Adrian Rogers - What Every Christian Ought to Know

Copyright 2005, 2012

by Adrian Rogers

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

978-1-4336-7803-5

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 230

Subject Heading: CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers. Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, the Lockman Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977; used by permission.

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Preface

What You Dont Know

Can Hurt You

Wiped Out!

The waves were enormous, much bigger than those in my native state of Florida. We were in Maui, Hawaii, and I was excited. I love to bodysurf. Catch a wave just right, and you can ride without a board all the way to the beach.

I worked my way out to where the waves were breaking. I saw my wave building up. This would be a great ride. I knew I had to catch it just right. At the special moment I put my head down and gave a kick. The action really began.

The monster wave didnt take me to the beach. It picked me up like a rag doll and body slammed me on the ocean floor. The lights went out. I was numb. Let me check. Can I move my legs, my arms? Nothing was broken. I made my way carefully to the shore.

When I got back on solid ground, I turned to see the big sign posted:

NO BODYSURFING.

Serious Spinal Injury May Result.

There was the warning in plain sight, but I was saturated with ignorance. So much for the old proverb, What you dont know cant hurt you.

Education is costly, but ignorance may be devastating. There are some basic truths that every Christian ought to know. Many founder in a sea of moral relativism and vague religious opinions. Some may be body slammed, like I was, because they do not know.

Our society boasts about pluralism (there is room for every idea) but really practices syncretism by blending all religious thought into a bland mixture of spiritual pablum. Americans love to prate about values but are quickly intimidated when the question is asked, Whose values? It is more morality by majority than biblical virtues.

Some speak of education as the answer to most everything, and yet the more we know, the deeper we sink. We are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Tim. 3:7). Our generation has substituted facts for truth. We dont ask, Is it true? We just want to know, Does it work? Many Christians dont grow because they dont know. Facts are like a recipe, but truth is like a meal. Digest a truth and it will change your life.

Buy the truth, and do not sell it (Prov. 23:23).

We must prize the truth.

There is no way to be a happy, victorious Christian without a firm conviction based on foundational truth.

We must purchase the truth.

Buy the truth. Salvation is free, but the quest for truth is costly. Yet while discipleship is costly, ignorance is far more costly. The quest for truth will cost precious time, discipline, and obedience, but it is worth it.

We must preserve the truth.

Do not sell it. Some will tempt us to sell out. Dont do it. Get a bulldog grip on the truth and never let go.

When the child of God

Loves the Word of God

And sees the Son of God,

He is changed by the Spirit of God

Into the image of God

For the glory of God

Because he has found the truth of God.

This book deals with the fundamental truth that Every Christian Ought to Know. It is written to be clear but not simplistic. It is for the new believer but also for those who seem bogged down in their Christian walk.

Introduction

by Steve Rogers

Many years ago my father, Adrian Rogers, shared this sobering assessment with me: Most believers would be hard-pressed to articulate or defend any of their core beliefs about the Bible and the basics of their faith. I believe that every Christianwhether a new believer or seasoned saintneeds a resource to help them confidently communicate what they believe and why they believe it.

What Every Christian Ought To Know had its origin in the new believers/new members class my dad taught for years on Wednesday evening at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. This course was ostensibly for the brand new Christian, but we found that over the years, most of those who attended the classes were those who had been a Christian for five, ten, fifteen years or more. Invariably, after several weeks, these long-time believers would excitedly come up and share something like this: I have given lip-service to these truths for years, but this is the first time I have ever really understood why I believe them.

To that end, in 1999, my father and I decided to turn the lessons that he had preached and taught over the years into a video-based Bible study that could be used by other churches for discipleship training, as well as for individual study. We did the videotaping for the What Every Christian Ought to Know video series with a studio audience to recreate the feel of the discipleship class my dad taught at Bellevue. This DVD study has since been used by thousands of churches to help equip their membersnew Christians and mature believers alikewith the basic doctrines of the faith.

To create the What Every Christian Ought to Know book, I had the joy to work hand-in-hand with my father as we combined the transcripts of the video sessions with his personal notes and sermon manuscripts on these essential topicsthe sum of what he had preached and taught for more than fifty years. The culmination of that effort is the book you hold in your hand, What Every Christian Ought To Know . Notice that the title is not Everything a Christian Ought To Know. As the Fathers riches are limitless and unsearchable, you will never learn everything there is to know about God, His Word, and His kingdom. Instead, this book contains what we felt are the bare essentials of the faith that every believer should have firmly under his or her belthow to know the Bible is the Word of God, how to be sure you are eternally secure, why baptism by immersion is not just an optional method of baptism, but essential to a biblical understanding of what baptism symbolizes, as well as to obedience.

These basic, essential truths, preached consistently throughout my fathers ministry, served to ground me in my own faith. I made a profession of faith at Parkview Baptist Church in Ft. Pierce, Florida, when I was only five. With no church nursery or childrens church, for five years I had already sat under my fathers preaching every Sunday. I remember having a deep conviction that I was a sinner and that I needed a savior at that early age. Not long after that, I remember soaking up every word as my father preached How to Know the Bible Is the Word of God. Even back in 1959 the points of the sermon were the same ones that are found in Chapter 1 of this book: You can trust the Bible because of its scientific accuracy, its historical truthfulness, its wonderful unity, and its fulfilled prophecy.

In 2002 my father and I founded the Adrian Rogers Pastor Training Institute, sharing practical and biblical wisdom on shepherding Gods flock with pastors and church planters. The Pastor Training Institutethrough the video training of Adrian Rogerscontinues to train and equip pastors and leaders around the world. We have found that the best thing we can do to help a church planter to establish his flock is to take them through the lessons contained in What Every Christian Ought To Know . Thats why Im excited to have these essentials of the faith, taught by Adrian Rogers, available as a resource that will be able to help undergird and ground the thousands of new believers that are being added to the global church each day.