Chapter 9
“The Doctrine of Christ”
"For many
deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we
lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
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. If there come any unto you, and bring not
this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For
he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil
deeds.” -- 2 John 7-11
Without
question, 2 John 7-11 speaks specifically of those who deny the incarnation as
being antichrist. However, John’s statement is not to be interpreted as merely
meaning that those who deny the fact of the incarnation are antichrist. He is
telling us that all preachers, teachers, and religious leaders who deny the
eternal deity and godhead of Christ, the necessity of his incarnation to save
fallen men, the efficacy of his redemptive work as the incarnate God, and the
glory of his exaltation and dominion as the God-man are deceivers and
antichrists. In other words - All who teach any doctrine which in any way perverts
the gospel of God’s free, sovereign, effectual, and irresistible grace in
Christ are deceivers and are antichrists. We are to have nothing to do with
them.
However, my purpose in this
study is to demonstrate the fact that the doctrine of Christ and the doctrine
of the Bible are synonymous. The teachings of Holy Scripture are Christ. I do
not mean to say only that the teachings of the Bible are the teachings of
Christ. Though that is certainly true. I mean that all the teachings of God’s
Word are Christ himself. He is the Truth of whom the Scriptures speak. Christ
is the living Word of whom the written Word speaks. All the doctrines, all the
teachings of Holy Scripture are designed of God to reveal and exalt God’s dear
Son, our Savior, and to lead us to faith in him.
That which separates the
truth from a mere religion is that the truth concerns a person, the Lord Jesus
Christ. That may appear to some to be a trite and worn out phrase, but it is
true that salvation is a Person, not a doctrine. The importance of this
distinction cannot be over stated. There are many who find fault with
insistence upon this point. I am constantly told, “That is an over
simplification. You cannot preach the Bible without preaching doctrine; and you
cannot always preach Christ and the gospel if you faithfully expound the Word
of God.”
The first part of that
objection is true. “We cannot preach the Bible without preaching doctrine.” I
make no apology for preaching and teaching doctrine, or for being a doctrinal
preacher. The word doctrine simply
means teaching. Certainly you cannot
teach without teaching. To teach is to indoctrinate. It would be impossible to
preach the person and work of Christ without preaching doctrine. However, it is
quite easy to preach doctrine and never preach Christ. However, I take strong
exception to the notion that “you cannot always preach Christ and the gospel if
you faithfully expound the Word of God.”
To preach all the counsel of
God is to preach the gospel. It is to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. I
repeat, the message of Scripture is Jesus Christ himself (Lk.
24:27, 44-46; John 1:45; 5:39; Acts 10:43). What Paul said to the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:27) and that which he wrote to the
saints at Corinth (1 Cor. 1:23; 2:2) are but two ways
of stating the same thing. Christ crucified is all the counsel of God. This
fact is demonstrated in the Book of Acts. In that inspired history of the
church’s earliest years, the words preach,
preached, and preaching are used
thirty-seven times. Every time they are used, the subject preached was a person
- the Lord Jesus Christ. “The apostles’
doctrine” was not a creed, but a person (Acts 5:42).
Truth is in some ways like a
jigsaw puzzle. A jigsaw puzzle is made of many parts, each one important. The
puzzle could not be complete if any individual part were missing. Yet, we all
realize that the value of such a puzzle does not lie in the individual pieces,
but in the image that is made when all these pieces are joined together in
their proper relationship. Even though an unassembled jigsaw puzzle contains
the very same materials and pieces as an assembled one, there is a great
difference between the two. The assembled puzzle gives us an image, a picture
to enjoy. An unassembled puzzle is just a box of cardboard pieces.
The Word of God is similar:
It is made of many parts, each one important. Yet the value of these parts lies
not in themselves, but in the image they create when assembled through the preaching of the gospel. All the doctrines of
the Scriptures are pieces of a divine puzzle
which, when assembled, provide us with an image of the Lord Jesus. One may
emphasize the various individual pieces
of this puzzle, and become quite expert in them, and never see the image which
they were designed to create.
Our Savior said to the
Pharisees, "Search the scriptures;
for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of
me.” The Pharisees were expert in the pieces
but utterly ignorant of the image they made. I fear that most preachers and
Bible teachers in our day are very much like the Pharisees. Like ignorant
babies playing with the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, they play with and are
greatly consumed in playing with the pieces of Holy Scripture. If someone
stands up and plainly preaches the gospel, plainly sets forth Jesus Christ and
him crucified, like babies with a puzzle, they start pulling out the pieces.
Those who preach, but do not
preach Christ, those who teach from the Bible, but do not teach the gospel, do
not understand the Word of God at all. That doctrine which does not have Christ
crucified for its beginning, middle, and end is false doctrine. Be sure you
understand the words of Peter in I Peter chapter one. The Word of God has not
been preached unless the gospel has been preached, unless the gospel of Christ
has been preached (1 Pet. 1:23-25).
Every man sent of God to
preach the gospel is in total agreement with every other man sent of God to
preach the gospel, in so far as the message they preach is concerned. They all
see eye to eye in this matter (Isa.
52:7-8). “For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord.” When the Scriptures speak of "preaching Christ," this is what they mean:
·
All preaching is to be done
with the purpose of revealing Christ and making him known, so that chosen sinners may
see him, believe on him, and worship him. The goal of all the apostles and
their successors has been to make Christ known in truth.
·
To that end, preaching
Christ means we must view all Scripture as a revelation of Him and interpreting it
according to that rule, not being satisfied with the mere pieces of truth, but determined to learn and declare how each piece
fits into the puzzle.
This
understanding of Scripture and this kind of preaching will help us in seven
distinct ways.
1. Preaching Christ will deliver us from becoming a mere religious
movement.
Someone once said that all
organizations go through three stages: "the man (who founded it), the
movement (an organization that
carries on under the momentum the man generated), and the monument (a dead
organization which may bear the name of the founder but has little or no
connection to him or his vision).” Lutheranism bears the name of its founder,
but few Lutherans adhere to Martin Luther’s doctrine. Presbyterianism is
associated with John Calvin; but few Presbyterians rejoice in Calvin’s
doctrine. Preachers in most Protestant and Baptist churches use the names of C.
H. Spurgeon and John Bunyan; but few preach the
gospel those faithful men proclaimed.
The only thing that
preserves the church from such a fate is that "the man," (in this
case, the Man, Christ Jesus) is continually revealing Himself from generation
to generation. This revelation is accomplished through the preaching of Christ.
When Christ is preached, the Spirit of God takes those things of Christ, shows
them to his elect and a new generation is joined to Christ. When Christ is
preached, we are never dependant upon the momentum of one generation to carry
the work of the gospel into the next generation. When Christ is preached, every
generation is a brand new work, full of the vitality and energy of the Man who
founds it, the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Preaching
Christ will deliver preachers and those who hear them from dry and lifeless
sermons.
No doubt the goats will not
be satisfied with what they hear, but we are not concerned with them. The sheep
find the preaching of Christ to be
"green pastures" and "still
waters." Christ is their bread, and the preaching of Christ is the
bread coming down from heaven to nourish their souls. When Christ is the
preacher’s Subject and Message he never needs to figure out a way to make his
messages more exciting, clever, or appealing to those who hear them. The
message of Christ is as clever and exciting as any sheep could desire. And we
simply should not concern ourselves with
what goats think about our preaching.
Preaching Christ is the
best, indeed, the only way to purify the church. Gospel preaching reveals who
the sheep are and purifies the church. Everywhere I go, I find that among
religious people the two major concerns are the morality of the sheep and the
purity of the church. This is revealed in the attention they give to the work
of church discipline. The Scriptures, however, teach that the preaching of
Christ will accomplish this work very well. The preaching of Christ provides
the content and motivation of godliness (Eph.
4:17-24). Ungodliness is contrary to the truth of Christ. Where Christ is
preached, growth in grace is the result!
Preaching Christ will purify
the church by removing from its ranks those professed believers who do not
truly love the Lord Jesus (Cor. 1:18). Our Lord was
referring to this matter in his parables, when he told us plainly that we do
not have the ability to distinguish between sheep and goats, between wheat and
tares, or good fish and bad. Therefore, we are to leave them alone and leave
the separation of the one from the other to him. Those who do not know Christ
will, in time, grow weary of hearing him preached and leave. People will not
long endure the preaching of what is foolishness to them. The surest way to
maintain a herd of goats in a congregation is to preach Christless
doctrine to them. "Knowledge puffeth up," and Christless
doctrine, no matter how true it may be, puffs men up with a sense of knowledge.
Even the goats can tolerate true doctrine if their knowing it gives them an
occasion for pride. But, knowing the truth through the revelation of Christ
leaves no room for pride, only a sense of gratitude that the truth has been
revealed. In this way, the preaching of Christ purifies the church. More
correctly, by the preaching of Christ, Christ purifies his church.
4. Preaching of Christ has the promise of Divine accomplishment (Isa. 55:11).
The word that goes forth out
of God's mouth is Jesus Christ, called by John, "the Word." (John 1:1). Isaiah 55:11 refers primarily to the
coming of Christ in the flesh, teaching us that whatever purpose God intended
in the sending of Christ was accomplished; and when Christ returned to God, he
did so, not as a failure, but as a champion who had fully accomplished all the
work given him to do. It may properly be expanded to also include the preaching
of Christ which is, indeed, a sending of Jesus Christ. Every time Christ is
preached, God has a purpose in it, and that purpose shall be accomplished.
5. Preaching Christ helps to protect the preacher from pride and the
hearers from idolatry.
Those who hear the preaching
of Christ will love and respect the man that preaches to them; but they will
worship Christ. Those who preach Christ will rejoice in the results that are
obtained by it, but will glorify Christ for those results. Far too often
preachers and religious leaders talk and act as though the works wrought
through them were wrought by them, as though it were Calvin and Luther who
brought about the reformation, as if Spurgeon filled the tabernacle. If there
could be any sadness in glory, it must be found among those faithful men of the
past whose names are now revered as though they accomplished anything. If these
men were to return to earth, they would be appalled at the churches and
colleges raised in their names. Any work done by any man ought to die with the
man and will. Let us preach the work of him who never dies and pray that he
will be pleased to work through us.
6. Preaching Christ is the only message that will do sinners any good (1 Cor. 1:21).
“It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe.” The word translated "preaching"
puts the emphasis on the content of what is preached. The "foolishness" that is preached is
Christ or "the cross," the
doctrine of Christ crucified. Christ is what sinners need. If they will not
have him, there is nothing else good to give them. Consequently, there is no
value in giving them something else. I say to all who preach the gospel, “Pour
on the coal! Preach the sovereign, unchangeable Christ to sinners. Flood them
with the ‘truth as it is in Jesus’
until they either shout ‘crucify him’
or ‘my Lord and my God.’”
7. Preaching Christ glorifies him who alone deserves all praise, honor,
and glory.
Dare a preacher aim for
less? I pray for the salvation of sinners through my preaching, but, whatever
may come of sinners, may Christ be honored and glorified by what comes from my
lips. Does not every God-called preacher feel the same? Does not every believer
feel the same with regard to his testimony of the truth. God grant it be so.
Therefore, we preach and teach Christ. I pray that God will give me the grace
to deny every fleshly temptation to preach anything else. I know this - The man
who follows this pattern until it seems utterly absurd and absolute foolishness
to proud flesh, and only that man, has entered into that which is the power and
wisdom of God.
God helping me, this is the
determination of my heart and my solemn promise to all who hear me preach or
read what I may be enabled of God to write, I am “determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him
crucified…God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world…So, as
much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel…For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just
shall live by faith.”