True Doctrine Should Form the Lifestyle to the Way We Live

Does it make any difference what you believe? As long as you're a good person, it seems to be one of those ideas that's out there. As long as you treat others well, you treat them with respect, isn't that really what's most important? As long as you're caring, as long as you're supporting of others, you're helping, doing your civic duty. Does the rest really matter at all? Or is every church okay? Maybe every church of God is fine. Doesn't really matter that much. Or does doctrine enter the picture at all? Is doctrine an important aspect? Because some might say, well, you know, some of that really doesn't matter what the teachings are. So as we consider that question, there are so many that feel like it's not that big a deal. There's a big ecumenical movement going on in the world. You've probably seen it. Even the Pope, more recently, has made overtures to the other churches, non-Catholic churches, that maybe we could get together. We have much more alike than we have as far as differences.

And so what do you think about that? How should we view this whole concept? How important is doctrine? Or maybe it's not. Is it just an ancillary kind of a thing? Is it primary or is it secondary?

I thought it might be helpful for a little bit this afternoon just to talk about the importance of doctrine to a true Christian. To look at what is the role of doctrine and what role should it play in my life, my personal life as well. Of course, there's an interesting scenario that's played out in the beginning of the book of Acts that begins to set the tone for doctrine and the church of God. Of course, we have the beginning of the church. Acts chapter 2, Pentecost happens, the New Testament church begins. Well, how important are our doctrines when it comes to the true church? Well, if you look over in Acts chapter 5, just as means of introduction here, Acts chapter 5, what do the apostles do when the church begins? They go around preaching and teaching. They preach what Jesus taught. They preach the fact that Jesus was Messiah. And in Acts chapter 4 and Acts chapter 5, oh zero in Acts chapter 5, we find that the disciples here are thrown into prison. Of course, we have the Ananias and Sapphira thing happening early on. But we get down to verse 17. The leaders of the Jews throw the apostles into prison. But could the prison walls hold them? No, they couldn't. Well, what's the leadership going to do about these renegade teachers of what they feel are false things? What's going to happen to them who go around preaching and teaching about Jesus Christ and the things that he taught?

Well, they make a pact. They decide, here's what we need to do. Verse 40 in Acts chapter 5 gives us some details here. It says, they agreed with Gamaliel when they called for the apostles and beaten them. They commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

Well, what was the reaction of the apostles after being beaten and threatened about not teaching these things anymore? Verse 41, it says, they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name, and daily in the temple, and in every house they didn't cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Was doctrine important to the disciples? Was doctrine important to the early New Testament church? Well, they were willing to give their life for it. They were willing to sacrifice their life for right teaching. And in fact, the apostle Paul told Timothy that he better pay special attention to doctrine. You could just write down 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 13. 1 Timothy 4 13, Paul tells Timothy, give attention to doctrine. And it doesn't mean just, well, notice it, but it means zero in on pay attention to it. Be cautious about it. Apply yourself to the truth, to true doctrine. So what do we get out of that? Well, it's not something we should take for granted. Certainly the early New Testament church didn't take it for granted. Paul didn't take it for granted. True doctrine is something we can't neglect. So when you think about doctrine, what is it that comes to mind? You say, well, what is doctrine anyway? If you look it up in the dictionary, you get a kind of a highfalutin little description of a teaching that people hold on to, you know, something that's taught. And, you know, pretty much that's about it when it comes to biblical doctrine. It's teachings. In fact, throughout the English Bible, you know, our translations that we read, many times throughout the New Testament, when we see the word teaching, it is that word for doctrine. True teachings is true doctrine. And so oftentimes, when you read that word for teaching, you might even think of that, or maybe even look up that word to see, is that the word for doctrine? And more often than not, you're going to find that, yes, it is. So when we talk about doctrine in the church, we're not just talking about a specific teaching, but we're talking about the whole set of teachings. We're talking about our belief system. We're talking about things that we order our life by. And in fact, when we recognize the importance of doctrine, we realize where do we get our teachings anywhere? Where do we get doctrine from? You see, that was one of the problems with Martin Luther and the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church got to a point they didn't use the Bible as their basis for their teachings.

And that was one of the things Luther had against the Catholics by the time you got to the 1500s.

You see, doctrine has to come from the Bible. It has to come from the Bible. We know that memory scripture, 2 Timothy 3 16. All scripture is given by the inspiration of God.

It's profitable for what? It's profitable for doctrine. That's the first thing that's listed there. The first thing that's listed, 2 Timothy 3 16. All scripture is given by the inspiration of God. And scripture is inspired doctrine. It's profitable for the teachings of God. It's profitable. It goes on for reproof, for correction, instruction in righteousness, so that we can be thoroughly equipped, it says. Of course, if we are going to be equipped as God's people, as God's Church, we have to be equipped with true doctrine. Where does true doctrine have to come from? It's got to come from His Word. It's got to come from scripture.

So, doctrine is so valuable. It is so important to God's Church today, and in so many ways. So, maybe for a moment we could think about the number of ways that true doctrine, God's true teachings, are important to us as God's Church today. Maybe that's a good place to begin as you consider this.

Doctrine is our basis for what we believe. It forms the basis for true belief.

Doctrine forms the basis for true belief. There's a little section of scripture that defines some of those basic teachings, the basic doctrines, and you can find that over in Hebrews chapter 6. Now, I will turn over to Hebrews chapter 6, verse 1, right at the very beginning of the book of Hebrews. We have a listing. It's a short little synopsis of true doctrines of the Church, basic doctrines. We might call them today fundamental beliefs of the Church.

Hebrews chapter 1 begins to show us how doctrine forms the basis for what we believe. Hebrews chapter 6, verse 1, Paul says, therefore leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ.

Let's go on to perfection. So he's saying we've got to go forward. We've got to add and become more Christ-like. Yes, we've got to have the basic beliefs. So he lists those basic beliefs. Here they are. He says, not laying the foundation again. So here's our foundation. Here's the elementary principles. Literally that word means the basic 1-2-3s or the ABCs of what we believe. The basic rock-solid bedrock doctrines, basic teachings. So he's saying we need to go on from these things. But what are these basic things? Well, here they are. Repentance from dead works. That is a foundational doctrine, basic belief of the church, and of faith toward God.

Faith is a huge issue. Verse 2, he goes, of the doctrine of baptisms. Well, how do you baptize? What is baptism? What is that all about? Well, that's a foundational belief of the church. And Scripture describes baptism, what it means to us, what it's all about, how to do it, what it means to come to baptism. All of those things form our basic understanding of what baptism is all about. He goes on to talk about of laying on of hands, kind of implying the doctrine of baptism, the doctrine of laying on of hands, the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, the doctrine of eternal judgment. And so he says this will do if God permits, which God had permitted that he could have got into a lot more details there. But it's interesting as we just begin to think about how important doctrine is. It forms the foundation for everything we believe.

And even right here at the very beginning of the church, we find that Paul says there is a doctrine about Jesus Christ, right? He says the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ.

So we can't take Christ out of the basic foundations of the teachings of the church.

And so when we have our mission statement, we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. We preach because that's part of our basic belief. Without Christ, where are we? Well, we have no salvation without. We'll see a little bit more of that, maybe as we go along here as well. But I think it becomes critical that we see that doctrine, true teachings form the basic foundation of what we believe.

And time after time after time, we see this play out throughout the Scriptures. There's a great example. You could just write down Matthew 22-29. It kind of ties in with what Paul said here about the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Matthew 22 is that little section of Scripture where they confront Jesus Christ about the angels and who's going to marry, who is this lady going to be married to in the kingdom.

And he says very clearly that they're like the angels, right? They're not given in marriage in the kingdom. And so he points out there is a resurrection of the dead. And of course, without what Christ says here, we wouldn't have the deep understanding. In fact, we might not even believe in the resurrection if Christ hadn't taught the doctrine of the resurrection.

Because if you study history a little bit, the Jews were divided. Many of the Jews didn't believe in the resurrection. They didn't believe in angels. But Christ says very clearly, yeah, there's angels. And oh, by the way, there's no marriage in the resurrection. So there is a resurrection. And so he points out very clearly. And it says there in Matthew 22, they were astonished at his teaching. And so we put all of these different passages together. Of course, 1 Corinthians 15 oftentimes will rehearse during the Holy Days, emphasize the resurrection. And so it points to this basic concept of what forms our foundational beliefs, as it refers to doctrine itself.

So it's critical. And I think in one way, it's a challenge for all of us. Because sometimes within the Church of God and all the various different versions of the church that are out there, especially out in the world as well, doctrine is not very critical in some regards, especially out in the world. It's not critical at all. When you look at some of the studies that have been done on religion today, one of the famous men who survey churches, religious beliefs, you've heard the name George Barna.

It does multiple studies on religion, especially in America today. I was reading a summary of something that he wrote about the various beliefs that are out there and the people that attend these various churches, which has gone down and down and down and down. But he wrote something interesting. I wrote it down because I thought, wow, that is really amazing.

Here's a summary that George Barna himself wrote about some of the surveys that he had put together. He said, there are people that attend church services, but relatively few have a deep commitment to their church, to personal ministry, and to spiritual maturity. People hear a lot about religious teaching by millions of religious books, but there is as much theological confusion as there is understanding. Of course, the theological confusion is the fact that what is doctrine?

What is true teaching? What does the Bible really teach? And I think that's where it becomes critical for us as a part of God's church, that we have to have this basic foundation. And over and over and over again throughout the Bible, throughout Christ's life, his example focuses on true teachings. If you read that section of the Bible where Christ goes through the various parables, he formed the basic teachings in so many ways of what is true doctrine. And Christ spent that in the disciples recorded these for us so that we would make sure and not move away from that foundation of our basic belief.

Now, of course, that takes us to a second important aspect of why doctrine is so important. Yeah, it forms our belief system, but it also then forms the basis for how we live.

I mean, what good is just believing if it doesn't affect how we live our lives?

And so doctrine forms the basis for our practice, for what we do, for how we live.

There's a good example of this in Romans 6, verse 17. I'd like to take a look at Romans 6, verse 17.

In fact, this whole section of Scripture, Romans 5, Romans 6, Romans 7, 8, great section of Scripture when it comes to baptism, when it comes to changing our lives, when it comes to the impact of the Spirit of God on a carnal mind. That whole section of Romans deals so much with that, that it's so amazing, this whole section of Scripture, that God inspired Paul to record for us. In Romans 6, verse 17, it gets right down to this heart of doctrine and practice, doctrine and how we live our lives. Here's what Paul writes in verse 17. He says, God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Now, there's a whole greater subject that he's talking about here, but for today, as we think about doctrine itself, we were delivered out of the ways of this world by true teachings, by God's instructions, and what impact did those instructions have on our life?

It changes the way we live. It changes the way we think. And so it's kind of interesting, the imagery that he uses here. Yeah, you used to be in sin, and you didn't even know it. You were a slave to sin. You were chained to that sin, and you didn't even know it. True doctrine, in a way, is that hacksaw, that hacksaw, that chain and the ball right off, so you're not chained to that sin anymore. You're not enslaved to it anymore. And true teachings delivered you to a new way of life, to a different way of thinking. Now, you're a slave to righteousness. And so we see what we believe. The doctrine that we hold to leads us to a different lifestyle. It's a lifestyle change. It's a change in lifestyle. I was counseling with a lady a number of years ago as we were going through Romans 5, 6, 7, and 8. It was like, wow, this isn't just like something to believe. You're talking about changing my whole life! It's like, yeah, now you're getting it. That's exactly what it is. And over and over and over again, the Bible points to that very fact that it's not just about believing something. It's about committing to a whole different lifestyle. And true doctrine should form that basis for how we live. A good example of this. Look at Matthew 16, verse 6. Matthew 16, verse 6 kind of ties in with what Mr. Kivat was talking about in the sermonette, that Satan has so many ways to get at us, you know, if we allow that. And just belief itself, just having the true doctrine itself isn't enough. It's what we do with it. And here, Jesus is addressing the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Much the same way that, yeah, they were being used by Satan to throw people off from the truth. And so here Jesus says in verse 6, Matthew 16, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Now people might have said, well, what is that talking about? Verse 7, the disciples reason said, well, it's because we don't have any bread. But Jesus makes it very clear. He says in verse 8, Oh, you have little faith. Why do you reason among yourselves because you have no bread? Don't you get it? Don't you understand? Or remember the five loaves or the seven loaves? Verse 11 is the key. How is it that you don't understand that I did not speak concerning bread, but beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees? The light bulb goes on. They get it. Verse 12, then they understood. He wasn't telling them to beware of bread, the leaven of bread, but the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Watch out for their teachings. Watch out for what they're saying. Watch out for their behavior. Don't follow their actions. And of course, we see that impact that Satan has. Oh, you can believe the truth, but if you don't apply the truth, it doesn't change your life. It doesn't impact your lifestyle. We're being led down the wrong path. So Jesus is telling them, beware of those false teachings because it leads to the wrong practice or for those Jewish converts that were coming along and beginning to follow Jesus. It was leading them to an incomplete version of what Christ was trying to teach them. What was he teaching? He was teaching a way of life. He was teaching a way of life, and that way of life was defined by the doctrines that Christ taught.

And so that becomes so critical. It becomes so critical in so many ways. So doctrine forms the basis for our practice, for our our lifestyle. Sometimes it can be so deceitful, and sometimes things can be manipulated to kind of trick us in so many ways. Here, the Pharisees were tricking the people. I heard the story about a Presbyterian and a Baptist were having an argument. The Baptist minister said, you have to be totally immersed in order for your baptism to be legitimate. The Presbyterian was kind of questioning that. He said, no, you don't have to. I don't think that's true. The Presbyterian said to the Baptist, well, do you consider it all right if he's baptized up to his waist in water? He said, no, no, no, no, not at all. He said, well, what if he's kind of up to his neck? You know, does that count? And the Baptist said, no, that doesn't count. The Presbyterian said, well, how about if he's just over his eyebrows? Does that count if he's baptized all the way up? He said, no, no, that that he said, not until his head is covered, does it count? The Presbyterian said, see, that's what I've been trying to tell you. See, only a little water on the top of the head is all that really counts. You see how tricky that is? No, that's not really the way it works, is it?

But you have to be careful. So Christ said, beware, beware. That's really what Paul was saying as well. Be watchful. Take heed. Pay special attention to the teachings. And so when we consider that, it is so critical. In fact, we move from just a lifestyle. Take it a step farther.

Without true doctrine, what would be our reason for being here today?

What would be the reason for keeping the Sabbath? What would be the basis for our worship? You see, it's doctrine. True doctrine forms the basis for how and why and when we worship.

This is a wonderful section of Scripture with Jesus Christ and the woman at the well.

Well, maybe we could turn there for just a moment. John chapter 4 is where you find that section of Scripture. John chapter 4, the woman at the well, the Samaritans had perverted the truth. They had partial truth. They had been kind of connected with the Jews. They had Babylonian practices as well that they brought back. It was all kind of mixed up. There was a syncretism. They had some of the truth, but not all of the truth. Some of the practices of the Jews, it was just a whole mess.

The Jews hated the Samaritans. That's where you get the whole story of the good Samaritan and all those kinds of things. The Samaritan woman meets Christ at the well. They have this long discussion about her personal life. Then they get into a couple of other things. Let's see where we can pick it up. As they discuss true belief, true worship, where it is, verse 21.

John chapter 4 verse 21. Here Jesus says to the woman, he says, Believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you don't know. Wrong basis of doctrine for her worship, for the Samaritan's worship. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews, but the hour is coming and now is when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. So true doctrine, true teachings form the basis for our worship.

Do we handle snakes during our worship service? No, we don't do that. Defined by what?

Doctrine! True doctrine. Do we cut ourselves, abuse ourselves, get a whip and all? No. Why not?

Why don't we worship on Sunday? Why don't we do those things because they're not biblical? They're not biblical because doctrine forms the basis for how we worship. We don't do the Easter thing. We don't do Halloween. We don't do Christmas. Why not? Doctrine forms the basis of how we work. Why don't we sprinkle, immerse? Why do we, you know, have wine and not grape juice?

All of those things point to the fact that true doctrine forms the basis for how we worship.

And so it becomes so critical. We could probably go on and on with how many different ways that that points to how we do worship the true God. And that's where John 4 is so critical.

What God are others worshiping when they don't worship in spirit and truth?

You see, that becomes critical, too. Are they really worshiping the true God? You know, there's that whole concept that, well, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't really matter because we're all worshiping the same God. No, we're not. Fact is, we're not. And that's the facts. Christ said it Himself. You worship what you don't even know. So it's critical that we know what we worship, how we worship, why we worship. And doctrine, the truth, the true teachings of the Bible form the basis for how we worship and why we worship as well. In fact, if we take it a step further, doesn't doctrine also form the basis for fellowship?

Does doctrine form the basis for fellowship? I mean, at first you might think, well, it doesn't matter. We get together, you know, we talk. It doesn't seem to really have much to do with that.

Or does it? Or does it really? Interesting section back at the beginning of the New Testament Church, Acts 2, verse 37. Here, this section of Scripture is where the Jews were cut to the heart after Peter's initial sermon, after accusing the disciples of being drunk, after God's Spirit was poured out, and they realized, no, that's not the case. What does Peter tell them to do after they realize the truth? It says they were cut to the heart. They asked Peter, what should we do?

Well, Acts 2, 38. Now, Acts 2, 38, Peter tells them what to do. Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Of course, we put that together with section of Scripture like Matthew 28. We follow Christ's instructions when it comes to repentance and baptism, and we realize that forms the basis for the truth, for our worship, for our practice, for our lifestyle. But it also impacts fellowship because he goes on and he says, then, as a result, verse 41, Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added. Imagine the church taking a giant leap forward in numbers, three thousand. That's phenomenal. Now what happens? Well, now I believe, now I'm baptized, I'm done. But we know that's not the case. We know we've got to live a godly life. Lifestyle is impacted. But what about who we hang out with? What about fellowship? Well, verse 42 gives us some insight into that. It says, continued steadfastly in the apostles, doctrine and fellowship. Doctrine, true teachings, impact fellowship. What is fellowship? It's sharing. It's coenonia. It's communing together. It's practicing. It's sharing our life together. So it says in the breaking of bread, in care, in prayers.

And so it's interesting. What is it that brought them together?

Was it their race? Not one that. Was it that they lived in the same area of the world? No, it wasn't that. It was doctrine. It was doctrine. True doctrine brought them together in fellowship. True doctrine brought them together. So we have them eating together, praying together, fellowshiping, worshiping together. So there's a deeper bond of the Spirit. And it's not just smarts. It's not just intellect that brought them together. It was the Spirit of God. It was true doctrines. And you can't help but ask, well, why didn't they have this same kind of bond, this same kind of fellowship with all of their Jewish friends? You know, there had to be a whole bunch of people that they used to hang out with before they were with Christ. Why didn't they have that same bond with those that didn't accept the Messiah? Different doctrine, different belief, different belief structure. There was a whole different paradigm in that sense. And so it was the basis of doctrine that formed the basis of their fellowship, of who they were with and why they were with them. And so how many times in Scripture does it talk to us about true fellowship and how we have that spiritual fellowship? It's not just relating to each other and being a good neighbor. Yeah, that's important. But true fellowship in the Spirit goes so much deeper than that.

Maybe a quick example. 1 John 1, verse 3. 1 John 1, verse 3 is a good reminder of the depth of the fellowship we should have as God's people, as understanding His true teachings. 1 John 1, verse 3.

We see this implication by the Apostle John.

Oftentimes we connect a little bit more strongly to the second aspect of what John says here. But notice what he says in chapter 1, verse 3 of 1 John. He says, that which we have seen. This is kind of picking up in the middle of the thought. But he says, that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you. What is he declaring? Well, he's declaring the truth. He's declaring true teachings. He's declaring true doctrines, Godly doctrines. We declare to you and as a result that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. So true doctrines, true teachings, true belief brings us into a true relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. So it says these things we write to you that your joy may be full. So it brings us satisfaction. It brings us joy that we couldn't otherwise have. In fact, a little bit later he says a similar thing. If you skip over to chapter 2, verse 3, he says, now by this we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. He says, I know Him and doesn't keep His commandments as a liar. The truth isn't in Him.

But He who keeps His Word, truly the love of God is perfected in Him. By this we know that we're in Him. What's that talking about? It's not just talking about commandment keeping, but it's talking about the true teachings, the true commandment keeping. It's a lifestyle that brings us into right fellowship with God. We're in Him. We know that we are in Him. And so He who abides in Him, we stay in that relationship with God. What's part of the cement that keeps that all together?

Well, we walk like He walked. We practice what He practiced. We believe what He taught.

And so if any of those blocks are out of place, we don't have the abiding. We don't have that glue of true fellowship with each other and with God the Father and Jesus Christ. And so it points to that fact that doctrine certainly forms the basis for our fellowship as well. It takes it to a whole other level.

In fact, it also relates then to part of the mission of the Church.

Part of our mission as God's Church is to preach the gospel. Or to preach the gospel. Well, is doctrine critical to preaching the gospel? Wow! Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's no doubt about it. Over and over again, we see that example throughout Scripture.

One of the examples that stands out in my mind as doctrine forming the basis for preaching and teaching for the gospel itself. Turn over to Acts chapter 13. We'll just look at one quick example as doctrine forming the basis for preaching the gospel. Acts chapter 13. Here, Paul is on one of his journeys. And in this particular example, they sail to Cyprus. And in Cyprus, runs into an interesting circumstance here in Acts chapter 13.

They were sent out. John goes with them. They end up going through Cyprus. They go through the island to Paphos, verse 6. And at Paphos, there's a sorcerer. And this is picking things up in verse 6. There's a sorcerer, a false prophet. It happens that his name is Bar Jesus.

Great, what a circumstance that is. Bar Jesus, son of Jesus. Verse 7, then. He was with the pro-council. So here we have an apposer to the truth with the authority. The politician of the day. You could say the ruler, the authority of the day. Sergius Paulus was this guy's name, and this false prophet is with him. It's interesting what happens. This politician calls for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But this sorcerer, who's also called Elimus, withstood them. This is in verse 8. And it says, seeking to turn the pro-council away from the faith. How are you going to turn somebody away from the faith?

False teaching, false doctrine, an opposing view, an alternate viewpoint. Trying to turn them away from the truth. So what's Paul going to do? Well, verse 9. Saul, who's also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness.

How did you like Paul to confront you like that? He didn't mince any words, did he? He didn't say, well, that's an interesting thought that you have there. Let's consider that. Now, he just labels it for what it is. He says, you son of the devil, you enemy of all rights. Should we entertain false ideas? Paul doesn't pull any punches. He just says it the way it is. Don't get into all of that. No, you know the truth. Stick to the truth. Stay with it. Call it for what it is.

He says, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? He says, and now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you. You shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time. And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Wow, that's pretty powerful, isn't it? Now, you might think that that would make a believer out of somebody. You saw something like that happen. You go, whoa, this guy Paul. I think God's with him. I better believe what he says. Yeah, it might make a believer out of some. But at the same time, we've got to be careful, right? Because we know in the end time, there's going to be some phenomenal miracles that are going to take place that you can't explain and are going to be legitimate. They're going to look good. They're going to sound good, and they might deceive us. Christ talked about that, oh, even the elect might be deceived. But the elect can't be deceived when you stick to the truth. And so the interesting part about this, what's this pro-counsel? What's the politician going to do? What's the governor going to do here? Well, it says the pro-counsel believed. Now, if we stop right there, you might say, well, he believed because he saw this amazing miracle take place. There's more to it and more to it than that. Verse 12, it says, then the pro-counsel believed when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord. And guess what word teaching is?

Doctrine. Yeah, the miracle had an impact on him, but that wouldn't be enough without the truth.

Without the truth, it's just, you know, a fantastic occurrence. But it also tells us it was the teaching. He believed because of the teaching of the Lord. And there are so many like elements out there that want to twist it, add to it, alternate truth, pervert the truth in some way. But Paul taught the doctrine of the Lord. That's what we got to stick with. We got to stick with the doctrine of the Lord. And that led others to God. That preaching of the truth doctrine has to be the basis for preaching the gospel. And so the kingdom of God, his way, God's plan, his purpose, all of that forms that basis for preaching the truth. And ultimately, as God calls them and leads them, brings people to God, brings them to his way of life. And so the doctrine of the Lord is so critical when it comes to that. And so we see that example over and over and over again throughout Scripture. That is a powerful example. Doctrine is that foundation that determines whether people are holding fast to the truth and following the true teachings of Jesus Christ. And so we can look at a number of examples. We'll stop there for that particular one. Go to one last one. One last one that I think is critical when it comes to doctrine. Because when we talk about the truth, we talk about God's way of life, how we apply it in our lives. We talk about preaching the gospel. Ultimately, there's salvation. Doctrine also forms the basis for salvation when you really get down to it. How will we be a part of the kingdom of God? If I don't know the true doctrine of the Lord, if I don't practice that true teaching, if I believe God is a fish or a jackal or a blob or a cosmic cloud, no, true doctrine teaches us who and what God is. It teaches us His plan. It teaches us we can have a relationship with Him. And so we have to take heed to the doctrine and to ourselves as Paul warned Timothy, take heed to that because it's intricately tied to our salvation. It's intricately tied to being in the kingdom of God. It's intricately tied to being there when Jesus Christ returned to being saved. How can I be saved if I don't know the truth about God? If I don't know the truth about Jesus Christ? If I don't understand that He is the Messiah, that He died to pay the penalty for my sins? If I don't understand those things, how can I be saved? How can I be saved? And what does He expect of me once I understand these things? And so it is critical. It is critical to salvation. One passion we could look at that Paul instructed Timothy as well is in 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4.

Here Paul describes what it's going to be like during our lifetime. During the later days, during that end time, Paul describes this time period and what the frame of mind of people is like during this time of the end. And in 2 Timothy chapter 4, right there at the very beginning, we're familiar with this list of attitudes and perspectives that people have.

And it's interesting how it ties into the subject this afternoon. 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1. It says, the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, in the end times, some will depart from the faith. Why will they depart? It says they're giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, teachings, instructions of demons, a way of life that's demonic. Or any way of life is demonic if it's opposite of what God's way of life is. And then it describes that perspective, that way of life, that lifestyle. What is that lifestyle like? Verse 2, speaking lives in hypocrisy. They've had their own conscious seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods that God's created to be received with thanksgiving, by those who believe and know the truth. It says, where every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it's received with thanksgiving, for it's sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

So what's the difference between those who never understand the truth, who maybe understood the truth and depart? What's the basis that delineates the difference? Well, it says, doctrine is the basis for faithfulness, the kind of faithfulness that lasts until the return of Jesus Christ. And then departing from those things is an issue of staying faithful to the truth, faithful to the teachings of God. And so I think it leads us to the conclusion that doctrine does form the basis for our salvation as well. And so when you consider the fact that, you know, there is just one way, there is just one way. And that might sound like, oh, that's restrictive or, you know, big-headed or something. But, you know, that's what Scripture says. Christ said it Himself. I am the way. I am the truth. You know, I am. That's what He said. And there is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved. That's it. This is the way. Walk in it. And so it is God's way. And we know that way by His teachings. And so is doctrine important? Absolutely. Does it matter what you believe? Absolutely. Does it matter what the church teaches?

Yes. There is no doubt. And you could probably add to that. You could make this a study and add to this list of what doctrine forms the basis of. It forms the basis of what we believe. It forms the basis of our lifestyle. It forms the basis of how we worship, why we worship. It forms the basis of fellowship, how we preach and teach. And ultimately, it is the basis for our salvation.

And so what a great reminder for every one of us that doctrine is so critical that we must do everything we can to strive to hold fast to true doctrine. Because God certainly wants us to have that basic foundation of the truth so that we can have a right relationship with Him.