Please turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4 this evening. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and we'll begin reading at the opening verse. We'll read down to the verse 12 of the chapter. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and we'll read from the opening verse. The Apostle Paul, he says to Timothy, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, for the time will come when that they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own loss shall heap to themselves teachers having etching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned on to fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry, for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also, that love his appearing. Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica, Acretius to Galatia, Titus unto Dematia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him. Amen, and we'll end just there at the verse 12 as I indicated before we began reading this evening. You know, brethren and sisters, the more and more that I hear and the more and more that I learn of what goes on in some churches today, the more and more I'm convinced The preaching of biblical doctrine has been abandoned by many and replaced by some kind of feel-good sentimentality that, although it may tickle the ears of the hearers for a time, will not stand those who attend such places in good stead when the problems and troubles of life roll in. Modern preachers seem to think that they know better than God. Doctrine, and especially reformed doctrine, is looked upon as an unnecessary evil by many self-made preachers. The cry goes up from them that there is no need for doctrine. Their claim is that doctrine is divisive, and they would be right. Doctrine is divisive, for it reveals whether or not a preacher, a minister, a pastor is biblical in his preaching or not. The cry goes up for those who attend such doctrineless assemblies that they want living experience rather than dry doctrine. We need practical sermons, not theological dogma. However, God, whose mind is revealed to us in sacred Scripture, is of a different opinion from those who decry and diminish the importance of doctrine. The very first time that the word doctrine is used appears in the Word of God, and it is used by God. In Deuteronomy 32, verse 2, we read these words, God speaking here, shall drop as the rain. My speech shall distill as the dew, as small rain upon the tender herb and as showers upon the grass." God speaks about His doctrine, my doctrine. And therefore to decry doctrine is to belittle that which finds its origins in God. One of the marks of the people who were saved on the day of Pentecost, was that they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. And that's an amazing thing, because it indicates to us that these individuals, don't forget now, just newly converted, they did not see doctrine as being a trivial matter. Not only that, But they didn't see doctrine as something that a mature believer should be acquainted with. These people were only converted And yet they saw the need to be grounded in sound doctrine. They didn't see it to be something that could only be understood or handled by a mature believer, but rather the apostles' doctrine was something that they understood was for them, even though they were just babes in the faith. These people, as I've said, the only saved, placed themselves in an assembly, a fellowship of believers, where doctrine was taught. Doctrine was taught. The Apostle Paul charged Timothy in his first letter to redeem his time by giving himself to a number of things. First of all, he was to redeem his time by giving attendance to reading, and then to exhortation, and then to doctrine. And then in the second letter, Paul reminded his prodigy in the faith that there would come a time when those he preached to would not endure sound doctrine. We read that in the verse 3 of 2 Timothy chapter 4. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. That indicates to me that Timothy, as a minister of the gospel, was to be preaching doctrine. Paul just reminds them that there's going to come a time when they're not going to endure it. But Timothy, this is what you ought to be preaching. You ought to be preaching doctrinally. They would heap to themselves, teachers having itching ears. And therefore, Timothy, as an able minister of the New Testament, was to, in the words of the verse number two, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with what? With all longsuffering and doctrine. Doctrine. The Apostle Paul, by the Spirit of God, places such importance on doctrine that he states over there in 1 John 1 verse 9, transgresses and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." In other words, the rejection of the doctrine of Christ is to reject Christ and therefore reveal that you do not belong to Christ. Now, if you are one who doubts the importance of doctrine, let me give you just a number of quotes from some godly men from the past. Trident Edwards was a 19th century American theologian and minister, and he said the following, doctrine is the necessary foundation of Judah. If the theory is not correct, the practice cannot be right. Tell me what a man believes, and I will tell you what he will do. A.J. Gordon, an American Baptist preacher, he said, doctrine is the framework of life, the skeleton of truth to be clothed and rounded out by the living grace of a holy life. The much respected Puritan John Owen wrote, the foundation of true holiness and true Christian worship is the doctrine of the gospel, what we are to believe. So when Christian doctrine is neglected, forsaken, or corrupted, True holiness and worship will also be neglected, forsaken, and corrupted. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones spent a lifetime, his entire preaching ministry, he gave it over to expository biblical preaching and to preaching biblical doctrine. This is what he said, a man whose doctrine is shaky will be shay in his whole life. One almost invariably finds that if a man is wrong on the great central truths of the faith, he is wrong on every other point. He said on another occasion, if we go astray in our doctrine, eventually our life will go astray as well. Doctrine matters. There's no doubt about it. But what is doctrine? Well, let me briefly consider the word as it appears in the Old and the New Testaments, because often whenever the word doctrine is used, people recoil from it. But let me explain what it simply is. The old Hebrew word translated doctrine in the Old Testament is the word leke. And it's a word that simply means learning, teaching, instruction. And whenever you come into the New Testament, it is nearly exactly the same. It is a Greek word. which means, again, teaching and instruction. So whenever you hear a preacher using the word doctrine, he's simply referring to the fact that he's about to speak on some particular teaching that is found within the Word of God, some particular instruction or teaching in the Word of God. You might hear a preacher say something like this, in this service we're going to consider or meditate our thoughts and consider upon the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. What that preacher is simply saying is he's going to take you to various portions of God's Word, examples in the Word of God, where we are taught the truth that God is in control of everything, good and bad. He's sovereign over all things. You might hear another preacher say, what we're dealing with here is the doctrine of election. What he means by that is that the teaching that God has chosen some to eternal life is being preached upon at that particular moment of time. And so the word doctrine refers simply to biblical teaching or biblical instruction. All I want to do this evening is to give you a few reasons why doctrine and the preaching of it is important. And then over the coming weeks, I want to launch into a series of messages on the doctrines of grace, the doctrines of grace, known by another term, Calvinism, but the doctrines of grace. Now, I am no John Owen. And I am no great theologian, but I will trust by the grace of God set out simply for you what the Bible teaches with regard to the doctrines of grace. You need to pray for me. And I trust that will not only be theoretical, but there will also be a practical understanding with regard to each of the doctrines. But tonight, we don't want to jump ahead of ourselves. Tonight, we want to simply consider tonight why doctrine and the preaching of it is important. We need to establish that, so then we're not wasting our time over the next number of weeks, the next number of months, in actually preaching doctrine. So the first reason why doctrine and the preaching of it is important is because God commands it. God commands it. When Timothy was given a final charge, when given, sorry, Timothy his final charge before he was martyred for the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, he writes to Timothy, and we have pointed this to you, but let's read it again. Verse number two of 2 Timothy chapter four. He said to Timothy, preach the word, and this charge is before God. Preach the word, Timothy. Be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Timothy was a minister when Paul penned this letter to him. How do I know that? Well, if you turn back to 1 Timothy chapter 4 and the verse number 6, you have a very clear statement there that indicates that Timothy was a minister. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and the verse number 6. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained, having himself been, as Paul said, nourished In the words of faith and of good doctrine, Timothy as a minister was then given the charge in this now second letter to exhort those over which he was now minister, the under-shepherd over in the church. to exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." When he came to preach the words, he was to preach the doctrines in the Word of God. He was to be doctrinal in his teaching and in his instruction. And I believe that Paul's charge to young Timothy is binding on all ministers of the New Testament. God would have His servants to exhort those who sit under their ministry with doctrine and to do so with longsuffering. Why? The reason why it had to be done with longsuffering is because you know well, because we don't grasp the truth the very first time it's preached. And so Timothy, he wasn't, as it were, to throw in the towel and think, well, I've already taught these people this particular truth, and now I'm teaching them it again. Timothy was to be reminded that he had to do it with long suffering. If you turn back to Paul's first letter and the chapter number five, this time. So it's 1st Timothy chapter 5. You will find that Paul gives counsel regarding those who are elders in the church and especially the teaching elder, the minister. 1st Timothy 5 and the verse number 17. The word of God says, Be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the Word and the doctrine. And so a teaching elder, the minister, is to labor not only in the Word, but in the doctrine as well that is found within the Word of God. If he is to be a minister, he is to preach doctrinally. Another ministerial colleague or companion of the Apostle Paul was Titus. A man who, according to Titus chapter 1, had been left in, in the verse number 5, if you want to turn there, Titus 1 verse 5, Titus was left in Crete, that thou should set in order the things that are wanting. And ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee. And so there were things that were happening in this church in Crete that were not right, that needed to be put right. Now, how was Titus going to do that? Was he going to come in with a rod of iron? And was he, as it were, going to, as it were, be a dictator? How was he going to put the things right in the church? Well, it tells us how he was going to do it. We don't have to surmise. Titus 2, verse number 1. Notice what it says. This is how, Titus, you're going to put in order the things that are wanting. Titus, as a minister, was instructed to preach to his people by sound doctrine. And by doing so, the disorder that was in that particular local fellowship would be dealt with. But that was going to take time and effort on behalf of Titus. And this is how he was going to do it. He was going to do it by the preaching of the word and by preaching sound doctrine. And so we see it here, even just in these two particular books. We see it emphasized again and again that there is a need to preach doctrinally. God commands that his sheep must be fed, and they must be served spiritual food that is loaded with sound doctrine. You see, a preacher can be gifted in many ways. He can be a great organizer, he can have a winsome personality, he can be a talented singer or musician, but he is only ever a faithful minister if he preaches sound doctrine. That is the asceteist. He can be nice, friendly, good organizer, all of those things, but if he doesn't preach sound doctrine, get away from his ministry. Get away from his ministry. Run from it. Run from it. It is truth that you need to know, and it's sound doctrine that you need to hear. And so the first reason why doctrine and the preaching of it is important is because God commands it. Paul commanded Timothy to preach the word and to do so to exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." And again, Titus, he was to speak the things which became sound doctrine. Doctrine and the preaching of it is important, secondly, because the Lord Jesus Christ legitimized it. The Lord Jesus Christ legitimized it. The gospel writer Matthew, in Matthew chapter 7, Matthew's Gospel, chapter 7, he informs his readership there that the Son of God, whenever he ministered on this earth, he preached doctrine. If you look at the verses 28 and verse 29, and you'll know that You're coming there to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the longest sermon that Christ preached and has given to us in the Gospels, Matthew 7, verse 28 and 29. And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at his doctrine. For he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. Later on in this very same gospel, Matthew 22 and the verse 33, Matthew 22 and the verse 33, Christ is coming now to the end of his ministry. Matthew 22 verse 33. And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine. And so Christ begins His ministry preaching doctrine, and He ends His ministry preaching doctrine. Many begin, few end. Few end, as Christ ended. Now whenever you consider some of the Savior's discourses with individuals or with crowds of people, you'll find that His messages was full of doctrine. Now He doesn't use doctrinal terms, but it's full of doctrine. You think of whenever he preached to Nicodemus, spoke to Nicodemus, what did he speak to Nicodemus about? He spoke to him about the doctrine of regeneration, about how the Spirit of God works upon the heart of a man, the Spirit of God moving, not knowing how it comes, whether it goes like the wind, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit of God. And then he goes on to speak about the doctrine of the atonement, for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And then he deals with the doctrine of future judgment. For he goes on to say there in John and the chapter 3, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not on the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Jesus Christ preached doctrine to Nicodemus. To the Jews, he would preach of his eternality, that he was the eternal son of God. Before Abraham was, I am, he said. To His disciples, He preached again the doctrine of the atonement and the resurrection. Many times Christ spoke about His death and His rising again. To the house of Israel, He preached the doctrine of repentance and eternal punishment. We think of all of those times when Christ preached about hell. And then we think about those men on the Emmaus road, whenever Christ, from Moses and all the prophets, what did He speak? Again, He spoke to them about the doctrine of the atonement. Ought Christ not to have suffered these things? And to enter into His glory, He spoke not only of the death, but He spoke of the resurrection and the glorification and the exaltation of Jesus Christ. He preached doctrinally. Now the question that arises from Christ's example is this, is the servant then greater than the master? If Christ was doctrinal in His preaching, are we to set aside such preaching because our understanding of doctrine is lesser? And the Son of God's understanding of it? Or do we think that it's too dry and too hard to understand? I think not. Brethren and sisters, a divine seal of approval was placed on doctrinal preaching by none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a man who preached doctrine. In third place, doctrine and the preaching of it is important because the Word of God is full of it. And I'm speaking here about doctrine. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and the verse 16. 2 Timothy 3 and the verse 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. There it is. It heads up the list. For reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. You know, we think, well, no, it's reproof. The preacher must reprove the people. And he must correct the people, and he must instruct the people, and rightly so. But don't miss the divine order. Don't miss the inspired order. He says, first of all, it's profitable for doctrine. That heads up the list. Doctrine. You'll never be able to reprove or correct or instruct a person if you don't preach doctrinally. That statement, or sorry, the Word of God is the source then from which we derive doctrine. It is by doctrine or the teaching found in the word of God that really the great realities of God and our relationship to him and of Christ and the spirit of salvation, grace and glory are all made known to us. We get to know our doctrine by reading the word of God. This book is a book of doctrine. It's a book of doctrine. You can't get away from it. The scripture says it is. It's full of doctrine. If you consider those words again, as I thought about this, I thought about those words again of Paul, and we're again 2 Timothy 4, verse 2. Whenever Paul said to Timothy, The inference that we can draw from these words is that whenever you preach the word, you're inevitably going to be preaching doctrine. Timothy, I want you to preach the Word, and Timothy, it's just going to naturally flow out of doing that, that you're going to be preaching doctrine. Now, you may not use all the great theological terms, but you're going to be preaching doctrinal truth, doctrinal truth. Brethren and sisters, just think of the spectrum of doctrine that the Scriptures unfold to us, the doctrine of God, the doctrine of man, the doctrine of sin, the doctrine of redemption, salvation, the doctrine of end times, the doctrine of angels, the doctrine of the devil, the doctrine of the church. And then whenever you dive into those doctrines, you find that other branches of doctrine shoot out, as it were, from the main trunk of doctrine that you're studying. So for example, we studied 2016 through to 2018, we studied about we studied the doctrine of God and what did we deal with that in that study? Well we found ourselves dealing first of all with the doctrine of revelation and then the doctrine of God's personality His substantiality, His spirituality. We dealt with the doctrine of God's infinity, His eternity, His immutability. We dealt with the doctrine of God, dealing with all of His attributes and communicable, communicable attributes of God. We dealt with the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the deity regarding God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit. From that one doctrine, the doctrine of God, all these other doctrines, as it were, branched off from that main trunk, the doctrine of God. The Bible, the Word of God, is an inexhaustible mind of doctrinal wealth that a lifetime of ministry will never exhaust. And so you're going to preach biblically, you're going to be preaching doctrinally because the Bible is full of doctrine. Fourthly, doctrine and the preaching of it is important because God's people are edified and equipped by it. Having reminded Timothy that all scripture is profitable for doctrine, Paul then goes on to say in 2 Timothy 3 verse 17, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. The goal, the aim for preaching scriptural doctrine is not to fill our heads, but it is for us to live it out in our lives. That the man of God, the woman of God, might be brought to a place of spiritual perfection, the word is maturity, and thereby they are then equipped to engage in the good works that Paul goes on to speak. That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. Our good works are based upon what we believe. Our works are the byproduct of good doctrine. Our good works are the byproduct of good doctrine. Beloved, we're not brought to Christian maturity through singing of songs over and over again in a church building. We're not brought to spiritual maturity through fellowship activities, as good as they may be. We're not brought to spiritual maturity through reading autobiographies of great and godly Christians from the past. We come to spiritual perfection maturity when the doctrines of the scriptures are preached to us, and we in turn put into practice what is preached. A.W. Pink wrote, it is by doctrine, through the power of the spirit, that believers are nourished and edified. And where doctrine is neglected, growth in grace and effective witnessing for Christ necessarily cease. How sad, he said, then that doctrine is now derided as unpractical, when in fact doctrine is the very base of the practical Christian life. Doctrine edifies. Doctrine equips. Has it not been the case? some doctrine has been preached from this pulpit or some other pulpit that your soul has been blessed, built up, encouraged, and strengthened. That's what sound doctrine does, builds you up. If you don't have it, you're going to be weak and feeble, and you're going to be blown about with every wind of doctrine. In the fifth place, doctrine and the preaching of it is important because sinners are saved by it. Listen to what the Apostle Paul has to say to God's people in Rome, over there in Romans chapter 6 and the verse 17. If you want to turn there, Romans 6 verse 17. I need to finish very quickly. Romans 6 and the verse 17. But God be thanked, he said, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. That statement, the form of doctrine, really speaks about the doctrine of the gospel. These individuals, they had obeyed that doctrine, that teaching, that instruction, and they had obeyed it from the truth. Now no longer servants of sin, they have now become servants of righteousness. And how did it come about, brethren and sisters? It came about by these men, Paul especially, Paul preaching doctrine. gospel doctrine to them. It was doctrine, the doctrine, I suppose, of man's sinfulness, the doctrine of salvation through Christ alone that these people received. And therefore, Paul, when referring to these people, he did so by speaking of them as being once the servants of sin, but now no longer. What had happened? They had obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine that had been delivered onto them. And in that I see that God takes the preaching of faithful gospel preachers. He takes when a gospel preacher preaches about man's sinfulness, and yet Christ's magnificence and glory and salvation God will take that word, that good word, and will apply it and bring sinners on to Christ. When gospel doctrine is preached, then we can become confident, we can be confident that God will use that truth to bring sinners to himself as he did in the city of Rome. And so whenever we share the gospel, let's deliver gospel doctrine. Gospel teaching, not our thoughts, not our thinking. Sinners will not be persuaded to leave their sin and trust in Christ for salvation by our logic or by our apologetics. Sinners will be persuaded to leave their sin and trust in Christ when God the Holy Spirit takes the truth of God's Word and the doctrines presented therein and applies them to the sinner's heart. happen with us, it'll happen with them. God needs no new carts, just preaching sound doctrine. One final thought. Doctrine and the preaching of it is important because by it, counterfeit or false doctrine is exposed. You see, the Bible speaks about the doctrine of devils. 1 Timothy 4 verse 1. The Bible speaks about divers and strange doctrines in Hebrews 13 verse 9. Paul warns the believers in Ephesus that they are not to be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness, thereby they lie in wait to deceive. And so the scriptures point to the reality that there is a body of doctrine that needs to be avoided. Now, how do we know what that body of doctrine is? Well, we come to discern false doctrine when we know sound doctrine. When we know what is right, then we'll know what is wrong. W. Pink said again, The way to expose, the way to counteract false doctrine is by knowing biblical doctrine inside out. And if we've got a handle on sound doctrine, then when the cults come round to your door to try and persuade you that they are the true custodians of the truth, or whenever some evangelist propagates some falsehood on a television channel or on some YouTube channel or on some Facebook channel, then we'll be discerning enough to reject their claims and their teaching because we have come to know the truth. In days when all kinds of false doctrines are being propagated, we need to know the doctrine, the teaching of the Word of God. And so these are but some reasons why doctrine and the preaching of it is important. God commands it. Jesus Christ legitimized it. The Word of God is full of it. Sinners are saved by it. God's people are edified and helped and equipped by it. And false doctrine is exposed. And so, as I've said, it is my intention in future weeks, as the Lord wills, to preach some Bible messages that deal with the doctrines of grace. Now, the title's not important to me, Doctrines of Grace Calvin, not important to me. The truth that I present, that's important. So I trust that we'll come to these messages with our hearts ready to receive the good word of God, that we might be grounded and settled in our faith, and that we'll not be tossed to and fro. with every wind of doctrine, but that we might be grounded and settled, because so much of our living comes out from what we believe, and so much of our evangelism and our efforts comes through what we believe. Well, may God then help us, and may God help me to preach the word. and to exhort with doctrine to do so with great longsuffering for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer briefly together. Our gracious Father, we come before thee and we thank thee for thy word, a word, O God, that is sure. Lord, that we need to be grounded on. We need to know, oh God, the basics of what the Bible teaches about who we are as sinners and who God is and what God has done for us in salvation and what he's continuing to do. Oh, the great comforts that are found in such truths. Oh, may we be schooled in them. May we not see these things as being dry, unimportant. May we understand, dear Father, the great benefit of sound doctrine. Oh, grant help, therefore, we pray, and bless our waiting souls, and help, Lord, as we study out the Word together. Lord, may we keep these benefits before us, the necessity for doing this. May we at least have settled in upon our hearts tonight this reality. This is important. I've seen it in the Word. God has made it clear to me. Maybe I haven't thought of it before, but I see it now. And help us, dear Father, therefore, in these days to be those who obey the Lord in these matters. For we pray these, our prayers, and through Christ's precious name. Amen.