Now, last time we were looking at the four characteristics of a true biblical church as identified from the Nicene Creed. And this attempt by the early church at arriving at orthodoxy said that a real church was one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic. And so we began to examine in what sense the church of Jesus is one. We look out and we see Right now, I think the estimation is about 47,000 different religious groups all claiming to be Christian. And the longer we go, the more there are. And they're going in that direction and we're going in the other direction. I want to go back to the original pattern. I'm not looking for a new thing. I'm looking for the first thing. The original. And that is in the Bible. As we got into just what helped the church to be one we began to look at the four aspects that dr Luke was carried along by the Holy Spirit To pin down in the book of Acts chapter 2 verse 42 that says they the people of the early church were continually devoting themselves to four things the Apostles teaching to fellowship to the breaking of bread into prayer and Now I realize that there's other means of grace. Brother Reese was talking about the means of grace of meditation. There's another means of grace called fasting. There's one called service. And so there's different ones. But this verse has stuck with me all of my Christian experience, that there's four things that made the church one. It made them all the same. It made them believe the same thing, and that is they were continually devoting themselves. There wasn't any group of people that said, I've got it. I don't have to study anymore. I'm fine. No, you're not they were continually Devoting themselves the ongoing study of the Apostles teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread That's the Lord's Supper and to prayer Now keep in mind. This was not merely what some people did. I Luke tells us that what made the early church one was that the saved people of the church that Jesus created by His life and His death and His resurrection were devoting themselves continually, ongoingly, to these four aspects of spiritual life. So, stupid me, I read this and I say, well, maybe I ought to be doing this then. And so, that's why I emphasize these four things. I found them in the Bible, right? And so that's why we offer Bible study. That's why we offer times of fellowship. That's why we offer the Lord's Table. Because we read it in the Bible. That's why we offer prayer meeting. We're one of the only churches on the coast that still have a prominent night where we gather together to pray. Most churches, the midweek service is really just another Sunday service. They have a choir, they have singing, they take up an offering, they preach, and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But there needs to be a focus on prayer. Father's house will be a house of prayer. That's what Jesus said. So the prayers of God's people need to ring off the walls of this church. And so we need to be crying out to God. And so I know that God has done a unique thing in this church. And about, I don't know, we're approaching about 50% of the entire population of this church is out of town, and some of them out of state. And I realize that makes it complicated to do these things. But they've got technology now. So I don't know how to do this. But somehow, what you put on the internet goes everywhere. I don't even know what the internet is. But somehow when you type a keystroke and you look at it and your computer's made out of sand, silicon sand, and it goes somewhere and people can read it. And I remember years ago I was making copies of my sermons and mailing them to Africa. And it took two months to get there and two months to get a response back. And it cost over a dollar apiece. Now you push a button and you can a whole series of sermons to Africa in about 13 seconds. It is amazing. So maybe we use technology for God's glory. I'm into that and not be just mesmerized by it. But they were continually devoting themselves to these four things. So I want to encourage you to take time to come to the prayer meetings and the Bible studies and the fellowship. We need this. The Bible says they were doing this. If we want to be a biblical church, we need to be about that business. And so last time we were looking at just what Luke meant when he said that the early church was devoting themselves on a continual basis to the first aspect, which he called the apostles' teaching. And I want to pick back up on that point today. So, it is clear from Scripture that from the very beginning there was an established body of teaching that every local church was familiar with that was called the Apostles' teaching. Another version says the Apostles' doctrine. And the method or the way that the doctrine of the Apostles was actually taught to the people was probably through a series of systematic questions and answers called catechisms. Now, the question always comes up with people in this day and age, and they say, why should God's people, with all of our technological advances, spend the time being systematically taught the doctrine of the apostles that they have formulated over 2,000 years ago? In other words, the implication of the question is that we're superior to that, that we've risen above the need for this. that were somehow more spiritual than they were, or closer to God than they were. And the answer is that the Bible itself clearly teaches that there are at least six main reasons why God's people should be taught the Word of God and the basic elements of Christianity in a systematic, ongoing, and formal method. Number one, because all believers are required to know the truth. Wow. Number two, because there are many deceivers determined to pervert the way of the Lord. Number three, because difficult truths must be explained properly. Number four, because we live in the last days. Number five, because leaders must be raised up to teach each succeeding generation. And number six, that lasting unity is based on truth, not personal relationships. So I want to look at each one of these this morning if we can. Number one, because all believers are required to know the truth. Firstly, since Christianity teaches that lost people are saved by what we believe in, by what we trust in, and by what we confess and not by what we do, then what we believe in matters. But secondly, we must also understand what Jesus meant when He said this in Matthew 23, 37a and 38, You shall love the Lord your God and with all your And this is the great and foremost commandment. Now notice that Jesus commanded us to love God with all of our mind as well as with all of our heart. Right? And this means that what we look at, what we read, what we listen to, what we think about, the concepts that are prevalent in our mind matter to God. Our thoughts and beliefs should all be concentrated on God and His glory. And that means that it is just as sinful to believe wrongly and to think sinfully as it is to actually do something that is wrong. Look at what Jesus told His disciples as He was preparing to ascend into heaven from Matthew 28, 19 and 20. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, all the nations. How, Jesus? By baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now look at this one. Teaching them to observe. Now the word for observe is to obey. To submit to. all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." And this means that the church sending members to the ends of the earth so they may preach the gospel to every creature so that all of those who have been chosen by God to be saved may hear the voice of God, see Jesus in His beauty, repent of their sins, and trust in Jesus is wonderful. Yet the Great Commission is not fulfilled until those very same people are baptized and then continually taught all that Jesus expects out of them. I think a good study would be what Jesus demands from His church. Or what Jesus demands from all of those that are saved. Because Jesus expects and demands certain things out of those who are saved. And we need to know what those are lest we fail God. And then those who say they believe and who have been baptized should follow up that teaching with an honest and ongoing effort to obey. Now look at what Paul said about this from Colossians 1 verse 23. Continue in the faith, firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a minister. Now this is to saved people. This is not to lost people. He tells saved people to continue in the faith, firmly established and steadfast. He tells saved people to not be moved away from the hope of the gospel. Why did he tell saved people not to do that? Because saved people can do that. They can be moved. They can go back out in sin. They can fail God. And so it's the church's responsibility to cause people to hold them accountable, to continue in the faith. Because this teaches that one of the most blatant demonstrations of human arrogance and pride is the notion that if a person is saved, he no longer needs to be taught the Bible in an ongoing and systematic way. Paul says here that already saved people are supposed to continue in the faith until they become firmly established in the faith and until they are strong enough so they will not move away from the hope that comes only from being truly born again. So how long should people who are already saved be taught? Three weeks? Four months? Six years? How long should the church be engaged in this? Well, let's let Paul answer from Ephesians 4, verses 13 and 14. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith. Not the faith. We are not to do this until people get saved. We are to do this until everybody attains to the unity of the faith. How do you explain that? The knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man. Well, what does that look like? What does a spiritually mature man look like? Well, I'm glad you asked. It looks like the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. How do we know if we've attained that, Paul? As a result, we will no longer be children tossed here and there by ways and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. There will be somewhat of an immunity against false teaching. You will not know that it doesn't ring clear in your ears when you hear it, and your heart will tell you that's false. Your mind will inform your heart that's false. and you will not receive it. And this basically means until Jesus comes back. So the church is to be on the earth. It is to be busy in those four things, actively teaching the apostles' doctrine until Jesus comes back. And so what does the church teach today? It teaches you how to vote conservative. It teaches you how to be patriotic. It teaches you how to balance your checkbook. It teaches you how to speak a foreign language, or how to do yoga, or how to do exercise classes, or some of these other things. But the Bible tells us that the church is supposed to be about teaching the apostles' doctrine. Huh? And we are to do that until Jesus comes back. Well, how in the world are we going to know if we've arrived at this level of spiritual maturity? Well, Paul gives us the answer in the other verses. As a result, we will no longer be children tossed here and there by ways and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But watch this. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, Jesus, who is the Head, even Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies. Now, I'm not going to get into this this morning. This is going to be a complete exposition of Ephesians 4 later on in this series. But listen to what it said. Every joint supplies something. You bring something to the church that nobody else has. And when you don't want to come, you want to lay out, you're too busy, the Saints game is on, whatever the problem is, and you want to lay out, you don't bring with you what only you have, and I'm the poorer for it. Others are the poorer for it because we are no stronger than our weakest member. We are no more spiritual than our most worldly member. And the Bible says we're going to go together. We're not going and I will get into this Look what it says again from from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies According to the proper working of each individual part. Look what it causes It causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love Hallelujah will edify the church. Huh? Amen. But we must remember that since all genuine believers are joined together into a single church, we move together. We rise together. So when the lost world sees true biblical Christianity at work, they should not see merely individuals who love Jesus. They should see individuals who have all become a part of a much larger body that moves and acts and obeys and follows and serves together. But that also means that we fail and that we fall together. The oneness that we enjoy in victories and successes also pertains to weaknesses and mistakes. So therefore, it is to my advantage as a member of the church to help you overcome your weaknesses. It is to your advantage that you work with me to help me overcome my weaknesses because we're going together. Amen to that. Because the church is no stronger than its weakest member, it is no more holy than its most worldly member. So if we become strong in the Lord from a personal standpoint, our efforts are not completed until all of those in the body are strong. And that is a lot harder, and it takes more time. It also means that as we struggle as individual believers to pursue holiness on purpose, we must also engage in ongoing efforts to help the entire church become holy. Because every member of the body must become what Paul teaches here, or the church is simply not what it is meant to be. And that means that all genuine believers are in this together. So if Jesus desires that all genuinely saved people arrive at spiritual maturity, if that's the goal, then the ongoing teaching and modeling the truth of Scripture is required, or the church will simply fail. but because it is God's will that all genuine believers become spiritually mature God the Holy Spirit will move to assure that his church will engage in those efforts so it will happen hallelujah number two because there are many deceivers determined to pervert the way of the Lord. If the people of the world were not fallen, then we wouldn't have to worry about the ongoing threat of false teaching. In the beginning, God made people to worship Him. So worship is ingrained into our DNA. It is part of who we are as people. So even when people are not saved, they continue to worship. They merely worship something or someone else. Money, sex, power, possessions. And they turn their passion and love and devotion that God created in us for Himself onto other things that are passing away. So, all salvation really does is to take our love and devotion and worship that we have put on things that have been created, and it restores those things for God. This is what God means when He says He's jealous over us. He does not want you to enjoy things that are wrong, and He does not want you to delight yourself in things that are passing away. God's goal in salvation is for us to be so radically changed by what He alone does for us that we find the fullness of our joy in Him being glorified. And that's a miracle. That's an act of God. So it sets things right. Salvation sets things right. Salvation takes the dysfunction of the fall and heals it. Salvation gives new spiritual life to the spiritually dead individual so that we may have the honor and the privilege of loving God. so that we may worship Him in both spirit and truth. Now, many people don't understand why false teaching is such a huge issue. These people say, well, as long as somebody loves Jesus, then it really doesn't matter what they believe. But the only reason people say things like this is because they either don't know or they don't care about the reality that lost people are saved only by what they believe in and by what they trust in and what they confess. Therefore, whatever informs and instructs our belief matters. We have to understand that false teaching is not merely a difference of opinion. Disagreements over personal opinions are important, but they do not qualify as false teaching. Various peripheral issues that are left up to individual discretion cannot, by definition, rise to the level of being false teaching. Yet there is real false teaching out there about which we need to be concerned. False teaching is that kind of teaching that cannot forgive a single sin or save a single soul. It dishonors Jesus. It warps the understanding of the grace of God and promotes ungodliness. Well, where did you get that definition, brother Blake? Well, from the Bible. Look how Jude described it in Jude verses 3 and 4. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly, for what? For the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation. Keep that in the back of your mind. Ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Look closely at what he said. He said, first, all false teachers have two characteristics. They were long beforehand marked out for condemnation. I'm going to get into what that means. And then it says they were ungodly persons. Now, Jude says that false teachers are ungodly persons, and this phrase was almost always used in the Bible to denote people who were sexually immoral. The overwhelming majority of all false teachers and all false teaching have to do with two subjects, sex and money, or sex, money, and power, but money and power are almost identical. And so almost all false cults and things have to do, end up with those two issues. The Bible says that's true. So false teachers are almost always sexually impure. But notice that Jude also said that false teachers are those who have been long beforehand marked out for this condemnation. And that means that they're not saved now. They have never been saved. But it also means that real sure enough heretics and apostates will never be saved. The reason they exist is to prove the validity of what you already believe to be true. We need false teachers in the same way that we need Satan. And we need the contrast between darkness and light, between right and wrong, between good and evil. We need the contrast left to ourselves if we do not see destruction because of sin. We don't witness people who are in sin having unmitigated dysfunction in their lives, and we are repelled by that. We will never understand what the Bible means when it says the wages of sin is death. So we need to see. This is why it's important that failure exists in the world. Not getting into politics, but this is why government should not intervene and bail out corporations who have made unwise and foolish decisions for decades. You say, Brother Blair, they're going to lay off 48,000 people. I understand that. And that's terrible. God will provide. But people need to pay for what they've done. and we need to learn from mistakes so we don't keep doing them. Right? Okay, that sounds cruel and that sounds harsh, but failure serves as one of the best teachers that we could have. Amen? So understand Satan is just a tool that God uses to further perfect His church. That's all he is. He's not roaming around there sovereignly appointed by Himself. He can't do squat until he goes to God and gets permission. Right? And so God the Father has complete control over Satan. Amen to that. It's in the Bible. Alright, look what he said. Jude wrote under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit that real heretics and false teachers have been marked out. And this word means ordained or branded or singled out. Another word that's a derivative of this word is chosen for eternal condemnation. In other words, they can't repent. That's scary. Did you know the Bible teaches that repentance is a gift? That you have to be granted repentance? And that God doesn't grant repentance to everybody? Kind of humbles you, doesn't it? That's right. So you're not going to go, I'll come to God when I get good and ready. No, you're not. You're going to come to God when God is good and ready. And believe me, when God is ready, you're coming. Amen. Because you're not in charge. God has not and will never grant heretics repentance. Now, at this point, something needs to be said. Sadly, there are those within the ranks of visible Christianity that seem to actually enjoy labeling other people with whom they disagree as heretics and false teachers. These people act as though the goal of Christianity is to find out how many people aren't teaching correctly so they can label them as fast as possible as heretics or false teachers. I'm telling you that is not the goal. The fact that there is a single false teacher alive should make us all weep. Because Jude teaches here that false teachers cannot be saved. And that ought to hurt us. That ought to trouble us. So I pray that there are very few heretics, even though John says there are many. But we need to understand that simply because somebody is incorrect about certain spiritual matters does not, in and of itself, make them to be heretics. It takes time to get many areas of divine truth correct in our minds. So it is very possible that some people may believe and or teach things wrongly about certain issues that are not essential truth, and they're just inconsistent or they're contradictory about what they say. But that alone does not make them to be genuine false teachers. Now yes, they need to be corrected. And of course, they need to be counseled and helped and instructed. And yes, they need to repent, maybe even publicly. It is never okay to teach something that is wrong any more than it's ever okay to act wrongly. But some people may simply be making an honest mistake about what they're saying or believing, and as they are as sincerely trying to love and obey Jesus and submit to the authority of Scripture. People who agree to and who truly believe the essential truths of the Christian faith are genuinely saved believers, even if they're inconsistent and contradictory about other issues that are not essential. And that means they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. They're not lost. They should not be treated as though they're second-class citizens or like they're not saved. They may be wrong, but they're family. And even though they're wrong about second and third tier issues, they are worth helping. Now, I happen to know whereof I speak about this, because for many years of my own Christian walk, I was wrong about several issues. And by God's grace, I was never wrong about essential truth. I was trying hard to get things right even back then, but the truth is that I was inconsistent and contradictory about several issues, some of them very important, for several decades. But I was saved. I was born again, and yet in many quarters I was treated as though I was a heathen, simply because I either wasn't smart enough to understand what these people were trying to tell me, or maybe they weren't teaching me very well, or a combination of both. But eventually God was faithful and I got it. Now, I don't mean by saying that that I've arrived. I haven't arrived. Now, most pastors would never stand up here and admit this, but I'm trying to make the point that I didn't get saved when I became reformed. Now, I did become more biblical, but I have loved Jesus and I have desired to obey him and follow him and delighted him since the moment I was saved back in June the 25th, 1971. Yet simply because I was ignorant about certain things, some labeled me as a false teacher. That wasn't fair then, and it's not fair now if we do the same thing. So I pray that as our knowledge and love of the truth grows, that our capacity for mercy grows as well. Because if having mercy and patience on people who may be inconsistent is looked at as somehow being compromising, then we've lost Christianity, dear friends, and we have become nothing but modern day Pharisees. It is never wrong to be merciful, precisely because it takes some people longer than others. But part of pursuing the uncompromising divine truth of scripture is that we will become more kind than those who are not pursuing it. Spiritually strong people are more patient, more loving, more merciful than those who are spiritually weak. And according to Jude, real heretics are unsavable. So I thank God I wasn't a real false teacher. Now secondly, Jude says that false teachers and false teaching attacks the truth along several lines. They pervert the grace of God, and he said they deny Jesus Christ. So false teaching perverts the grace of God either by denying it, which is what we call legalism, or by abusing it, which is the $3 word called antinomianism, or better called lawlessness. And false teaching denies Jesus Christ, either in his full deity or his full humanity. Genuine false teaching is always wrong. It's always dangerous because it keeps lost people lost. And it leads saved people into unbiblical and ungodly beliefs and practices. Yet false teaching cannot be sanctified. It can't be fixed. It can never be redeemed or salvaged. False teaching is to be simply identified, condemned, and then rejected by the individual believer and the church at large. Yet false teaching will never be destroyed in this life. It always exists somewhere. So even as it is cast out from some quarters, it will simply go somewhere else and deceive the simple and unstable souls there. I want you to look at what Peter wrote about this. We're going to get into this in much detail when I finish this teaching on the church. I'm going to start an exposition on 2 Peter and this is the how the second chapter of 2 Peter reads. But false prophets also arose among the people. Now what he's talking here in context, it rose among the people of the church. Just as there will also be false teachers among you. who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned, and in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, when seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter." The word ungodly here means sexually immoral. Oh, he thought that God rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah because of inhospitality. Oh, Oh, well, I see here that he uses the word ungodly. Which always means sexually immoral. How about that? The Bible's true. How about that? And if he rescued lot righteous lot oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men, for by what he saw and heard that righteous man while living among them felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds. Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the righteous under punishment for the day of judgment. and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. He's going to describe heretics for you. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. But these like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They counted a pleasure to revel in the daytime. These are stains and blemishes reveling in their deceptions as they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery. They never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children, forsaking the right way. They have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey speaking with the voice of a man restrained the madness of the prophet. These are springs without water, mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption. For by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, a dog returns to its own vomit, and a sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire. Can't wait to get into that. This is why the Scriptures discuss this subject often. For example, Matthew 24 and 4, Jesus answering said to them, see to it that no one misleads you. Titus 1, 9-11, holding fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain." 1 John 2.26, These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. 1 John 4.1, Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Why, John? Because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Number three, because difficult biblical truths must be explained properly. We live in a time when far too many people are far too unwilling to pay any price for truth. As I told you last time, 1,700 years ago, the Christian church wrestled for 42 years over a single letter of a single word that pertained to the full deity of Jesus Christ. And there's only one reason why they did this. They judged the truth of God's Word to be worth the struggle. If it's not worth it, people will not struggle. If Jesus is worth it, people struggle. Amen? Today, most people avoid hard subjects. It seems that very few people have any appetite at all for deep or profound truth. Yet most of the cherished doctrines that we all hold dear fit into that category. Certainly the Trinity comes to mind. Yet how many of us could articulate the biblical truth of a single God who exists in three distinct persons with any degree of expertise? Yet without it, we don't really have Christianity. The reality is that the doctrine of the Trinity had to be hammered out from a careful analysis of the Word of God before it became part of orthodoxy. Yet it was fought against by many, both then and now. Rarely do deep issues become accepted by the majority. So sooner or later we have to realize that the validity of an issue is not found in how many people agree with it. Rather, something is deemed to be true if the Scriptures teach it. Period. Dear friends, even though it is hard, I do not believe that we are better off avoiding hard subjects. If something is essential, then we need to spend the time with it, at least so we can have a working knowledge of it. But struggling to learn hard subjects is important also because ignorance causes even more problems. For example, in Hosea 4, verse 6, the prophet said, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. The Apostle Paul was carried along to write this in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 10-16. For to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now, we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. Now, I know some of this is going over people's heads, saying, what are you talking about? Let me tell you an easy way to obey this. Speak the biblical truths in the way that the Bible writes it. Memorize scripture and speak it in the way that the Bible describes it. Even if your brain is disconnected temporarily. Say what the Bible says about these things. Don't try to invent another way of saying it. And then you'll be okay. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he will instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. And in 2 Peter 3, 15-18, the apostle Peter wrote this, Just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you as also in all his letters, speaking in them of things in which are some things hard to understand. Peter said he struggled reading Paul. So, I feel better Because I'm not an apostle and I'm not I'm not Peter I didn't walk on water and I struggle reading Paul sometimes I really struggle reading John more than Paul. Look what it says in which some things are hard to understand look what he said which the untaught and unstable distort as they do also the rest of the scriptures. Now that phrase the rest of the scriptures. Most the time when New Testament writers are talking about the scriptures they're talking about the Old Testament because the New Testament had been written yet they're writing it right then. So they're referring to the Old Testament here. Peter calls the writings of Paul scripture. Amen. and they wrestle this to their distorted to their own destruction you therefore beloved knowing this beforehand be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the air of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness but grow in the grace and knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ now heard this ever since i've been a christian growing grace brother growing grace rolling grace grow into the knowledge of the lord of the how when Give me, well, growing grace, brother. Yeah, how? Growing grace. I got that. How? And they never will tell you. They never get into it. I'm telling you how. Devote yourself continually to the apostles' teaching. Amen. Amen. To him be the glory both now and to the days of eternity. Amen. Number four, because we live in the last days, there are certain things that are true now that have not been true earlier or they're true now in greater proportion than they than they used to be true. Maybe that's a better way of saying. Even though there has always been false teaching and false teachers, scripture teaches that this will become even more prevalent. as the time for Jesus to come back draws near. 1 Timothy 4 and 1, the Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times, some will fall away from the faith. What does that mean, Paul? Well, they're paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. Wow. Second Timothy 4, 1-5, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ, Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead. There's a comma there, which means I also solemnly charge you by his appearing and his kingdom. In other words, he's giving Timothy a charge. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine." Endure. Sound doctrine. You've got to get into the word endure there. Okay, now watch. But wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. Now, churches do this every day. The pastor dies. What does the church do? They have a taffy pull at the church. They have a show and tell. And they invite preachers to come to give two or three sugar stick sermons because he's being interviewed. That's what that sermon's all about. He's being interviewed by the congregation to see if he fits in with the congregation. And then he preaches what they want to hear because he needs a job. Right? And then after they hire him, they don't like what they got. And then if the preacher don't preach right, we'll cut his pay and starve him out and let the church roll on. That's actually a song. I've never sung it. That is a song in a hymn book that I saw. I said, golly. So that's what they do. And so the landscape is littered with broken men who called to preach that the church is treated with such disrespect and such evil. Their children never want to darken the door of a church again. And the children will come to their father and say the world don't act like this, Pop. The lost world don't treat people like this. Right. We've had them in this pulpit, have we not? Treated horribly by churches. And that's the worst possible way that you can hire a preacher. Please don't do that when God takes me home. Invite somebody to come and live among you. Find out how he handles his money. Find out how he treats his wife. Find out how he handles his children. Find out how he handles temptation. Find out what he thinks about the issues of life. Find out how he has his own family in catechisms and how he's raising children to serve the Lord. Find out his manner of speech, how he handles pressure, how he handles disappointments. how people can come to Him and look Him in the face and then betray Him behind His back. Find out what He does. Gets up and preaches like nothing happened. You need a man like that. You need a man that's called to this position. Not a man that's gifted in being able to speak good. Not a man with a lot of education, but a man that loves God with all his heart. That's willing to die for Jesus. And so it takes time to figure that out, doesn't it? Yeah. Amen. So you better start planning, because I got this much time left. Amen. And I just won't show up one day. And you better not raise me from the dead. I'll be so mad at y'all. I was there and you brought me back. Are you kidding me? Golly. All right, look what he said. They're going to accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desire. Now watch this. And will turn away their ears from the truth. Now this is something they do. They voluntarily, willfully turn their ears away from the truth. and in the original Greek, and will turn aside to myths, this is what God does. This is the judgment. The cause and effect judgment. When you willingly turn your ears away from the truth, God will turn your ears to myths. You're not going to spurn God and get away with it. You don't want His truth? God will make you believe a lie. The Bible says he will. Amen. You've got to love the truth. Amen. Love the truth. But you be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of the evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Number five, because leaders must be raised up to teach each succeeding generation. Even though the truth is the single most important thing that we have, the reality is that truth has to be taught and it must be learned and grasped by each successive generation or it will be lost. So without an ongoing examination of what we believe and why we believe it, all we have is what I call spiritual inertia. The energy and passion of past generations. It's like you turn your bicycle upside down and you dip the pedal and you do this and the back wheel goes and you can stop for a while and the back wheel keeps going. That's inertia. Every once in a while you give it a tug and it keeps going. So it looks all is well. The church can grow. The church can be financially stable. and all it's operating on is inertia from past generations. And before long, God writes Ichabod over the door of the church, and Jesus is nowhere to be found anywhere in that church, and they're just blossoming, and they're just so happy, and the church is packed out, and they don't even know Jesus had left a long time ago. That's the most horrible curse that God can put upon a church. I met a group of Chinese missionaries. They're in the nation of China coming over to the United States to evangelize the United States. Yeah, right. Some of y'all didn't get that. It's okay. And I went to a meeting they had and I asked him, I said, what is your impression about the American church? He said, it is amazing what y'all can do without the Holy Spirit. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa, cut me like a knife. My God, look what we can do with free enterprise and capitalism and money and popularity. Look what we can do. Look what's being done right now. They're buying football stadiums and remodeling them into churches. Packed out 42,000 people in one church while he says there's no difference between a Jew or a Muslim. We all love God the same and it's just different paths to the same. All that gobbledygook going on. False teacher. They never know it's false. They just love it. Oh, it's so wonderful. got their own, what do you call that thing now? It's not the radio, it's some, I don't know, FM, no, it's satellite radio. Got his own satellite radio channel. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Popped money out the wazoo. Yeah, yeah, why? What he just said. What he just said would happen. They don't even know he's teaching false doctrine. Spiritual food, just like manna, has to be given and eaten and digested every day. We cannot long endure on a strength that we acquired yesterday. So there has to be some way, some process, some mechanism whereby we know that what we are believing and what we are teaching is the very same thing that the apostles taught. Because only by devoting ourselves continually to the doctrine, to that doctrine, the apostles' teaching, can we assure that we are real biblical church first and second Timothy two verse two the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses in trust these two faithful men who will be able to teach others also Titus one in nine holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching so that he will be able both to exhort and sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict number six lasting unity is based on truth not personal relationships Many years ago, I attempted to overcome many decades of racial and denominational division in this area by holding various prayer meetings and by inviting other local pastors to speak in my church. So over a two-year period, 104 prayer meetings were held and 104 pastors spoke from this very pulpit. I even attempted to merge three other predominantly black churches with this one and even offered to step down and promote one of them to become the lead pastor. I deeply loved these men and I love them today. But in one of those prayer meetings, God dealt with me unmistakably that we needed something higher and stronger and better and more lasting than human affection for each other. Because there is only one thing that will ever bring any lasting unity among people. And that is becoming in one mind and one accord about what we believe and what we teach. Other than that, we are simply experiencing an emotional unity that will never last. Yet almost every religious organization that emphasizes unity is based on personal relationships rather than the truth of God's Word. And there are several reasons for that. For example, it is much harder to get people to agree with Scripture than it is to have some emotional attachment to one another. And most people don't have an idea what they believe or why they believe it anyway. Yet the Bible teaches that we should all unite around truth and not personal relationships. Case in point is the amazing conflict between the two giants of the early church, Peter and Paul. Galatians 2, 11-14 says, But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. In other words, when the Jews were in town, he hobnobbed with the Jews, and when the Jews left, he hobnobbed with the Gentiles. He was a hypocrite. And he was doing this as an apostle of the church. Huh? This is a guy that walked on water. Right? This is the guy that Jesus said, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. It was the revelation that God gave to this man. Huh? Now watch this. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, publicly, if you being a Jew live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? Now if anything could have stopped the church dead in its tracks, this confrontation between Paul and Peter could have done it. Yet it actually made the church stronger, primarily because the only man who walked on water beside Jesus recognized that Paul was right. And so he humbled himself and repented. This confrontation should make us all grateful that Jesus did not establish his church on personal relationships, but on divine truth. Periodically, all throughout church history, there have been various movements to try to bring unity and oneness into the church. But without exception, those efforts have all failed. Why? Because they are always based on human relationships rather than the truth of God's Word. We must understand that human relationships vary over time as people in the church either grow or refuse to grow in the Lord. Thus, any movement or effort to unite the church around human relationships rather than truth is doomed to fail. Christianity is based on the divine revelation given to Peter that says you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. So any effort to unite the various religious bodies and traditions must be founded on truth and on biblical doctrine and the ongoing effort to get the Gospel right and not on personalities or human relationships. Now that doesn't mean we're not supposed to love each other because we are. But our love for each other is an outflow of two other things like being saved and loving the truth. Now, aren't all catechisms Roman Catholic, Brother Blair? Sadly, some are, but many aren't. Our goal is not to simply be anti-Catholic. Our goal is to be pro-Bible. Huh? The goal of homosexuality is not to get them to be heterosexuals. The goal is to get both heterosexuals and homosexuals saved and to align themselves with Scripture, which happens to be heterosexuality. but some heterosexuals are going to the same hell as the homosexuals so simply by converting their sexual proclivities doesn't save them amen The reality is that some things that the Roman religious organization teaches are absolutely correct. They're biblical, and all true Christians should agree with those parts. But many other areas are entirely man-made, including how lost people get saved, which I would suggest is a pretty important part. And that's not okay. The Roman religious system uses their own catechisms, which employ some biblical truth mixed with papal edicts, magisterial bulls and writs, and which also employ human reasoning, church tradition, and the result of church councils. And once you go down that road and you start looking at church councils and church tradition and human reasoning and papal bulls and writs and edicts, you never get around to ever getting in the Bible. So they'll tell you, we believe the Bible is the Word of God. You just never read it. you never get into it seventh-day adventists they'll tell you if you study the teachings of uh... allen g white because she was the prophet of the lord you don't really have to read the bible because she interpreted the bible right so you never get around to actually reading the bible now i think there's some wonderful writers today john mccarthur i think arcee's pro had a lot of truth i think there's a lot of people we can read but i want to make us all careful that we don't just spend our time listening to other people's sermons and that we actually read the Bible. and after seeing how destructive this method became and after witnessing first-hand the many unbiblical practices and beliefs that were developed from that effort, the reformers of the 16th century pinned down other catechisms that were developed entirely from scripture alone, which were used from the very beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Among them are the Westminster Catechism, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Thirty-Nine Articles, and the London Baptist Catechism. or Confession of 1689. These various Reformed catechisms differ significantly from the Roman catechisms in fundamental and vital areas of biblical truth while differing from each other only in the assumptions made in the vague or unclear passages. Simply because the name catechism is used should not offend any reasonable person. As explained above, the name catechism comes from the Greek word which means to teach or to instruct and is a biblical word that has absolutely nothing to do with Rome or any man-made doctrine flowing out from that religious institution. So why don't we just leave this up to the individual members to do this on their own? First of all, the individualism of the American culture that has manifested itself now for over 230 years has not brought forth godliness or holiness on any large scale. In my view, this kind of rugged individualism is actually a hindrance. to biblical understanding and of knowing and understanding and obeying objective, propositional, and eternal divine truth. So, leaving biblical instruction up to individuals to develop and implement and understand as they see fit doesn't have a very good track record. So each local body should engage in ongoing systematic Bible study formally and officially. Secondly, by allowing the people of the modern church to do their own thing as it comes to biblical interpretation and study has produced the most confused, the most contradictory, the weakest and inconsistent believers that the church has ever known. This is certainly out of step with the prayer of Jesus in John 17 and with the concept of the church being one. The people of the church today are, by and large, more ignorant of God in the Bible than at any time in church history. So the very popular method of allowing people to learn the Bible on their own, that has been employed over the last hundred years, has been an abject failure and should be discarded immediately. We live in a day when personal opinion has been elevated to the level of being truth, while the divine truth of scripture is often devalued and relegated to being nothing more than, that's your opinion or that's your interpretation. We must understand that divine truth is an eternal, fixed reality that is not affected or altered by time, societal changes, human development, or personal preferences. In order for anyone to know God, God's will, or God's way, they must rightly and fully understand God's word. Therefore, the systematic, ongoing teaching of the scriptures should be the main focus of the Christian church. The Great Commission not only commands that we go and tell, but that we also baptize and teach. But as we teach believers to obey everything that Jesus taught, we really only have a few options. We can teach God's Word inconsistently, or we can teach it consistently. We can teach it haphazardly, or we can teach it systematically. We can teach it sporadically, or we can teach it continually. We can teach it with untrained amateurs, or we can teach it with trained and called teachers. We want to comprehend all that God has revealed in Scripture. We want to not only read the Bible, but to understand it and to be able, by God's help, to apply the truth of Scripture to our daily lives so that we may be found faithful and glorify God in all that we do. It is only in the last half of the 20th century and the first half of the 21st that this almost 2,000-year-old practice of ongoing and systematic instruction of the apostles' teaching fell out of fashion with the leaders of the church. And that lack has produced great ignorance about basic fundamental biblical truths in the minds of God's people, which has led to very serious problems in the church, like God's people no longer understand God or God's Word. How about this? A resurgence and acceptance of ancient heresies which have been thoroughly examined and rejected. I reject the notion that America is becoming more secular. We're not. We're becoming more pagan. We're becoming more religious, but not Christianity. Many unbiblical and destructive beliefs and practices become popular all of a sudden. Great confusion and weakness in the lives of God's people. And I stand to be corrected about this, and I mean this very sincerely. If you can show me in the Bible where there is anything even remotely associated with addictions or habitual sins, I'll repent from this pulpit. As far as I can tell, there's not a word mentioned in the Bible about these things. And yet people will tell you, doctors will tell you, learned men will tell you. That's why people do what they do. They're addicted. They have a disease. No, they've got sin. and the cure for sin is repentance and the power of the Spirit of God in their life. Amen to that. How about this? The church is rocked by repeated public scandals resulting in a loss of respect by the culture. How about blatant sin and wickedness dominating individual lives and entire churches? A systematic replacement of edification with entertainment. Guess what the largest genre of books in the Christian bookstore is today? It's called Christian fiction. In other words, it's not true. the sufficiency, authority, and primacy of divine truth being minimized, downplayed, or outright rejected, and man being exalted at the expense of God. So a true biblical church is one in which a systematic and continual effort to teach and learn the fundamental truths of the Christian faith is a vital part of their worship. And that body of teaching which the apostles received and wrote down became known as the Apostles' Doctrine or the Apostles' Teaching, which is otherwise known as the New Testament. And it's comprised of 27 divinely authored books, four historical narratives of the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection of the Lord Jesus, historical narrative or a diary of the first 20 years of the Christian church, 21 letters or epistles from apostles, which explain what the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus means in our regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification of heaven, and then a prophecy at the end. Together, these writings were used to instruct God's people in the way of the Lord, and contain everything that we need to be saved, everything we need to live our lives to God's glory as salt and light on the earth, and everything we need to dwell eternally with Jesus in heaven. Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus. 2 Peter 1, verses 1-4. Look how a dumb fisherman who never went to school talks. Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." I read that when I was 16, and I said, I'm in! I want that! Hallelujah! I want to escape the corruption! Huh? This final and completed revelation of God that we call the New Testament is infinitely superior to and completely supersedes the partial and incomplete revelation of God that we call the Old Testament in both the way it was given to man and in what it teaches. Hebrews 1, 1-4, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son. Hallelujah! We hear now from Jesus! Hallelujah! Why would you want to hear from a prophet who was a sinner when you can hear from a sinless lamb? Amen! whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down." Hallelujah. The Old Testament priest never could stop. He never could sit down because he was never finished. He had to offer sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice. Jesus offered Himself one time and sat down. Hallelujah. He wasn't tired. He was finished. Glory to God. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. The very narrow and temporary ministry of the apostles, which is characterized by miracles, supernatural signs and wonders, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, transformed the world and gave the apostles the divine right and the divine credibility to make amazing statements. that we simply cannot make today. For example, here's what Paul said, I receive from the Lord that which I also deliver to you. Golly! He wasn't even in the upper room and he quotes Jesus here as to how to conduct the Lord's table. Look at 2 Thessalonians 3, 7. For yourselves know how you ought to follow us. For we behaved ourselves not disorderly among you. First John 1, 1-4, what was from the beginning? What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life. And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. Now watch what he says. What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with Us. Not with God. With us. Huh? And indeed, our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. These things we write so that our joy that you're that our joy may be made complete. Look what he said, what we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed our fellowship is with the father and with the son Jesus Christ. John is teaching here that the apostles have the full and complete truth. God gave them the final and finished revelation of God to man. And most people would agree with that. But then John goes on further to say that one of the reasons he wrote this epistle down was so that believers would have fellowship with the apostles. And fellowship is defined as agreeing with or being in accord with what the apostles teach. In other words, John is teaching that if anyone desires to be in right relationship with God, they have to be also in a right relationship with the apostles. In other words, because what the apostles received from God was the final revelation, there is now no such thing as anybody having a right relationship with God while being at odds with what the apostles taught. Another way of understanding this is for anyone to obtain a right relationship with God, they must be in accord with what the apostles teach in the New Testament. So, for example, if they are at odds with the apostles and what they teach, they're not in right standing with God. No human on earth can make a statement like that. But John could, and John did. And he made it matter of factly. No fanfare, no bragging, it's just the way it is. This illustrates the uniqueness of the office of apostle and why it is so utterly wrong for anybody to lay claim to be an apostle in our day. Another amazing statement about how easy and common it was for the apostles to receive divine revelation and to have visions was made by the apostle Paul. Buckle your seatbelt. He said, boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I'm going to have visions and revelations of the Lord. It's going to happen. But I'm not it's not profitable for you for me to talk about. Look at this. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago whether in the body I do not know or out of the body I do not know God knows such a man was caught up into the third heaven. And I know how such a man whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know God knows was caught up in the paradise and heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak. Dead people go to paradise. Dead people go to heaven. Paul, my opinion, I'm putting these things together, Paul was stoned in the book of Acts. Remember that? The next day he was up preaching. So let's look at it either way you want to look at it. He was stoned and they thought he died, but he really didn't die, and they circled around him and prayed, and the next day he's up preaching. With his eyeball hanging out and his jaw broken and his teeth knocked out, he's up preaching. The next day he was preaching. Right? So if he was hurt, he was up preaching. But I think he died. And I think he was right. I think he went to paradise. I think he came back and he was raised from the dead. And the next day he was preaching the gospel. So I believe that with all my heart. He's talking about himself here. Watch what he said. On behalf of such a man, I will boast. But on my own behalf, I will not boast except in regard to my weaknesses. For I do not wish to boast I will not be foolish for I will be speaking the truth but I refrain from this so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason to keep me from exalting myself. There was given me a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan to torment me to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. In other words, I'm not going to deliver you, Paul. You're going to have it. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties. For Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. I have become foolish. You yourselves compelled me. Actually, I should have been commended by you. For in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance by signs and wonders and miracles. Now, he's making this statement matter-of-factly. He said the only reason I'm not full of pride is because God sent me a messenger of Satan to buffet me. This is amazing. Nobody can talk like this but an apostle. The apostles received the final full and completed revelation of God to man. The apostles confirmed that revelation as being from the Lord by many infallible proof, which is signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. The apostles saw to it that this revelation was written down and distributed to the various churches. Every other saved person on earth was held accountable to what the apostles taught. Wow! The apostles had authority over every other ministry of the church, and the apostles suffered to an amazing extent. So the early church was continually devoting themselves to this body of teaching that collectively was called the apostles' teaching. That is what we need to be about as well. And by doing this, we will guard against false teaching, but we will also assure that what we believe and what we teach is true. And that helps us to be a part of the one church that Jesus established and part of the one church that He is coming back for. Amen. Let's pray.