(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

You should never use a parable as a baseline for doctrine. Never use a parable as a baseline for doctrine. What do I mean by that? You know, if there's a doctrine on salvation, doctrine on the Trinity, doctrine on soul winning, you should never go to the parable as your proof text to prove that specific doctrine, okay? It should never be used as a baseline for doctrine because of the fact that parables, by their very nature, are obscure, okay? We need the clear teachings of scripture in order to know what the Bible says regarding a specific topic, subject, doctrine, and then these parables are basically used to kind of open the understanding of that particular doctrine. And the reason I say this is because a lot of false prophets will use parables as a baseline for doctrine because they want to confuse people. They want to confuse them, they're trying to deceive them, and so they'll use some of the most obscure parables in the Bible to kind of twist things and pervert things because they kind of basically can impose their own definition upon that parable and say, well, it's talking about salvation. It's talking about you have to work your way to salvation, work your way to heaven, you know, and so they'll use these obscure teachings in order to teach that. This is why we should never use it to teach a doctrine necessarily as its proof text, okay? Not only that, but parables enrich already established doctrines. So we look at a clear teaching in the Bible. Sometimes the Bible clearly teaches about salvation, about Jesus Christ, about ministry, whatever it may be. We look at these parables that Jesus Christ put forth, and, excuse me, we look at these teachings that Jesus Christ put forth, and we can reference parables in order to enrich the teaching that Jesus Christ clearly taught, you understand? So you think about salvation, the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works that any man should boast. If you find a parable that illustrates that manner of salvation, it only enriches that doctrine. You understand? It's like the cherry on top, it's helping you to expand your understanding of the scriptures. For example, you have the teaching of sowing, that we have to open our mouths boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel. We're out there sowing seeds of salvation to people. This parable that we see in Matthew 13 of the sower and the seed expands the understanding of sowing because it tells you what type of ground that seed could potentially fall upon, you understand? So it's not meant to be used to teach sowing, it's meant to enrich the teaching of sowing, okay? And so parables should never be used as a baseline for doctrine. Parables enrich already established doctrines. They should never be used to explain clear teachings, or excuse me, they should never be used as a means to explain clear doctrines. You use the clear doctrines to basically teach people and you use the parables to back that up, okay?