A Reminding of God's Basic Truths

Gil Rugh and JC Ryle

Ryle spoke of the condition of the church of his day about these matters that I want to read to you. I want you to note that he wrote this over 100 years ago. But I think you will agree that it sounds like it was written yesterday for our situation. I will not be reading consecutively, and I will not take the time to tell you where the breaks are, but I will read what is pertinent. I will not violate the context of what He is saying.

"There is much in the attitude of professing Christians in this day which fills me with concern and makes me full of fear for the future. There is an amazing ignorance of Scripture among many, and a consequent want of established, solid religion. In no other way can I account for the ease of which people are, like children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine. There is an Athenian love of novelty abroad and a morbid distaste for anything old and regular, in the beaten path of our forefathers. Thousands will crowd to hear a new voice and a new doctrine without considering for a moment whether what they hear is truth. There is an incessant craving after any teaching which is sensational and exciting and rousing to the feelings. Inability to distinguish differences in doctrine is spreading far and wide, and as long as the preacher is clever and earnest, hundreds seem to think it must be all right, and call you dreadfully narrow and uncharitable if you hint that he is unsound."

That was from the first part of the book. Let me read you from the last part: "The times require at our hands distinct and decided views of Christian views of Christian doctrine. I cannot withhold my conviction that the professing church of the 19th century is as much damaged by laxity and lack of distinctness about matters of doctrine within as it is by skeptics and unbelievers without. Today a myriad of professing Christians seem utterly unable to distinguish things that differ. Like people afflicted with color blindness, they are incapable of discerning what is true and what is false, what is sound and what is unsound. They are destitute of spiritual sense, apparently, and cannot detect error. These people live in a kind of mist, or fog. They are eaten up with a morbid dread of controversy, and an ignorant dislike of 'party spirit', and yet they really cannot define what they mean by these phrases.

"The explanation of this boneless, nerveless, jelly-fish condition of soul is not difficult to find. Above all, the natural heart generally likes the praise of others, shrinks from collision, and loves to be thought charitable and liberal. For your own soul's sake, dare to make up your mind what you believe. Dare to have positive, distinct views of truth and error. Never, yes never, be afraid to hold decided doctrinal opinions. And let no fear of man, and no morbid dread of being thought party-spirited, narrow or controversial, make you rest contented with a bloodless, boneless, tasteless, colorless, lukewarm, undogmatic Christianity."

If Strong Doctrine Is Missing, So Is Authority

"Mark what I say! If you want to do good in these times, you must throw aside indecision, and take up a distinct, sharply cut doctrinal religion. If you believe little, those to whom you try to do good will believe nothing."

That is the danger in churches today where they get a thin guise - very little - of biblical teaching. They are going to raise a generation that believes nothing. If you believe little, those to whom you try to do good will believe nothing.

J.C. Ryle continues: "The victories of Christianity, wherever they have been won, have been won by distinct, doctrinal theology. But depend on it: If we want to do good things and shake the world, we must fight with the old apostolic weapons and stick to dogma. Without dogma there will be no fruit. Without positive evangelical doctrine there will be no evangelization."

There is today a current spirit abroad that we ought to get together with Roman Catholicism. We have Roman Catholics and evangelicals promoting alliances in our day. Listen to what J. C. Ryle said: "The times require of us an awakened and livelier sense of the unscriptural character of Romanism. There is no longer that general dislike, dread and aversion to popery which was once almost universal in this realm. Some profess to be tired of all religious controversy and are ready to sacrifice God's truth for the sake of peace. Some try to persuade us that Romanism has changed, and is not nearly so bad as it used to be."

This is a reminder that things have not changed. These comments sound as if they were written to the church at the end of the 20th century, not at the end of the 19th century. And we are reminded that the devil does not change his tactics. He constantly is working to move the church of Jesus Christ away from its solid, doctrinal, biblical foundations. That is where Peter is concerned as he writes this second letter. He is concerned about the infiltration of false teaching and false doctrine. He is concerned enough to remind believers of the truth That is been given to them because the best defense against error, against false doctrine, is a thorough knowledge of the truth which you are to implement every day of your life.
We Need to Be Reminded of Truth

In 2 Peter 1, verses 12-15, Peter is going to place a strong emphasis on his responsibility to remind these believers of biblical doctrine and of their responsibility to remember it. We note in this passage that God's plan for His people has not changed. It is that they be constantly focusing on the truth that God has given. We need nothing new. We need nothing more. We need nothing else. We need constant reminders of the old truth.