginning to put down doctrine, even write
doctrine. And what they were trying to
do was to combat the notion that a person could be saved only
by an intellectual mental agreement to a system of doctrine. And
I suppose that's possible, but that's not the doctrine of Christ.
They'd say things like this. They'd say, you don't arrive
at Christ through doctrine, but you arrive at doctrine through
Christ. And I don't know what a lot of them meant by that,
but let me tell you something. Christ is our salvation. But the only way you're going
to get to Christ and believe in Christ and trust Christ is
as the Holy Spirit brings you under the preaching of the gospel,
which is doctrine. Without the doctrine of Christ,
you don't know who Christ is. Without the doctrine of Christ,
you don't even know who God is. Without the doctrine of Christ,
the truth of Christ, and that's the gospel of Christ, you don't
even know who you are. That's right. Without the doctrine of Christ,
you don't know what salvation is or what it's all about. I was talking to a young preacher
years ago about that. He preached a message on dead,
cold, dry doctrine. And I challenged him on it. I
said, well, where in the Bible do you find the doctrine of Christ
described as dead, cold, and dry? Where is that? It's not
in there, folks. Now, the Bible speaks of the
dead hearts of dead sinners, but not dead cold. There's not
one negative word in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation about
the doctrine of Christ. It's all good. Beautiful doctrine. Right doctrine. Profitable doctrine. Doctrines that we need and must
have. The doctrine of Christ. The doctrine
of life. Anything that tells me the truth
about Jesus Christ is not dead, cold, and dry to me. How about
you? Bella told me one time about
this issue. He said, you don't arrive at Christ through doctrine.
I said, well, let's just give you an example. Let's say I've
never read a Bible, never heard the name Christ. I don't know
anything about it. How are you going to tell me
about Christ? He said, well, I'd start telling you about his
deity. And I said, well, that's the
doctrine of his deity and his humanity, the doctrine of sin. What does the Bible say about
me as a fallen son of Adam? Born dead in trespasses and sins. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That's doctrine. That's what
it is. Right doctrine. And then here's
this little old epistle by the Apostle John. And he said, those
who transgress and abide not in the doctrine of God, they
don't have God. That means they're lost, folks. Then he says this, look at verse
10, he says, if there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine,
this teaching, this truth, receive him not into your house, neither
bid him Godspeed. Now that's not talking about
your homes. And that's not saying you're
never to let any unbeliever in your home. We all have, some
of us live with unbelievers. That's not the, He's talking
about the church here. The household is the household
and family of God, the church. What he's saying is that the
only ones who you are to receive in your fellowship are believers,
true believers, as known by the doctrine of Christ. What think
ye of Christ? Whose son is he? What did he
accomplish when he died on the cross as the surety and substitute
of his people? Why did he do it? Where is he
now? Is he coming again? Who is God? What does God say
about himself in this work? That's the doctrine of God. And
he says in verse 11, for he that biddeth him God's speed is a
partaker. That word partaker means a fellowship or a partner
of his evil deeds. In other words, if you support
this person who comes into your house without the doctrine of
Christ, you're a partner with that person in their evil because
whatever they're preaching, if it's not the doctrine of Christ,
the Bible says it's evil. They approach you, they want
fellowship, they want support. Well, if they don't abide in
the doctrine of Christ, we can't give them. Now we can love them
and pray for their salvation and tell them the truth, can't
we? If they're hungry, we can feed them. If they're naked,
we can clothe them, but we cannot have fellowship with them. We
cannot receive them as a brother or sister in Christ. That's what
he's saying. In fact, if you want to look
at these three epistles, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, look at them
this way. 1 John is a polemic. That means
it relates truths that are things that are poles apart, like the
North Pole and the South Pole. as far apart as north is from
the south, as east is from the west, poles apart. And here's
what 1 John says, here's the ground of the fellowship of God's
people. God's people walk in the light.
That's how he starts off, isn't it? In fellowship with the Father,
Son, known by their walking in the light and they don't walk
in darkness. Darkness is poles apart from light. And those who
walk in the light, how do you know? By the doctrine of Christ,
the truth, the gospel. Those who walk in darkness walk
in lies, deceptions, self-righteousness. And then he says it's the fellowship
of righteousness. Now, where is my righteousness?
What righteousness do I have? What is my righteousness before
God? My righteousness is Christ. It's not in me. It's not of me. It's not from me It's Christ
what he did on Calvary in his obedience unto death as my surety
paying my sin debt all of my salvation Conditioned on him
and him alone and he fulfilled those conditions. He is my righteousness
It's his righteousness imputed charged accounted to me That's
the fellowship of righteous. That's the gospel where in the
righteousness of God is revealed Romans 1 16 and 17 And that righteousness
of God is opposed to the righteousness of man. Now any sinner who seeks
salvation from God based upon what they do, based upon what
they accomplish, that's not the fellowship of righteousness.
That's the righteousness of man. And then he calls it the fellowship
of love, which means we stand together in the fellowship of
truth. Now look at verse one here. Second
John, he talks about the elder, that's John, unto the elect lady
and her children." Now most commentators will tell you, and I agree with
them, that this elect lady is not an individual woman or a
believer, believing woman, but the church, a local church. Spoken
of to in the feminine because the church is the bride of Christ. Christ is the husband and his
wife is his bride. It's the church. whom he redeemed
with the price of his blood and her children that's the members
of this church whom I love look at this love in the truth now
the Bible commands us to love everybody even our worst enemies
but this love here is that divine love you've heard the term agape
that's what it is it's divine love that's a special love that
only exists in those who are born again by the Spirit and
brought into the fellowship of faith. We don't love our enemies,
our neighbor, like this. In other words, we don't bring
them into the fellowship and family of the church. Only God
can do that. We love them in that we want
the best for them, which means we tell them the truth, even
when they hate to hear the truth, and we pray for their salvation.
Listen, we're to desire the best for our worst enemy, the scripture
teaches us. That's the love of the law. Love
God perfectly, love your neighbor as yourself. But now this love
is a special love that exists only amongst believers, the fellowship
of faith. That's the agape love, that's
the divine love that's shed abroad in the hearts of God's people
by the Holy Spirit. And it's love that's founded
upon truth, not a lie. It's not a love that says we
can agree to disagree here, but it's founded upon the gospel
truth of who God is in his holiness, in his righteousness, as well
as his mercy and his love, which is only found in Christ. And
he said, and not only I, but also all they that have known
the truth. You're in fellowship with a lot of people. Some of
them you don't even know because you believe the same gospel.
Verse two, for the truth's sake which dwelleth in us and shall
be with us forever. When God the Holy Spirit brings
a sinner to believe the gospel, he works in that sinner a new
heart. Turn over to Romans chapter six
that I read just a while ago. Verse 17. And here's what we need to understand. that God the Holy Spirit brings sinners
in the new birth to faith in Christ by doctrine. The doctrine of Christ. The doctrine
of God. The doctrine of grace, you might
say. Christ gives us life, spiritual
life, brings us from spiritual deadness to spiritual life, and
brings us to faith in the power of the Holy Spirit by doctrine.
Now look here. He says, but God be thanked that you were the
servants of sin. Now, remember this now, in the
context of Scripture, there's only two kinds of people on this
earth. There's sinners lost in their sins, and there's sinners
saved by grace. We who are saved by grace, we're
still sinners. We're still daily in need of
God's grace and mercy. We still have no righteousness
within ourselves. Our only righteousness is the
righteousness of Christ, but we're not servants of sin in
this sense. A servant of sin here is an unbeliever. A servant of sin here is one
who's a slave to sin, who's in the deception of sin. who is
deceived by Satan and by their own natural tendencies, the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. And he
says, you were the servants of sin. You were unregenerate. You
were spiritually dead and trespasses of sins. You were unbelievers,
but look what happened. But you have obeyed from the
heart. Now the heart is the mind, the
affections, the will, the conscience, You have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Now if you have
a concordance in your Bible, it probably reads something like
this. It says that form of doctrine where to you were delivered. Now that form of doctrine, the
word form there is like a stamp. It's like an identification,
an identifying mark. It's like something in stone,
a seal. And that seal is the doctrine
that you were delivered to. Now it is delivered to you in
the preaching of the gospel. But what he's simply saying here
is that God brought you under the preaching of this doctrine. This is an act of God. This is
the providence of God. He brought you where you are. You say, well, now wait a minute.
I got up this morning and I decided to go to church. Well, you probably
did. But when you are brought under
the preaching of the truth of the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace, I'm going to tell you something. It was God
working in you sovereignly to do his will. He brought you here. You were delivered to it. Because
I can guarantee you, according to the scripture, if left to
your own, as they say, free will, you wouldn't even fool with it.
You wouldn't give it the time of day. But through some means,
under God's providence, he brought you where you are. You were delivered
to it. And then what did he do if he
brought you to faith in Christ? He gave you a new heart. Know
what the scripture says? Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, John chapter
three. He said, I'll give them a new
heart. I'll put my spirit within and I'll cause them to walk in
my statutes. That's what he says. He brought
you to faith. And that's what he's saying.
That form of doctrine which you were delivered to. Now what form
of doctrine is Paul talking about? He's talking about the gospel.
The gospel which is the gospel of God, God who is a holy God,
who must be just when He justifies, who must be a just God and a
Savior, a righteous judge as well as a loving, merciful, gracious
Father. The gospel which concerns His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the doctrine of Christ?
It's the doctrine of His person, who He is. Who is Jesus Christ? Well, the Bible's plain. The
first revelation of Christ in the Bible, Genesis 3.15, the
seed of woman. What does that tell you about
it? The woman has no seed. That's the man. But this woman,
she had a seed. Who is that seed? It's the Messiah
who was conceived in the womb of the virgin by the Holy Spirit
without the aid of man. He's God. That's who He is. He's
the Word that was before all things, without whom all things
were made. He is the Word made flesh. He
is man, every bit man, without sin. He's God-man. That's who
He is. That's the doctrine of Christ. Back over here in 2 John, it
says in verse 7, For many deceivers are entered into the world who
confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is
a deceiver and an antichrist. You want to know about antichrist?
You know the only one who ever used that term was the Apostle
John in 1st John and 2nd John. That means against Christ. Some
denied his humanity, some deny his deity, many deny the accomplishment
of his work. What did he do? He's God in human
flesh. Who did what? What did he accomplish
when he died on the cross of Calvary? Did he just make you
savable? No, not according to the Bible.
He's the propitiation, the sin bearing sacrifice who brought
satisfaction, which worked out in righteousness that demands
the salvation of all for whom he died, was buried in a rose
again. He actually died. He was buried. He is risen. He's ascended unto the Father.
He's seated at the right hand of the Father ever living to
make intercession for his people. And what is the ground of his
intercession? His righteousness which he established
on earth by his obedience unto death as the surety and substitute
of his people. What did he say? He said, All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, him that cometh to
me I will no wise cast out, for this is the will of the Father
which is sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. That's
the doctrine of Christ. We talk about the doctrines of
grace. Here's the doctrine of total depravity. What does that
say? Well, it says a lot. It talks about our sinfulness.
We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We all fell
in Adam. Romans 5, 12, whereas in Adam
all die. That's what it says. All sin
when Adam sinned because he's our representative. And that we are born dead in
trespasses and sin without any desire or knowledge of the true
and living God in His way. None righteous, no, not one.
None that seeketh after God. None that doeth good, no, not
one. In God's sight now. See, if you're going to understand
the doctrine of Christ, you've got to quit comparing yourselves
to other people. You've got to look at Christ.
The Bible says that the righteousness we need can only be found in
Christ, and that's the righteousness by which God's going to judge
people. Acts 17, 31. God has appointed a day in which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
and that he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath
raised him from the dead. How righteous must I be to be
saved? I must be as righteous as Christ.
I cannot be that in myself. The best works that I could ever
muster up in my life with or without the help of God will
not equal the work of Christ. So how can I have his righteousness?
That's where the doctrine of imputation comes in. That's the
doctrine of Christ. Look at Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4 and verse 6,
talking about Abraham and David. How they were justified before
God. What is it to be justified? It's
to be not guilty. is to be righteous in God's sight. How does that happen? Look at
verse 6 of Romans chapter 4, talking about David, the psalmist. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth, accounts,
reckons, charges righteousness without works. That's how we have His righteousness.
Not by our works. God charges it. He accounts it. He reckons it. Verse 7, saying,
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. How are our iniquities
forgiven? By the blood of Jesus Christ.
And whose sins are covered, not covered over or hidden from view,
but covered by way of atonement, reconciliation, paid for. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. He doesn't charge me with my
sin, He charges me with Christ's righteousness. That's the doctrine
of Christ. And then, as Christ gives us
life, brings us to faith in the power of the Holy Spirit by the
new birth, that's the doctrine of Christ. Because the life that
the Holy Spirit imparts to us in the new birth comes from Christ. He is our life. It's His, as
the old theologians used to say, it's His resurrection life. He
conquered sin and death in the grave. Christ did. I didn't,
you didn't, Christ did. He arose from the dead because
He paid for our sins and established righteousness. For by grace are
you saved. And as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. You see, his righteousness imputed
is the ground of my justification before God, but it's also the
source and power of the new life. The just, those to whom God has
declared not guilty, righteous, shall live life of Christ by
faith, by looking to, clinging to Jesus Christ as our hope. That's the doctrine of Christ. Well, he's coming again. That's
the doctrine of Christ. A lot of people go astray when
they talk about the second coming of Christ. They buy into man-made
systems such as dispensationalism and all of that. I'm not going
to get into all that this morning. Here's what I'm going to tell
you. Number one, he's coming again. That's the doctrine of
Christ. Do you believe he's coming again?
If you don't, you don't believe the doctrine of Christ. Number
two, here's the second point. We do not know when he's coming
again. Now, if you look at 2 John 9, it says, whosoever transgresseth. That word transgresseth means
they go too far. It means they cross the boundary.
They leap over the doctrine and get into other things. Now, he's
coming again. We don't know when he's coming.
Now, if you think you know when he's coming and you set a date
on that, you're going too far that's not the doctrine of Christ
because he said we don't know when he's coming so here's when
it comes a second time what's the doctrine of Christ number
one he's coming number two we don't know when he's coming we
know he is and we are to live every day of our lives in expectation
that it may be today it could be any minute he's coming and
there's going to be a judgment And when he comes again and we
stand before God at judgment, how do we want to be found before
God? Paul said it in Philippians chapter
three, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but the
righteousness which is of Christ. That's third, that's the doctrine
of Christ. And then fourthly, what is the greatest sign that
we're getting closer to his coming other than just time marching
on? Christ taught his disciples,
as we get closer to his second coming, there are certain things
we can look for. And what's the greatest one?
False Christianity is the greatest sign. Somebody said, well, it'll
be pornography and drugs. That's been going on all along,
folks. Now, it's probably a little more
pronounced in our day because we have television and the internet. was talking this morning about
the Roman Empire that was one of the most wicked evil empires
ever on the face of they promoted homosexuality just like they
do today but they didn't have TVs and internet back then to
spread it around so maybe that is worse okay but the greatest
sign that Christ taught his disciples about especially if you look
at Matthew 24 Mark 13, 2 Thessalonians 2, and the whole book of Revelation
is false Christianity. The deception of Satan. Has there
ever been a time when we are more in need of self-examination
according to the Word of God? Well, that's the doctrine of
Christ. We'll look back at 2 John. He says in verse nine, whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not, continueth not. That's perseverance
in the doctrine. We persevere by the grace of
God as he preserves us, the scripture says. And those who do not persevere
in the doctrine of Christ, they have not God. They're not in
fellowship with God. But he that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. He's in fellowship
with the Father and the Son by the Spirit. John spoke of that
in 1 John 1. Our fellowship is with the Father
and the Son. We're brought into fellowship
with God through Christ the Son, for in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in Him. Now he says
in verse 10, now let me make this point clear. If there come
any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into
your house, neither bid him God speak. Again, he's talking about
the church family. He's talking about the household
of faith, not our individual houses and earthly families.
And he's not saying turn these people away and don't let them
come in and sit and listen. But he's saying you cannot receive
them into the fellowship of faith. Only God brings his people, his
children, his elect as the elect lay into the fellowship and the
family of faith. as evidence by their believing
in Christ, their trusting Him, their repentance of dead works,
abiding in the doctrine of Christ. Look back at 1 John 2. This is
the context even of 2 John. Look at verse 18 of 1 John 2. He says, little children, it
is the last time. The last age. That's what we're
living in now. And as you've heard that antichrist
shall come, even now are there many antichrists whereby we know
that it is the last time. Look at verse 19. They went out
from us, but they were not of us. They did not abide in the
doctrine of Christ. They claim to believe the doctrine.
They claim to believe the gospel. They claim to trust Christ, but
they didn't continue For if they had been of us, if they'd been
in that fellowship of faith, they would no doubt have continued
with us. But they went out that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us. Now that's who
John is talking about over here in 2 John 9. Now verse 10, if
there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, In other words,
they don't believe this gospel. They don't believe the truth
about Christ in His person, in His finished work, in His righteousness,
in His mediatorial intercessory work now at the right hand of
the Father, ever living to make intercession for His people,
to save us, to keep us, and His return, and the judgment wherein
God's people will stand before God in Christ and be declared
in him, righteous. If they bring not this doctrine,
don't receive him into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For
if you do, verse 11, you're a partaker of his evil deeds. Well, none
of us desire to be a partner with the wicked in evil deeds,
do we? The problem is, unless God gives us eyes to see, ears
to hear, we can't recognize this kind of evil. You see, this kind
of evil is not the immorality and perversions that the natural
man can see. This kind of evil is that kind
of religious evil that comes under the guise of Christianity.
wherein those who claim to believe in Christ, but they don't believe
and understand and know the doctrine of Christ, who he is, what he
did, why he did it, where he is now. It's like many in John's day,
they said, well, we believe in Jesus, but we don't really believe
he's God. He's a son of God, some kind
of a lesser God. Well, that's evil. And it's evil,
not because these people are insincere or immoral, it's evil
because it denies the glory of God in Christ. It denies Christ. It's self-righteousness, you
see. Those who do not know, like the Pharisees, Christ said, they
do indeed appear righteous unto men. But they're not. because their righteousness is
a man-made human righteousness by their works. It's not the
righteousness of God that can only be found in Christ. That's
the doctrine of Christ. Now he that abides in the doctrine
of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son. He's in fellowship
with God. Think about that. That's how important this doctrine
is. This teaching, this truth, this gospel. Paul said if they
come preaching any other gospel than that which we preach, let
them be anathema. No matter how good it sounds,
no matter how appealing it is, no matter how many follow it,
if it's another gospel, my friend, it's evil. But the gospel of
God will always glorify him in Christ.