Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us for the message. Now last week I
began preaching on this subject, The Necessity of Right Doctrine. And today's message is a follow-up
to that message and we'll conclude it today. The Necessity of Right
Doctrine, that's the title. And my text in the scripture
is 2 John verse 9. The book of 2 John verse 9. I'll
give you a minute to turn there if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles. Let me once again express our appreciation for
our viewing audience. We're glad that you could join
us and glad that you tune in each Sunday. As you know, as
I've said, that Reign of Grace Ministries is an evangelistic
tool of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. That's the
church that I pastor, Eager Avenue Grace Church. And many of you
who watch this program may live close enough to come and visit
us in our church services on Sunday morning. We have a 10
o'clock Bible study, and then we have an 11 o'clock main worship
service, and we would certainly be glad to have you join us in
that service and come and hear the gospel preached and study
the Bible. And also I'd like to mention too that those live,
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morning as we meet to worship preaching the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ, and worshiping the Lord. So we
invite you to do that, and also visit our website. We have so
much that we can offer as far as the gospel message and Bible
study, and we'd be glad for you to take advantage of that. Well,
let's get to the message, the necessity of right doctrine. I wanna read 2 John 9 again. This passage here, is really
instructive concerning the church in the last days, beginning in
John's time and leading up to the second coming of Christ.
And John's day was fraught with false preachers who claimed to
be Christian, but were not, who denied the doctrine of Christ.
And so he instructs the church here. He says, whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. Now read verse 10.
He says, if there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine,
this teaching. Now you know the word doctrine
means teaching. Receive him not into your house,
neither bid him Godspeed, And verse 11, for he that biddeth
him Godspeed is a partaker or a sharer of his evil deeds. Now there are several things
here, and I'll repeat some of what I said last week. But first
of all, last week I talked about the doctrine of Christ, and I'm
going to talk about that more. How we can look at it, number
one, the doctrine of his person. Number two, the doctrine of his
finished work of redemption. Who is Jesus Christ? Secondly,
what did he accomplish on Calvary's cross to save his people? And
then thirdly, when we talk about the teachings of Christ concerning
obedience and worship and service, all of those things, we could
go on and on. Doctrine simply means teaching.
and there is false doctrine. But then there's the true doctrine
that we gain from the Scriptures, the Bible. And so many people
today, just like in John's time, they claim to be Christian, but
they're either ignorant of or they're in open rebellion to
the doctrine of Christ. Who is Jesus Christ, for example? I talked a lot about that last
week. He is God and man in one person. every bit God in every
attribute of deity, every bit man in every attribute of humanity,
yet without sin. And that's what he had to be
in his person in order to save God's elect. That's how he had
to exist as God-man. He went to the cross as God-man
and he suffered unto death. Even the death of the cross to
satisfy the justice of God and pay for the sins of His people
and establish in that work an everlasting righteousness of
infinite value whereby God could be just and justify the ungodly. You see, salvation is totally
by grace. It's not grace plus works. It's not grace plus faith. Now,
understand what I'm saying now. Is it necessary that we have
faith? Yes. But it's not the faith that
saves us, it's grace that saves us through faith. And there's
a difference. And I'm not just splitting hairs
there. But salvation is all of grace based on, not our faith,
it's all of grace based on the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the entire merit of his obedience unto death to secure
the salvation of God's elect. Now, who are God's elect? Well,
there are those who believe. Do you believe? What do you believe? Now, we'll get to that in just
a moment. But here he tells them, he says, now, if somebody comes
to you and doesn't bring this teaching, this truth, don't receive
him into your house and don't bid him Godspeed. Now, he's not
telling believers here that they can have absolutely no association
with unbelievers or that no unbeliever can come into their home. What
he's saying here is this, we who believe the true doctrine
of Christ, the gospel of God's grace in Christ, can have no
religious fellowship with unbelievers. We can help them, we can work
with them, we have family members who are unbelievers and we can
love them, we can do whatever, but we can have no religious
fellowship or give them no religious support. Because he says in verse
11, he that bids him Godspeed, that is pronounces blessings
upon him in his false message, you're a share of his evil deeds.
A false gospel is an evil thing because it leads men and women
down the broad road that leads to destruction. Speaking peace
where there is no peace is an evil thing because it serves
to encourage people in a false profession of faith. So we're
talking about the doctrine of the gospel, how God saves sinners,
and what that means. And last week, I had you turn
to 2 Timothy chapter four, and I want to continue there just
a moment. In 2 Timothy four, where Paul the apostle is writing
Timothy, instructing him on how to pastor a church, how to lead
people. And he says in verse three, this
is 2 Timothy four, verse three. He says, for the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine. In other words, John
says there's coming a time as we progress through the new covenant
time period, which that's what we're in now, and as we get closer
to the end of the age, the second coming of Christ, people will
not endure, they won't put up, they won't listen to, they won't
believe and tolerate sound doctrine, right doctrine. And I mentioned
this last week. There are so many people who
call themselves Christian today, who are so ignorant of the scriptures
and ignorant of the doctrine of Christ. And then there's so
many others who are not necessarily ignorant, but just flat rebellious
about it. No way I'd believe that. Sometimes
on this program, I'll talk to you about the doctrine of election,
and I've had people write in anger, say, I don't believe that,
that's not fair, blah, blah. What does the Bible teach? What
does the Bible teach? Whether I like it or you like
it or believe it, what does the Bible teach? That's what we've
got to be concerned with. And the Bible teaches the doctrine
of election, that God chose a people before the foundation of the
world and gave them to Christ. And that's what the Bible teaches.
Now, People say, well, if that's true, then it doesn't matter
what I do, doesn't matter what... No, the Bible also teaches that
men are responsible and accountable to seek the Lord and believe.
You say, well, I can't justify that in my mind. It doesn't matter
what you can justify in your mind. It doesn't matter what
preachers can figure out and explain to you in a rational
way that'll bring it down to our... All that matters is what
the Bible teaches. And that's what I emphasize on
this program. That's why we have this program. You see, there
are things that I look into the scripture and they just baffle
me. But I can't deny that the Bible
teaches them. Because I believe this is God's
word. You say, well, it's pretty humbling.
You know, God lives in his realm and he's high above us. And you
say, well, if I can't figure it out, I won't believe. Well,
you might as well just claim to be an atheist. There's a multitude
of things. There's a lot of paradoxes in
the scripture that our human minds can't figure out. But I
know this, this book teaches that God chose a people. And
I know this, I want to be one of them. How about you? Well,
what do they do? Well, what did the elect of God
do? Well, what does the scripture tell us in so many places? But
I'll give you one example, 2 Thessalonians 2.13. where the apostle Paul wrote
that we're bound to give thanks, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto
he called you by our gospel to the praise of the glory of his
grace. And what that's talking about is God's elect will be
born again and they'll seek the Lord. Now you seek the Lord,
I'll seek the Lord that he may be found. Now you say, well,
I'm not gonna endure that. Well, the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine. That's what the scripture says.
Salvation, all of grace, not conditioned on the sinner, but
conditioned on Christ. You say, well, what about our
faith? Well, God, the Holy Spirit brings his people to believe
that Christ met all conditions and that their salvation is secure
in him. You say, well, I'm not gonna endure that. Well, there
it is. There's coming a time when they
won't endure sound doctrine. Look at verse three again of
2 Timothy four. He says, for the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own
lusts, their own unlawful desires, shall they heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their
ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. Now you
know what an itching ear is? It's one that needs to be scratched.
That's a metaphor. In other words, If I'm telling
you the truth and you don't want to hear it, what do you normally
do? What do people normally do? They
go find a preacher, a teacher, or a mentor that'll tell them
what they want to hear. That's scratching the itching
ear. You see, what I need and what you need is not someone
who will tell you what you want to hear. I need and you need
someone who will tell you what you need to hear. And I need
to hear this, I need to hear that God is absolutely sovereign
in all things. that He works all things after
the counsel of His own will. He declares the end from the
beginning. I can't understand it all, I
can't figure it all out, but I know it's true because this
book says it. God chose a people, He sent Christ
to die for those people specifically, and Christ secured their salvation,
and they will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, come to believe
in Him, rest in Him, and submit to Him as the Lord their righteousness. I know that's so. And all I know
in my mind and in my heart, that's what I want. I desire that. And
I know this, the only reason I desire it is the grace of God.
Left to myself, I wouldn't desire it. Because I'm a fallen sinner. I was born dead in trespasses
and sins. By nature, I had no righteousness.
By nature, I couldn't work a righteousness. And by nature, I didn't want
righteousness God's way. I can prove that to you because
I rebelled against it for years until God stopped me and brought
me down off my high horse and caused me to submit to His grace
in Christ Jesus. That's the whole thing. Here's what I'm telling you.
Here's what I'm telling myself. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. But who is he? What did he do? Why did he do it? Where is he
now? You see, it's not just saying the name Jesus. Back in the 80s, they had what
they called the PTL club. What a heresy. Praise the Lord.
Yes, we praise the Lord. But they used it like some kind
of a magic formula. Just look up in the air and praise
the Lord. Listen, praise the Lord is real
worship that comes from the heart in knowledge of who God is, according
to this book. It's not just saying words, like
magic words, like some kind of mantra. That's paganism. Who is the Lord? What is He? What does the Lord mean? It means
Jehovah, the Lord our righteousness, God who saves, the Redeemer,
the God-man who secures my salvation by His blood, who justifies me
by His righteousness imputed. All of these things. And it's
not complicated, but it's true. So people who don't want to hear
this, They go find somebody who'll tell them what they wanna hear,
they turn their ears away from the truth, and they turn unto
fables. Now the word fable there doesn't
mean like Aesop's fables, like animal stories. It means lies,
religious lies. Tell me how good I am. Tell me how I can make the difference
between saved and lost. Tell me what makes me feel good. Tell me what all I've done for,
you see what I'm saying? That's fables. You see this doctrine
of Christ is about him. It's all about Christ. I had
a lady one time years ago after I finished preaching on this
particular subject, she said, you don't have anything good
to say about anybody. I said, yes, I do. She said,
who? And I said, the Lord Jesus Christ. I've got a lot of good
to say about him. One old preacher said one time,
he said, preaching the gospel is just getting up and bragging
on Christ, not bragging on men. Well, it is. Telling people who
he is. Well, what about this right doctrine,
the necessity of right doctrine? Well, let me give you some things
here. Right doctrine is necessary for salvation. Did you know that? Now, that doesn't mean that salvation
is just simply a doctrinal matter. And it's a matter of just learning
certain sets of doctrine. No. And it doesn't mean that
doctrine saves. You know, I've heard people say,
well, doctrine doesn't save you. No. Christ saves you. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the Savior. But the only way you're going
to understand and know the Lord Jesus Christ is through the doctrine
of Christ. Let me give you a scripture here.
Romans chapter 6. This is Romans 6 verse 17. And
it says, but God bethanked that you were the servants of sin. Now a servant of sin there is
an unbeliever. You were unbelievers. But you
have obeyed from the heart. The heart is the mind, the affections,
the will, the inner man. You have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered you, being then made
free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. A
servant of righteousness is a believer, follower of Christ. You were
a believer. You were an unbeliever rather.
But you obeyed from the heart. Now what heart is that? That's
the new heart. That's the regenerate heart.
That's the born again person. That form of doctrine, that word
form there, is like a stamp, an identifying mark, which was
delivered to you. Literally, that would read, which
you were delivered to. You were brought under the preaching
of the gospel, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, that gospel
was made the power of God unto salvation, and you believe. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. There's the doctrine, the righteousness
of God. Well, what is the righteousness
of God? It's the work of Jesus Christ on the cross to save His
people. It's the work of Christ on the
cross to put away their sins and drink damnation dry for them.
It's the work of Jesus Christ to establish the only righteousness
whereby God can justify them and still be God. It's His righteousness
imputed, charged, accounted to them. And they receive Him by
faith. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it. You see, if you've been given
a new heart, what does that heart do? It's a contrite heart. It's
a broken heart. It's a penitent heart. It's a
believing heart. And how do I know I've been born
again? I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me give you
another. Right doctrine identifies and
distinguishes the true Christ. Over in the book of 2 Corinthians
chapter 11, listen to this. Paul writes to the church at
Corinth in verse 2 of 2 Corinthians 11. He said, I'm jealous over
you with godly jealousy. I've espoused you to one husband
and I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear
lest by any means is the serpent begotten through his subtlety,
so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. the single message of Saul of
salvation, singly in Christ. And he says in verse four, for
if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we've not preached,
or if you receive another spirit, which you've not received, or
another gospel, which you've not accepted, you might well
bear with. The King James Version has in
italics, him, it should be me. Paul's saying, you might well
bear with me. In other words, not everybody
who claims to be preaching Jesus is preaching the same one. There
are other ones. They're false counterfeit Christ.
How do you know the difference? By the doctrine of Christ. There are people who come by
another spirit, not the Holy Spirit. How do you know the difference?
The Holy Spirit, who convicts of sin, will cause you to find
no salvation, no comfort, no peace, no relief, except in the
true Christ, according to the doctrine of Christ. And then
there are other Gospels. There's Gospels of free will,
there's Gospel of salvation by grace plus works, there's Gospels
of decisionism, but there's only one true Gospel. And that's the
gospel wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. It's the
gospel of God's grace in Christ, which teaches all of salvation
on Jesus Christ alone and him alone. You see, my friend, there
are false gospels. Paul talked about that in Galatians
chapter one. He said, if they come preaching
to any other gospel than that which we've preached, let them
be anathema. Salvation by grace plus work, salvation by freewillism,
salvation by the law, are all false gospels. There's only one
true gospel, which teaches how grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the doctrine
of Christ, the sovereignty of God. the absolute depravity and
sinnerhood of man, that God chose a people, gave them to Christ
before the foundation of the world and sent him to redeem
them in full by his blood, the righteousness which he established,
by which they're justified. In the new birth, you must be
born again by the Holy Spirit, else you cannot see, understand,
or enter the kingdom of God. The Son of God has come and given
us an understanding that we might know him. The preservation of
God's people by His grace as they persevere by His grace unto
the end. These are all the doctrines of
Christ. Doctrine of Christ. It's not
doctrines back here in 2 John 9. It's singular. It's one doctrine
because they all go together. Have you ever considered these
things? Do you know who Jesus Christ is? Really is. He's God in human flesh without
sin. What did he accomplish on Calvary?
The complete salvation of all for whom he died. He established
righteousness for them and it's imputed to them. And out of his
death comes life, the new birth by the Holy Spirit. Why did he
do all that? For the glory of God and for
the salvation of his people. Where is he now? He's seated
at the right hand of the Father, ever living, to make intercession
for us. Is He coming back again? You
bet He is. That's the doctrine of Christ,
the second coming of Christ. Those who believe He's not coming
back, they don't believe the doctrine of Christ. They don't
believe the gospel. He's coming again to receive
His people unto Himself, gather them all together in a glorious,
glorious church, and they'll be changed in the twinkling of
an eye. He's coming again to judge the wicked, to place them
under the judgment that they are already under the wrath of
God and condemn them to eternal death. You see, that's the gospel,
even including the judgment. But you see, you say, well, what's
good news about the judgment? Well, here it is. Every sinner
who stands before God at judgment in Jesus Christ has the assurance
and the peace of knowing that they've already been judged.
When? By God through Christ on the
cross. My sins were laid upon him. His righteousness is charged
to me. And therefore I'm already judged.
I stand in Christ. That's why Paul wrote, he said,
that I may know him and be found in him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Jesus Christ. You see, by grace are you saved,
through faith, that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. That's the doctrine of Christ.
Now, what did John say? He said, whosoever transgresses
and abides not in the doctrine of Christ has not God. But he that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son. In other words,
he's in fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And that fellowship is based on light, which is truth. And truth is doctrine. Don't
be of that number who will not endure sound doctrine. But be
of those who are in that doctrine, in Christ, and have fellowship
with God. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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today and may the Lord be with you.