Essencial Doctrines:
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
Today we look at what are called Essential Doctrines.
These are the doctrine which define our christian faith and are common among every single legitimate christian Church.
They are set out clearly in scripture and have absolutely no variance among any christian denomination.
Prespterians, methodists, congregationalists, full gospel - we all believe and share these doctrines.
They cannot be changed or edited in any way.
Any change would make that church a sect and guilty of heresy.
It is absolutely vital that you know whether a church, teacher, preacher, leader hold these core and essential beliefs.
If they do not, leave the church. Unsubscribe from their YouTube channel, and never share anything, not even a quote because you will be abetting the preaching of a false gospel.
11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;
1: Monotheism.
1: Monotheism.
There is only one God.
6 “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me.
35 “To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him.
Now lets talk about what God has revealed about himself to us in scripture regarding his nature:
Primary of this is the doctrine of the trinity.
The most difficult thing about the Christian concept of the Trinity is that there is no way to perfectly and completely understand it.
The Trinity is a concept that is impossible for any human being to fully understand, let alone explain.
God is infinitely greater than we are; therefore, we should not expect to be able to fully understand Him.
The Bible teaches that the Father is God, that Jesus is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God.
The Bible also teaches that there is only one God.
The Trinity is one God existing in three Persons.
Understand that this is not in any way suggesting three Gods.
Keep in mind when studying this subject that the word “Trinity” is not found in Scripture.
This is a term that is used to attempt to describe the triune God—three coexistent, co-eternal Persons who are God.
Of real importance is that the concept represented by the word “Trinity” does exist in Scripture.
The following is what God’s Word says about the Trinity:
1) There is one God.
1) There is one God.
4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.
20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.
5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
2) The Trinity consists of three Persons.
2) The Trinity consists of three Persons.
In the following verses note the plural use of the Hebrew word Elohom - God.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Now in Matthew we have a very clear revalation of the who the “Us” is that the OT refers too. and we see all 3 persons simultaniously.
16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
And again in Pauls closing line, note his refrence to all 3 persons of the trinity:
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
3) The members of the Trinity are distinguished one from another in various passages.
3) The members of the Trinity are distinguished one from another in various passages.
God the Son is distinguished from God the Father .
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
7 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of joy above Your fellows.
8 But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.
9 “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness above Your companions.”
In the New Testament, Jesus speaks to the Father about sending a Helper, the Holy Spirit
jn 14 16-17
16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
This shows that Jesus did not consider Himself to be the Father or the Holy Spirit. Consider also all the other times in the Gospels where Jesus speaks to the Father.
Was He speaking to Himself?
No. He spoke to another Person in the Trinity—the Father.
4) Each member of the Trinity is God.
4) Each member of the Trinity is God.
The Father is God.
27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Son is God.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
The Holy Spirit is God
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?
4 “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
5) There is subordination within the Trinity.
5) There is subordination within the Trinity.
Scripture shows that the Holy Spirit is subordinate to the Father and the Son, and the Son is subordinate to the Father.
This is an internal relationship and does not deny the deity of any Person of the Trinity. This is simply an area which our finite minds cannot understand concerning the infinite God.
6) The individual members of the Trinity have different tasks.
6) The individual members of the Trinity have different tasks.
The Father is the ultimate source or cause of the universe.
divine revelation ; salvation ; and Jesus’ human works.
The Father initiates all of these things.
The Son is the agent through whom the Father does the following works:
the creation and maintenance of the universe ; divine revelation; and salvation .
The Father does all these things through the Son, who functions as His agent.
The Holy Spirit is the means by whom the Father does the following works:
The Father does all these things by the power of the Holy Spirit.
B: The Hypostatic Union of Jesus Christ
B: The Hypostatic Union of Jesus Christ
This simply means that Jesus Christ had 2 full natures.
That he was both, at the same time, fully God and fully man.
The hypostatic union is the term used to describe how God the Son, Jesus Christ, took on a human nature, yet remained fully God at the same time.
Jesus always had been God.
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
30 “I and the Father are one.”
But at the incarnation Jesus became a human being.
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This was not an exchange from the divine to the human.
It was the addition of the human to his divine.
The addition of the human nature to the divine nature is Jesus, the God-man.
This is the hypostatic union, Jesus Christ, one Person, fully God and fully man.
Jesus’ two natures, human and divine, are inseparable.
Jesus will forever be the God-man, fully God and fully human, two distinct natures in one Person.
Jesus’ humanity and divinity are not mixed, but are united without loss of separate identity.
Jesus sometimes operated with the limitations of humanity.
6 and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
And other times in the power of His deity
43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”
In both, Jesus’ actions were from His one Person. Jesus had two natures, but only one personality.
2: Salvation by Grace Through Faith
2: Salvation by Grace Through Faith
The doctrine of salvation is known as soteriology. And there are 3 major soteriligical systems various demininations believe. Although there is variance regarding these systems, they all 3 agree on the basis of salvation.
That is it by grace through faith, and not of works or human effort.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
There is also universal agreement regarding the process of an individuals salvation.
There can be no other process salvation other than how scripture says.
Each step MUST happen for a person to be saved.
a: The mode of Salvation:
a: The mode of Salvation:
1: Conviction
1: Conviction
First: salvation is an act of God and it starts with God.
God alone is the initiator of any persons salvation because it all begins with one thing only God can do: Bring about conviction by the Holy Spirit.
8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
This is precisely why Jesus said:
16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
2: Godly Sorrow
2: Godly Sorrow
This conviction then brings about the next neccesery step: Godly Sorrow.
10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
This godly sorrow is a broken heart. Not sorrow that you got caught in sin, but sorrow that you sinned in the first place.
So strong is the sorrow that it produces the next neccesery step in salvation:
3: Repentance
3: Repentance
10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Jesus said
3 “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Repentance is a change of heart so powerful and sincere that it results in a change of life and behaviour and thinking.
But a person is not saved yet.
Imagine going before a judge and knowing you were getting gas chamber.
You will be filled with sorrow, and from that moment you indeed may never do the crime ever again.
But that does not undo the fact that you already did the crime.
And the crime you did must be punished.
4: Faith in the Atonement
4: Faith in the Atonement
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
The Christian faith tells us that Jesus Christ paid in full the punishment for OUR crime on the cross.
24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
We must have faith that Jesus did indeed do this for us.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
The moment you exercise this faith in Jesus, coupled by your repentance the final step takes place and you are born again.
5: New Birth/Regeneration
5: New Birth/Regeneration
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
3: The Inerrancy and Authority of Scripture
3: The Inerrancy and Authority of Scripture
The next essential doctrine of the Christian faith, which all and every christian church must hold is the inerrancy and authority of scripture.
We already looked at bible translations and why its so important to have a bible version you can trust.
And the reason is that we hold that the scriptures, this book is inerrent.
Inerrent means perfect, flawless, no mistakes, not outdated, not contradictory, 100% trust worthy.
But in addition to this essential doctrine is the funidental belief that the words of the bible are the literal words of God.
Now it must be misleadings at time, for example, lets say I was preaching on marriage, I may say “True with me to 1 corinthians and lets see what Paul wrote”.
God did not pick up a pen and write the bible.
Rather he used human beings, which he led by the Holy Spirit, to write for Him.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
Those 2 doctrines: The doctrine of inerrancy and the doctrine of divine inspiration means that for the christian, the Bible is the single highest authority in existence in the universe.
And as such, submit to it with total and complete surrender.
To deny the inerrancy and inspiration of scripture is literally to deny Jesus Christ Himself.
38 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
4: The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
4: The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
Now lets get eschatological.
Escatology is the doctrine of the end times and much like soteriology there are various systems or models of the end times. We will get into all those variations soon.
However, no matter which model you choose they all share this essential truth in common:
Jesus Christ is coming back.
The bible makes it clear that Jesus Christ is coming back.
28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.
3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.
11 They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,
His coming back will occur at an unknown date and unknown hour.
PLKEASE NOTE: Anyone who says they know when Jesus will return is a liar and speaks demonic doctrines.
Jesus made it clear:
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
5: The Biblical nature of sin
5: The Biblical nature of sin
Finally we must deal with the nature of sin.
This is actually linked with the doctrine of inspiration.
If you do not believe that the bible is the inherent word and God, then your doctrine of sin will be faulty.
The problem is that for many people sin is cultural.
And here is what I mean by that: What is and is not in, get defined, not by the bible, but by the cultural trends.
Lets look at an example:
9 Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments,
What is considered modest?
Lets look at the old pants incident.
50 years ago it was seen as very wrong for a woman to wear pants in church.
There is no bible command regarding this, it was just based off the culture of the time.
I don’t even take note if a woman is wearings pants.
However, let say its a short mini skirt, or a guy wears a no sleeve vest - I would approach them and make them away that its not respectable.
But fashion and modesty change.
Lets look at societies view on homosexuality.
In ancient Greece men were more esteemed the woman. Men where, by all means, considered superior to woman.
So it was common practice to display your wealth and power as a man by sleeping with a handsome young man.
It was not homosexuality in the same way it is today.
It was not that the people were gay per se, but it was a status symbol.
Then culture changed and homosexuality became absolute taboo - punishable by death in many nations, still in some nations today.
Then the culture changed again and now it's seen, culturally at least, as normal.
So the problem is that for many people: what is right and wrong, is determined by the culture on the times.
However, essential to the Christian doctrine is that was the bible calls sin - will always we sinful, no matter what the culture, no matter what the law, no matter what anyone ever says.
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!