Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Deuteronomy chapter 32 and
reading for our text verse 2. My doctrine shall drop as the
rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the rain, the
small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass. Deuteronomy 32 and verse 2. How God's voice is heard, that
like the distilling of the dew upon us. The introduction to this chapter
really is the last verse of the previous chapter. We read, and
Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the
words of this song until they were ended. Right through this
chapter from the beginning, right through to verse 45, or really
verse 43, the last part of it. And we read there in verse 44,
Moses came and spake all the words of this song. In the ears
of the people, he and Hosea the son of Nun, that is Joshua. Moses here is to die as recorded
in the last part of this chapter. The reason why he was not to
go into the Land of Canaan, the promised land, is told here as
well, because she sanctified me not in the midst of the children
of Israel. It was the way that Moses and
Aaron, instead of speaking unto the rock to bring forth water,
it had already been smitten once, they smote it. They smote it twice. Moses did. And whilst smiting it, he said,
must we bring you water out of this rock? He rebels. That was not the attitude and
not the manner in which the Lord would convey the water to a rebellious
people. And it is not the way that the
gospel is to be proclaimed either. And so we have Moses, because
of this, he must lead the children right through the wilderness,
but then not go into the promised land. There was a work for Moses
to do, but that work was not to bring them into Canaan. Well, when we think of what is
set forth and represented by Moses as the law of God. We are told that the law came
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The opening
chapter in the Gospel according to John. And so the law, a schoolmaster,
unto Christ, says the Apostle Paul. So if that is the case,
when Moses is laying down his mantle, when it is to be taken
up by Joshua, whose name also is Jesus, who is a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ, then we can expect there'll be some intimation,
some foretelling of gospel days, of not the malady that the law
makes known, by the law is the knowledge of sin, but the gospel
that is preached to those that have been slain by the law. And so our text is that which
speaks of gospel days. Moses himself had said, that
a prophet shall the Lord thy God raise up unto you of your
brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear. That is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And our Lord spoke of Moses,
how that he spoke of him. Paul says that they drank of
that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But here we have the intimation
of what shall happen and the works of a gospel day. And I want to look at this verse
from three aspects. Firstly, receiving doctrine through
preaching in gospel days. Based upon these words, my doctrine
shall drop as the rain. And then secondly, how the Lord's
voice is heard. From these words, my speech shall
distill as the dew. And then thirdly, upon whom the
gospel settles, or the word of God settles. As the small rain upon the tender
turf, and as the showers upon the grass. So we have the doctrine,
we have the Lord's voice, and we have those who receive the
doctrine, hear the voice, and to whom the gospel comes. Firstly,
then, receiving doctrine through preaching in gospel days. My
doctrine shall drop as the rain. What a picture! If we have the
picture of the rain, we've had some this afternoon, and as it's
dropping, it's dropping in abundant amounts. It's not just here a
little and there a little, it's coming from heaven and it's coming
in abundance. You know, when the children of
Israel were in Egypt, then there was the watering by wells. We know, of course, there was
wells in the land of Israel, but they also had the rain. And that was one of the things
that was said. Something very different between
Egypt and the wilderness and that promised land, it drinketh
up the water from heaven. And when we think of in the times
of the Old Testament, God spake unto the people by the prophets,
the spirit in the prophets. And it was just to Israel themselves. But in these gospel days, There
is a picture of doctrine or teaching, the teaching of the Lord, the
law of God in a gospel sense, the gospel of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, the remedy, not the malady, but the remedy through
our Lord and His precious blood. That should drop as the rain. And we can see that picture.
We can see the effect when the Lord said to his apostles that
they should go forth into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised
shall be saved, believe his baptism. He that believeth not shall be
damned. The sending forth was to teach
and preach. They shall all be taught of God,
but one of the qualifications of a minister is apt to teach. And so the apostles, they had
to tarry for the Holy Spirit. And then they went forth and
preached. The Apostle Paul, the wonderful
revelations given him of the mystery of godliness, of the
plan of salvation, of the way of grace of God. We have set
forth in the inspired Word of God all of the doctrine and teaching
that the Church of God needs. And may we remember that. When
our text says, my doctrine shall drop as the rain, this is not
some new teaching. Yes, it was new to the Old Testament
saints, as in a clearer sight it is seen in the New Testament. But for us, for these Gospel
days, our commission is to preach the Word. And the doctrine that
we teach and the preaching that we teach is all based upon the
Word of God. The eunuch, when he could not
understand, The Old Testament, Isaiah 53, whether the prophet
was speaking of himself or another man, had God sent to him Philip,
a preacher, and he began at the same scripture and preached unto
him Jesus. One little spot where the doctrine
of God was to drop upon that spot in that desert upon that
man. And at the end of that sermon,
then he could believe clearly and give testimony and be baptised
in his profession of faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And so we have it in every nation,
kindred and tongue, the Lord sending out pastors, teachers,
And each of them is taking the Word of God, as Paul did to the
Bereans, and preaching the Word. And the people of God, like the
Bereans, are able to search the Scriptures daily, whether these
things are so. And this, what is foretold here,
is being fulfilled in preaching in Gospel days. It doesn't just
come from men. The word of God that is preached
comes from heaven, and the opening up and blessing of that gospel
is from heaven. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
they received the word, not in word only, but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power. Our text emphasizes the need
of doctrine, clear doctrine, Yes, we preach the experience
of the Word of God. So we have the doctrine of the
sinfulness of man. We have the doctrine of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, having laid on him the sin of his people,
and bearing that sin away at Calvary, suffering in our place,
shedding his blessed blood, and without the shedding of blood
there's no remission, and then rising again for our justification. There is the doctrine of sin
and of the substitutionary offering of Christ in suffering for the
sins of his people. But there's also the experience
of the people of God in feeling their sin, the publican, God
be merciful to me, a sinner, and also feeling the blessing
of the gospel, the pardon and forgiveness and sin. Go and sin
no more, neither do I condemn thee. Woman, thy faith has made
thee whole. And that is experience. What
she fell, the liberty, the deliverance, the saving from condemnation,
those things are experience. But that experience is based
upon truth upon the doctrine. It is not just a wild fancy of
our brains. It is the teaching of God of
the way, the only way of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. One of our hymns says that we
must not learn God's truth as schoolboys learn their tasks.
No, we mustn't. But we must learn God's truth.
We must be taught it. and it must be that which is
written upon our hearts. We must never despise the study
and teaching of the Word of God. The Bereans are a great example
to us. We are not to think that we do
not need to study the Word of God, to read the Scriptures,
to seek them out, to compare Scripture with Scripture. Remember
when Our Lord was tempted by Satan, that he always answered
Satan's temptations with doctrine, with the word of God, with the
application of that word, and comparing scripture with scripture. When Satan says, command these
stones that they might be made bread, the Lord said, it is written,
man shall not live by bread only, but by every word. that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God. When he says, Satan tempts him
and says that it is written that his angels shall bear thee up
in their arms lest thou dash thy foot against a stone, the
Lord says, it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God. And all the time Our Lord is
going back to the Scriptures and back to doctrine, back to
the teaching of the Word of God. To the law, to the testimony,
if they speak not according to these things, it is because there
is no truth in them. The great danger of today is
that many, many churches, they do not read their Bibles, they
just take in what is dissed out to them, and don't search the
scriptures like the Brians did. In a solemn way, in the days,
the dark days, under the Roman Catholic Church, when the Bible
was shut up in the Latin language, and the common people couldn't
read it, and they just accepted what was told them, but now we
are in a day when the common people can read it, but they
don't want to read it, and they don't read it, And they'd rather
just accept something for a man without checking whether it is
according to the Word of God or not. And we also have a leaning
just to experience, just to feelings, just to mysticism, and with no
basis upon the Word of God, but a religion and faith just on
feelings. We need a feeling religion. But
those feelings must be running in the line of pure doctrine
and teaching. That which can be proved, can
be preached, can be searched, and that which is the foundation
of our hope, is based upon thou sensed. The word of God, like
the Lord said, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word
shall not pass away. And here the Lord is saying,
my doctrine in these Gospel days, the beautiful, wonderful, blessed
doctrine of the substitutionary offering of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, that shall drop from heaven, that shall be published
and proclaimed to lost and ruined sinners, mercy through blood,
the forgiveness of God, the provisions of the gospel, exalted the Lord
Jesus Christ is, to give repentance and remission of sins unto Israel,
unto the people of God, the blessings that flow forth from the Lord,
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, he giveth more grace, he speaks
to his people, we come to that soon, they hear his voice, they
follow him, the blessings of the certainty, What the Lord
has done at Calvary is a finished work, and there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, to them
that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. And these
are the doctrines of the Word of God, the doctrine of the holiness
of God, that the new birth is from heaven, it is holy, it is
pure, it is not turning over a new leaf, but he which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus
Christ. And doctrines like that are very
comforting for the people of God, those who feel tempted and
tried and buffeted, those who fall like Peter or like David,
those who believe the Lord has begun with them, but then are
tempted that he'll cast them away and that they won't endure
unto the end. to know that the doctrine of
God says the Lord will not forsake his people, he will not forsake
the work of his own hands, but he will finish it, he will complete
it. The doctrine then of the certainty
of the love of God. You think of how the Apostle
Paul finishes when he writes to the Romans in Romans chapter
eight, and he finishes that chapter What beautiful doctrines, what
beautiful teaching that this is. He says, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who
is he that condemneth? And then he goes on, who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or
distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword
As it is written, and even in as he is preaching the gospel,
he is referring back to the scriptures that are written. For thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Now in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor
powers nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And
that is doctrine. That is the teaching of God.
That is a blessed assurance and comfort of the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And the scriptures, Old Testament
and New, are full of the gospel. full of the teaching, the revelation
of God concerning His work, His beloved Son, His people, and
the blessings that they have in Him. And so, when we have
this promise, this prophecy, my doctrine shall drop as the
rain, we see that in true churches, that is what it is. and preaching,
not just the word, but in demonstration of the spirit of power, is that
where the Lord brings those precious truths of God and makes them
living and lively and precious. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. When the Lord makes those things
sweet, as seeing the Lord Jesus in our place, seeing God's plan
of salvation from the beginning of the world, the Lamb of God
slain from the foundation of the world, and realise that this
is our hope, this is our foundation. Reading the doctrine, the foundation
of the Church of God standeth sure, Kingdom of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His. A
great, comforting doctrine. teaching of the Lord, the foundation. God's people are all known and
all loved. To be able to say, Thou God,
see us mean, to know it and to feel it, and then the sweet doctrines
to drop in, confirming it. And so, we would expect and look
for in these Gospel days, that as we gather, as the Word is
preached, that the doctrine of God, the teaching of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the wonderful gospel, that freedom from sin and Satan's
chains, a debt paid, a righteousness given to us to stand before God
in heaven, faultless before his throne, a finished work by Christ
and a work of grace wrought by the Spirit through our Lord,
upon this earth. Sinners snatched by calling out
of nature's darkness, brought into his marvellous light. Those
that were dead, quickened into spiritual life and made alive
again. And all these, these precious
truths, when was the last time, you might say as you sat under
the preaching, that you felt these? doctrines to be sweet
and precious and to drop, drop as rain, drop from heaven and
to really satisfy and strengthen your soul. You think of what
the land would be without the rain, dry and barren and no fruitfulness
and nothing growing on it at all. When the rain comes, it
softens. The land drinks it up. And then
it starts to bring forth. And the seed that is in it, it
springs forth. And that's what we need. We need
this blessing. My doctrine shall drop as the
rain. And may we look for that. And
may it be the way, in a way that we test the preaching of the
Word. How much of the precious doctrine
and teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ is said before us, is
received in the sanctuary in these gospel days. And notice
whose doctrine it is. It's not the preacher's doctrine.
It's not man's doctrine. It's my doctrine. It is the Lord's
doctrine. These are the words of the Lord. Through Moses, through the song
of Moses, I want to look then, secondly,
at how the Lord's voice is heard. Through these words my speech
shall distill as the dune. Notice that it is not only my
doctrine, but it is my speech. And though we may hear a minister
preaching, Yet the Lord says, My sheep, they hear My voice,
they follow Me. The Thessalonians received the
Word, as it is in truth the Word of God and not the Word of man.
We have no authority as preachers, and the Word is not ours, the
Word is the Lord's, and our authority is the Word of God. When our Lord was asked, by what
authority doest thou these things? He wouldn't answer them, but
his authority was from heaven. They couldn't answer his question
regarding John the Baptist. They were trying to trip him
up. But the Lord did have authority, and our authority is solely in
the Word of God, and what the Lord himself has said. And so
when the word is preached, it's not the preacher's speech, it
is the Lord speaking to his people, my speech. And my speech shall
be known in the way that it actually comes. We sang in our middle
hymn of the still small voice, and that was that which was referenced
in 1 Kings and chapter 15, sorry, chapter 18. Sorry, chapter 19. And it was
when Elijah was at Mount Horeb. And Jezebel had sought his life. He'd fled to Horeb. And we read
that The Lord said to him, Go forth and stand upon the mount
before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by,
and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and break in pieces
the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind.
And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire,
but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire a still, small
voice. And it was so when Elijah heard
it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood
in the entering of the cave. And behold, there came a voice
unto him and said, What doest thou hear, Elijah? a still, small voice. And he's contrasted there with
fire and earthquake, all of those things that were very demonstrative,
very fearful, but instead a still, small voice. My speech. Here it says, shall this still
as the dew You think of when night time comes and dew starts
to fall. You can't see it. You can't see
it like rain. But as you're looking upon the
surfaces, you can slowly see it distilling, that there's water
appearing there. And it's coming so gently, without
any noise, No great fanfare, it just suddenly
is there. And that's what the Lord says
here, my speech shall be still as the Jew. Under the preaching of the word,
the minister's voice is heard. But those that hear suddenly
perceive that they have a word that had been preached and it
is resting upon their spirit. They're thinking upon it. It
may be that they suddenly realize that they missed five minutes
of the sermon because they've been thinking and meditating
upon that word that has just rested upon their spirit. They
might think, well, when did that start to happen? And they're
not sure, but there it is. It is there. Many times in asking
for a text, I've asked that the Lord would do this, distill it,
cause that it might come. You know, the more we try and
think up a text or search the scriptures for one, sometimes
right to do so, But those times that I've gone for a walk and
suddenly realized that I'm meditating upon a word, thinking upon a
word, and I think, when did that first begin? Was it a block away? How has that suddenly come? And it is in that way many times
I have proved it, and it's according to the word here, my speech shall
distill as the Jew. And I say to the encouragement,
those that might think, well, we want some very demonstrable
work, we want to be really hearing the word with power and almost
with an audible voice, and may have overlooked or even despised
that which just so gently comes and distills upon our spirits. The whole gospel is very, very
different than the law. We have a picture in Hebrews
12 that you're not come unto the mount that might be touched,
that even Moses said, I fear inquiring, but you come unto
Mount Sinai. And there's a contrast between
the law, remember Mount Sinai, the mountain smoked and the loud
Thunder, and the voice of the Lord, and the thunder grew, and
the sound of the trumpet groaned louder and louder. But then we
have the contrast with the Gospel that is not like that. Law and
terrors do but harden, all the while they work alone, but a
sense of blood-bought pardon soon dissolves a heart of stone. And so this is one reason why
Moses was not allowed into the Promised Land. Because in effect,
he was using the attitude of the law in bestowing the living
water from the rock. Must we bring you water out of
this rock, you rebels? The law doesn't begrudgingly
give the gospel. The gospel has sweet, blessed
overtones. It is that of comforting. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. That is the word of the gospel.
We're not to take the blessings of the gospel and to get a big
stick and say, you must, you must, you must. We're not to
make the gospel like the law, to put conditions as it were. The Gospel brings faith, it brings
repentance, it brings remission of sins, it brings love, it brings
peace, it grants all of these things. They're not dragged from
the Lord. He bestows them to poor sinners. It's like the picture of the
one that fell among thieves. The Good Samaritan, he didn't
stand at the top and say, you fool, fancy falling among thieves. Get up, tend your own wounds
and climb up here. And once you've climbed up here,
then I'll help you and I'll take you to an inn. But you've got
to do your bit, otherwise I'm not going to help you. He comes
right where he is. He pours in oil and wine. He
picks him up. binds up his wounds, brings him
upon his beast, takes him to an inn, cares over him, gives
charge over him. It's a beautiful picture of the
gospel. And he's very, very different
than the law of God. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Cursed is every man that continueth
not in all points of the law to do them. Who so transgresseth
in one point is guilty of all. The law was given that all the
world might be brought in guilty before God. But when a soul is
convicted of sin, then we have the gospel. Our Lord prefigured
this as well when they wouldn't receive him as he went through
Samaria. His face was set to go to Jerusalem. And the disciples, they said,
shall we call down fire from heaven and consume them as Elias
did? The Lord says, you know not what
spirit ye are of. The Son of Man came not to destroy
men's lives, but to save them. And the Lord would teach them
the tones of the gospel. And our Lord speaks in John 3,
of the new birth, the very beginning of the gospel. How many preachers
who speak to the unconverted and speak to them as if the gospel
was a big ride. Well, with the unconverted, you
set before them the law of God. And when the law of God has done
its work and when we have a poor, hell-deserving sinner feeling
that they are, Then you preach the gospel to them, what Christ
has finished and done on their behalf. But the Lord speaks of
that new birth as like the wind. Thou hearest the sound thereof,
but thou canst not know whence it cometh, or whether it goeth.
So is every one that is born of the Spirit. The wind bloweth
where it listeth. And we have again this illustration
like here, it is this stilling is the dew. And the Lord says
a new birth is just a gentle blowing of the wind. Very gentle. And the blessings of the Lord
are like that. When the Lord says that my sheep,
they hear my voice, they follow me. It is that still, small voice. It's a gentle voice. It is the
word of the gospel. that which softens, that which
draws, that which attracts, that which sheds the love of God abroad
in the heart, that which looses from bondage, that sets free
from guilt, that makes the Lord Jesus Christ precious, that brings
us to believe on Him and to rejoice in what He has done for us. We read in Isaiah 53 of all the
sufferings and all what the Lord has done for us and for the benefits
that flow forth directly from those sufferings and from his
death. Now I believe the Lord would
have the same criticism of what he had with Moses here and
Aaron. with every minister that makes
the gospel to be as something that is a rod to beat the people
of God with, know it is the remedy and is freely and sovereignly
and lovely given by the Lord. And the wonderful way in which
it comes so quietly So small, while you think of the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ to this world, so gently, in such a small
lowly way in the manger, no great fanfares, no great demonstration
of power there, but the Lord is there. And then when he begins
his ministry, he suddenly comes to his temple, and what does
he do? he opens the book and he reads that, which is the Gospel,
beautifully setting forth as that in Isaiah 61, I believe. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening
of the prison to them that abound, to proclaim the acceptable year
of the Lord, the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that
mourn, to appoint unto them that morning's iron, to give unto
them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be
glorified. That is how the Lord began his
ministry. That is the gospel. And what
a message to any this evening, or any hear this word, that feel
their sinnership, how deserving of hell, how broken the law of
God, how the wrath of God is upon all outside Christ. to hear
this gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, these good tidings, this
binding up of the broken heart and the proclaiming liberty to
the captives. This is the gospel and may it
be sweetly brought to your hearts this evening and to hear this
word, to receive this word and the Lord imparting to his people
so gently, that forgiveness, pardon, peace, that which you
cannot tell from whence it hath come, the peace of God that passeth
all understanding. Our Lord says, in me ye shall
have peace, in the world ye shall have tribulation. And so our
text says, my speech shall distill as they do, how the Lord's voice
is heard. But then thirdly, upon whom it
settles. And we are told of them as well. As the small rain upon the tender
herb and as the showers upon the grass. One way of looking at the showers
upon the grass Each blade of grass, how many of them there
are? And you think of the showers upon that grass.
Each blade is partaking of it. This speaking of gospel days,
you think of every nation, kindred, and tongue. You think of how
many it is resting on. Even if we go to Acts and we
get 3,000, 5,000, saved at one time, hearing the
Word of God and being blessed under that Word. Really, it sets
forth that this isn't just a blessing that is just for a few, just
for a little, but is a great blessing. Even though we read
of the Lord's people as being a remnant, yet we read in heaven
that they are an innumerable multitude, whom no man can number,
And so we need not have small thoughts upon those that are
to receive the benefits and blessings of the Gospel. But then also
we think of the character that is here upon the tender herb. And again, there's an illustration
of that need of the Gospel. You know, if you've got a little
tender herb growing up, and you take the hose pipe and you put
it on full jet and you go and try and water it and the poor
herb bends right over and probably breaks, you usually take the
finest, the gentlest spray that you could and to spray that little
herb. So it got the benefit that wasn't
destroyed by it, wasn't hurt by it. God's people are made
tender, teachable, childlike, those that shall receive the
Word. They're not to be crushed. They're
not to be driven. They're not to be forced. They're to be like newborn babes,
desiring the sincere milk of the Word. They're God's children. And those that are such characters,
that word comes to them, not to destroy, but to just settle
upon them. We are clear on that in our denomination,
that the invitations of the gospel are to characters. Those that
are heavy laden, come unto me all ye that are laden, are heavy
laden, I'll give you rest. Those that thirst, whosoever
thirsteth, let him come unto the waters. Those that are made
willing, whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. And they're to invitations to
characters. And the word that they need,
the blessing that they need, is that which shall be suited
to them, to their tender consciences, to their teachable spirits, and
the word dropping upon them. And so it is prepared ground. That's where it comes. Our Lord
told the parable of the sower and the need of that prepared
ground to bring forth fruit to the honour and glory of God.
If there's to be a doctrine that drops, there must be something
it drops on. And if there's a speech that
distills, there must be those that it distills upon. And this
text gives that indication of not only the volume, but also
the gentleness and the tenderness of those that are receiving this
rain and dew. They are made tender, whoso Heareth these words of mine,
he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches, allured, drawn by that still small voice and
the word settling upon them. Don't be put off if someone says,
well, what was the word that was blessed to you? and you might
not be able to say what word it was, but you can tell what
the effect was, how it drew you to Christ, how it softened your
heart, how it loosed your bondage. The Word of God will have an
effect. If the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed. Will the Lord bless this Word?
And may we hear and know and recognise God's voice as the
distilling as the dew in these Gospel days. Amen.