The Lord did not say, take my
yoke upon you and learn about me. He said, take my yoke upon
you and learn of me. And there's all the difference
in the world. It's life and death. Would you turn back to first
Timothy chapter one. Timothy is one of the pastoral
epistles, 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus. But when Paul wrote
this letter to Timothy, it was not merely a personal letter.
If it was merely a personal letter, he wouldn't have gone through
all the formality of identifying himself as an apostle of Jesus
Christ by the commandment of God, our Savior, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, our hope. If he was just writing a personal
letter, Timothy already knew that. But Paul knew that he was
writing scriptures. when he was writing this letter,
which would be studied by the church even in 2012. Isn't that
amazing? And that's why he identified
himself as an apostle by the commandment of God our Savior.
He knew that this was a part of the canon of scripture. In
verse one, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment
of God, our savior. This is where my authority comes
from and the Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope. And I notice
which is, is in italics. It was put there by the translators
supposedly to give the scripture more light, but here I don't
think it gives it much more light. The Lord Jesus Christ, our hope, hope. Hope is a confident expectation
with regard to the future. The Lord, that's my hope. He's the Lord. He's got the ability
to save me. He's the Lord. That's my hope. Jesus, thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's
my hope, that he does in fact save his people from their sins. Christ, God's anointed prophet,
the Word of God. Christ, God's priest that brings
me into God's presence. Christ, God's king that causes
me by irresistible and invincible grace to do His will. That's
my hope. Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. Unto Timothy, my own son in the
faith. Timothy is a very special man. His name means dear to God. I want to be a Timothy, don't
you? I want to be someone who's dear to God. I'm looking at some
Timothys. He was Paul's right-hand man
and possibly the one who would take Paul's place. Now evidently,
he was converted at a very early age. Paul said in 2 Timothy,
from a child. You've known the Holy Scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. He talked about
his grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice, and the unfaith
that he's persuaded, the unfeigned faith that he was persuaded that
was in Timothy also. Now look what Paul said about
Timothy in Philippians chapter two. This passage of scripture
is always a passage of scripture that makes me sad. He says to
the church at Philippi in Philippians chapter two, verse 19, now Paul
had been preaching for a long time. And look what he says here,
but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly into
you that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state
for I have no man like minded. who will naturally care for your
state. For all seek their own, not the
things which are Jesus Christ." Now, Paul says this at a time
when he'd been preaching a long time, and what a horrible indictment
of that day. All seek their own and not the
things that are Jesus Christ. But you know the proof of him.
That as a son with the Father, he hath served with me in the
gospel. Now, evidently, Timothy was a
man of a very timid disposition. You know, we all have dispositions.
There are certain ways we're born, and we have these dispositions,
and Timothy had this, and Paul was dealing with it. Look over
in 2 Timothy chapter 1. He says in verse 6, Wherefore
I put thee in remembrance, that ye stir up the gift of God. Fan the flame which is in thee
by the putting on of my hand. Stir it up. For God hath not
given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and
of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord." Evidently, Timothy had a tendency
to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. He said, don't do
that, but you be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. Now, back to 1 Timothy 1. Paul's writing to Timothy, my
own son, in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from
God, our Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord. Oh, I want His grace,
I want His mercy, and I want His peace. And he says to Timothy,
I besought thee to abide still in Ephesus, When I went into
Macedonia that you might charge them, give them this commandment
that they teach no other doctrine. And that's what I've entitled
this message. No other doctrine. This was his first charge to
Timothy. You charge some that they teach no other doctrine. We'll get back to that in a moment.
Neither give heed to fables. and endless genealogies which
minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith,
so do, don't give heed, don't give any regard to fables. What
are fables? Any story, any method, any doctrine
not found in the scripture. It's a fable. It's useless. We look to the word of God only
for all things. The scriptures alone, nor don't
give heed to these endless genealogies. You know, remember when John
Baptist said, God is able of these stones to raise up children
and Abraham. We have Abraham as our father,
big deal. What's that mean? God is able of these stones to
raise up children and Abraham. So don't you give heed to these
fables and endless genealogies, which all they do is minister
questions. rather than godly edifying. Now this is what the true doctrine
does. The truth. It's always godly
edifying. Which is in faith. This is where
that godly edifying comes from. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It always leads to that. The doctrine which is according
to godliness. Now let's go back to verse three. No other doctrine. You charge them if they teach
and preach no other doctrine, but the doctrine of God, the
doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the gospel. Turn to first
Timothy six, verse three. If any man teach otherwise and
consent not to wholesome words, Even the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ and to the doctrine, which is according to godliness. He's
proud knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of
words, where of where of cometh envy and strife, railings, evil
surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute
of the truth. Supposing that gain is godliness. From such, withdraw thyself. Just stay away from those people.
No other doctrine. I remember some of you all might
have been here. This has been probably 30 years
ago, 28 or 30 years ago. Danny Blair had been preaching
at a church in Lancaster. He was a youth group leader there. And they put him on trial for
what he was preaching. They wanted to get rid of him. They didn't
agree with what he was preaching. Some of you all remember that.
Maybe some of you were there. Peggy, were you there? Chuck, were you
at that meeting? They actually had a meeting where
they were putting him on trial for what he was preaching regarding
grace. And this one man got up and he
said, I don't want to hear any doctrine. All I want to hear
is about Jesus. Now, I guess that sounds spiritual,
but it's absolutely wrong. What can you say regarding the
Lord Jesus Christ without it being doctrine? You can't. Doctrine. Preach no other doctrine. Now, every one of us have heard
doctrine presented in such a way as it just didn't seem alive
to us. Every one of us. I'm sure you've
heard me preach that way when you thought it didn't seem alive.
You can admit it. No, don't tell me. Well, what's behind something
like that? I've heard like that, you know,
doctrine that just doesn't seem living. Well, first of all, when
it's abstract and academic, and it just doesn't seem practical.
That's always wrong. Anything that's not practical
is not true. If it's just abstract and academic, it's no good. It's
not living. And then it could be that the
person presenting that doctrine is dead. And when he presents
the doctrine in a dead way, it's not true because the doctrine
of God is living. He said, my doctrine will distill
as the dew and the rain. It's living. And when someone
presents it like that, they're dead and it comes out dead. Or
it could be that the hearer is dead. Like the children of Israel,
that manna that at one time was so wonderful, now they say our
souls loathe this light bread. It's no longer living. We don't
like it. Dry, dead doctrine is not true
doctrine. Now, the Lord said regarding
his doctrine, my doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall
distill as the dew, as the small rain on the tender herb and the
showers upon the grasses, I will publish the name of the Lord.
That is his doctrine. Now the doctrine being spoken
of is the very words of Christ, wholesome words, not doctrines,
listen to this, not doctrines, but doctrine. Now, I catch myself
using this phrase all the time, and I'm wrong every time I use
it, the doctrines of grace. Every time the Bible uses the
word doctrines in the plural, it's always negative. The doctrines
of men, the doctrines of devils, But there is the doctrine of
Christ. It's not the doctrines of grace. It's the doctrine of grace. The teaching of God regarding
his grace. It's one doctrine. It's not doctrines. It's one doctrine. See, there's
either grace or there's works. It's not the doctrines of grace.
It is the doctrine of grace. You see, the doctrine of Christ
is one unified whole. You can't reject any part of
it. If you reject any part, you reject the whole. What I thought
about was that woman, remember in Solomon's time, these women,
this one woman rolled over on this other woman's child. They
were both in bed together. She smothered it. And so she took
the woman's child and said, this is my child. And the woman said,
no, you killed your child. That's my child. So they were
having an argument over this, and they brought it up to Solomon.
And Solomon said, well, here's what we'll do. We'll cut the
child in half and give you both half. Well, the one who didn't
love the child said, okay, that's agreeable to me. And the mother
said, no, no, give her the child. The one who loved the child couldn't
bear for it to be separated. One doctrine, the doctrine of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine of God. You charge them that
they teach no other doctrine. Paul said, take heed to thyself
and to thy doctrine. Continue in them for doing this
thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Now in verse five of first Timothy
chapter one, we can see what sound doctrine is from this passage
of scripture. Now the end, we're going to get
to this later on, now the end of the goal of the commandment
is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and
of faith unfeigned. I love that phrase, faith unfeigned. There's a lot of feigned faith,
fake faith. That's what that means. Acting faith. But he said
faith unfeigned, the real thing. From which This end of the commandment,
some have swerved aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be
teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof
they affirm. But we know that the law is good
if a man use it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made
for a righteous man." Now, that speaks so clearly. You want to
be under law? Well, all you've proved by that
is you're an unbeliever. That's it. The law was not made
for a righteous man. Now an unbeliever wants the law
to restrain him, so they think, but the law was not made for
a righteous man. But for the lawless and disobedient, for
the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine. And you know what that tells
me? All sin. is contrary to sound doctrine. Any doctrine that excuses sin
doesn't come from God. That's contrary to sound doctrine. Sound doctrine, the doctrine
that comes from God, is always contrary to sin. Now go on reading.
Verse 11, The glorious gospel of the blessed
God, and that could just as easily read and probably should read,
according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, which
was committed to my trust. Now, sound doctrine is always
according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. Moses
said, show me your glory. And he said, I'll make all my
goodness pass before you. I proclaim the name of the Lord
before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And
I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." Now there is sound
doctrine. There's the doctrine of God. There's the doctrine
of Christ. And anything contrary to the
gospel of His glory, where He gets all the glory and His sovereign
mercy, is wrong. This is the only doctrine with
the authority of God behind it. They were astonished at his doctrine,
the scripture says, for he spake as one having authority and not
as the scribes. Now, question. How can I know
if what I'm hearing is sound doctrine? Because you know that
anybody who preaches or teaches, they're going to say, they're
not going to say, well, this is poison's doctrine I'm throwing out to you. This
is wrong. Nobody's going to do that. Everybody claims to be
sound. Everybody claims I'm preaching the word of God. How can I know? How can I keep from being deceived?
Because there's so many voices. Think about that. There's so
many voices. How can I keep from being deceived? How can I know if what I'm hearing
is God's doctrine, the doctrine of Christ. Turn with me to John
chapter seven. John chapter seven. Verse 14, Now about the midst
of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the
Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never
learned? Where did he go to seminary? Why would we listen to him? Jesus
answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent
me. If any man will do his will,
he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether
I speak of myself. Now, did you hear that? I won't be duped if I'm willing
to do his will. If I'm deceived. It's because
I was unwilling to do His will. And He sent me strong delusion. Because they received not the
love of the truth for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion. That's a scary scripture, isn't
it? But I know this. If I don't receive the truth,
if I'm duped, it's my fault. It's because I was unwilling
to do His will. The Lord wouldn't let that happen
if I wasn't unwilling to, if I was willing to do his will.
If any man, I don't care who you are, if any man will do his
will, he'll know the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether
I speak of myself. Here's the great error detector,
he that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory. But he that seeketh his glory
that sent him, the same is true and no unrighteousness is in
him." Now, that's the great error detector. Is the person seeking
to give God all the glory? If he's not, Lord never sent
him. Now, let me give you a couple
of scriptures that I think were just summaries of sound doctrine. Turn to 2 Timothy. Now, 2 Timothy
1. I'm not going to say a lot about
these, but Look in verse 13. He says to Timothy, hold fast
the form of sound words. The outline, the mold, the form,
hold fast, don't let them go. Hold fast the form of sound words,
which thou has heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ
Jesus. In verse 8, here's the form of
sound words. He says, don't be ashamed of
the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou
a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God who hath saved us. That was everything we believe.
He saved us. He did it all. And he called us with unholy
calling, a holy gospel that makes men holy. He saved us and he
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works. This has absolutely nothing to
do with any doing on my part. He did it according to His own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Now, I love thinking about this.
Everything that I've had, everything I have, was given me in Christ
Jesus before the world began. Isn't that wonderful? That means
I've got it all. And that means I can't lose it.
And that means He gave it to me. And that means He gave it
to me by His grace and His eternal purpose. But, verse 10, is now
manifested by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. What
was decreed before time began is manifest by the appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death. That's
what he did by his work on the cross. He abolished death. Remember,
the sting of death is sin, right? He took the sin away. There's
no eternal death for the believer. no death at all. He abolished
death and has brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel, whereunto I'm appointed a preacher and an apostle and
a teacher of the Gentiles, for the which cause I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed, for I know whom
I have believed and I'm persuaded that He's able to keep that which
I've committed to Him against that day." Now, you hold fast
the form of sound words. No other doctrine. Turn to 1
John chapter 4. Verse 1, Beloved, believe not
every spirit, But try the spirits, whether they're of God, because
many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know
ye the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh, is of God, and every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God,
this is the spirit of antichrist. Now that little simple statement,
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, gives us the whole gospel. He
was before He came because He's God. He's eternal. He never had a beginning. He's
God. He was before He came. He came
in the flesh. God became a man. And He did
what He came to do in the flesh. He honored God's law. He paid
for the sins of His people. He caused the salvation of everybody
He died for completely. He did what He came to do. Now,
that's everything we believe, isn't it? Right there, and that's
why I love the simplicity of Scripture. Take some simple statement
like that, and it just says so much. This is what believers
believe. Now, we read in Romans 6, 17,
You've obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which delivered
you. You know, the doctrine of Christ,
the gospel, it's delivered us, and we obey that from the heart.
That means we believe with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. That means with understanding. I understand that Jesus Christ
is my only righteousness before God, but not only do I understand
it, I love it. I love him being my righteousness
before God. Not only that, if given the choice, that's the
way I choose my understanding, my affections and my will. Turn to first Timothy chapter
four. Verse 16, Paul said, Take heed unto thyself
and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing
this thou shalt save both save thyself and them that hear thee. And if I don't continue in them,
I won't be saved, neither will those people who hear me." Continue
in the faith. This is what it is to be nourished
up in the words of good doctrine. It's only continuing in his word.
The Lord said, if you continue in my word, You
don't quit, you continue in my word, my gospel, my doctrine,
then are you my disciples indeed. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
one. Now somebody might be thinking,
why would someone want to preach some other doctrine? It's a good
question. He said, charge some that they
teach no other doctrine. Well, why in the world would
somebody teach no other doctrine? What's the point? This doctrine is so glorious,
how God saves us by His grace. Why would somebody change this
or want to teach something else? Because it's really not their
doctrine. Paul talked about my doctrine. The doctrine that saved me. And if someone can preach anything
else, it's because it's really not their doctrine. They found
no salvation. They found no necessity. They've
found no life in that. So they can go on to something
else. Colossians chapter one, verse 22. Verse 21, And you that were sometime
or before time alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight,
if, now do you see that if? That's a big if. If you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel." Now all that stuff is ours, wholly unblameable
and unprovable in God's sight, if we continue in the faith. grounded and settled, not moved
from that hope. And if we are moved from that
hope, it's because we never were in the faith in the first place.
Now, what is this thing of being grounded in the faith? Perseverance
is not reciting a formula or knowing how to recite a doctrinal
statement. Let's look at one other scripture.
Turn to Hebrews chapter three. Here's what persevering in the
faith is. Verse 6, But Christ, as a Son
over His own house, whose house are we if we hold fast, that's
a strong word, if we hold fast the confidence. The only thing
I have confidence in is Him. I have no confidence in the flesh.
The only thing I have confidence in is Him. I have confidence
in His righteousness. I have confidence in His precious
blood. I have confidence in His intercession. I don't have confidence
in anything else. I don't have any confidence in
me. I don't have any confidence in you. I have confidence in Him. And
didn't Paul say that's what a believer is? We are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. We're made partakers of Christ
whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing
of the hope. Firm unto the end. Look in verse 14. For we are
made partakers of Christ if, there's that big if again, if
we hold the beginning of our confidence. What was the beginning
of your confidence? What was the beginning of your confidence?
Now I know what the beginning of my confidence was. When I first
trusted Christ, I didn't have any experience to hold on to.
I didn't have anything else to trust. All I had was Christ. That's it, nothing else. That's
the beginning. When I first believed, whenever,
I'll tell you when I was first saved. I don't know the date,
couldn't even come close to telling you, but whenever I first trusted
the Lord Jesus Christ is when I saved. That's when I saved,
when I trusted him only. That's the beginning of my confidence.
Now I'm to hold that beginning. and never be moved from that,
all the way to the end. Now, can you see the importance
of this charge to Timothy to preach no other doctrine? No other doctrine. And with that
charge of preaching no other doctrine, let's look at his other
charge to Timothy. This last scripture we'll look
at, 2 Timothy chapter four. Verse 1, I charge thee before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. And here's the charge. Preach the Word. Whatever God's
Word declares, preach it. Does the word declare that God
is absolutely sovereign? Preach it. Does the word declare that men
are completely responsible? Preach it. Does the word declare
that salvation is all of grace altogether? Preach it. Does the Word declare that if
you and I don't continue and persevere in the faith, we won't
be saved? Preach it. Timothy, preach the
Word. You charge some that they preach
no other doctrine. There's only one doctrine. The
doctrine of God. The doctrine of Christ. The doctrine
of grace. That's the gospel. You preach
no other doctrine. And Timothy, preach the word. Let's pray.