All right, well, we will go ahead and get started. It says it's 2.30, and so I will pray, and we'll jump into our notes for this session, why every pastor and every Christian should care about theology. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this conference. I thank you for the messages that we have already heard. I pray that you would help us now in this workshop to understand what theology is, why we should care about it, and Lord, that we might use it more readily and more fully to strengthen our own lives and to strengthen our churches. We pray this in Christ's name, amen. So the downside to not going first is occasionally someone else starts talking about what you're talking about. And if you were here for our first message this morning, you know there was a little bit about why pastors should care about theology. And hopefully we won't be just reviewing that. We will touch on a little bit of what was discussed in the opening session, as well as building some other things. But I want to just begin by thinking about some potential objections that I've heard at different times as to why we really shouldn't study theology. We don't really need to worry about theology, first of all, because, I mean, we already have the Bible. Maybe you remember the no creed but the Bible movement. And people were saying, let's not worry about these kinds of things. All we have, all we really need to worry about is God's word. Lord willing, just so you know, I plan to come back at the end and revisit these objections. I'm not going to try to answer them right now. I'm just raising them. A second objection, we don't really need to study theology. We just need to focus on practical issues. Who cares how many angels can dance on the head of a pen? We've got people who are hurting, and so let's not worry about theology. Let's just deal with practical issues of everyday life. Third, we don't need to study theology, we just need to let the Spirit lead us. Some of you know I've transitioned back to West Virginia, where I grew up in ministry, and I've heard people different times there say seminary ruined you as a pastor. He used to be a really good preacher, then he went to seminary and it ruined him. And some of that's because, you know, just let the Spirit lead you. I had a friend who, Saturday night, he'd get out a pen and paper and just, you know, say, what's the Spirit want me to preach on tomorrow morning? And just start kind of taking notes. And so why would you worry about studying theology when you allow the Holy Spirit to guide you instead? Or let's not focus on theology because theology is divisive or divisive, depending upon how you want to pronounce that. Theology causes some people to be against each other, and you end up fighting, and so let's not really focus on theology. Or, who needs to study theology? That's for academics. That's not for practitioners. That's certainly not for the average Christian. Every Christian should never have to think about theology. That's what only some people need to worry about, and that's why they get paid the big bucks, so they can worry about theology and everyone else doesn't have to. Now, if we're going to make the case that you should care about theology, I want to begin by saying, well, what is it that we're talking about? What is theology? And until you know that, you probably don't know whether or not you should care about it or not care about it. So let's begin with a narrow definition. Theology, the word itself, basically means a word about God or the study of God. That's why sometimes people try to be a little bit more specific in saying theology proper, meaning when we say theology here, we're talking specifically studying about God the Father. But the word just kind of means study of God, and that's why it's used more broadly to say a study about God and everything related to him. And so in one sense, if you're saying, what is theology? You're saying it's the things about God and his world. Who God is, how he relates to everything, how everything relates to God. I think, though, in one sense, I say broadest. In some ways, it's more specific, but also very broad. And I've given several definitions. I want to highlight a few things in each of these. We're gonna begin with Abibu Warfield. This was a definition he gave in the article he wrote about the practical nature of theology. And he describes theology in this way, the task of thoroughly exploring the pages of Revelation. soundly gathering from them their treasures of theological teaching, and carefully fitting these into their due places in a system whereby they may be preserved for misunderstanding, perversion, and misuse, and given a new power to convince the understanding, move the heart, and quicken the will, becomes thus a holy duty to our own and our brother's souls, as well as an eager pleasure of our intellectual nature. There's a lot in that. I'm thankful that he's highlighting a lot of things we'll talk about later. It's working through the scriptures, right? You're exploring the pages of Revelation. And then you're gathering from their theological teaching, right? So where's your theology come from? It comes from the Bible. What do you then do with it? Well, you put it into a system, you order it. Now, the one potential danger of the way Warfield describes it is sometimes it can almost sound like, boy, wouldn't it have been better if God had put everything in the right order? But instead, he gave us the Bible, so we've got to come along and put it in the right order. And that's, I think, a potential danger we have when we think about systematic theology, as if it would have been better if God had given us a theology textbook. and said he gave us the Bible. I don't think that's really what Warfield's getting at. But I think that could be potentially a false inference from what he's saying. I think instead, really what he's getting at is what I'll talk about a little bit later as we go through this. Because I think what he's getting at in some ways is saying that next part, this allows them to be preserved from misunderstanding, perversion, and misuse. This allows it to be more clear for people. and given a new power to convince the understanding, move the heart and quicken the will. It better connects in some ways with us. And so this is a holy duty for us to engage in. Second definition by Dr. McCune, former professor of theology at DBTS. Systematic or Christian theology then in the widest sense is simply doctrine. It's teaching. It's the doctrines of the Bible set forth according to plan or order. And so when we're saying, what is theology, and especially systematic theology, is taking the Bible and laying it out as you teach others. Dr. Snowberger and his notes I had at one point in time from him. This was, I think he gave me these notes in 2020. Systematic theology isn't, so I just say that to say, maybe he's tweaked his definition in the last few years, right? A systematic theology is an arrangement of the doctrines of the whole Bible, to create a framework that incorporates and validates all truth. Now you'll see both with Dr. McKean and Dr. Snowberger, what's the emphasis? It's taking what the Bible says. And so it's drawing out from what the Bible says and then arranging them to create a framework. It's creating a system. And it incorporates and validates all truth. And that's saying it allows us to be able to understand reality. To incorporate everything in the world and ultimately to help us to know what is true. That's similar in some ways to what Millard Erickson says. Theology in a Christian context is a discipline of study that seeks to understand the God revealed in the Bible and to provide a Christian understanding of reality. And so what's theology? It's saying, well, what's true? What is the world? What is the world that God has made, and how does he relate to it? And then probably the broadest definition on here, and yet one that I think hits a very important point, is from John Frame. Theology is the application of scripture by persons to every area of life. And I think this is framed trying to guard against the potential misunderstanding of the war field. But wouldn't it have been better if God hadn't given us the Bible, but instead gave us the theology book? Well, no. What God gave us is better. And yet, what are we supposed to do with what God gave us? Or are we supposed to apply it? We're supposed to see, what does it mean for us in our given context, in our day? What does God want us to think about certain things that we have? And so it's teaching, specifically teaching applied to every area of life. And so you see, it's a very comprehensive and yet, I think, very practical reality when we're talking about doing theology. And so that's why theology would include teaching and instruction. It would include apologetics, the defense of the faith against potential errors and attacks. It would include ethics, saying how are we supposed to live within this world? It would include polemics, attacking false views, pushing back against false ideas. All of this flows out of theology. So when we're talking about theology, that's what we're talking about. We're talking about taking the Bible, and seeing how it, in an orderly and systematic way, teaches the truth, and defends the truth, and gives us guidance for how to live, and attacks false worldviews. That's theology. So, if you're a pastor, why should you care about theology? And I want to just do a brief look through the pastoral epistles. I'm not claiming this is comprehensive, and we're not gonna go real in depth. I just want to highlight a few things. So if you have your Bibles, open up first of all to 1 Timothy 1. The first Timothy, second Timothy, and Titus are typically called the pastoral epistles because they're written to two men who are pastors, largely to say, this is what you need to be doing in the church, this is what you need to be doing as a pastor. And if you were to say, I'm gonna write a book about pastoral theology or pastoral ministry, what should a pastor do? What might chapter one be? Well, what's chapter one for Paul? Look at verse three. as I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain in the emphasis so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. So what's chapter one? It's theology. It's making sure the doctrine that's being taught is not wrong doctrine, but true doctrine. Get your doctrine in order. Continue reading. In order to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculation rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. And that stewardship, we saw that in Titus 1 this morning. You've been entrusted with certain truths and you need to maintain them. The aim of our charge is what? Love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Now that's interesting. I'm telling you to worry about doctrine, why? So you would have good love and good conscience and sincere faith. And so right away, we're seeing theology flows into practice. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they're saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. Now we know the law is good, if one uses it lawfully. Understanding this, the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient. for ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to what? Sound doctrine. So all of these behaviors are answered with sound doctrine, answered with good theology. in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. Go over to chapter three, verse 14. Hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of what? The truth. The church is meant to support the truth. And then what does he do? I think you could make a decent case that what Paul does next is he basically gives a statement of faith. He gives a kind of creed. He points to theological truths. What is he then going to say? Great indeed, we confess the mystery of Godliness. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. And so how will the church perform its function of being the pillar and support of the truth. It's through theology. Go to chapter four, verse 16. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers. Now, I think it is important, and I've heard messages that emphasize we cannot neglect either of these things. You are to keep a close watch on yourself. But you are also called to keep a close watch on the teaching, on the doctrine, on theology. And if you don't do that, you won't save yourself in your ears. Do you want your church to be growing, to see sanctification happen? then you have to pay close attention to doctrine, to teaching. Go to chapter 6, verse 3. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ in the teaching that accords with godliness, And in this here, I'm gonna come back to this, but again, we're seeing this emphasis. A godly life flows out of what? Good teaching, proper doctrine. Go over to 2 Timothy 4. And verse three. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching. But having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. And so they have sinful desires. And those sinful desires are contrary to what? Sound teaching. And so they don't want sound teaching anymore. They want their own sinful desires. And therefore sound teaching again is seen as a bulwark against sinful desires. Go to Titus 1. Right, it's all verse nine this morning. Let's hold firm to the trusted word of God so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it. Go to chapter two, verse one. As for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. I won't have you turn there, but one of the passages, it's not in the pastoral epistles, but it was interesting to me in thinking about this, is in John three. If you're familiar with John 3, Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night and he started asking him questions. And what does Jesus start telling Nicodemus? He starts giving him the doctrine of regeneration, right? Teaching about the new birth. And Nicodemus is confused. And he's like, so do I go into my mother's womb again? What's going on? And Jesus says, you're a teacher in Israel and you don't know these things. In a sense, if you're going to be a teacher of God's people, you should know things like the doctrine of regeneration. This is something you should know if you're going to be a teacher of God's people. And so why should every pastor care about theology? Well, because theology is vital for pastoral work. You cannot be a good pastor unless you focus on theology. Secondly, you should care about this because bad theology is plaguing our churches. Some of you may be familiar with the State of Theology Survey. Ligonier Ministries sponsors it in cooperation with Lifeway Research every two years. So this was from 2022. I imagine sometime in the near future we'll get an update. I don't think it'll be any more encouraging. If you ever read through it, you will find yourself very discouraged. They define an evangelical by saying an evangelical is someone who, when they ask these questions, these four statements here, they would say they agree with these statements. The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe. I agree. It's very important for me to personally encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. Jesus Christ's death on the cross is the only sacrifice that can remove the penalty of my sin. And only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God's free gift of eternal salvation. And so, if I can say it this way, this isn't just the generic, would you call yourself evangelical. This isn't even the Barna. So Barna's group is something like, so have you ever made a decision for Christ? Is that decision still important for you? Or this is a little bit more than that, right? And so these are some things of saying, these are people who you would think, you'd ask these questions and say, do you want to join our church? And they answer you, and you're like, hey, this is great. Well, then you keep asking them some questions. And you start to see some problems. Look at this. 48% of those people believe God learns and adapts to different circumstances. Do you think God learns and adapts to different circumstances? Yeah, I agree with that statement. What? 73% is incredible to me. 73% believe Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God. 60% believe the Holy Spirit is a force, but it's not a personal being. 57% believe that everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature. 65% believe everyone's born innocent in the eyes of God. 56% believe that God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. 43% believe Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God. Now, in some ways, that might match up with the first and greatest created being, I suppose. And 38% believe that religious belief is a matter of personal opinion. It's not about objective truth. And just so you know, the way this works is basically, it was a statement. Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion. It's not about objective truth. Agree, disagree. That's how this survey was conducted. And if you read through that, and you're like me, you're thinking, wow. There are some people with really, really bad theology here. But as always, it's a lot easier for us to be like, oh, those people out there. But if your church took this survey, how well do you think they would be able to answer these questions? And perhaps, more importantly, instead of saying, I don't know how they'd answer, we'll ask, well, did you teach them anything different? Like if they saw the question, Jesus is the first and greatest of the beings created by God, would you say, they might answer that wrong, but I've said this lots of times. It's not because I've not explicitly said the opposite of this. Or the Holy Spirit is a force and not a personal being. You'd say, again, maybe they'd get tripped up, but I know I have taught specifically about the Holy Spirit being a personal being. Or is it kind of, well, maybe I hope they picked it up somewhere along the way. And my guess is a lot of the reasons we're getting answers like this is because these churches are filled with pastors who have said, either I hope they pick it up somewhere along the way, or that stuff doesn't really matter. What matters is practical things. And I'm not going to worry about theology. And because of that, the state of the church in America is horrific. That's why every pastor should care. Secondly, why should every Christian care? And again, I don't anticipate this being comprehensive, but these, I think, are some key things that we see the value of theology. First, our relationship with God is built on theology. Go to Hebrews chapter 11. And verse six, probably a verse you're familiar with. Hebrews 11, six. Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God, right, you want to draw near to God, what has to be in place? You must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. Now what is He exists? That's a theological statement. Is there a God? It's a statement about doctrine. You know what's interesting? Where in the Bible does it say God exists? This is probably the closest thing we have to it. But Genesis 1-1, in the beginning, God, right? So I look at that verse and I say, well, God exists because he's in the beginning, right? And that's theology. I have to believe that God exists, and I have to believe something about this God. I have to believe I can know he rewards people. He's not unknowable. I have to believe he interacts with humans. That he rewards those who diligently seek him. And so I have to have theological beliefs. Go to 1 John 4. Verse one. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world. Little children, you are from God. How do you know if you're from God? What did he just say? Did Jesus Christ come in the flesh? That's a theological statement. He existed, and then he became man. And he was the Messiah, Christ. You have to believe these kinds of things to say whether or not you are from God. Romans 10. I want to have you turn there, a verse you're familiar with. If you, what, confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And so you have to believe and confess certain truths in order to be saved, in order to know God, and there's certainly more we could look at. But this basically helps us to know you cannot know God unless you believe certain things, and therefore theology matters. Secondly, behavior is intricately tied to belief. Go to Deuteronomy 6. Deuteronomy 6 in verse 4. Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And what's that? A theological statement. There is one God. Monotheism. And what flows from that? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house and so on as you go about. And so again, Here's belief. Connects to love. Connects to commandments. And so, this is just an aside. This is why one of the first verses I had my kids learn was Deuteronomy 6.4. Because I thought, I want them to know theological truth. And this is one that, historically, God's people have said, this is an important truth to know. And so this is one that I would hope people in your church would be able to know very well. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You know this if you've ever preached through any epistle. Not everyone, but the vast majority of them, what's the kind of structure? You have some doctrinal teaching, some theological teaching, and then you transition to practical teaching. The first part of the epistle, there's almost no command, and then the epistle's filled with commands. Why? Well, because behavior is intricately tied to belief. So we saw over and over again in the pastoral epistles, right? Certain teaching accords with godliness. Sound preaching is tied to what you do. I won't have you go there, Matthew 28, 20. You're teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. How do you know that you've taught people all that God's commanded? You have to do theology, right? You have to go through the Bible and order it together to figure out, is this covering what God has said? And therefore, how can I teach them to observe these things unless I know these things? Here's another quote from Warfield in that article. What we do not know, in this sense, systematically, we rob of half its power on our conduct. Unless indeed we are prepared to argue that a truth has effect on us in proportion as it is unknown, rather than in proportion as it is known. So let's think about, here is your Lord, our God, Lord is one. The more you understand the fact that God is the one God, is that going to help you follow him more closely than the less you understand that? It's like, well, obviously, right? Obviously, if I understand this better, I'm going to be able to obey him better. And then Warfold's like, yeah, exactly. And so if you don't know the truths that God wants you to know, you aren't going to be able to live the way he wants you to live. You have to know these things well. To which may be added that when we do not know a body of doctrine systematically, we are sure to misconceive the nature of more or fewer of its separate elements. And Dr. Dorn gave a great example of that, right? The man Christ Jesus. If all I know is that verse, I'm in trouble. And far too often, our theology is skewed because we haven't actually done the work to order it, to arrange it, to see how the parts fit together. But when we do that, it is a help for us. It is a help for how we live. It is a means of godliness for us to understand scripture rightly. Third, why should every Christian care about this? Because doctrine is stabilizing. it's stabilizing for the Christian. Go to John 17. And verse 17. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. I think this verse would point to at least two ways in which doctrine's stabilizing. One is it's sanctifying. It's through the scriptures, it's through the truth of God's word, through the theology that we find in scripture, that we are able to grow closer and closer to God and therefore have a life that is increasingly holy, increasingly more like Jesus Christ. But it's also stabilizing because it is truth. And truth is stabilizing. And when we do theology well, we're helping people in our church to know that we have truth, that there is an order, that from Genesis through Revelation, all of it fits together. And we demonstrate that for our people by showing there is a system of truth. Go back to the state of theology question. Religious belief, a matter of personal opinion, not if we're doing our theology right. It's a system of objective truth. We're not just getting up here and kind of sharing our thoughts. We're sharing God's thoughts, and we're seeking to think His thoughts after Him. And therefore, we are grounding people in the fact that it is truth. It's also stabilizing for when we face challenging circumstances. So go to Luke 24, just to try to maybe see this illustrated. Luke 24. So I'm not going to read the section you're familiar, the section in which Jesus comes to these two disciples. They're talking about all these things. They're talking about how all this has happened. And they're, I think, kind of shocked in some ways. They're trying to understand what's going on, trying to deal with this reality. And in verse 25, what does Jesus say? Oh, foolish ones. and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. In a sense, he's saying, you wouldn't be in this position you're in right now if you'd done your theology right. Because what did you miss? Well, verse 26, was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into glory? In a sense, he said, you missed the stages of Christ's coming. And if you'd done your theology right in reading the prophets, you would have seen this. And so then what does Jesus do? He gives them a theology lesson. Starts at Moses and works through the prophets and shows them these things. And in a sense, Jesus is saying, if you had already had this right theology at this point in time, you would've been fine. Can you imagine how destabilizing it was for the disciples to have Jesus crucified? But you realize how much better it would have been if they'd understood, well, of course this is going to happen. This is what God said was going to happen. I don't have this down, but you're familiar with 1 Thessalonians 4. What does Paul say there? I don't want you to be ignorant. Why? He said, you wouldn't grieve as those who have no hope. He said, as you have people who you love who die. completely throw you off. Occasionally you'll see some kind of news story or video or something of someone who lost a loved one in a tragic event, and it's years later, and they're like, I still, I've never gotten over it, and it's still soul crushing to this day. And I'm sure there's one sense in which you're always going to grieve, but as a Christian, that doesn't ruin your life. if you have the right theology, if you understand what God has said about life and death and these kinds of things. It's not just stabilizing for Christians, it's stabilizing for the church. Look at Ephesians 4. Pastor Doran referenced this. I want to bring out something in addition to what he pointed out this morning. Ephesians 4, The sections 11 to 16, I'm not gonna read through all of that, but in 11 you have, we've been pastors and teachers have been given to the church to equip the saints for the work of ministry for the building up of the body of Christ. And in verse 14, it points out that this is all to be happening. Well, verse 13 says it'll all be happening until we reach maturity. Verse 14 is, the purpose is that we would no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. And that's the exact opposite of stability, right? That's a houseboat in the middle of the ocean in a storm. And so everything comes along, shakes the house, and there's no stability. And so instead, the goal is stability. You're grounded, you're rooted, you're not blown about. And how will that happen? Look at verse 15. When connection with that, instead of that, you're speaking the truth in love. And that's a verse that I think maybe has been misunderstood at times, because we tend to think speaking the truth in love is saying something that is true, even though it's hard. And so we want to find a nice way to say it. And so, you know, your wife says, do I look fat in these jeans? And you're thinking, well, do I want to answer this? Or someone says, what do you think of my haircut? And you're thinking, that's the worst haircut I've ever seen, but I can never say that. And so I want to find a loving way to say, I'm going to speak the truth in love. I don't think this was the first to say. Because what's the truth in Ephesians? It's the word. And so how is it that the church is stabilized? as God's people in love are speaking his truth to one another. And how can people speak the truth unless they know it? In a sense, we need a church filled with good theologians to help speak the truth to one another in love so that the church would be stable. So the church would not be driven by every wind of doctrine. Or 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 14. And I'm not going to have you turn there. Actually, I will. Go to 1 Corinthians 15. I want you to see what Paul's doing here. So 1 Corinthians 15. First part of the chapter, Paul's reminding them of the gospel they heard. And then beginning in verse 12, he starts to wonder about why they have denied a certain teaching. If Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there's no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. And he goes on to kind of continue to describe all of the ramifications of the fact that Jesus Christ didn't rise from the dead. And what's happening in the church at Corinth? We have people saying, well, there's no bodily resurrection. And Paul's saying, you can't believe that. You should know better. You should know you can't believe there's no bodily resurrection. Because you believe Jesus rose from the dead. You believe He rose bodily from the dead. And so if He rose bodily from the dead, then how can you say that no one rises bodily from the dead? He's showing the system of teaching here, right? You say this, but if you pull that out, you've now undermined this truth. And what did He say this truth was? This is the truth. You've been saved in light of this truth. Christ died for our sins. He's buried. He rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And this is the gospel we preach. This is the gospel that you believed. And so you can't now come over here and say, but we don't believe that Christians are going to have their bodies raised from the dead. Because now you've undermined the whole thing. And how is it that they should have known better? Well, they should have done good theology. Instead of allowing the church to have a false teaching creep up into it, they should have excised that false teaching. They should have said, what are you talking about? You're coming in and you're saying we're going to be raised from the dead. That's ridiculous. That can't be true because Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Now go to Romans 14. Romans 14, verse 1. As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he made anything while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains. Let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. So in Rome, in the church at Rome, Paul's saying, You guys need to stop fighting about this issue and just welcome one another, because God's welcomed him. And in 1 Corinthians 15, he says, you guys should never believe this teaching. You should have already not had it in your church, essentially, because it completely undermines the gospel. So why should the Corinthians have known their teaching is not OK? We can't agree to disagree here. But in Romans 14, they can say, we can agree to disagree here. And the answer is their theology. That through theology, they're able to see how doctrines are connected to each other. They're able to see that whether or not you choose to eat vegetables is not a saving issue. God has welcomed him. They should have seen that if you deny the resurrection of believers, you've denied the gospel, your faith is vain, your preaching is vain. And how are they supposed to figure that out? They're supposed to do good theology. But good theology would be stabilizing. Because in the church then, the church is able to say, no, this is not something that we can hold to. We're not going to be swayed by this wind of doctrine, but we can't have leeway here. We can bend on this issue. We can't bend on this issue. And they figure that out by doing good theology. The quote here by Mole. Does the happy soul, happy, because brought to the confidence of self-despair and to a sight of the foundation of all peace, find itself saying, O Lamb of God, I come. That's a phrase from an old gospel song. Just as I am. O Lamb of God, I come. And you got people coming to saving faith. Singing that kind of a song. Saying, yes, this is my prayer. So let's say someone that happens. That soul, when it says, O Lamb of God, I come, and know that it falls never to be cast out into the embrace of ever-living love. Someone who says, I come to Christ, and I am welcomed never to be cast out. How does a soul know that? Every element in that profound experience of restful joy has to do with doctrine applied by the Spirit. O Lamb of God, would be a meaningless incantation were it not for the precious and most definite doctrine of the sacrifice of propitiation and peace. That I may come just as I am is a matter of pure divine information. My emotions, my deepest and most awful convictions without such information say the opposite. My instinct is to cry, depart, for I am a sinful man. The blessed doctrine, not my reverie says, nay, he was wounded for thy transgressions. Come unto him. And when one draws toward the journey's end and exchanges the trials of the pilgrimage for the last trial, the river that hath no bridge, why does he address himself in peace to die? This man who has been taught the evil of his own heart and the holiness of the judge of all is because of doctrine. He knows the covenant of peace and the mediator of it. He knows, and he knows it through revealed doctrine only. that to depart is to be with Christ and is far better. He knows that the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law, but he knows with the same certainty that God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ and that his sheep shall never perish and that he will raise up again at the last day him that has come to God through him. All this is doctrine. It is made to live in the man by the Holy Ghost given to him. But it is in itself creed, not life. It is revealed information. Or more simply, you may be familiar with J. Gresham Machen. Last telegram he ever sent, he sent to John Murray, and the note says this, I'm so thankful for the act of obedience of Christ. No hope without it. He faced death, and yet he faced death with hope. Why? Because of theology. And true teaching guards against false teaching. I mentioned I went down to West Virginia recently. I served at this church for a year, leading a youth group about 22 years ago. And I decided to do a series on different cults. And so I'd never studied these, started reading up on these, and I started reading up on Jehovah's Witnesses. And I was reading their literature to find out what they taught. And I was reading all these arguments that the Holy Spirit's not a person, but a force. And I was like, I don't know what to say. I don't know how to respond to this. Now, I think there was part of me that said, I know that's not true. Some of it might be because I kind of was skeptical of anything Jehovah's Witnesses were saying. I did have a pastor who would from time to time say the Holy Spirit's a he, not an it. And so I knew that that was something, but I didn't know why. And so I eventually found a theology statement that walked me through the personality of the Holy Spirit. And then I was able to teach that to our high schoolers. And I will say, I've taught at different times on this issue, and that's one of the ones that a lot of people in the church have no idea why the Bible would say that the Holy Spirit's a person. And those are exactly the people that Jehovah's Witnesses love to get. If you're familiar with Jehovah's Witnesses, their targets are Christians who are not well-taught. Because they will come across as knowing their Bible better than those Christians do. And so how do you guard against false teaching like that? Through true teaching. Through good theology. To have people in your church, when they're asked, the Holy Spirit's a force, not a personal being, say, absolutely not, I know that. I mentioned the no creed but the Bible people. I mean, you might be familiar that that language was basically modernists and liberals trying to get false teaching into the church. And what were they trying to do? Let's get rid of theology so we can believe whatever we want. We don't want theological statements. that provide clarity. We want there to be fuzziness, and therefore you can believe whatever you want. I should have had this in your notes. I'm sorry I didn't. Go to Colossians 2 and verse 6. Colossians 2 and verse 6. This is the transition in Colossians where we're moving from doctrine to command. Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus as the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Verse eight, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to the human tradition, according to the elemental spiritual order, not according to Christ. He's saying there are people out there that are trying to steal your souls. They're trying to take you captive. And how do you protect yourself against that? Well, you're rude and unestablished in the faith. And you're abounding in thanksgiving. I think one of the keys is you know and are thankful for the truths of what God has said. And therefore, when someone comes along and offers you something lesser, you don't want it. but as you're already thankful, abounding in thanksgiving for who Christ is and what Christ has done. B.B. Warfield says this, these theoretical considerations are greatly strengthened by the historical fact that throughout all the ages, every advance in the scientific statement of theological truth has been made in response to practical demand. It has been made in a distinctly practical interest. We wholly misconceive the facts. If we imagine that the development of systematic theology has been the work of cold, scholastic recluses, intent only upon intellectual subtleties, it has been the work of the best heart of the whole church, driving on and utilizing in its practical interests the best brain. Our statements of faith, our confessions, our creeds, they were by pastors. designed for churches to guard against false teaching. Good theology protects us from false teaching. And then finally, good theology leads to worship. C.S. Lewis, for my own part, I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books. And I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others. I believe that many who find that nothing happens when they sit down and kneel down to a book of devotion would find that the heart sings unbidden while they're working their way through a tough bit of theology. Just so you know, the quote is, with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand. But I don't think you need the pipe in your teeth, so I just took that out. Right. Well, B.B. Warfield, if such be the value and use of doctrine, the systematic theologian is preeminently a preacher of the gospel. And the end of his work is obviously not merely the logical arrangement of the truths which come under his hand, but the moving of men through their power to love God with all their hearts and their neighbors as themselves, to choose their portion with the Savior of their souls, to find and hold him precious, and to recognize and yield to the sweet influences of the Holy Spirit whom he has sent. With such truth as this, he will not dare to deal in a cold and merely scientific spirit, but he will justly and necessarily permit its preciousness and its practical destination to determine the spirit in which he handles it. and to awaken the reverential love with which alone he should investigate its reciprocal relations. For this, he needs to be suffused at all times with a sense of the unspeakable worth of the revelation which lies before him as the source of his material. And with the personal bearings of its separate truths on his own heart and life, he needs to have had and to be having a full, rich, and deep religious experience of the great doctrines with which he deals. He needs to be living close to his God, be resting always on the bosom of his Redeemer, be filled at all times with the manifest influences of the Holy Spirit. The student of systematic theology needs a very sensitive religious nature, a most thoroughly consecrated heart, and an outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon him, such as will fill him without spiritual discernment, without which all native intellect is in vain. He needs to be not merely a student, not merely a thinker, not merely a systemizer, not merely a teacher, but he needs to be, like the beloved disciple himself, in the highest, truest, and holiest sense, a divine. And if you say, we can't do theology in the church because it's dry and it's boring, I would say that's on you. And shame on you. Shame on you. if you take the precious truths that God has given and you teach them as if they are dry and dull and boring. These are wonderful, precious truths that make a huge difference in our lives. And so let's proclaim theology in our churches. Coming back then to these objections, We don't need to study theology. We already have the Bible. That's it. They're not different. Good theology is the Bible applied to life. It's taking the truths of scripture and making sure that God's people understand it. We don't need to study theology. We need to focus on practical issues. We can't without theology. We can't know what we are to do. We can't know how we are to live unless we know God and his word. We don't need to study theology. We just need to let the Spirit lead us. He did. He led us. He gave us His Word. Let's follow it. Theology is divisive. Yeah. Sometimes it has to be. There has to be the difference between truth and error. And we have to be able to know when we should divide and when we shouldn't divide. We don't need to study theology. It's just for academics. So you don't need to know God any better? You don't understand Christ any better? There's no value in you thinking about salvation? You already know how to live in this life? You've got no questions about what you're supposed to do? Briefly, what might this look like? And this is just a few things I was thinking of, but do a whole lot more. But I think we probably should be ashamed at how little people understand the Trinity. In part because probably a lot of the Sunday school teachers in your church are teaching heresy when they teach their kids the Trinity. Because they're saying things like, the Trinity is kind of like water. Sometimes it's ice, and sometimes it's liquid, and sometimes it's gas. And you're saying, well, no, that's actually a heresy. Or it's like an egg. It's got a shell, and it's got a yolk. It's like, well, that's heresy. And part of the problem is they've never been taught the trinity themselves. They had someone teach them heresy growing up, and they thought, well, that kind of makes sense. And so then they teach heresy. And I say, well, have you ever taught them differently? How do you expect them to know what the trinity is unless someone's teaching it? And so maybe you should take a sermon and work through the Trinity. I did that several years ago here at Inner City. And I will say, I still have people come up to me and say, you know, I listen to that message every now and then when I'm getting ready to teach our kids about the Trinity. Make it a resource for people. Or maybe you say, I'm going to do a three-part series, fleshing out God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. At a minimum, When you come across passages that show Trinitarian relations, take some time to talk about how that works out. So Ephesians 1, you're working through Ephesians 1, and you see the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Maybe take some time to think about that. Or 1 Corinthians 12, one Lord, or same Father, same Lord, same Spirit that gives all the different gifts. Talk through why it mentions those three different ones. Now, not every week, but have you ever done it? Would your people be able to actually explain what the Trinity is? Trust in God. Many of you maybe are familiar with Jerry Bridges' book on trusting God. An excellent book. If you're not familiar with it, it's a great book. And in that book, he makes a very good argument, I think, that says, I think about trust of God as three legs of a stool. And one leg is, God is all-powerful and sovereign. And another leg is, he is all-wise. And the third leg is, he is good and loving. And if I only know one of, or two of those three, and something bad happens, I try to trust in God, and it falls over. And so how will your people be able to trust God when difficult times come? Because they are convinced, what scripture says, that he really is in control. And this is one that people often miss, this one. Something bad happens, and how do Christians comfort each other? You know, God didn't want that to happen. You know, God loves you enough, he would never, he would not have brought that into your life. And now you've undermined the confidence that we're supposed to have in God. Or maybe we've actually never really taught people the wisdom of God. And so that's where we get into the problem of, you know, the problem of evil. Well, if God's all powerful, why didn't he stop it? Because he's also all wise. His wisdom is greater than ours. Prepare your people so they can trust that. And I would say this, if you have never taught on the attributes of God, do it right away. Make that your next teaching series. It will be a wonder for your own soul. and it'll be a wonder for your church's health. Just take some time and think about who God is and dwell on his goodness. The Assurance of Salvation. Someone comes up to you and says, I don't know I'm saved. Well, you've got to understand a lot of theological truths are something like that, right? You don't know what does it mean to be saved? What is the gospel? You gotta know, is it possible to lose your salvation, or is it not possible to lose your salvation? Is it possible to have assurance, or can you never really know whether or not you're saved? If it is possible, how do you know that you know that you're saved? There's a whole host of things, and this is one that I think a lot of people in your churches might be struggling with. Or if they're not, their children might be struggling with it. And you could equip them to be able to teach these theological truths. Then finally, I would just encourage you to spend time talking about heaven. I think this is Randy Alcorn in his book kind of mentions, you know, he talked to several people and was asking about heaven. And they were basically saying, you know, if I were honest, I don't really look forward to heaven. I kind of wish I could just kind of do what I'm doing now. And I think about heaven, and I think it's going to be boring, and it's not going to be that great. And you read through the scriptures, and how often does the scripture basically say, you can do this, and you live this way, because of the hope that's in you? And yet our churches aren't filled with that hope. I think in large part, because they don't know how great it's gonna be. They've got a conception of heaven, maybe from our culture, maybe from some bad teaching in the church, but they don't have a biblical concept of heaven. And so you just take some time and teach people what heaven is like. Be amazed at what that would do because of what scripture says over and over again. You do this because of the hope that's in you. So let's give our people this kind of hope.