00:07:46.320So they take it out of the immediate context, and they also take it out of the canonical
00:07:50.500context, and they arrive at these interpretations that neglect the greater doctrines and theological
00:07:56.300conclusions by which they're divinely linked together.
00:07:59.260And let me just kind of offer you an analogy that I think might be helpful for you to see and understand what I'm saying.
00:08:08.760Okay, most modern musicians today are not formally trained.
00:08:13.600They're not classically trained musicians.
00:08:16.960They learn how to play the piano or the guitar through, you know, self-teaching or peer teaching, you know, resources like YouTube videos or learning basic chords online or from a book.
00:08:27.300In other words, most modern musicians don't know music theory or instrumental or vocal technique or ear training. They can't read or write real music, like the music notes.
00:08:42.600And this doesn't mean that they can't play beautiful music. It simply means that they have a partial and fragmented comprehension of music as a whole.
00:08:53.180And this is much like modern Christians who know some of the basics of Christian theology but don't understand systematic theology or biblical theology or Christology or soteriology and how they're all connected together.0.66
00:09:09.420The problem arises that when people who have not been formally trained in theology act like they have or think that they are more of an expert than they are or begin to teach others as if they are qualified to do so.
00:09:28.660And I'm not saying that nobody's qualified unless you're a systematic theologian.
00:09:32.740I'm saying that we are very loose-handed with this.
00:09:40.100If you look up on YouTube how to lead a Bible study, you're likely going to see lots of
00:09:48.100young people in their teens and early 20s offering instructions on how to lead Bible
00:09:55.200studies instead of church elders who have been tried and true, tested, have been trained,
00:10:04.260have shown the fruit in their life, have decades of study experience offering their wisdom
00:10:13.860And so that's kind of a small example of what I'm talking about here.
00:10:19.360And, you know, when it comes to training, you know, we have to remember there's a lot of the people out there that are like, you know, hey, the disciples never went to seminary.
00:10:32.440I always tell people we have to remember that Jesus chose 12 devout Jews who knew the Torah since childhood.
00:10:41.500And then they spent three years under Jesus's daily teaching and gospel doctrine,
00:10:49.080all before Jesus sent them out to teach others or minister to others.
00:10:54.380So I do think there is a strong biblical argument for training before teaching others.
00:11:00.340And there is, again, that analogy between we have a similar situation going with musicians.
00:11:06.720It doesn't mean that you can't play great music if you're not classically trained or formally trained.
00:11:12.380The same thing is it doesn't mean that you can't have a really great understanding of the gospel and even preach a good sermon.
00:11:18.400But we have to recognize that there is a formal, systematic, theological architecture that we should be aware of so that we can be humble enough to go,
00:11:31.240I'm operating into territory that I don't really know and I need some help here. Instead of
00:11:41.100believing that, oh, I've read it, therefore I know it and I know all about it and I'm confident
00:11:46.260enough to get on stage or to preach something or to make a YouTube video about it. We just need to
00:11:51.240be a little bit more careful with that. Ultimately, we live in a culture who thinks that we are
00:11:56.700experts in a field because we read a book on the topic or took a certification class for a few
00:12:03.280weeks. Again, we just need to be willing to know where we're weak in theology. And theology takes
00:12:11.720years, decades to really grasp. The Bible is not an easy book to understand. I would argue that
00:12:21.880it's the most complex book on earth. And the theological and doctrinal structure of scripture
00:12:28.680is probably some of the highest, if not the highest thinking on earth as well. And so,
00:12:36.640unfortunately, most modern Christians are weak in systematic theology because we, again, are
00:12:42.940unwilling to see how the parts are really connected to the whole and how the whole is
00:12:47.740connected to the parts. Now, why is this so important that we look at theology systematically?
00:12:57.460I think in the simplest terms, without sound theology, we can't rightly worship Christ.
00:13:05.740Okay, I want to say that one more time. Without sound theology, we can't rightly worship Christ.
00:13:11.920In John chapter 4, Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well, and he explains to her, you know, that her people, the Samaritans, were worshiping God incorrectly.
00:13:25.140He closes his argument, his section there, by saying, God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
00:13:37.080Charles Spurgeon once spoke to this concept, and he said,
00:13:42.060If we choose a false way of worship, we shall, before long, choose to worship a false god.
00:13:50.600Ultimately, what I want you guys to grasp here is that the river of worship must flow down the banks of truth.
00:13:59.140If we remove the banks or the theological boundaries, the river begins to flow into invalid territory.
00:14:04.960And this is what systematic theology does. It creates banks for the river. It gives our worship really a channel or a system by which it can properly flow.
00:14:19.980It creates the boundaries or the bounds by which we view God and prevents us from taking isolated passages and ideas and creating new canals and trenches that really lead us down to falsehood.
00:14:34.960And this is vital because what we're realizing as we get older is that everything is theological.
00:15:22.780You know, we must have a right view of God and a right view of ourselves and a right
00:15:29.940view of the bridge, that's Jesus, who spans the gap between us and God. And we have to have these
00:15:37.820right views if we're to live and think and feel and experience life the way that God intends us to.
00:15:49.660So practically speaking, where do we go from here?
00:15:54.220um i guess basically it means that christians need to see both the individual parts of scripture
00:16:04.720and the whole we need to not only know that christ came but also we need to know that his
00:16:14.800coming was promised in the old testament and why his coming is vital for humanity you know we we
00:16:21.400don't only need to know that our sin is covered by the blood of Christ, but we also need to know
00:16:27.520why God demands blood and not water or sweat or tears. We need to know that God is sovereign,
00:16:35.860but we also need to know all of the passages that define the extent of his sovereignty.
00:16:41.200And I can go on and on and on about the interconnectedness of theology and how vital it is to have a system that is not compromising itself, that's not contradicting itself.
00:16:59.200itself. And this doesn't mean that we remove all mystery. There are still mysteries, but there is
00:17:09.480a wonderful systematic map already developed. And I want to talk about that for a second,
00:17:16.580because I understand that this can be incredibly overwhelming. And I admit, it is. Systematic
00:17:25.480theology is a lifelong study. But let's just take a moment and thank God for church history.
00:17:34.740Thank God that the Lord has raised up faithful men and women over the past 2,000 years
00:17:39.340who have stood on the shoulders of theologians, who have stood on the shoulders of theologians
00:17:44.380and have codified and systematized evangelical theology for us. It doesn't mean that it's
00:17:51.240It's inspired by the Holy Spirit, but it has been critiqued and evaluated for centuries by individuals with the Holy Spirit.
00:18:07.020And those creeds and confessions that have stood the test of time have, I should say,
00:18:17.440they demand our respect and they demand our attention at the very minimum.
00:18:22.460And we have these wonderful confessions and creeds.
00:18:25.980I actually did an episode on this, it's 125, talking about confessions and creeds.
00:18:30.440But we have confessions like the Westminster Statement of Faith or Westminster Confession of Faith
00:18:34.840and the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith that present, again, a time-tested systematic
00:18:41.740theological overview. But if you want to dive deeper, we also have modern books like John
00:18:51.220MacArthur's Biblical Doctrine or Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology that are incredible resources
00:18:57.520for us to start having a systematic view of the gospel, of scripture.
00:19:07.400And so I'll get ready to close out here in a second,
00:19:10.740but you might be asking the question, where do I begin?
00:19:14.640I would start by reading a version of those statements of faith