A Right View of Christ and Ourselves

If we can think back to what we have understood Paul as saying to us in this 1st Chapter we will better understand the verse that is under consideration this afternoon. Paul is concerned to communicate to Timothy the importance of sound doctrine and God-honoring practice being set up in every local church. Together we must be good stewards of God’s truth. We must not hold to strange or false doctrines. We must see the end of the commandment as being love from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. Our doctrine must be lived out and fleshed out, by the enabling grace of Christ. What we need to see now, today, this afternoon, is that the gospel is the basis of all sound doctrine in the church, and it is worthy of our acceptance because the Bible through this means, faithfully represents God and man. The grace of God is found by our hearing and believing the gospel preached. And it requires the opening of the eyes of our mind and our heart to discern spiritual truth clearly. I wonder if you have ever met people who are very interested in doctrine and systematic theology, but they do not seem interested in the gospel? Or, perhaps we ourselves grow to think it will not do any harm to leave the gospel behind, as one leaves behind his childhood. And sometimes we even mistake the doctrines of grace for the gospel itself. So perhaps you have a question in your mind as you listen. You are thinking, “Why should we accept the gospel as being the basis of sound doctrine in the church? And I will answer you. We should accept the gospel as being the foundation of sound doctrine based on the following 3 considerations.