Doctrine
23 August 2026
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
(Acts 2:42)
This morning, we are continuing our series on the subject of the church, so please turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 2. Now, just to recap what we have been studying so far in this series, if you remember at the beginning of the month, we began this series by looking at the Gospel. And this being front, central, and crucial to the life of Christianity, what it means to be a born-again believer. And in order to be part of the church, to be the church, you need to know and believe the life-saving message of the gospel. So, there has been the looking at the gospel, then we followed that by studying the subject of Baptism, and we considered that being baptized on profession of faith is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is an act of obedience, and also the entry into the church of Jesus Christ. So, we looked at the gospel, baptism, and then last week we considered for those who are baptized on profession of faith, they are then added to the church. And we considered church membership and the importance of what it means to be the church and to be serving in the capacity of a local church setting as we do here.
So that's what we've studied so far, and now this week we're going to be looking at the next important topic on this subject, namely Doctrine. So, this week we're looking at the subject of doctrine. Now, as is the case for looking at these subjects, we're going to refer to a text as the springboard, if you like, to looking at some of the key themes on the topic itself, and so this is why we're beginning in Acts chapter 2, and we'll read verse 42. Now, if we remember a fortnight ago when we looked at baptism, we dealt with this text because we see a pattern emerge. At this formative time, when the gospel has been proclaimed at the time of Pentecost, we see the call to repent and be baptized, being baptized on profession of faith, and that in verse 41, there were 3,000 who were baptized, and we note then, added that day. 3,000 souls added to the church. So, we have this pattern, people are saved, they're baptized, they're added to the church, and then we're going to read Acts 2:42.
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Amen. Let's pray together.
O Father, we pray, may You grant us hearts of worship and adoration before you, the Most High God. And we pray that as we come to spend this time studying the Scriptures and thinking about the importance of the topic of doctrine, help us to understand what this is, what it means in the life of the church, in our lives as Christians, we pray. For we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
So, when we deal with the subject of doctrine, we're going to try to break this down into 3 questions this morning. We're going to think about what, why, and how. So first of all, and then this will be the most brief, what, what is doctrine? And then we're going to think about why it is so important, and then how it is to be applied. So what doctrine is, why it's important, and how it is to be applied. And as we work our way through this, we're going to see why in Acts 2:42, the first thing that is mentioned about the 3,000 souls who are added to the forming of the church, the first thing mentioned is that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. And this is where we start to deal with definitions of words, namely that of doctrine, which is the teaching, the instruction of the Word.
What is doctrine?
In John 17:17, the Lord Jesus, in praying to the Father, prays for His people. And He prays that His people would be sanctified in the truth. Your word is truth. So, Jesus prays for us, for His people, that we'd be sanctified, we'd be set apart in the truth, in the doctrine, which is the word of the living God.
So, people could say, well, I've got my doctrine in this religion. I've got my doctrine, my teachings in this ideology, whatever it may be. We're dealing with the subject of doctrine here, namely the doctrine of the Bible, the doctrine, the teaching, the instruction of God found in His word. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - All Scripture, this word, is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Now, as we sit here this morning, is this something that we know to be true, believing it to be true? That this book that we have before us, this Bible, is not just some other book. This is God's inspired Word. It is, as 2 Timothy 3:16 says breathed out by God. Because what we find in this Bible is that it reveals, it teaches us about who this God is. It teaches us who we are and why we're separated from this God in sin. It reveals to us how we can be and are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ.
It is complete. It is perfect. Nothing to be added to it. Nothing to be taken away from it. This is why a word is used in the beginning of our confession, which says the Bible is infallible, which means there is no error in the Bible. So, when we read the Scriptures, we're not looking, scrutinizing for, well, there's a problem, there's where God got it wrong, there's where there's a mistake. No, we believe it to be completely true, and therefore it is authoritative, in our lives.
Now, when we have that established as a foundational point in the subject of the Church, we've just dealt with Membership, now we come to the church, we begin with Doctrine, we can begin to understand its significance and importance in the life of the church.
Now, dealing explicitly with Acts 2:42, when we see that these members who've been added devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, we would then ask, well, specifically, what this teaching was, and we have examples of that? For example, Acts 8:25 - Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. So, people were hearing the gospel being preached. And as the gospel was being preached, as souls were being saved, these men, these apostles, then elders, would be discipling the believers. And the discipling, as we'll come to a theme later in this series, is the investing in teaching the truth of the Scriptures. That's why in Titus 2:1, Paul exhorts Titus - But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. It is sound. It is steadfast. It is an anchor for the soul of the believer. Similarly, with Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:13, he also says to Timothy - Follow the pattern of sound words or sound doctrine.
And this is the key emphasis that we see as the building of the church. The doctrine, the teachings, of the Bible. So, that's the what is doctrine, the teaching, the instruction of the Bible, teaching us the doctrines that we find about God, about man, of sin, of salvation, of the church, throughout the Scriptures. This is what doctrine is.
Why is doctrine important?
Now we come to our second question, and we'll be spending much more time on this. Why is it important? Why is doctrine, sound doctrine, following the pattern of sound doctrine, why is this important?
Well, the first thing to establish is that when we come to read the Bible, when we come, for example, on a Sunday morning to hear the preaching, the teaching of the Bible, this is not simply, and not primarily, to give you some head knowledge, though important as that is. No, it is built upon heart transformation that shapes and guides your life. It's why in Psalm 119:105, it declares of the Bible - Your word, this Bible, your word, is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
So, this is giving us a framework with which to understand the importance of the Bible in our lives. Note, it is not saying that we are to come providing the light to the Scriptures with our own perspective. Now, many will do that. They will think, I'm the light to the Scriptures, and I will direct the Scriptures according to my path. But that is not what the Bible says. No, it says that this Word is that lamp. This Word is that light guiding and directing you in the way that you are to go. And so, therefore, this would be why doctrine must be central in your life as a Christian and also in the life of the church. And it has been from the very beginning, as it guides us in where to go, cutting through with regards to the sin which separates us from God.
This is why in Hebrews 4:12-13, which we studied last year, it says – For the word of God is living and active. Note this language of this Bible. It is not a distant, dead, dormant book. It is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature, nobody is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Look at the language, the penetrating, piercing, convicting language of the word of God. The Bible and sound doctrine, therefore, has the power to do this. And so, therefore, as it is proclaimed, for example, in the pulpit, there is power, living and active power, to challenge you, to convict you, to exhort you, to encourage you, to build you up, to guide and direct you in your life. It shapes, fashions, drives your life and your affections. This is what the Bible has the power to do. For we see even in 1 Corinthians 1:18 - For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God. There is power even in this word, in the revelation, the proclamation of the gospel to save sinners. That's what this book, the Bible, the word has the power to do.
And this begins to enable us to see why it is so important, why it is so central. Isaiah 55:11 - so shall my words be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. That's the power of the word of God.
And it's why in a country like ours, when church buildings were being put together, there would be an erected pulpit which would be front and central in order to have the Word being placed there because the Bible is front and central in the life of that church.
Now this also then takes us to another important component of the why it is important, particularly in relation to the church and the subject of the church. Both the apostle Paul and Peter warn of false teachers and also false doctrine spreading and corrupting the church in chapters like 2 Corinthians 11 and 2 Peter 2. So, there is danger of not sound doctrine, but false doctrine infiltrating the church. And so therefore, there is a need, a need that we have as a church to be built up, to be trained by this Word. Note this, brothers and sisters, we need to be trained up in godliness by the Word of God. Because if we are not being taught, discipled, trained in this Word, then what happens in the life of that church to the individual believer?
Well, Ephesians 4:14 warns of the danger, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
We need the Bible. And so, it should be obvious to us, yes, we need the Bible to be front and central in the life of the church. That should be something we would agree with. But here is where the problem lies. Not only do we have the warning of the dangers of false teachers and false teaching, false doctrine, we also have many, even within the church, and sometimes especially within the church, who do not want sound doctrine. And worse still, brothers and sisters, and this is the danger that we all must heed, they, perhaps we, don't realize that we don't want it.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 says - For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Now that word endure is very pointed. Because when it comes to the Bible, we would think, I'm opening up the Bible as a Christian, this is what I want to read, this is what I want to hear. And yet the warning in the Bible itself is, there will come a time when people will not endure it. This is something I can't tolerate to hear, to listen to, to submit to, to live by. Now, how could such a thing happen? How could this happen in a church?
Well, often it begins with the framework that we see right at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis with Satan in the Garden of Eden, with a framework beginning, did God really say? Did he really say that? And perhaps often it doesn't begin with - did God really say that Jesus must die for our sins? Maybe it would begin with - did God really say this about such and such a matter? That's maybe, well, let's call it a secondary issue. And then we begin to question, we begin to scrutinize, we begin to soon reject that, and we question others and others and others. And then eventually, what do we find happening? A liberal slide into outright apostasy. Now that's a direction that we see happening in real time in a country like ours where denominations which once in this land stood firmly upon the Word of God have now firmly rejected it.
But there's also the notable slide elsewhere within the church, where what we have today is the age of biblical tolerance. Now, what does this look like? Well, it looks like a church, a church leadership, on the subject of doctrine, giving a very sweeping general, maybe few points, very vague statement of things we believe, but we are wanting to emphasize how tolerant we are of everyone's different beliefs. And what do you do when you start going down that road as a church, where we say this point and this point and this point doesn't matter? Well, we're effectively saying that our doctrine doesn't matter. And this is because our churches do not have doctrine as front and central, but rather we have the customer, which is you in the church, and where the leader of that church has to accommodate you, the customer, according to your wants and your felt needs.
So, what needs to happen? Well, there must be a dumbing down of the standard by which we function as the church. Now, this is not something that has happened overnight. We can go back one, two generations, where maybe it began with families coming in and thinking, well, we need something for our children. We need some entertaining program to keep them occupied, keep them interested in church. And what ends up happening? That generation of children, they now are the adults, and they themselves are wanting and expecting that same standard of superficial level of approach to doctrine and church, where things like, if the coffee machine is right, if the worship is entertaining enough, and so on and so forth. Though many won't say that, that's what they're thinking is important. So, what then happens with the teaching, the preaching of the Word of God, and the emphasis on sound doctrine, the importance of a life of holiness, and the calling of sinners to repentance?
Well, if churches are to actually stand up and say, this is what we believe the Bible teaches, and this is the doctrinal standard of the church, then increasingly what we find in response to this is that such churches are seen to be being unloving, even argumentative, arrogant, potentially described as divisive or sectarian. This is why many people would say, it doesn't matter what we believe specifically as long as we worship Christ, and why others would simply say, well, doctrine divides, so let's not divide over it in the life of the church.
But doctrine does divide truth from error, and because we worship Christ, because Christ is who matters, who is front and central, it therefore does matter what we believe about Christ, about His church, about His Word. Because this is the book, the Bible, which reveals Christ. And so, therefore, what the details of this book, the Bible, say and what is taught, therefore, has to matter.
But we look at even the more evangelical conservative ends of starting churches. How many times have I had conversations or heard people speak about church planting and doctrine is neither here nor there? There is so much excellent work that is done in this country by church plants in seeking to react to difficult situations in communities and schemes in this country. And that is good in terms of evangelism, but that does not establish biblical churches. And by a generation, what happens to them? One such church planter said years into some encouraging evangelical work, evangelistic work within a church plant, that only then they were going to start thinking about what the church that they'd built actually believes.
And we've already established what doctrine is. This is the Bible. What the Bible says, what the Bible teaches matters. If there is one truth foundation that we need as that lamp, as that light, as the watering of the earth, as the impact to the soul, it is the Bible. And if there is one organization, one group of people that you would be seeking to be clear should have this front and central, it would be Christ's Bride, which is the church.
And that's therefore the question to any and every church, including and especially this church. As we look at a world, a culture around us that becomes all the more woke, worldly, and wicked, are we ready in the direction in which our world is going to stand with conviction and clarity about what we stand upon? In every aspect of life with Christ at the absolute forefront and centre of our hearts and lives. This shapes how we think and act. This shapes the way by which we prioritize church. It shapes how we lead and raise our family. It shapes the direction we go in context of workplace, hobbies, and interests. Everything is about Christ. And again, it's why the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:3 – As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
And so, there are 2 crucial points with regards to this. First of all, there is the upholding of sound doctrine, not any differing and divisive doctrine. But also, brothers and sisters, we do need to consider the impact that doctrine has on our character, life, and application. So, the how we uphold doctrine, even the manner by which we say it and uphold it, matters. Because note what Paul says, the aim of our charge is love, a pure heart and a good conscience. So yes, as brothers and sisters in this church, it is foundational that we must be clear about what we believe and we will not compromise.
But we do not then do that in a manner which is swimming in self-righteous pride. Doctrine, as we've said, is not something exclusive to the head. It shapes and guides the heart. And so, one thing to pray with regards to sound doctrine in the life of the church, in the life of this church, is that sound doctrine would make you, would make me more humble and gracious in the way by which I stand on this solid ground, that the love of Christ would permeate in our lives, in our action, in the compassion and grace that we show to one another with our speech seasoned with salt, not coming with a constant critical spirit, but seeking to spur one another on with love and good works.
This is how we encourage brothers and sisters. And this is not, oh, well, I want to be loving, so I'll just forget doctrine. No, it is doctrine fuels that love. And that love does look like confronting sin, rebuking, and calling out issues that do arise. But it also looks like a spirit of humility, the very picture and model that we have as we look to the life of Christ. And see when he was silent, and see when he spoke in a way that many, even in the church today, would say, oh, that's pretty harsh. Christ is our example, so we look to Christ, knowing that doctrine matters. It matters in the life of the church, in the application of the church, and that means in the application of how we live as the church.
How is doctrine to be applied?
Now we come to our third question, how is doctrine to be applied? Now if we go back to the beginning of this church, 7 and a half years ago, the foundation by which I was sent and a group of people came together to begin and then constitute this church was establishing what we believe the Bible teaches. And so, we were established, constituted, as a Reformed Baptist church. And so, when we come to how is it applied, this is how it is applied in the life of this church. And maybe many, maybe even some here in this room would wonder, well, what does that mean? Because some people hear words, words like Reformed, and they think, oh, are we adding something else to Scripture? And praise be to God; it's the exact opposite of that, because when we hear the word Reformed, we go back to the time of the Reformation, beginning with the pushback and the rebuke of Martin Luther and others that followed in the establishing of the Protestant church, and that was grounded in 5 Solas that they wanted to establish, re-establish first in the Catholic Church and then in the establishing of the Protestant Reformed church. What were these 5 Solas?
Well, the first one to emphasize is Sola Scriptura, which is emphasizing Scripture Alone as the authority for the church and the Christian's life. Note this and underline it because we're dealing with doctrine and we begin with Scripture Alone. Not Scripture plus something, no, Scripture Alone. That was what was being emphasized in a time of apostasy and heresy within the Roman Catholic Church. Then there was Sola Fide, which is by Faith Alone that one is saved, not by our works. There was Sola Gratia, by Grace Alone that one is saved. Sola Christus, through Christ Alone that we are saved, and Soli Deo Gloria, which is to the Glory of God Alone. And this was the foundation of the Reformation and the reforming of the establishing of these churches, Reformed churches.
And so, when churches began to come together upon this doctrinal foundation, there were 3 key areas that stands out then and now with regards to what makes a church Reformed? And that is that they're Calvinistic, they are Covenantal, and they are Confessional. So, nowadays we have so many people saying, well, I'm Reformed, or my church is Reformed. Well, here are three key areas as a marker and a test for what it means to be a Reformed church?
Now, let's start with this, a church being Calvinistic. Now, by the grace of God, recently we were actually dealing with this subject when we were in Hebrews chapter 6. So, this should be fairly fresh, but let me just briefly recap and summarize another portion of history which is crucial to the doctrine of how we get saved. What does it mean for a church to be Calvinistic? Well, during this period of the reforming of churches, there then came an uprising of liberal and heretical teaching about the doctrine of salvation. This came through men like Jacob Arminius, who made the argument that man is not in a totally depraved, sinful condition, and so, therefore, any talk of God's election is based on His foreknowledge of what we will decide. And so, therefore, Jesus died for every person in the world, and it's up to us to decide to follow Jesus. And so, therefore, grace is something that can be resisted, and we could lose our salvation. Now, in response to this, there was a group of people, a synod (The Synod of Dort) as it was called, the Canons of Dort, a group of people came together to analyze this and reject this teaching as a false teaching, and they then put together what is now known as the Five Points of Calvinism, based on what John Calvin and the other Reformers taught about what the Bible teaches regarding salvation.
So, when we hear the word Calvinism, this is not an add-on to the Bible. This is Reformed men, such as Calvin, who established what the Bible says. That we are a people, from Scripture as we see, who are in a totally depraved condition of sin. So, we are that valley of dry bones. We are dead. And therefore, we cannot wake ourselves up spiritually, we cannot make ourselves a Christian by deciding to ask Jesus into this dead heart because we are dead spiritually. And so, we come to God's election, which is not based on God seeing what we are going to do. No, it is based on what God decrees according to the eternal counsel of the will of the triune God. And the eternal counsel of the will of the triune God was that the second person of the triune God, Jesus Christ, would come to this earth. And He came to this earth for His chosen people. He didn't die for every person in the world. He died for those for whom He came to secure an atonement for. He came to die for His elect. He laid down His life for them. And so, therefore, every single one of the elect will be irresistibly drawn by this grace, and they will persevere to the end. Salvation cannot be lost, because salvation is all and entirely because of Christ.
This is what it means to be Calvinistic, and it is a crucial pillar of understanding what it means to be Reformed and a Reformed church. Now, the next one, which is more confrontational and potentially controversial, is on being Covenantal and by confrontational within the realm of the Reformed world. If we were to study Reformed doctrine, we would see quickly that the first Reformed churches that were being established they upheld this Calvinistic doctrine, the 5 Solas, but the doctrines that they were upholding were on the basis of churches that were Presbyterian in their ecclesiology. So, the first Reformed churches were Presbyterian, and the most formative country for the establishing of Reformed churches to have an impact throughout the world was here in Scotland. Because a man called John Knox studied under John Calvin, and he brought this rich doctrine to the shores of this land, and he established these doctrines in the form of the establishing of the Church of Scotland. And look at the mess it's in today. But it is absolutely glorious a history to behold.
And these churches were Presbyterian, which means 2 things which differ from where we are at doctrinally. Number one, their ecclesiology is hierarchical. They believe in a presbytery of governing elders who ordain and appoint elders, pastors in specific local churches they called parishes. And also, they believed that there was covenants in Scripture but that there was one consistent covenant of grace throughout the Bible and one administration of that covenant. So, they would argue that God's community in the old, the old covenant includes the children Israel who were circumcised, and then God's community in the new covenant also includes the children who are part of the visible church. So, there is the argument of a consistent administration.
Now, for us as Reformed Baptists, we would differ on these 2 points. We do not believe or agree with a hierarchical Presbyterian structure of governance. We believe in the independence of the local church, but the interdependence of fellowship with like-minded churches, and also, we would absolutely uphold we are covenantal in our belief about God's covenant of grace, but that there is differences in the administration from old to new. And the difference in administration, as we looked at when we were in baptism, is that in the old covenant, the administration is to a physical people, which is Israel, and there is then a fulfillment of the new covenant in Christ's blood, and that becomes for those of faith. And this is why the baptism is not of children, because they are not of faith. It is the baptism of believer, because the believer is the one who has faith. This does not mean we are not covenantal, but we have a different understanding of covenantal application.
And if you're wondering, well, does that hold up in the history of the Reformed tradition? And the answer is yes. As we thought about when we introduced our confession last year, there were what was known as Presbyterian heresy hunters who were on the lookout in the 17th century for people, particularly amongst Baptists, who were preaching a false gospel. They scrutinized what these first Reformed Baptists, called Particular Baptists, were teaching, and they said that even though they have a different understanding of covenant, and this means baptism by immersion for those of faith, they agreed that the Reformed Baptists were orthodox in their Calvinistic and Reformed beliefs.
And so, we are Reformed by being Calvinistic, Covenantal, and also Confessional. During this time when the heresy hunters were out looking and scrutinizing, the Particular Baptist, these Reformed Baptists, they put together the first confession of faith of its kind, the First London Baptist Confession. Soon after that, the Presbyterians put together the Westminster Confession of Faith, and as these Reformed Baptists through the 17th century were facing an increase of persecution, they decided to show their unity with their other brothers and sisters. And so, what they did, they took some of the teachings, the writings of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and also another document, the Savoy Declaration, and they put together the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. And there we have the origins of Reformed Baptist Church, which is written in a confession of faith, which again is not an add-on to the doctrine of the Scriptures. No, it is a summary, an explanation of what the Scriptures teach, because these men who put this together, they saw the Bible matters. It is important for the life of the church and how she functions.
And this is our foundation. Here, hundreds of years later, is Grace Baptist Church Aberdeen. Being Baptist in our understanding of what it means to be baptized on profession of faith, we are Reformed in our understanding of doctrine, Calvinistic, Covenantal, and Confessional, and we come as a people who seek to stand upon this Word because we believe that the Bible is infallible. It is the authority in our lives. It is the authority for the church. Being clear to declare that, being clear about what it says, is something that has to matter in the life of the church. All too often and in all too many cases, we are seeing a downward slide. And oh, may it be that the Word itself, preached faithfully and preached to the honour and glory of God and the proclamation of the true life-saving message of the gospel, may it be that this truth would build us up, feed us, enable us to grow, for we are, as we saw last week, Christ's bride.
We are the bride of Christ. We are dearly beloved. And Christ is doing a work in us and through us. We are being sanctified. We are a people set apart in the truth, as the Lord Jesus prays. And His Word, the sound doctrine, is the truth upon which we stand. Let's pray together.
O Father, we pray, may you grant us a greater and unwavering clarity about what the importance of sound doctrine means, why it matters, and how it is applied in the life of our church. Father, may we be students of the Word. May we grow in the renewing of our minds, in the being trained in godliness, in being those who stand upright before the Most High God because of your saving grace, because we are justified, because of Christ's righteousness. Lord, we thank you that the fruit of such a work, a completed saving work, is what we see being applied in the life of the church, and the foundation upon which we stand is the Word of God. So, help us, O Lord, to have a desire to read it, to search it, to be consumed by it, to live according to it. O Lord, have Your way among us by Your Spirit. Do a penetrating and a convicting work for Your honour and glory. For we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.