Good evening and welcome to eBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of 2nd John. Tonight is study number 14, and we will be reading from 2 John 1:9:
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.
I will stop reading there.
We have been going verse by verse, through this little Epistle, this Book of the Bible, and we have seen, that God has certainly, although little, filled it with much spiritual information concerning His Gospel, concerning the truth of His Word, and 2 John 1:9 is no different, where it 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.
This sort of, catches our attention, because we are living in a time when it is actually, fairly common to hear people say, “I am not concerned about doctrine. I do not get involved in those kinds of subjects. I am only concerned about the cross of Christ.” Or, “I am only interested in the saving work of the Lord Jesus. I just do not discuss doctrine. Doctrine brings division. Doctrine brings contention. And so, I just leave that out, and I find that I am much happier and much more at peace with my Christian brethren.”
Of course, if you leave out doctrine, you are going to have the ability to get along with anybody, because you have nothing that offends them. And yet, that is not the nature of the Bible. The Bible is an extremely offensive Book, to people. They do not like the Bible. And why not? Because of the teachings of the Bible, and doctrine is teaching. It is that which is taught, and it should be, according to the truth of the Word of God.
Of course, there is doctrine that is true doctrine, and there is much doctrine that is false doctrine. And, the doctrine of Christ, since Christ is the truth, would be true doctrine, faithful and that which the Bible does teach, and all else is false doctrine.
And so, many also, who do involve themselves in doctrine, they realize that that is a ridiculous idea, to avoid doctrine, then you practically have to avoid every teaching of the Scripture, so they do involve themselves in doctrine. But the problem is, and this is the church world’s problem of our day—all the denominations and congregations, all the various churches—they have developed their own doctrine, based upon their own teaching, from the church fathers, that have developed confessions and creeds and teachings that are their own doctrine, and out of their own minds and developed by their own reasoning and according to their own word. They have laid out these paths and they tell their congregation (their followers), “this is the doctrine that you must follow, certainly, to be a part of our particular church.” But also, they insist, “in order to be in a right relationship with God, to enter into the kingdom of heaven, you must follow these sets of doctrines.”
And for some, they call it “Calvinism,” and for others, they call it “Arminianism,” and they have doctrines for salvation and end time doctrines. They have doctrines, for just about everything. A certain set of doctrines normally applies to the Baptist and another set, to the Presbyterian, and another set, to the Catholic, and so on, and they are not the doctrine of Christ.
The doctrine of Christ is exclusively that which the Bible teaches and nothing else. It is not the doctrine of Christ to have a church doctrine. That church doctrine may, on some points, be in line with the doctrine of Christ, the Bible, but without fail, it will have added something or subtracted something from the true doctrine of the Bible.
And so, the child of God, the true believer, is not concerned, and we are not interested, and we do not care what a church teaches. We do not care, if according to that church’s teaching, we are a heretic. We do not concern our self, at all, if according to a church’s teaching, we have blasphemed God. We do not worry in any way at all about the church’s teaching and whether or not, we are in line with their teaching. That is not the focus of the true child of God.
That is the focus of multitudes that are not true children of God. They are children of a church. They are members of the congregation of the dead, according to Proverbs. They abide in that church’s creed and in its confession, and they are trusting that church to deliver, what it has promised in bringing them, finally to Heaven. And they will be sadly and greatly disappointed.
Let us take a look at some of the Scriptures. Let us look at what the Bible has to say about doctrine. You might be surprised that the Bible has a good deal to say about it, but let us begin by turning to Matthew 7:28-29:
And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
It is interesting how often we read that, in the Gospel accounts. It is stated several times, after the LORD would give a teaching or perform a miracle, in a couple of instances, that the people were astonished at His doctrine. Why? It goes on to tell us in Matthew 7:29:
For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
And who were the scribes? They would have been the teachers of the church of Old Testament Israel. They were the spiritual authority, of their day, and it seems that they taught without authority, that is, they taught without coming to conclusions. Actually, we can be very familiar with what they said at that time, because churches today teach the same way. They would say, “this father and his tradition says this, about this particular subject. However, there is another father and his tradition that says another thing, and here is what we think about it.”
I do not know how many sermons I have heard myself, where someone will go to a Bible verse, and they will quote what Calvin said about it, and quote what Luther said about it, and quote what another renowned theologian said about it, and many times, these are differing ideas concerning the verse. And finally, the preacher will say, “now here is what I think about it.” And, he may incorporate all of the above statements, and so you have a mixture of understanding of men concerning the verse. He was very careful, you see, very safe, he thought, to build upon, what very well respected Bible theologians have taught. You cannot err, they (the church men, the modern Christian) believe. You cannot err, if you build upon the firm foundation of church fathers. That idea itself, is an error. That idea itself, leads one away from the truth of the Word of God.
It is no spiritual food at all to the child of God, who during the church age, sat in a congregation and had to listen to messages like that, listen to what three or four, ancient teachers thought and then, finally, what the present day pastor believed it was saying. You leave the church unfed, malnourished. You do not know what to believe. You have no solid food of the Scripture.
But Christ taught solidly and definitively. Of course, He was the Word, and He taught “as one having authority.” This is what the Bible says. This is what God is saying in this verse, in this context.
Yes, of course, Christ would know since He is Eternal God. But, He has not left us without guidance. He has not left us without direction, so that we can never know what actual truth is, so we can never have the firmness of standing solidly upon a true teaching of the Word.
Christ has also given us direction on how to arrive at truth: by comparing spiritual with spiritual, here a little, there a little, and this verse with that verse. We search the Bible, and if we follow God’s methodology, we are able, and we have already come to many truths of the Word of God, and we dare say, “this is God’s Word. This is a true doctrine, a true teaching of the Bible, because it is based on proper methodology and careful time and effort has been put into making sure that the conclusion harmonizes with all the Word of God.” And therefore, we declare it, not hesitantly, and not along with three or four other possibilities, but we declare it, very matter of factly, “this is the Bible’s teaching.”
And in doing so, the believer (who has allowed the Holy Spirit to teach, when we compare spiritual with spiritual) is teaching, following the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ. We, likewise, speak with authority. That is, the voice of Christ. Remember, the Bible says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,…” and Christ’s voice is very clear. It is not confusing or like muddy water. It is crystal clear and very pure, so God’s people listen for the sound of that voice. Of course, it is possible to be mistaken at times, and correction is then made. But the doctrine of Christ is spoken with authority.
Let us also turn to Mark chapter 4 and we will read the first three verses. It says beginning in Mark 4:1-3:
And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
And then, the parable continues where the LORD gives the parable of the sower, followed by other parables, and occasionally, explanation of the parable. But notice, that the Lord Jesus taught a great multitude, and in Mark 4:2, it says:
…he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine;
Normally, we tend to think that Christ’s doctrine is a systematic statement of beliefs. We are familiar with church doctrine and the church has it all laid out by number. They have it all systematically categorized and laid out for the attender, for the person interested in their church. But here, in Mark 4, we find that Christ’s doctrine is not just a systematic statement of beliefs. It could be. Anyone could organize some of Christ’s doctrine. It would be impossible to organize it all. But, it is His teaching also in parables. He taught them many things, by parables and said unto them in his doctrine, and then He began to speak a parable, and that parable was spoken in His doctrine.
Let us just pause a second, and ask the question: Are the churches abiding in the doctrine of Christ? “Why, yes,” they would respond, “of course we are. We have the doctrine of baptism and the doctrine of the LORD’S table, and we have the doctrine of judgment and the doctrine of salvation.” Yes, but what have they done with the doctrine of parables? “…he taught them many things by parables,…” it says here. And remember what we read in Matthew 13:33-34:
Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
So there, we read that Christ did not speak without a parable. And who is Christ? He is the Word made flesh. Christ is really, the Word of God, in body form. He is the embodiment of the Bible, the Word of God.
Why is it that Jesus constantly and without a parable, did not teach the multitude? Of course, the obvious answer is that He was teaching the listeners present at that time, and those that would read of these things, down through the centuries. He was teaching us, how to understand the Word of God, because He is the Word of God, and the Word of God is full of spiritual things, and the Word of God is like hid treasure. God did not make it easy for men to understand His Word. But instead, He hid truth throughout the Bible (everywhere in the Bible, as a matter of fact).
And so, the Lord Jesus Christ taught the multitude, taught His disciples, in parables. And in doing so, with each parable taught, He was giving a mini demonstration, on how to understand the entire Bible. We are to look at the Bible as a parabolic statement that God has given to man. We are to search the Scriptures in order to find truth. It is the glory of God to conceal a Word, and the honour of kings is to search it out.
Again, we ask the question, “are the churches abiding in the doctrine of Christ, as far as it concerns, looking for the deeper spiritual meaning of Scripture?” The answer is, no. They are not. They teach a plain, literal understanding of the Bible, and in so doing, have left the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of His parabolic teaching. They disdain, actually, the teaching of the Scripture. It is through the Scripture, we learn how to understand the Bible. The proper Biblical hermeneutic, is derived itself from the Scripture, and it is from Christ’s own teaching that we learn that we must look for the deeper spiritual meaning.
This idea is mocked, reviled, ignored and put aside, and therefore, the churches are not abiding in the doctrine of Christ on this point, as well as many others, and we see, as a result, the churches and congregations, failed to feed, to spiritually nourish the sheep that were under their care, throughout the church age. Only here and there was it taking place.
Finally, God came along and decreed that those who were feeding themselves of the flock, rather than feeding the flock itself, were to cease from feeding the flock. He ended the church age and called His people outside of the churches and congregations, which took place during the time of the great tribulation, and that command remains in effect. It has not been rescinded at all. We are to stay outside of the church, and it is there, upon the mountains of Israel, that God feeds His people. He is the Great Shepherd, that spiritually now nourishes and cares for all of His elect.
Let us turn to another verse in the Gospel accounts. Let us go to John 18 and we will read John 18:19-20, and it says:
The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.
Here, notice that the high priest is asking Jesus of His disciples, and of course, in what we are mainly interested in, in our study, of His doctrine. “Tell me of your doctrine,” the high priest is saying to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Jesus responds, “…I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple.” In other words, “My doctrine is that which I have taught. It is my teaching.”
It is the Word of Christ. Jesus is the Word made flesh. Jesus’ doctrine, therefore, is the whole Bible. The Scripture, from Genesis through Revelation, the 66 books of the Bible, are the doctrine of Christ, and any adding to or subtracting from the Word of God, the Bible, would be adding to the doctrine or subtracting from the doctrine of Christ, and therefore, not abiding in the doctrine of Christ.
Revelation 22:18, states this matter of factly, and let us turn there and I will read it:
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
This is basically stating the same thing, that our verse, in 2 John 1:9 is declaring:
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.
So we can see, up to this point, and as of now, (and there are many more Scriptures to look at, and we will continue looking at this further, in our next study) that the doctrine of Christ is the whole Bible. The doctrine of Christ includes the parabolic nature of Scripture, of the Bible, and the doctrine of Christ is coming to conclusions that are direct and straight forward and spoken with authority.
These things are the doctrine of Christ and any not abiding in them, do not have God, and that is a very horrible thing for anyone, if they do not have God. It means that they do not have a Saviour, and they do not have eternal life, and they are under the wrath of God, and they will be destroyed, at the very end of their life, and at the end of all things.