Sermon #1235[1]
Title: BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE
Text: II Timothy 4:1-5
Reading:
Subject: The Fundamental Doctrines of the Gospel.
Date: Sunday Morning - May 12, 1996
Tape # S-53
Introduction:
The prophecy made by the Apostle Paul
in our text has come to pass in our day. Around the world, particularly in our
own country, and specifically in Danville, Kentucky religious people are at
this hour gathered in solemn assemblies, in the name of Christ, to worship God.
They will read the Bible, say their prayers, invoke God’s blessing, and give
their money. They are devoted. They are sincere. But they are lost! They have
faith; but theirs is a false faith. They have hope; but their hope is a
delusion. Having been led and taught by blind and ignorant men, “They will not endure sought doctrine; but
after their own lusts...they heap to themselves teachers, having itching
ears...They turn away their ears from the truth and (have been) turned into
fables.”
I am not talking about Papists, Hindus, Buddhist, and
Mohammed’s. I am talking about men and women who profess to know, worship,
trust, and serve the living God by faith in his Son Jesus Christ, through the
power of the Holy Spirit. Our friends, relatives, and neighbors, having turned
away from the truth have been turned unto fables.
You know what a fable is. It is a
brief story, dreamed up by a man to teach a moral, ethical lesson, but
factually it is a lie. Here are three common religious fables, dreamed up by
men to teach people moral principles. They are universally embraced, proclaimed,
and defended. These three fables will be presented throughout the city, across
this country and around the world today as the very truth of God. But they are
in fact lies which are damning to the souls of all who believe them.
1. “God loves everyone.” He does not! Nowhere does the Bible say or imply that he
does. In fact, the Bible plainly tells us that God does not love everyone (Psa.
11:5; 7:11; Rom. 9:13). “God is love.” We
rejoice in that. But God’s love is in Christ. In the Bible there is no
assurance of God’s love given to anyone apart from faith in Christ.
2. “The Lord Jesus Christ died to
redeem and save all people.” He
did not! In a moment, I will show you more from the scriptures on this point.
But, for now, let me simply state this fact - The Bible nowhere teaches or
implies that Christ died for, redeemed, or came to save those multitudes who
are at last lost in hell. Those for whom Christ died shall never die! The Son
of God redeemed all whom he came to redeem, and he shall save all whom he came
to save.
3. “The Holy Spirit of God is
doing all that he can to save all people.” You
know that is not true. There are multitudes to whom the Spirit of God has never
even sent his Word. The Bible says nothing of the Spirit trying to reprove,
trying to convince, or trying to regenerate. The Bible declares, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh
profiteth nothing.”
The whole religious world, to one degree or another,
declares that salvation is accomplished by the will of man, the worth of man,
and the work of man. But the Word of God declares that salvation is by the will
of God alone, the worth of Christ alone, and the work of the Holy Spirit alone.
Now it is my responsibility, as the
servant of God, to do what I can to stop the mouths of the religious gain
sayers and rescue perishing sinners from their pernicious lies. And Paul tells
me that the way to do that is to simply, unceasingly preach sound doctrine (II
Tim. 4:1-2; Tit. 2:1; I Tim. 4:6).
Proposition: No
pastor is faithful to his calling, charge, and responsibility as God’s
messenger to men who does not faithfully instruct men and women in sound
doctrine, with distinctive clarity and in unmistakable terms. Sound doctrine is
essential both to the salvation of sinners and to the spiritual stability and
maturity of God’s saints (Eph. 4:14; I Tim. 4:16).
This morning we are going to go back
to the basics. I am not going to have anything new to say. Everything today
will be elementary, foundational, essential gospel truth. I want to lay before
you the foundation doctrine of the gospel, the fundamentals and essentials of
the faith, Basic Bible Doctrine. When
you think about the fundamentals of the faith, I am sure your mind immediately
goes to things like the verbal, plenary inspiration of Holy Scripture, the
bible account of creation, and the Deity and virgin birth of Christ. But those
things are not the real issues of sound doctrine.
·
Why argue
about the inspiration of the Scriptures if we do not believe and preach those
truths revealed in the Scriptures? If the Bible is not our only rule of faith
and practice, it really does not matter whether it is inspired or not, does it?
·
Why argue
about the Bible account of creation if we refuse to accept the Bible account of
the new creation? Why fight over Darwinian evolution if we embrace the far more
evil Arminian theory of evolution? - “God gets salvation started and man
completes the work.”
·
Why argue with
men over the Deity of Christ and his virgin birth, if we are willing to embrace
any doctrine that makes Christ a failure, robs him of his glory, and frustrates
the purpose of his incarnation.
Some of you may be thinking to
yourself, “If these things are not the issues, what are they?” I want to show
you. And I want to show you from the Word of God. I am going to give you today
my own confession of faith. This is what I believe and preach, because this is
what I have experienced. This is my doctrine. And this is the doctrine of Grace
Baptist Church. But, more importantly, this is Basic Bible Doctrine. Upon these seven points there can be no
compromise. God’s saints embrace, love, and rejoice in these things. Only God’s
enemies oppose them.
I want everyone here to follow me
through the Scriptures (Isa. 8:20). If what I say this day is God’s truth you
must bow to it and embrace it, or perish forever in hell. If what I have to say
is not God’s truth it is because I am a lost man, without light from God. If
that is so, you must never hear me again, lest you embrace a lie and perish
with me in the last day. That’s how important, basic and vital these issues
are.
I. THE ONE TRUE AND LIVING GOD IS
TOTALLY SOVEREIGN IN ALL THINGS (Psa.
135:6).
To say that God is sovereign in all
things is to say that God rules all things. Before objecting to that fact,
consider the alternative. If God does not rule everything, then something rules
God! f God does not control everything, then something controls God! If God
does not govern everything, then something governs God!
If God is not totally, absolutely,
universally sovereign, then it must be concluded that faith in God is nothing
more than throwing a coin in a wishing well - because...
·
No promise of
God can be sure!
·
No prophecy of
God can be absolute!
·
No word from
God can be believed!
A.
God is the sovereign creator of all things (Gen. 1:1).
B.
God is the sovereign ruler of all things (Rom. 8:28; 11:36).
C.
God is the sovereign disposer of all things (Rev. 4:11).
Illustration: The farmer and his artisian well.
D.
God is totally sovereign in the exercise of his saving grace (Rom.
9:11-24).
II. ALL MEN AND WOMEN BY NATURE
ARE TOTALLY DEPRAVED (Rom. 3:9-19).
Do you know what happened in the
Garden of Eden?
(Describe the Fall).
The doctrine of man’s original sin and
total depravity does not mean that all men are as sinful and corrupt as they
can be. God will not allow men in this world to be as wicked in deed as we all
are in heart. When we talk about man’s total depravity, we are talking about
spiritual death and moral inability (Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:1-3).
Here are seven effects of Adam’s fall
upon the human race...Those things are true of all men and women by nature.
A.
Man cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).
B.
Man cannot understand the things of God (I Cor. 2:14).
C.
Man cannot do anything pleasing to God (Rom. 8:8).
D.
Man cannot hear the Word of God (John 8:43).
E.
Man cannot receive the Spirit and truth of God (John 14:17).
F.
Man cannot come to the Son of God (John 6:44).
G.
Man cannot call Christ Lord (I Cor. 12:3).
H.
Man cannot Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (John 12:39-40).
Total depravity means that you cannot
be saved by your free will, or your works. Total depravity means that “Salvation is of the Lord,” entirely. If
ever you are saved you must be saved by grace alone.
·
Salvation is
not determined by you.
·
Salvation is
not dependent upon you.
Because we
are sinners, we are all deserving of God’s everlasting wrath in hell. We are
justly condemned. And unless God saves us by his almighty grace, we will
forever die. That’s the bad news. But here is the good news.
III. GOD
ALMIGHTY, FROM OLD ETERNITY CHOSE SOME OF ADAM’S FALLEN RACE TO SALVATION AND
ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST, AND HIS LOVING CHOICE OF SOME WAS AN UNCONDITIONAL
ELECTION OF GRACE (Eph. 1:4; II
Thess. 2:13-14; John 15:16).
If you read
the Bible at all, you know that election is a Bible doctrine. And if you
understand what the Bible teaches about election, you know that it is a
precious Bible doctrine.
A. The cause of our election was the
love of God (Jer. 31:3).
B. The time of our election was before the
foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).
C. The only condition of our election was
the will of God. “I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy.”
D. The object of our election was
our everlasting salvation in perfect holiness - Conformity to Christ (Eph. 1:4).
E. The comfort of our election is the
immutability of our God (Mal. 3:6).
IV. IN THE
FULNESS OF TIME THE LORD JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR AND EFFECTUALLY REDEEMED ALL
GOD’S ELECT (Isa. 53:8; John
10:11, 15, 26; Heb. 9:12; Gal. 3:13).
No where in
the Bible is it written that Christ died for everyone in the world, redeemed
everyone in the world, or made atonement for everyone in the world. The
doctrine of universal redemption is the most hideous, blasphemous doctrine ever
spewed from the pit of hell.
·
It reduces the
love of God to nothing.
·
It perverts
the justice of God.
·
It is a
mockery of the blood of Christ. Did Christ die in vain?
·
It makes man
his own savior.
We believe, according to the
Scriptures that Christ died for and redeemed God’s elect. His blood was not
shed in vain. Our Savior’s limited atonement was and is the effectual
redemption of his people. The atonement of Christ is limited in scope, but not in
efficacy. It was limited in design, but not in merit - “It is finished!”
The issue of the gospel is not the bare fact that Christ
died, but “HOW that Christ died for our
sins, according to the Scriptures” (I Cor. 15:3). This is how he died...
·
Sovereignty! “I lay down my life!”
·
Substitution! “For the transgressions of my people.”
·
Satisfaction! “I have found a ransom!”
·
Success! “He shall not fail!”
V. SALVATION IS WROUGHT IN GOD’S
ELECT BY THE IRRESISTIBLE POWER AND GRACE OF GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT (Psa. 65:4).
A.
Conviction is the work of the Spirit (John
16:8-11).
B.
Regeneration is the work of the Spirit (John
3:3).
C.
Calling is the work of the Spirit (II Thess. 2:13-14).
D.
Faith is the work of the Spirit (Eph.
1:19).
·
The instrument
of grace is the Word of God.
·
The end of
grace is salvation.
·
The cause of
grace is the will of God.
VI. EVERY BELIEVER SHALL
PERSEVERE IN FAITH, BECAUSE ALL WHO TRUST CHRIST ARE INFALLIBLY PRESERVED BY
THE GRACE OF GOD (John 10:28;
Phil. 1:6; I Pet. 1:5).
Here are four bold challenges of faith
(Rom. 8:31-39).
·
“If God be for us, who can be against us?”
·
“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?”
·
“Who is he that condemneth?”
·
“Who shall separate us from the love of God?”
VII. ALL WHO ARE IN CHRIST ARE
FREE FROM THE LAW (Rom. 6:14,
15; 7:4; 10;4).
In Christ we are freed from...
·
All legal
condemnation (Rom. 8:1).
·
All legal
service (Col. 2:16-23).
·
All legal
motivation (II Cor. 4:18).
·
All legal fear
(Rom. 4:8).
Application:
1.
I call upon you who hear my voice to make your calling and election sure - “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Faith
in Christ is both the fruit and the proof of -
·
God’s
election!
·
Christ’s
redemption!
·
The Spirit’s
call!
2.
I call upon ;you who believe to join me in the proclamation of the glorious
Gospel of the blessed God around the world.
3.
And I call upon us all to give God alone all praise, honor, and glory for his
great grace to us great sinners in his great Son!
[1] See Sermon #923 for a similar message preached at Danville 8-12-90 (AM), Turkey Creek, KY 9-23-91, Tortola, BVI 2-24-92, and Franklin, TN 4-20-93.