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

The verse that I want to focus the sermon on was in verse 9 where the Bible read, holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. And the title of my sermon tonight is sound doctrine. And it's such a great verse it's where our church even got its name right there from faithful word, faithful word Baptist Church. And what does faithful word Baptist Church do? Well it teaches sound doctrine. And we need sound doctrine today. And to understand the word doctrine, even if you just look up in a dictionary, it's a good definition. It says it's a belief or a set of beliefs held by a church, a political party, or another group. Now doctrine in and of itself is just kind of a generic word. It can be good. It could be bad. That's why we see it paired with the word sound doctrine. Because there can be bad doctrines. We see in the Bible there's the doctrines of Balaam. We see there can be the doctrines of men. There can be the doctrines of God. There can be what the Bible is saying here, sound doctrine. And we see the liberal churches today, most churches today, they don't even like the word doctrine. Let alone are they teaching sound doctrine. They avoid doctrine at all costs. What is that? Emphasizing what they believe, setting forth their beliefs, and especially that of sound beliefs, sound doctrine. That's why they always like to tell all the stories of the Bible. They like to tell all the parables of the Bible. They don't like to teach the clear commandments of God, which is where we should base our doctrine. You say, I want sound doctrine. I want to know where to get the sound doctrine. You get it from the clear statements and the commandments of God. You don't want to base all your doctrine on stories and on parables and on dark sayings. Then you can basically make it say whatever you want. And it just makes the preacher have the ability to just get up and say whatever's on his heart, whatever he wants. And most of these people are unsaved. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. He just speaks a bunch of perverse things, strange and diverse doctrines, not things that the Bible teaches. And there's a lot of ways you can mess up on this point. You could just not teach sound doctrine. So you might know what the truth is. You might have the truth and you just don't teach it. You just are afraid to teach the clear commandments of the Bible. Another way you can screw up is by just teaching false doctrine. Just teaching, hey, I'm teaching doctrines, but they're not what the Bible says. I just made them up. They're not sound doctrine. The Bible says in Proverbs 26 verse seven, the legs of the lame are not equal. So is a parable in the mouth of fools. As a thorn goes up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. Why do they not like sound doctrine? Well, they're a fool. And so they constantly go to the parables and they just teach their ideas, man's ideas. You say, why are there so many lame Christians today? Why are there so many Christians that don't know the Bible? It's because nobody's teaching them sound doctrine. They're teaching them lame doctrine. They're teaching them man's opinion, man's ideas. They get up and teach a vague sermon. They go up and teach a lame sermon. And then you have a bunch of lame Christians. You want to have sound Christians? You got to teach them sound doctrine. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 32 if you want. Man, I don't like Christianity today. Why are all the Christians so lame? Why do the Christians not know the Bible? Because they're not being taught sound doctrine from the pulpits today. If they were teaching them sound doctrine, you would see a dramatic difference in Christians today, in the response of Christianity. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 1. It says, Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass, because I'll publish the name of the Lord, ascribing greatness unto our God. He is the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment, a God of truth and without iniquity. Just and right is he. You say, man, I want to know how to get the doctrine. I want to know how to have a sound doctrine. It's right there in verse 1, the words of his mouth, the words that come from God's mouth. That's how you get his doctrine. You say, what is God's doctrine? I just want to know what God believes. I want to know what his ideas are. It's what he said. It's the words that came out of his mouth. That is God's doctrine. So if you want to teach sound doctrine, you need to emphasize the words that came out of Jesus Christ's mouth, out of God's mouth. Go to Proverbs chapter 4, if you will. I'll read for you from 1 Timothy chapter 1. The Bible says, Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and it have to be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which is committed to my trust. Now we got a huge list there. He was saying, what is the purpose of the law? It's for all these wicked people, for the ungodly, for the murderers, for the men-stealers, for the liars, for the perjured persons. And it's like, and if there's any other thing that is contrary to what? Sound doctrine. Proving what? That the law, the commandments of God, that's where they got the sound doctrine in the first place. That's where they figured out that all these people were sinners in the first place, is because it came from the sound doctrine of God's word. How do we even know murder is wrong? By the sound doctrine of the Bible that comes from God's law. You say, I want to have sound doctrine. Well, it comes from God's commandments. Look at Proverbs chapter four, verse one. Hear ye, children, the instruction of a father, and attend to no understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsaking not my law. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. Now the Bible says you're not under the law, but under grace. So the Bible makes it clear in the New Testament, we're not under the curse of the law. We're dead from sin. We are dead from sin. We're made free by the blood of Jesus Christ, okay? But in their zeal to maybe prove that they actually believe the Bible, which they don't many times. These liberal churches, they'll give lip service to faith alone, even though they don't really believe it. But in their zeal to teach this, they'll say, well, we're not under the law. We need to stop preaching the commandments of God. We need to stop preaching the law, and we need to preach the love. You know what ends up happening? No doctrine. They never teach any of God's commandments. They don't teach the clear, sound doctrine that God gives us, where does it come from? From the law. Look at verse two, for I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. Hey, I want good doctrine. Where are you gonna get that? From God's laws. When you mess up is when you don't get anything from the commandment of God. When you say, this is wrong, this is a sin. Well, point me to the commandment, point me to the law that's in this book that said that. Because if there's not a commandment, if there's not a law, the Bible says where there is no law, there's no sin when there is no law. I mean, if there's not a commandment, not to do it, it's not a sin. Sin comes, sin is a transgression of the law, according to the Bible. So in order to have good doctrine, we need to get all of our doctrine from the commandments of God. Go if you would to Titus chapter two now. The Bible says in John chapter seven, it says, now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught, and the Jews marveled saying, how know this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them and said, my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true. And no unrighteousness is in him. Did not Moses give you the law? And yet none of you keep it the law? Why go you about to kill me? So now we see Jesus Christ, he gets up, he reads the Bible, he's reading the commandments of God, and he says, what? My doctrine is not mine. So what he just taught when he's reading the Bible, when he's given instruction in the Bible, that's considered the doctrine. And he says, hey, what I'm teaching you, what I'm saying is the beliefs of the Bible is not mine, it's him that sent me, it's this book. I'm not preaching my opinion up here, I'm just preaching what this book just said. I'm teaching you what the Bible said. And then he says, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. The person that's not speaking what God said, he's speaking of himself and he's not truthful. He's a liar. You say, who's the true prophet of God? It's the one that's speaking God's words, not his own. We see even Jesus Christ was this example saying, look, I'm not teaching my own just made up doctrine, I'm just teaching you what the Bible already said. I'm not coming up with just something new, with something that I just made up myself. No, it's all right here in the Bible, it's God's word. He said, did not Moses give you the law? So what was he teaching from? The law, he was teaching from Moses. Look at Titus chapter two, verse one. But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the age of men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith and charity and patience. The age of women likewise that they be in behavior as become of holiness, not false accusers, not given much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. Now, if you were to read the Bible and you're just following God's commandments, you're not gonna be marveling at things that are in the Bible. If you read the Bible, if you know what it says, you're trying to find and follow his commandments, you're not gonna think it's strange when you hear somebody preach the Bible. You're not gonna think it's strange when they preach the commandments. But unfortunately, our society today has been so brainwashed, they're so far away from the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, that when you preach the clear commandments of the Bible, when you preach just what the Bible says, tons of people are offended. Tons of people, they get really irritated. They say, that's not what the Bible teaches. That's not what God's word says. That's not what Jesus is like. They're so brainwashed today. Why? Because there's no sound doctrine. So when you just get up and you preach what the Bible just literally says is sound doctrine, everyone's gonna be offended. Look what it has said there in verse four, that they may teach the young women to be sober. Look at verse six, young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. In verse two, it said that the age of men be sober. One of the most sound doctrines of the Bible is that you should be sober. But today, so many churches today, they say, oh, it's okay to drink alcohol. It's okay to drink wine. It's okay to drink strong drink in moderation. How is that being sober today? If you got up in most of the churches today and you just say drinking alcohol is a sin, everybody's gonna be offended. Why? Because they're not teaching sound doctrine. If they're constantly preaching God's commandments, if they're constantly preaching God's law, if they're constantly preaching the Bible, people won't be offended when you teach sound doctrine. But when there's an absence of sound doctrine, when you're not just teaching the clear commandments of the Bible, when people have no knowledge of what the Bible says, when you preach the sound doctrine, multitudes are offended. People just by and large, they can't handle the preaching. It's too hard for them. And you say, why is it important to preach the sound doctrine? Well, if they get the people that want to get right, teach them how to get right. And the people that don't want to get right, they can just hit the road, Jack. I mean, we don't need a bunch of people in here crowding up the space that don't want to believe the Bible, that don't want to follow God's commandments, that don't want to learn sound doctrine. Jesus Christ did not cater to people when they were offended. When Jesus Christ preached, he just preached the raw truth, he just preached what was right, and he just let the chips fall where they may. He just preached the sound doctrine. And when the Pharisees got offended, he just left. Or he just said, who cares? You know, he didn't care about the Pharisees. He said, are you offended too? Will you go away? I mean, he's like, I'm just going to preach what the Bible says because I'm looking to help people and I'm going to help those that love the truth. John chapter three teaches that, but it says that he that doeth truth come into the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. The person that wants the truth, he wants to know what the sound doctrine is so that he can get it right. Go if you would to Proverbs 23. What does sober even mean? It's very simple. It's just people don't want to believe what it means. It means not affected by alcohol. You look over the first definition in the dictionary, it says not affected by alcohol. You look up the second definition of it, it's becoming sober from alcohol. I mean, it's the same definition. Everybody knows what it means to be sober. Even the drunk down the street knows what it means to be sober. How come Christians today don't know what it means to be sober? It's because they don't have to be teaching them sound doctrine. That's why. We see all the lame churches today, they want to teach their opinion, their idea. They're not just opening their Bible saying, hey, it says to preach sound doctrine. Let's go ahead and read this. You need to be sober, older men. You need to be sober, older women. You need to be sober, young servants. Hey, everybody in here needs to be sober. They're not teaching that. They're not preaching that. Proverbs chapter 20 verse 1, wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Now, why in the world, if you're a pastor, would you want your people to be stupid? Would you want them to be foolish? But the Bible's saying, look, those that are entrapped by alcohol, those that are entrapped by wine, those that are deceived by the strong drink, they're not wise. They're stupid. And if you want your people to be wise, if you want your people to have instruction, you need to teach them sound doctrine. Look at Proverbs chapter 23 verse 29. Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath loons without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. Now, here's my question. For those that want to argue for moderation drinking, I would say, well, what beverage is it that I'm not supposed to even look at? I mean, if you're going to take this really foolish idea that somehow drinking alcohol is okay, drinking poison, harming your body, becoming intoxicated, not being sober, is somehow magically not being reproved here in Titus chapter 2, well, how about in Proverbs 23, what is this beverage that I'm not even supposed to look at? I mean, are they going to say that it's, you know, non-alcoholic here? They say, hey, I can't look at grape juice. I mean, it's clear that it's wine. I mean, the Bible makes it clear when it moveth itself aright. What? Talking about the fermentation process that you would see when a beverage goes from being non-alcoholic to becoming alcoholic. That's why it gives these type of definitions. When it is red. Now, if you just took some grapes, that's probably the most common fruit that people think of for wine, and you were just to squeeze a bunch of fresh grapes into a cup. What color would that be? I mean, anyway that's never done it, it's white. It's been basically clear. It has no color to it. So in the fermentation process, how they usually would make wine is they take the grape, the outside, and they would let it sit in the juice. And that would cause the fermentation process from the yeast on the outside of the grape. And after time, it would change color when it moveth itself aright and it would become red. That's why the Bible makes it clear, look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. If I were to just take a bunch of grapes right now and squeeze them into a cup, it would be a basically clear liquid. I can drink that. What's wrong with that? I'm gonna see even Jesus Christ, you know, had the fruit of the vine at the last supper. Clearly not an alcoholic beverage, clearly not something that would make you not to be sober. Even in the 1 Timothy chapter number five, the Bible's instructed Paul unto Timothy, drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thine often infirmities. But he backed it up by saying, look, the pastor is not to be given to wine. How would that make any sense if he's talking about the same beverage there? And I honestly think when he talked about 1 Timothy chapter three, that wine is both non-alcoholic, because oftentimes wine is reference to prosperity. It's a reference to wealth. And it's just saying, look, the pastor should not be given to wine at all. He should not be looking to live this just luxurious life, constantly indulging the flesh. And that's why it would give the caveat to the deacon to say, not given to much wine. That doesn't make any sense if it was alcoholic beverage. He's saying, look, oh, the pastor doesn't drink any alcohol, but the deacon, you know, he could have a couple. He can have a six pack. No, it's just talking about the fact that the deacons should also, you know, for the most part, stay away from all this prosperity and this wealth, but it would be okay if they indulge some. It's okay if they had a little bit, but not much wine. I mean, they shouldn't be indulging much of the time. The pastor, he's supposed to be living above approach. He should never be indulging in any kind of wine. What we see here in Proverbs 23, is this a non-alcoholic beverage? No, it wouldn't even make any sense. Is the Bible saying here, you can't even look at any fruit juice? No, it's clearly making a reference to alcohol. And when the Bible makes it clear, hey, you need to be sober, that means you should never be affected with any kind of drugs, any kind of alcohol ever. And we need to preach sound doctrine. Why? There's so many people that are ruining their lives today because they're drunk, because they're not sober, because they're just ruining their life. They're throwing money down the drain. They're going out to bars. They're getting drunk and they're driving home and killing people. They're hurting their families. They're getting divorced. They're causing adultery. There's so much fornication. There's so much promiscuity in this country because of drunkenness. And we see, oh, but I don't teach sound doctrine. I just go and preach what my heart wants. And you know what? I'm a priest of wine, so I'm going to prophesy wine to you like it's in the Old Testament. But go to First Timothy chapter 2, if you would. But the Bible makes it clear that we're not supposed to drink wine. In Proverbs 31, the Bible says, it is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Give strong drink a name that is ready to perish, and wine to those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. Now the Bible says when you drink, there's a consequence that comes with it. You forget the law. Now I tried to establish already that we get the doctrine from what? From God's law, right? So why in the world would sound doctrine teach that you could drink alcohol so then you could forget the law? Hey, I'm going to teach you sound doctrine that you can lose the sound doctrine I just taught you. No, you're supposed to be sober so you can remember the law, so you can follow God's commandments, so you can have the blessing of God in your life. The Bible even says in Deuteronomy 21, you don't have to turn there, but it says, if a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastised him will not hearken unto them, then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders of his city and unto the gate of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of this city, this is our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of this city shall stone him with stones that he die. So shalt thou put evil away from among you and all Israel shall hear and fear. Now according to the Bible, the drunkard, the kid that's just stubborn and rebellious, he's not sober. He doesn't hearken unto his parents. And the New Testament talks about him even smiting his parents. The Bible says he should be taken out in stone to death. But today, we have all kinds of kids who's getting drunk constantly in church, getting drunk with their parents, you know, not teaching them any sound doctrine. They're not going to a church listening how to be sober. They're not getting God's clear commandments saying, hey, the drunkard should be taken out in stone when he's rebellious. We don't see that being taught. We don't see the sound doctrine. We don't see God's law being taught. And then what do we have? We have all this kind of filth in our country. We have all kinds of people ruining their lives. They're just so stupid and foolish. I was out soul winning just last week and I ran into a lady. I couldn't even give her the gospel because she was so drunk. She couldn't even understand anything that was going on. What a horrible consequence. You have an opportunity to get saved, to go to heaven, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you're just so drunk you can't even get saved. What a horrible curse for being drunk. You don't even have, you can't even hear God's word. It says in chapter five, it said to be, in verse five, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed also. So in Titus, when it was talking about the sound doctrine, it said that women were supposed to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good. How about this one? Obedient to their own husbands that the word of God be not blasphemed. Now I'm not just making up doctrine tonight. I'm just going where the Bible clearly says sound doctrine. It already reproved us saying, hey, you gotta be sober, you gotta be sober, you gotta be sober. But then it says women need to be obedient to their own husbands. Now I think if I was preaching this sermon in a, you know, mega church today, pretty much everybody left already, but you know, we're just gonna keep on preaching the Bible. We're gonna preach the sound doctrine. But it says that a woman that's not obedient to her husband, yeah, that's right, obedience to her husband, it says the word of God is blasphemed. It says the word of God is blasphemed. So can you imagine tonight, a woman just standing up in the church service and just started using the Lord Jesus Christ's name blasphemously, just using it like a four letter word, just standing up and just screaming blasphemies about the Lord Jesus Christ's name, saying the most filthy things you can imagine about your savior's name. That's what the Bible says. It's lying. When a woman won't obey her husband. But we see today, there's so many women today wearing the pants physically and in the house. They're the ones taking control. They're the ones leading the home. They're the ones telling their husband no. Oh, hey, I want to go out, you know, and do some work. I want to go to church, but I gotta ask my wife. I gotta ask her if it'll be okay. Hey honey, will you please let me go and do this one thing? Will you please let me hang out with my friends? Will you please let me go to church? That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that men should be men and that women should be obedient to their own husbands that the word of God be not blasphemed. The word of God is blasphemed. And it's gross and disgusting and filthy as a woman to just stand there and blaspheme Jesus Christ's name out in public is the same for just not being obedient to her husband. What? When you see a husband and wife and the woman rebukes her husband in public, tells him no. Tells him, hey, you're not going to do that. That's just as blasphemous as literally blaspheming the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I think a lot of people don't understand that today. They teach these 50-50 marriages or they teach this, you know, who can lead whatever they want and do it. That's not what the Bible teaches. That's not sound doctrine. That's not coming from God's law. That's coming from man. That's coming from man's heart. Coming from a lazy, weak man, apparently. I mean, some lazy, weak guy somewhere decided he wanted his wife to rule over him. That sounds horrible. You know, it makes me think of Adam and Eve. You know what? Adam should have had more rules for his wife, apparently. He should have said, hey, don't go by that tree. Don't touch the fruit. He didn't have a rule over his house, did he? He let his wife give him the fruit. Hey, honey, eat this. Who was wearing the pants in that relationship? Well, they're both naked, but we see metaphorically, we see Eve has given him the instruction. That's wicked. The Bible says, but I suffered not a woman to teach, nor do you serve authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived is in the transgression. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. What does that mean? That means, hey, look, the man needs to have some rules for his house, not just his children, even his wife. You say, you think that husbands should have rules for their wife? Yes, I do. Sounds like Adam needed to have a couple more rules, didn't he? He said, why do you have rules for your children? Why would a parent even make rules for their children? Is it because they hate them? No, it's because they love their children. Every rule that you make for your child is because you love them and you want good to be unto them. Hey, don't touch the stove, it's hot. Hey, you need to go to bed on time. Hey, you need to eat your vegetables. Hey, you need to obey. Those are not just arbitrary rules. Those are rules that help the child. Help the child be a good person, not to injure themselves, to be healthy. So why would a husband make rules for his wife? Because he loves her. A husband that has, you know, just no rule over his house. It's just a free for all. We just make it up as we go. That's not how it's going to work. The wife needs to be obedient under her own husband. And whatever rule that a husband would deem for his household, the Bible says the woman is supposed to be obedient under that. She's supposed to be obedient under her husband in all things. The Bible even makes it clear, even if a woman were to make a vow unto the Lord, she would make some kind of oath unto the Lord. Her husband can disallow it. Her husband has the power and the authority to say, no, that's a foolish rule. No, you're not going to do that. Done. I mean, the Bible makes it clear from the law of God that the man is in charge. The man is the one that's supposed to lead the home. The woman is supposed to be obedient under her own husband. It's not a 50-50. It's a hundred percent and zero percent. The man has a hundred percent authority. The woman has zero percent. You say, oh, is that because men are better than women? No, that's just what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that the man is supposed to be in complete authority and complete power. And he's supposed to lead by example. By what? By putting other people first, by putting his wife first, by putting, you know, cherishing her and loving her and providing for her and taking care of her. The Bible doesn't say that you should lord over your house. It doesn't teach that you should just make arbitrary rules. But a loving husband will take authority of his house. And one thing for sure, you know, my wife's never going to be my teacher. She's never going to be my authority in the house. I'm going to be the one to instruct her. The Bible even makes it clear that if she has a question, she should ask her husband at home. The husband is going to be the one that leads. And we see a lot of weak men today, a lot of weak spiritual leaders, they're not leading their home. They're not instructing their wife in the Bible. They're not instructing their wife in how to live in this world. And when a wife has a man, a God, that wants to stand up, that wants to lead his home, that wants to make rules, the wife should be subject unto it, otherwise realize she's blaspheming Jesus Christ. She's blaspheming the word of God. That's sound doctrine. It's coming straight from this chapter, which is explaining, hey, this is sound doctrine. But you know what, it's not popular. It's not what most churches want to teach. It's not what people like. It's not what people have heard. It's not what people have grown up with. It's not how their mom did it. And it's not how their grandma did it. It's not how her grandma did it. No, my grandma made the rules and my mom made the rules and I'm going to make the rules. Well, sorry, honey, you're blaspheming the word of God when you do that. You need to be obedient under your own husband. And a husband needs to lead. He needs to be the one in charge and authority and taking lead by example. Go to 1 Peter chapter 3. He said, what's the purpose of coming to church? It's to be more like Christ. Christ was subject unto the Father in all things. You say, oh, it's demeaning to women to obey their husband. Well, is it demeaning to Jesus Christ to be subject unto the Father? Was it demeaning for Jesus Christ to say, not my will but thy will be done? He was subjecting himself 100% under the Father's will as the perfect example of how a woman should be obedient under her own husband. How a pastor should be 100% subject under the word of God, under the Lord Jesus Christ as the head of the church. Saying, whatever this book says is what I'm going to do. And if it corrects me, we're going to do what it says. I'm going to be subject unto it. It's not like, oh, only women, you know, women got a raw deal. Women are, you know, at the bottom of the totem pole. I mean, Jesus Christ is subject to the Father in all things. That doesn't make him, you know, unimportant, unvaluable. It's just his role. And it's a role of a wife to be in complete and perfect subjection to her husband. Look at 1 Peter 3 verse 1. Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear, whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and wearing of gold, and of putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, and that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God a great Christ. For after this man of the old time, the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorn themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. So the Bible is, you know, unpacking a lot of things here. But the thing I like to focus on in this is the fact that, look at verse 3, it says, who's adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of the plaiting of the hair. Women today, I think, it's just universal that women want attention. They like attention. They like to be noticed. They like to feel special. They like to feel important. They like to have people attracted to them. And so what do most women do? They spend all their time on the outward adorning. They spend all their time on their hair, on their makeup, on their clothes, on how they look, on just everything outward is what women focus on. You know, exactly what their figure is and exactly all the things that have to do with the outward appearance. But the Bible says a godly woman is not focused on the outward adorning. She doesn't care about the outward adorning. She cares about the inward adorning. And the inward adorning comes from a meek and quiet spirit, someone that would obey her husband in subjection. You know, a lot of women today, if they were to go to church and they just rolled out of bed, they didn't do their hair, they didn't put on the fancy clothes, and they were to sit in church, they would be extremely embarrassed. They probably wouldn't even go. I mean, most of them just wouldn't go. They're like, there is no way I would ever go to church, you know, without doing my hair, without having nice clothes on, without having everything ironed, without everything perfect. I wouldn't go without makeup. But you know what? They'll come in church and they'll be disobedient to their husband. They won't have read their Bible. They won't follow God's commandments. You know, when God looks down at that woman, she's ugly. He doesn't like it. You know, she could look perfect on the outside. She could have her hair done perfect and she could have the fancy clothes. And in the sight of men, they think, oh, how beautiful, how well put together. But in the sight of God, oh, that's ugly. You're blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ when you're not being obedient to your husband. You're blaspheming Jesus Christ when, you know, all you care about is the outward appearance. You, why don't you spend an hour reading your Bible in the morning rather than spending an hour on your hair and spending an hour on getting ready in the morning? Oh, it takes me three hours to get ready for church in the morning. I didn't even open my Bible. You think that God likes that? You think God looks down at those limited things? That's the beautiful woman. No, he likes the woman that fears the Lord, the one that's caring more about the inward conversation, what her lifestyle. Go, if you would, to Titus chapter 2. Say, man, you're really picking on the women. You're really, you know, laying it hard. It's because I love the women. I would hate it for a woman to come to church every day and think, man, the most important thing is how I look physically. According to the Bible, that matters none. And in fact, it's probably bad if you're spending most of your time on that. You should stop wasting your time on vain things and put their things on spiritual things. Obeying God's commandments. Being a woman that fears the Lord that knows the Bible. That's attractive in God's sight. We can't see with God's eyes, but in God's eyes, he likes a woman that fears the Lord and fears her husband. Obeys every single commandment he has. Look at Titus chapter 2, verse 7 now. And all things showing thyself a pattern of good works and doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he is of the contrary part maybe ashamed, having no evil thing to say of him. Exhort servants to be obedient under their own masters and to please them well in all things, not answering again, not for loining, but showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our savior in all things. You know what the Bible's teaching here? It's saying, look, women are not the only people that are supposed to be in complete subjection. Guess what? Men are too, men are supposed to be complete subjection to their masters. And even if you didn't have a master, maybe you're self-employed or something, you would be a complete subjection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But 99% of people are not self-employed at the top of their business. You have a master over you. You have a boss. And the Bible says you're to please them well in all things. Meaning what? When you go to work, you're supposed to say, yes, sir. Hey, what do you want me to do? Yes, sir. I'm not going to answer again. I'm not going to complain. I'm not going to murmur. I'm just going to say, yes, sir, and I'm going to do it. And if someone's over you, if someone has leadership over you and they give you a commandment, you need to treat that as a commandment from the Lord and say, yes, sir. The only exception would be obviously if they're telling you to violate God's clear laws. But as long as it's not a violation of the clear laws of God, you're just supposed to say, yes, sir, and do it. Not answering again, not relaying what stealing or being lazy. Showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God or Savior in all things. Just as a woman is supposed to be in perfect subjection under her husband, a servant is supposed to be in subjection to his master in the same way. And it's the exact same thing. You're blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ when you don't follow those commandments. When you're just complaining. When you're murmuring. When you don't do the job that was given unto you. Now, obviously, nobody's perfect, but this is what we should strive for. This is what we should go for. And it's silly because women today, instead of being obedient to their husbands, they want to go out and get a job, don't they? They want to go out and work. Well, guess what? You'd be subject to your boss the same way as you'd be under your husband. And I guarantee your secular boss is not going to have as good a rule as the loving husband at home. Your loving husband is going to have better rules and better instruction and a better person to serve than your secular boss. But you know what I guarantee? I bet most of these feminists and most of these women will treat their boss better than they would their husband. They'll probably say, yes, sir, on the job. They'll probably do what their boss tells them to do. They probably won't answer again when their boss gives them a clear commandment. But they'll go home and boss their husband all around. How wicked. I mean, your husband actually loves you. Your husband actually married you. Your husband's, you know, one flesh with you. How much more should a wife be obedient under her own husband? And when a woman doesn't, it makes Christianity look bad. It makes Christianity unattractive. It makes the Word of God unattractive. You know what attracts people to Christianity? Women who are subject to their husbands. You know what makes Christianity attractive? Servants who are obedient under their masters. Not answering again. You know what? That's sound doctrine. Why? Because that's what the Bible clearly commands. It comes from the law. It comes from the New Testament. It comes clearly from all the commandments of God. It's not even making something up. The Bible even says in verse 26, Let as many servants as are in the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. Now I could sit here and I could just go doctrine under doctrine. The point is not to teach all the doctrines of the Bible tonight. I just want to give a couple examples so you know, hey, what's sound doctrine? Hey, why don't we just cover a couple that are clearly mentioned here about sound doctrine that most people have wrong? Most churches won't teach. Most churches would not get up and just barely teach. Hey, you got to be sober. Hey, why think you decided to join their own husbands? Just as Christ was or just as the church is under Christ, right? Just as the pastor is under Christ. Go if you would to 2 Timothy chapter 4. Do you have a train there? Look at verse 1. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who should judge the quick and the dead and is appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word. Be instant in season out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall they heed to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. So the Bible says, look, there's a point when people cannot endure sound doctrine. When I just preached to you, people would be so offended. I can't listen to that. I got to listen to something else. I got to listen about how God loves me and God's not mad at me and I can do whatever I want and, you know, if I give, you know, $5 on the offering plate, God's gonna give me $50 and if I give him $50, he's gonna give me $500 and he's just gonna multiply and give me all these blessings and life's so happy, they don't want to teach sound doctrine. People just can't endure sound doctrine in the latter days is what the Bible says. And that's why it's so important that we need to be preaching it. Why? Get those people out of the church. I don't want somebody in the church that just turned their ears away from the truth. And so what do people do? Well, they start teaching man's commandments. So we see, what is the purpose of sound doctrine? How do we get sound doctrine? We get it from God's law. We need to teach God's laws. The words that come from his mouth, they drop as due. We see when people don't, they teach the doctrines of men. Go over to Matthew 15. The normal, you know, Christian, he wants the flashy teaching. He wants all the special, you know, cool little doctrines. He doesn't want the sound just clear instructions from the Bible. We should be focused on the fundamentals of the faith. We should be focused on the main points of the Bible. We should have tons and tons of scriptures supporting our doctrines that we're teaching, that we're believing. Not just this one obscure verse that doesn't even say what we want it to say. It just says something kind of similar and we just twist it. Like Isaiah 9 6 teaching that Jesus is the father. What a horrible stupid proof text. Where's all your sound doctrine? Where's all your commandments? Where's all the clear statements in the Bible teaching your false doctrine? Oh yeah, they don't exist. You have this flashy, cool new doctrine that you want to teach people. No, it's coming from man. Now when it doesn't have clear statements in the Bible, avoid it. Don't listen to it. Look at Matthew chapter 15 verse 1. Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem saying, Why do they disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said to them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded saying, Honor thy father and mother, and he that cursed his father and mother, let him die to death. But he say, Whosoever shall say to his father or mother, It is a gift, but whatsoever that might be profited by me, and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draw up nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. So you see, Jesus Christ was rebuking the Pharisees for doing what? For teaching the doctrines, for teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Not of the Bible, not what God said. They're actually, the things that they came up with contradict the clear scripture. I read for you in Deuteronomy where the drunkard and the gliding child is what? Supposed to be put to death. That's where we get the sound doctrine. What is it that Jesus is preaching here? That same sound doctrine. He's saying, Look, these kids need to be put to death, but by your stupid tradition that you just made up, you made the word of God of none effect. And now it's just vain that you try to worship me. Now it's just vain that you're coming to church. The people that come to the mega churches today, they come to the watered down Baptist church today, they go to the church that won't teach sound doctrine. It's in vain. They just come and they sing their song and they hear the little motivational speech and it's all in vain because they're just teaching the doctrines, the commandments of men. They don't know what the Bible says. They go home and they get their six pack and they get drunk. And then what do they do? Their wiring is just blasting them. They're not obedient on them because they're a drunk loser because they don't want to follow God's commandments. They don't have any sound doctrine and for vain they worship God. For vain they go to church every week and they do nothing for God. They get nobody saved. They don't follow any of God's commandments and God has not pleased them at all. If they're saved, I mean, most of these people aren't even saved. Why is it important to teach the sound doctrine? Because they all come together because you need the sound doctrine. We need people to be in unity. We need them to have God's word, not man's commandments. Because when you focus on man's commandments, you're going to slip up and you're going to make void the laws of God. You're going to teach things that are contrary to the word of God. Then everybody's going to be confused. That's why they don't even emphasize the Bible. That's why they don't teach the clear commandments of God. Because they'll just violate everything they already taught. Their stupid book that they're promoting. The CD that they're promoting. Their t-shirt that they're promoting. Saying God's not mad at you. Saying, hey, all sin is equal. Saying, hey, hell is just separation from God. Saying all these doctrines, the commandments of men, that have nothing to do with clear scripture. We need to seek sound doctrine. As a preacher. As a person that comes to church. Don't go to a church where they're not preaching sound doctrine. I mean, if they're not opening the Bible. If they're not teaching the clear commandments of God. Run away. Get away from that kind of teaching. See your average church today, what do they do? They just make up their own rules about what? Divorce and remarriage. They teach all kinds of strange and diverse doctrines about that. Saying, well, if he hit you one time. Or if there was some kind of abuse. Just divorce. Well, if there's any kind of sexual immorality, divorce. Well, you don't really get along that great. And he doesn't want to come to church that often. He's holding you back. Divorce. I mean, they'll just teach anything contrary to the Bible. Christ said there's only one exception. It was for fornication. And guess what? Nobody in this country virtually falls in that category. He's basically just making it clear. Look, hey, you should divorce for no cause. Let not man put asunder what God's joined together. The Bible makes that clear. Go, I'm going to skip a few things for time's sake. Go if you would to Luke chapter 4. So we learned that why do we need sound doctrine? So we can get God's clear commandments. Sound doctrine is based on God's clear commandments. If it's not coming from God's clear commandments, it's not sound doctrine. And we see what's the opposite of that? The opposite is when man gets up and just teaches his opinions. Just teaches his ideas. And it's usually going to be focused on what? The fringe issues. What do the Pharisees constantly bring up? Things about like divorce and remarriage. You know, about whose wife is she going to be in the resurrection? I mean, all these just stupid, strange doctrines that aren't focused on the fundamentals. They don't have to do with hell. They're not talking about, you know, the clear doctrines of hell and baptism and salvation by faith and the judgment. I mean, they're not focused on any of the main stuff. They're always focused on these cute doctrines. All these things where there's not that much scripture. Why don't you focus on the things that God clearly gave us? Why don't you focus on getting all those right before you focus on all the little matters? And I'm not saying you can't teach, you know, even the least commandments. We're supposed to teach the whole counsel of God. But where you make the mistake is when your doctrines don't come from any verses in the Bible. They don't come from any commandments in the Bible. You're just making it up as you go. My third point, though, is sound doctrine. Why do you preach it? Look at Luke 4 verse 32. And they were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with power. Sound doctrine has power. It has the power to change men's lives. It has the power for people to come on the conviction of the word of God and change. Why? Because the Bible is an authority. The Bible has power. The Bible has might. I don't want someone to change their life to make life decisions just based on something I came up on my own. Hey, I think this and this about the Bible. I don't have any scripture. I mean, a pastor has a lot of authority. A pastor has a lot of ability to get up and preach things and people just believe it. My pastor said that. I literally had a family member tell me one time. I guess just because our church had a lot of people, it was very rich, there was a lot of money, there was a lot of blessing of God in their mind. She said, the Spirit is so powerful on our pastor that there's no way he could ever teach anything wrong. I believe everything that he says. I mean, it just blew me away. I didn't even know what to say to that because she was so genuine in response to saying, look, I believe everything the pastor says. And there's a lot of people that are like that. They believe whatever the pastor says. And you know, even if you don't even think that about yourself, the pastor has a lot of influence and authority over the minds of the people in the pew. And so you need to go to the church where they're teaching the sound doctrine so that the Bible can be your authority. The Bible can be the thing that you're saying, hey, I'm not going to make these life changes based on what he said. I'm doing it because that's what the Bible said. Because he clearly lied the sound doctrines of the Bible. That's where our authority should always go back to. You know, I liken it into, right now we have the Olympics going on, the Winter Olympics. And there's all these athletes and they're going and they're competing. You know, people may idolize these stars or these athletes. And they think, oh, I would love to be a professional athlete. I'd love to be an Olympian, right? And they think, well, how do I get there? Now, you have a couple choices. I mean, if you were going to decide, hey, I really want to be that kind of a person. I really want to be this Olympian. I want to be this great athlete. You could just walk up and down the street and just ask people on the street, hey, what do you think it takes to be an Olympian? And just hear what the average bum and average streetwalker and average little kid running down the street. Hey, what do you think it takes? But that's just getting, I mean, is there really any authority to that? Is there any, you know, legitimacy to that? It's the same with a guy that gets up and just preaches his opinion behind the pope without supporting with any of the Bible. The Bible should be the authority. If you want to get, you want to be an Olympian, why don't you ask the Olympian what he does? I printed out a schedule. Here's a schedule of, I think this is like a skater. Someone that does like, you know, they skate really fast, I guess. A speed skater, okay? At 6 a.m., they wake up and they eat a breakfast of oatmeal only. And one and a half cups of water. Then at 8 a.m. sharp, they do stretching and warm ups. Then from 8 to 10, they skate with high intensity aerobic exercise. And they drink a sports drink every 20 minutes. Then at 10 30, they have a little bit of recovery time where they have to eat a shake with yogurt, banana, two tablespoons of peanut butter and cocoa powder. Then from 11 to 12, they have some free time where they watch training videos with the coach. Doesn't sound like free time to me. Then at 12, they have lunch where they have a whole wheat turkey wrap with lettuce, tomato, mustard, a small bag of pretzels, carrots, hummus, and then a salad. At 2, or from 1 to 2, it has free time and it just says it's free. Then from 2, they have a pre-training snack. Then from 3 to 4 30, they do strength training where they're lifting weights, doing plyometric training. Then from 4 30 to 6, they have dry aerobic training. So they do 45 minutes on a bike and then 45 minutes on a treadmill. Where they also have that sports drink every 20 minutes. Then it says in 6 30, they have dinner where they have a baked sweet potato, baked fish, a cup of brown rice, and vegetables with crackers. Then from 7 30 to 9, they relax. Then they have a snack at 9 pm. Then at 10 pm, they sleep. And they do that same routine every day, every single day. And you say, man, that doesn't sound like fun. That doesn't sound like something I want to go on. That doesn't sound like the program that I'm willing to do. So you know what they do? They get these athletes and they put them on a commercial and they have this shiny brand new skate. And they say, hey, if you want to be a speed skater like me, you got to buy this skate. And then what do all the people do? I don't want to do the training program. I don't want to live that rigid schedule. I'll just buy the skate. I just want the cheap way. This is how it is with Christians today. They look at the Bible. They look at all the commandments of God's word. They look at all the clear instructions. And hey, what? Hey, it's hard. And they say, I don't want to do that. I just want to buy the cheap. I want to get the pastor's book. I don't want to actually read God's word. I don't want to read his laws. Just sell me your book. Just sell me your t-shirt. Just give me your five week series DVD on the Bible. Just tell me what I'm supposed to do. Our pastor had this book called 10 Steps Towards Christ. It didn't preach how you actually got saved or do anything. It was just a wicked book. It had nothing to do with the Bible. But people were reading that book over the Bible every single time. I mean, you go to any of the groups, you see any of the people, they're not talking about the Bible. They're not talking about God's commandments. They're talking about this stupid book that came out of man's mouth. It's the commandments of men. They're not teaching sound doctrine. They're not teaching the clear commandments of the Bible. The Bible says that God's commandments are not grievous. They're not hard in the sense that you're going to have a harder life if you follow God's commandments. But they might look intense to somebody from the outside. They look, oh man, you go to church three times a week? Oh man, you read your Bible for an hour every day? Oh man, you sing songs unto God? Oh, you get down in your knees and you pray? You go soul winning every week? I mean, you're actually caring about people and trying to live righteous? You don't go out and get drunk? You don't live in a fornication? You don't do all these wicked things? That's not something I want to do. They look at the outside, they say, I don't want that. We see the results of working hard, of being diligent, what? You could become the Olympian, but not in a physical sense, in a spiritual sense. And Jesus Christ, guess what? He wasn't focused on the mediocre Christian. He was focused on the Olympian Christian. That's why we have all the clear truths of the Bible and they're hardcore. They're raw. They're just telling it as it is. Hey, don't drink wine at all. Don't drink liquor at all. Hey, wives, be obedient to your husbands in all things. Hey, servants, be obedient to your masters in all things. Hey, should you get divorced? No. I mean, it's just hardcore, raw truth. And you know who loves that? The guy who loves the truth. That's right. The guy that does the truth. That guy is the guy that loves it. That's why we teach the sound doctrine to help that guy. Because the guy that doesn't care, well, it didn't matter anyways, did it? I mean, he was just going to do whatever he wanted anyways. We see God's word has power. When Jesus Christ preached, it was with authority because it came from God's word. We see we got to change the hearts of people. Why? So they can go from being drunk to being sober. So they can go from being a disobedient wife to being an obedient wife. So they can be a, you know, a lame, weak man to being a man of authority and power and being subject unto his boss at his job. So the word of God would not be blaspheme. Sound doctrine is going to help you. Sound doctrine is going to make your life better. Christ didn't give you bad commandments. He's not teaching the sound doctrine to harm you. It might seem hardcore to the person that loves TV, that loves the filth of this world, that's been raised in the public full system, that's had their parents teach them wrong their whole life. Whoa, that seems radical. That seems crazy. You know what? The more you read the Bible, the more you're doing God's commandments, the more normal it seems. The more it's, this just feels right. You know, the guy that's the speed skater, if he just went home and just watched TV all day and just ate, you know, all kinds of junk food and just stayed up late and got drunk and did all the things that he wanted, when he wanted the time to go to skate, he would suffer the consequences. He would struggle with that. He could never be the person that he wanted to be in his heart. If you want to be a Christian that's pleasing unto God, you got to get the sound doctrine. Whether you think it sounds right or it's wrong. And my last point is not always that power, but sound doctrine brings unity and squashes heresy. You say, I want unity in the church. The only way you can have unity in the church is from the teaching the sound doctrine that comes straight from God's commandments, comes straight from God's word. You go to these big churches, you go to these liberal churches, there's no unity at all. Everybody has a song. Everybody has a doctrine. Everybody has an interpretation. I mean, it's just a madhouse. You got all kinds of people that are drunks. You got all kinds of fornicators. You got adulterers. You got all kinds of filth in the church. You got pedophiles. You got all kinds of wicked stuff. You got the homos over here. I mean, it's just a madhouse and God doesn't even think it's a church. Let's be honest. But we see when you have sound doctrine, people can actually be in unity. People can have similar, you know, for the most part, have almost the same beliefs, have very similar beliefs. Be like minded, striving for the same goals. And you can squash all that stupid heresy out of your church. Why? Because you're basing everything you believe on tons of scripture, on tons of the commandments. You're not just making it up as you go. Hey, you got to wash this pot before you eat and you got to wash your hands and you got to do this when you're so focused on all these physical rules. Oh, you can't eat that kind of meat. You can't eat this kind of food. You got to wash, you know, your, hey look, I'm all for being clean. I'm all for being hygienic. I'm all for eating the right types of food. But look, if you're just focused on all that kind of stuff where the Bible doesn't have clear scripture, you better be careful that you're not teaching for doctrines and commandments of men. We need to be teaching sound doctrine, which comes from the commandments and the clear teachings of God's Word. Go up to Hebrews chapter 13, the last verse I'll have a look at. Why do we have sound doctrine? So we get God's clear commandments. So we don't have man's commandments because it has power, because it brings unity and squashes heresy. Hebrews chapter 13, look at verse 8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. Be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. The Bible says, look, the Bible has been the same for the last, the King James Bible hasn't changed a word in the last 400 years. There's not a new doctrine, according to the Bible. We all have it. We all already have God's Word. Let's focus on the clear sound doctrine that comes from the Bible. Don't be carried away with strange and diverse doctrines. When somebody starts teaching something with a lot of conviction, and there's no Bible to back it up, beware. Get away from that person. Don't listen to what they have to say. You should be focused on the sound doctrine that comes from God's Word. Not as just a person in the pew, but even a preacher. If you're to preach God's Word, make sure that what you're teaching is what the Bible says. Make sure that it's truth. Make sure that it's right. And not be carried away with diverse and strange doctrines. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for giving us your word. Thank you so much for the sound doctrine that comes from you. I pray that we would not be carried away with strange and diverse doctrines of men, but that we would be focused on the clear doctrines that come from you because they have power, because they bring unity, and they squash heresy. I pray that this church would always stand for sound doctrine, that we'd always be corrected by your word. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.