I'd like to follow in your Bibles
while I bring the message. So if you'll turn in your Bible
to the epistle, the second epistle of John, I'm going to be speaking
today on the subject, the doctrine of Christ. This is such an important
subject. I don't believe that I could
bring a message of greater importance and value than this one today
on the doctrine of Christ. The little epistle, 2 John, only
one chapter, verse 9, 10, and 11. Listen as I read the scripture.
You follow along. The Apostle John wrote, Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath
not God. And he that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ hath both the Father and the Son. Now if there come
any unto you And bring not this doctrine of Christ. Don't receive
him into your house. And don't even bid him Godspeed,
blessings on his journey, because if you bid him Godspeed, you're
a partaker with him in his false doctrine. Now, the doctrine of
Christ, it involves much more than just acknowledging that
a person called Jesus Christ lived on this earth. died on
a cross and rose again. You could call those things facts
about Christ, or you could call that information about Christ. A person named Jesus Christ lived,
died on a cross, was buried and rose again. You could call that
the story of Christ Jesus, facts about Christ. But John insists
that a person who knows God and is sent from God will come bringing
and believing the doctrine of Christ which he received from
the Father." That's what it says. He'll come bringing the doctrine
of Christ which he received from the Father. Now this doctrine
of Christ primarily concerns his person. It's the doctrine
of a person. Doctrine of Christ. And it concerns
his person. He's the Son of God. He's the
Son of Man. the union of two natures. Jesus
Christ is perfect God and perfect man, the union of the divine
and the human nature. The doctrine of Christ concerns
his offices. What think ye of the Christ?
You see, the Old Testament prophesied the coming of the Christ. That
signifies his offices. He is the mediator, the mediator
of the covenant. He is the surety of a better
covenant. Malachi called Him the messenger
of the covenant. He's Jehovah, our Savior. And
then He fulfills every one of the leading offices, prophet,
priest, and king. He's all three. So the doctrine
of Christ concerns His person. It concerns His office, and it
concerns His incarnation. He became a man. And as a man,
he was born and made under God's law, made of a woman, made under
the law. And he perfectly obeyed that
law in the flesh. He said to the Father before
he went to the cross, I have glorified you on this earth.
I have loved thee perfectly, obeyed thee perfectly, and honored
thee perfectly. And the doctrine of Christ concerns
his death, and his resurrection, and his exaltation, and his return. And watch this. And this is what
John is saying. If anyone comes to you and brings
not this doctrine of Christ, he's not of God. He hath not
God the Father nor God the Son. If a man comes bringing the doctrine
of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son. So, the doctrine
of Christ concerns the exclusiveness of his person. The exclusiveness
of his person and work. John, in the first epistle, tells
us that. This is the record. God has given
us eternal life. This life is in His Son. He that
hath the Son of God hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. That's the exclusiveness of His
person. This is the record. God has given
us life, and it's only in Christ who said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. And this doctrine of Christ was
the ministry and message of all the apostles. Paul summed it
up this way in 1 Corinthians 2, I determine to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the sum
and substance of my whole message, Christ and Him crucified. He
said this in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, we preach not ourselves, But
we preach Christ Jesus, our Lord, yourselves, ourselves, your servants
for Jesus' sake. We preach not ourselves, we preach
Christ. That's the sum and substance
of all the ministry of the Apostle Paul. In fact, the last two years
of Paul's life, the last two years before he was martyred,
he spent those two years in Rome under house arrest. You read
about it in the very last chapter of the book of Acts, chapter
28, verse 30. It sums up those last two years
of the apostle Paul's life. And this is what it says, And
Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and he received
all who came to him, preaching, listen, the kingdom of God, and
teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ." Preaching
the kingdom of God and those things which concern the Lord
Jesus Christ with all confidence. Yes, the doctrine of Christ.
That's Paul's message and that's his ministry. And I'll tell you
this, the doctrine of Christ, and this is a sum and substance
of my ministry, The doctrine of Christ is my ministry and
message and has been for 50 years, since 1950, when I began preaching
the gospel of God's grace. It's been my message. Someone
made the statement one time, thinking to maybe insult me,
but they said, that man's made an idol out of Jesus Christ.
Well, I don't mind that too much. An idol is an object of complete
worship and devotion, and he is I'd use another word. He's my God. He's my Lord. He's
my Master. He's my Savior. He's my message.
He's my life. He's my hope. And if you want
to call it making an idol out of Jesus Christ, He is, yes,
He is my idol, my God. And when Isaiah saw His glory,
John wrote about this in John 12, verse 41. When Isaiah saw
His glory, he spake of Him. And when you see His glory, you'll
speak of Him. And when a preacher sees His
glory, he'll speak of Him. That's simply declaring that
when Isaiah saw the glory of Christ, he, in Isaiah 6, says,
when King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. I saw the Lord. High and lifted up, His train
filled the temple. The seraphims were singing, it
was all about the throne, and they were crying, Holy, Holy,
Holy Lord God Almighty. And from that time on, all that
Isaiah thought and wrote and spake was of him. I'm going to give you about,
I hate to use this number because it might frighten you, seven
or eight, seven or eight things involved in preaching the doctrine
of Christ. Now, let's keep in mind what
John said. If any man come and bring not
this doctrine of Christ, don't listen to him. If any man comes
bringing this doctrine of Christ, he has the Father and the Son.
so it would be wise to listen to him. So first of all, the
doctrine of Christ concerns His deity and His eternality. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. You heard me right. Jesus Christ
is God Almighty. John said in 1 John 5, 7, there
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. John 10, our Lord
Jesus Christ was questioned by the Pharisees, and he made this
statement, I and my Father are one. The Father in heaven, to
whom you pray, our Father which art in heaven, the Father and
the Son are one. And they took up stones to stone
him. And he said, many wonderful works have I done among you,
for which of these do you stone me? They said, we're not stoning
you for a good work. We're stoning you because you're
a man and you claim to be God." But he didn't only claim to be
God, he is God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God and he said this to the apostles, if you've
seen me, you've seen God. I told you not long ago, I wish
you'd read Proverbs 8. I wish you'd jot that down and
sometime today or this week, read the 8th chapter of Proverbs. Beginning with verse 22, through
the end of that chapter, talks about Christ, His eternality. Listen to these statements He
makes in Proverbs 8, verse 22. I was set up from everlasting,
and before the world was, before His works of old, from the beginning,
when God prepared the heavens, I was there. When God gave to
the sea His decree, I was there. When God appointed the foundations
of the earth, I was by Him, daily His delight, and rejoicing before
Him. Blessed is he who heareth Me,
for whoso findeth Me findeth life, and shall obtain favor
of the Lord." That's the first thing I want you to remember. that the doctrine of Christ concerns
his deity and his eternality. Thomas said, my Lord and my God. Now, secondly, the doctrine of
Christ concerns his covenant commitments. I said on this television
program several months ago that the word covenant is a very important
word in the scriptures. It's in the scriptures over 300
times. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 20 says
this, Jesus Christ is the great shepherd of the sheep, the good
shepherd, the chief shepherd, the great shepherd, and his blood
is the blood of the everlasting covenant. There's a covenant
made with Noah, covenant made with Abraham, covenant made with
Moses, But this is a covenant the Father made with the Son.
This is called the everlasting covenant. Those covenants were
all temporary. The one with Moses, the one with
Abraham, the one with Noah, temporary. But this covenant is everlasting. Hebrews 7.22 calls Him, Jesus
Christ, the surety of a better covenant. The mediator of a better
covenant. His blood, the blood of a better
covenant. And Revelation 13, 8 calls Jesus
Christ the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
In other words, there was a covenant concerning salvation, precious
blood, redemption of sinners before the foundation of the
world. The Lamb slain. A Lamb is a sacrifice. A Lamb
is a sin offering. A Lamb is an atonement. Its blood
is the atonement. And it's made before the foundation
of the world in the mind and purpose of God. Listen. Before
all things, the Father made an everlasting covenant and gave
His Son a kingdom. It's called the kingdom of His
dear Son. That's right. The kingdom of
His dear Son. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning. He declares the end from the
beginning. and from ancient times of things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand. I'll do all My pleasure." All
right. In that covenant that the Father made with the Son,
He gave them a people. He gave them a people out of
every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue unto heaven. That's
what Scripture says, a multitude which no man can number. They're
called His church. They're called His sheep. They're
called His jewels. He called His brethren. And the
Father made Him their representative. The Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world was the Lamb slain for His people who died that
they might have an atonement. The Father made Him their Savior
and their surety, their guarantor, their mediator, their intercessor,
their high priest. And Ephesians 1.10 says, and
He did all that. that in the dispensation of the
fullness of time, he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on the earth, even
in him." And David, 75 years old, before he died, uttered
these last words. You'll find them in 2 Samuel
23, verse 5. David said, "'Although it be
not so with my house, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire. That's it. Everlasting covenant. So I'm telling you, this doctrine
of Christ concerns covenant mercies called the sure mercies of David. So the doctrine of Christ concerns
His everlasting covenant And thirdly, the doctrine of Christ
concerns His incarnation. He became a man. He became what
He wasn't, a man. He was declared to be what He
is, God. But who is this child in Bethlehem's
manger? Who is this child in Bethlehem's
stable? I'll tell you who He is. I'll
tell you who He is according to the scriptures. And that's
the only way you know who he is, according to the Scriptures.
It's not who you think he is or some professor thinks he is.
He's who he says he is. First of all, Micah said, tells
us who he is. Micah 5.2 says, This is he who
is king of Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old,
from eternity, from everlasting. Isaiah 7.14 tells us who he is.
Isaiah 7, 14 says the Lord Himself will give you a sign. A virgin
shall bear a son, call his name Immanuel. That's Immanuel in
the manger, God with us. That's what that word means,
God with us. Isaiah 9, 6 tells you who he
is. It's a child. Well, we know that.
It's a child born. But wait a minute, it's a son
given. made of the seed of David, declared
to be the Son of God. And His name, He tells us His
name. The name of this child upon whose shoulders is the government
of the universe. His name is wonderful. That's
God's name. His name is Counselor. His name
is the Mighty God. His name is the Everlasting Father. His name is the Prince of Peace.
Matthew tells us who this child is. He says it's Jesus. Called
His name Jesus. That's what they called Him when
they circumcised Him eight days later. Called Him Jesus, for
He shall save His people from their sins. Paul tells us in
1 Timothy 3 who He is. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
seen of the angels, justified in the Spirit, preached to the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. And then Paul, in 2 Corinthians
5, sums up the message. He says in verse 18, 2 Corinthians
5, All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ, and hath given us this ministry of reconciliation
and redemption to wit, that is, which is, God was in Jesus Christ
reconciling the world to Himself. Yes, my friend, if any man comes
to you and brings not this doctrine, he hath not the Father. Because
the doctrine of Christ concerns His eternality with the Father,
His deity equal with God, His covenant mercies given by God,
and His incarnation. God became a man and dwelt among
us. and we beheld his glory. Fourthly,
the doctrine of Christ concerns his perfect life and obedience
to the Father. Now listen to me. God made a
man, one man, his name was Adam. He made him and gave him a body
from the earth. And then he breathed into Adam
the breath of life and he became a living soul. And he gave him
one commandment, obey me and live, disobey me and die. The
whole world, the whole human race was in that one man. He's
the father of all men. Everybody traces their roots
back to Adam. God made one man, Adam. And this
man, Adam, sinned. And by his fall and by his sin,
spiritual death passed upon all of us. That's right, Adam represented
us. When he stood, we stood. When
he fell, we fell. When he died spiritually, we
died. The Scripture says in Romans 5, 12, Wherefore, by one man
sin entered this world, and death by sin. So death passed upon
all men, because in Adam all sin. Well, thank God, our living
Lord, in His mercy, was pleased to prepare a body for a second
man. That second man said, A body
thou hast prepared me. And He called him the second
Adam. That's right. In 1 Corinthians 15, the first
man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is our Lord from
heaven. The first Adam was made a living
soul. The second Adam was made a quickening
spirit. And Romans 5, 19 says, by the
first Adam's disobedience to God, we were made sinners. And by the second Adam's obedience
to God, we were made righteous. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And for us to be accepted of
God, we must not only be justified before the justice of God by
full payment for our sin debt, but we must be sanctified by
the law of God and before the law of God by perfect obedience. That's right. We've not only
got to have sin debt paid, but we've got to have a righteousness
perfected. You've got to have both righteousness
and no sin. That's what the Scripture says
in Psalm 24. Who shall ascend unto the hill
of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath
clean hands, a pure heart, who's never lifted up his soul to vanity,
who's never swarmed deceitfully. Well, that's not me and that's
not you, but that's Christ. And is that first Adam represented
us before God and destroyed us. That second Adam, Jesus Christ,
by His perfect life, perfect love, perfect obedience before
God, gave us a perfect righteousness. We're accepted in Him. The doctrine
of Christ concerns His perfect life. I've got to preach that
if I preach the doctrine of Christ. And then fifthly, the doctrine
of Christ concerns His vicarious sufferings on the cross. There's
a two-fold message throughout the Bible, the Old Testament,
concerning our sins. Twofold message. I thought a
lot about this now, and this is true. There's a twofold message
throughout the Old Testament concerning our sins. The first
one is, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's
just so. The second is this, the soul
that sinneth shall surely die. God will by no means clear the
guilty. But thank God that's not all the Bible says. There's
a twofold message throughout the Old Testament concerning
our Savior, our salvation. The first one is God has provided
a lamb from the foundation of the world, a lamb slain. And
that lamb is God Himself. That's good news. God has provided
a lamb and that lamb is God Himself. And you see that all the way
through the Bible, starting with Abel, Abel didn't offer the first
sacrifice, but he offered the first sacrifice recorded about
a lamb dying. And then when Abraham was walking
up that Mount Moriah with his son Isaac to worship God, carrying
the fire and the wood, and Isaac turned to him and said, Father,
here's the wood, here's the fire, where's the lamb? Abraham said,
my son, God will provide himself a lamb. He'll provide a lamb
for himself, and God will provide himself the lamb. That's right. John was standing one day with
two disciples, John the baptizer, and Christ Jesus walked by. And
John pointed and said to those men, Behold the lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. Christ bore our sins in his body
on the tree. And here's a summary of it. 1
Peter 1.18, listen. For as much as you know, you
were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold
from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but you are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as
of a lamb without spot or blemish, who was verily foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but who was manifest in these
last times for you, who by him do believe. in God, who raised
him from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope
might be in him." What is this doctrine of Christ? It's the
doctrine concerning his vicarious death. And then, sixthly, the
doctrine of Christ concerns his glorious resurrection. You know,
the Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 15 that he died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and he rose again according to
the Scriptures. And over in Revelation 1, 5,
it calls Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the prince of the kings
of the earth, called him the one who loved us and washed us
from our sins in his own blood, calls him Alpha and Omega, says
he is, was, and is to come. He's the Almighty God, and he's
the first begotten from the dead. He's the first one to rise from
the dead by his own power. He's the first to rise from the
dead to die no more, and He's the firstfruits of many of His
sons who'll rise because He lives, we'll live. He said, I'm He that
liveth and was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore, and I
have the keys of hell and death. And the doctrine of Christ, I
must not leave this out, is the doctrine concerning His exaltation
at the Father's right hand. He's our mediator. He makes intercession
for us. And the doctrine of Christ is
a doctrine of His glorious return. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there ye may be also. And beloved, it doth not appear
what we shall be, but when we see Him, we'll be just like Him,
everlastingly conformed to His image. If you want this message,
the doctrine of Christ on the back side of the tape will be
what is saving faith. I'll be bringing that next week.
Until then, God bless you, everyone.