Adapted from the series, “Jesus Said” by Michael Wiley http://www.sermoncloud.com/the-vine/what-jesus-said-about-right-doctrine/

2. There are approximately 41,000 Christian
denominations, that’s the number bouncing
around on the internet. Who knows how many
religious sects there are throughout the world.
Here’s the kicker.
All religions claim to be correct. All the various
Christian denominations claim to have the right
body of teachings, the right doctrine, the truth.

3. Today in America, we first have to cross the
relevance bridge.
That is, is there a need for a RIGHT anything?
If truth does not exist at all, what is good for you
and what is good for me is of no importance in
the huge scope of things.
Where does truth come from?

4. Well in the world we live in, some people will
say, “Truth comes from me, What I say is truth.”
Right teaching is truth.
I hear a Scripture quoted from time to time,
“The Truth will set you free.”
That Scripture is used out of context.
It’s not “any” truth will set you free.
It is The Truth “Jesus Christ” will set you free.

5. ESV So Jesus said to the Jews who
had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you
are truly my disciples, and you will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free.”
ESV Jesus said to him, “I am the way,
and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me.

6. Jesus had something to say about right
doctrine. We recognize that the truth does not
come from some way of reasoning, or some
metaphysical idea. The truth does not come
from some televangelist, or political figure –
though many of them speak the truth.
The Truth “Right Teaching” comes from God’s
word and only God’s word.
So, in our search for truth, let’s open it…

7. ESV About the middle of the feast
Jesus went up into the temple and began
teaching. The Jews therefore marveled,
saying, "How is it that this man has learning,
when he has never studied?" So Jesus
answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but
his who sent me.

8. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will
know whether the teaching is from God or
whether I am speaking on my own authority.
The one who speaks on his own authority seeks
his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory
of him who sent him is true, and in him there is
no falsehood.

9. ESV Then Pharisees and scribes
came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why
do your disciples break the tradition of the
elders? For they do not wash their hands when
they eat." He answered them, "And why do
you break the commandment of God for the
sake of your tradition?

10. For God commanded, 'Honor your father and
your mother,' and, 'Whoever reviles father or
mother must surely die.' But you say, 'If
anyone tells his father or his mother, "What you
would have gained from me is given to God,"
he need not honor his father.'

11. So for the sake of your tradition you have made
void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did
Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: "'This
people honors me with their lips, but their heart
is far from me; in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of
men.'"

12. We need rules.
But rules must be governed by The Truth.
August 21, 2013
Prosecutors on Tuesday charged two teenagers
accused of gunning down an Australian student
in Oklahoma for the “fun of it” with first-degree
murder, and a third teen with being an
accessory.

13. 22-year-old Christopher Lane, who was visiting
the U.S. on a baseball scholarship at East
Central University, was jogging along a road in
Duncan, Okla., after visiting his girlfriend on
Friday when he was shot in the back, allegedly
by the teens.

14. He was just jogging down the wrong road at the
wrong time.
Do you know it is illegal to shoot & kill
somebody?
Do you think we should tell those boys who
were arrested that God forbids murder as does
the laws in the USA which are fashioned after
God’s law?

15. The truth of God says, And he said to him, "You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment. And a
second is like it: You shall love your neighbor
as yourself. ESV
Yes the Truth will set you free…

16. NOW
If the right teaching is found in God’s word, Why
are there 41,000 different denominations and
why are there so many splinter sects we call
cults who claim to receive their teaching from
Scripture? – Adventist, Jehovah Witness,
Mormons, Church of Christian Science…?

17. ESV "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who
does not enter the sheepfold by the door but
climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and
a robber. But he who enters by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper
opens.

18. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own
sheep by name and leads them out. When he
has brought out all his own, he goes before
them, and the sheep follow him, for they know
his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but
they will flee from him, for they do not know the
voice of strangers."

19. This figure of speech Jesus used with them,
but they did not understand what he was saying
to them. So Jesus again said to them, "Truly,
truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and
robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I
am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be
saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

20. The thief comes only to steal and kill and
destroy. I came that they may have life and have
it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The
good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd,
who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf
coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the
wolf snatches them and scatters them.

21. He flees because he is a hired hand and
cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good
shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the
Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I
must bring them also, and they will listen to my
voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

22. Right Teaching is the Elder’s
Responsibility
The Apostle Paul charged the
Ephesian elders with the care and
responsibility of the leading the flock
in “right teaching.”

23. ESV Pay careful attention to
yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy
Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the
church of God, which he obtained with his own
blood. I know that after my departure fierce
wolves will come in among you, not sparing the
flock; and from among your own selves will
arise men speaking twisted things, to draw
away the disciples after them.

24. Therefore be alert, remembering that for
three years I did not cease night or day to
admonish every one with tears.
Even a glance-read over the NT it’s easy to see
how much Paul was concerned with “right
teaching.”

25. I believe it was from his upbringing as a Jewish
Pharisee.
He was a “Pharisee of Pharisees” as he puts it.
He knew the horrible enslavement of the
“traditions taught by men.”
It was those traditions that lead to the stoning of
Steven…Paul was there watching.

26. You need to be a part of a church with Godly
men sitting at the helm rightly dividing the word
of truth, and making sure it is taught with
sincerity, passion and truth.

27. ESV I charge you in the presence
of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the
living and the dead, and by his appearing and
his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in
season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and
exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

28. 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. As for you, always be sober-minded,
endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist,
fulfill your ministry.

29. I have been amazed over the years at the
number of people who believe false teachings
from one group or another --- even teachings
that grossly misteach the Scripture.
ESV "Enter by the narrow gate.
For the gate is wide and the way is easy that
leads to destruction, and those who enter by it
are many.

30. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard
that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you
in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous
wolves. You will recognize them by their
fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes,
or figs from thistles?

31. So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but
the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy
tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased
tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not
bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the
fire. Thus you will recognize them by their
fruits.

32. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,'
will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one
who does the will of my Father who is in
heaven. On that day many will say to me,
'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
and cast out demons in your name, and do
many mighty works in your name?'

33. And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew
you; depart from me, you workers of
lawlessness.' "Everyone then who hears
these words of mine and does them will be like
a wise man who built his house on the rock.
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the
winds blew and beat on that house, but it did
not fall, because it had been founded on the
rock.

34. And everyone who hears these words of
mine and does not do them will be like a foolish
man who built his house on the sand. And
the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds
blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and
great was the fall of it."

35. Back to the 41,000 Christian denominations.
Don’t you think most, if not all of the doctrinal
splits are due to what Jesus was warning us
about? Teachers who look & act like children of
God but are really false prophets in sheep's
clothing misleading people so they won’t find &
enter by the narrow gate.

36. How can we find & enter by the narrow gate?
Jesus said, “the one who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven…Everyone then who
hears these words of mine and does them.”
We read earlier the words Jesus spoke are God
the Father’s words. Believing & acting on God’s
words will lead us to & through the narrow gate.

37. ESV Now these Jews were more
noble than those in Thessalonica; they received
the word with all eagerness, examining the
Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

38. Use your Bibles.
Check me out.
Be noble.
Search the Scriptures.
You don’t have to be a theologian to
understand Scripture.
All you have to be is a
TRUTH Seeker.