WHY BIBLICAL DOCTRINE MATTERS
The Gospel of Mark #41
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
(Mark 12:18–27, NLT) “Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question: “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name. Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them, and still there were no children. Last of all, the woman also died. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.” Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven. “But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—haven’t you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”
(Acts 23:8, NLT) “The Sadducees say there is no resurrection or angels or spirits, ….”
SOUND BIBLICAL DOCTRINE MATTERED TO JESUS.
(Mark 12:27, NLT) “Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. … He is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”
(Acts 2:42, NLT) “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.”
1. JESUS TAUGHT THAT DOCTRINAL TRUTH MATTERS.
“The point is not to correct the mistakes and really be right; rather it is not to think you are right at all.” Alan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind, p 26
(Titus 1:9, AMP) “He must hold fast to the sure and trustworthy Word of God as he was taught it, so that he may be able both to give stimulating instruction and encouragement in sound (wholesome) doctrine and to refute and convict those who contradict and oppose it [showing the wayward their error].”
(2 Timothy 2:24–25, NLT) “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth.”
(1 Corinthians 15:22, NLT) “Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.”
2. JESUS TAUGHT THAT DOCTRINAL TRUTH IS THE BIBLE CORRECTLY INTERPRETED
(Mark 12:24, ESV) “Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?”
a. GOD’S POWER
(Luke 20:34–36, NLT) “Jesus replied, “Marriage is for people here on earth. But in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. And they will never die again. In this respect they will be like angels. They are children of God and children of the resurrection.”
b. GOD’S WORD
(Luke 20:37–38, NLT) “But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—even Moses proved this when he wrote about the burning bush. Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, he referred to the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So he is the God of the living, not the dead, for they are all alive to him.”
i. RATIONALISM, LIMITS KNOWLEDGE TO MAN AND THE POWER OF REASON
ii. SUPRA-RATIONALISM,FAITH IN GOD’S WORD AFFIRMS GOD’S POWER AND TRUTH
iii. SUBMISSION TO JESUS CHRIST INCLUDES SUBMISSION TO THE CORE BIBLICAL DOCTRINES
(Mark 12:28, NLT) “One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, …”
iv. HERESY RIDES IN ON THE BACK OF NEGLECTED DOCTRINE
v. FALSE DOCTRINE AND SIN BECOME ENTANGLED
(Luke 20:46–47, NLT) “Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces. And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be severely punished.”
“I think Christianity is spot on about original sin—how could one think otherwise, when the world’s most civilized and advanced people (the people of Beethoven, Goethe, Kant) embraced that slime-ball Hitler and participated in the Holocaust? I think Saint Paul and the great Christian philosophers had real insights into sin and freedom and responsibility, and I want to build on this rather than turn from it.” – Michael Ruse