Other Books, eBooks
and Free eBooks
866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
“Doctrine divides, experience unites. We don’t all have our doctrine all completely correct, but God doesn’t judge us on our understanding of doctrine” (Pat Boone, August 17, 2001, cited from Calvary Contender, Sept. 15, 2001).
Boone claims that since allegedly don’t have our doctrine completely correct and God doesn’t judge us about doctrine, let’s just focus on unity. This idea is widely held. Many have written to me and said in effect, “Who do you think you are? Do you believe that your doctrine is right and everyone else’s is wrong? You can’t know that.”
But this is not what the Bible says.
The Bible says the believer CAN know sound doctrine.
In 2 Timothy 2:15 the believer is commanded to rightly divide the Word of God.
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
To rightly divide the Word of God means to interpret it properly and to know its doctrine correctly. Why would God require a Christian to rightly divide the Word of Truth unless He would give him the ability to do that? This verse indicates that God will hold the Christian accountable for this task, because only the one who rightly divides the word of truth is approved.
The Bible tells us exactly how to know the correct doctrine.
1. We know sound doctrine through obedience. The Lord Jesus Christ gave the following promise in regard to knowing sound doctrine: “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:17). To know sound doctrine one must be willing to obey the truth. If a man is open to the truth and willing to obey God, the Lord will give him wisdom so that he will be able to discern sound doctrine from false. In Proverbs 1:23, God says, “Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.” God has promised to make His truth known to those who submit themselves to Him.
2. We know sound doctrine through continuing in God’s Word. The Lord Jesus made another promise in regard to knowing the truth, as follows: “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). This precious promise clearly states that a child of God can know the truth. To do so, he must continue in God’s Word. This means he must read it, study it, memorize it, love it, and seek to obey it.
3. We know sound doctrine through the Holy Spirit. 1 Jn. 2:20-21 says, “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” Verse 27 says further, “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” Thus the Scriptures plainly state that the believer has the Holy Spirit to teach him and he can thereby know the truth.
If the ecumenical philosophy is correct and a believer cannot be certain of sound doctrine, the commandments and promises of God make no sense.
copyright 2013, Way of Life Literature
- Receive these reports by email
- "About" David Cloud
- www.wayoflife.org
______________________
Sharing Policy: Much of our material is available for free, such as the hundreds of articles at the Way of Life web site. Other items we sell to help fund our expensive literature and foreign church planting ministries. Way of Life's content falls into two categories: sharable and non-sharable. Things that we encourage you to share include the audio sermons, O Timothy magazine, FBIS articles, and the free eVideos and free eBooks. You are welcome to make copies of these at your own expense and share them with friends and family, but they cannot be posted to web sites. You are also welcome to use excerpts from the articles in your writings, in sermons, in church bulletins, etc. All we ask is that you give proper credit. Things we do not want copied and distributed freely are items like the Fundamental Baptist Digital Library, print editions of our books, electronic editions of the books that we sell, the videos that we sell, etc. The items have taken years to produce at enormous expense in time and money, and we use the income from sales to help fund the ministry. We trust that your Christian honesty will preserve the integrity of this policy. "For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward" (1 Timothy 5:18).
Goal:Distributed by Way of Life Literature Inc., the Fundamental Baptist Information Service is an e-mail posting for Bible-believing Christians. Established in 1974, Way of Life Literature is a fundamental Baptist preaching and publishing ministry based in Bethel Baptist Church, London, Ontario, of which Wilbert Unger is the founding Pastor. Brother Cloud lives in South Asia where he has been a church planting missionary since 1979. Our primary goal with the FBIS is to provide material to assist preachers in the edification and protection of the churches.
Offering: We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications. We seek offerings only from those who are helped. OFFERINGS can be mailed or made online with with Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or Paypal. For information see: www.wayoflife.org/about/makeanoffering.html.
