Of. Even so, does God word come
from above? Comes from above. I'm gonna give
you an illustration of this with Adam. Remember when Adam, he
was created, right? He was created as a federal head
of all the human race, and he was made upright and holy. But
as soon as he failed, he died spiritually. He knew nothing of God's doctrine.
He knew nothing of God's salvation. He sought to cover himself. That's
what men do. By traditions and creeds and
works, they seek to cover themselves before God. And listen, Adam would have stayed
that way and died in his sins had one thing not happened. Had
God not come down. And that's exactly what God did.
God came down with what? What did he come down with? Did
he come down in condemnation? No. He was already condemned. Justice had already been executed. If God wanted to condemn him,
all he had to do was leave him alone. But see the grace of God
descending like the rain, small rain. Adam, where are you? Can you not see that? Is that
not tender? Adam had just murdered his whole
race. God condescended to ask where
he was. Where are you? What have you done? What have
you done? And he gave him a very sweet
message, didn't he? He said, I've already considered
this. I've already planned for this. The seed of the woman. We'll crush the head of that
serpent. and he'll do it by one way, the bruising of his heel.
God came down and gave him a message, not of vengeance, but of mercy,
a message of mercy. He didn't come with a message
of law. This is what men, why do men
are so consumed with bringing the law into things? The law
can do nothing but condemn you. The law has one purpose, and
that's to shut you up. That's it. It can't help you. Wherefore, then, serve it the
law. It has this that every mouth may be stopped in the world,
may become guilty before God. That's the purpose of the law.
God comes when his doctrine comes, it doesn't come in the thunder
or the rain. But in the still small voice. Center. Where are you? Why have you done this? I've
got a message, my doctrine. Is not hard. It is a gentle doctrine. It is this that the seed of the
woman Jesus Christ should come to destroy the works of the devil.
He should come to put away your sin. to take your sin from you
and satisfy the justice of God in your place. Is that not a
sweet message? That Christ should come down
in that life, the gentle rain? How did Christ come down? He
came down the same way He came to Adam. He came down in mercy,
in meekness. came to save, came in love and
grace to save the unworthy. And his mission was to represent
sinners, to destroy sin, to remove it, to accomplish his work. And he did this by offering himself
a sacrifice to God. This is the doctrine of God.
Comes down gently and this is the tender rain. John said this, behold, what manner of love? Have you considered the love
of God? Behold the manner of this love
that God would bestow upon us, that we, this is astounding,
this is amazing, that we, the most unworthy, The one who only
merits God's wrath, that we should be called the sons of God. There is no greater love than
that. Paul says in Romans 5, when we
were yet without strength, Christ died. Now, when did Christ die?
When we were without strength. Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die, yet peradventure for a good man, some would even
dare to die. But God commended his love toward us in that while
we were yet rebels, haters of God. Christ died. For us. And what? Is the doctrine of
Christ regarding his death? Did He actually redeem? The tender mercies of God sent
down His Son like the gentle rain to give His life a ransom for
many. Was that ransom successful? Did He actually redeem? Did He
actually obtain righteousness by His obedience? What is the
doctrine of God concerning Christ? Since Christ is the doctrine
of God, Christ was sent to save sinners. Did He actually do it? Look back
at your text. He says in verse 4, He is the
rock. My doctrine. What is my doctrine? He. That's my doctrine. He. Who is this? He is the Rock. He is the Rock and His work is
perfect. Got that? The work of this one,
this Savior, is perfect. For all His ways are judgment,
a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is He. How can God, whose ways are judgment,
God of truth without iniquity, how can he pardon a guilty sinner? Listen, by the perfect work of
the rock. The perfect work of Jesus Christ. Because the work of Christ is
perfect to redeem, perfect to put away all the sins of his
people. This is the doctrine, because
I will publish the name of the Lord, my rock. I'm going to publish
this, the doctrine of God. So then the question is, do you
need this rain? God's doctrine descends like
the rain. The doctrine is Christ. He came down from heaven, he
accomplished the will of the father. He redeemed his people. His work is perfect. Who needs
rain? Only the those that are dry and
barren. The dry and barren herbs, they
need the rain. Are you such in one? And behold,
the doctrine of God then is to sinners. This message is only
to one group of people. Jesus said, I came not to call
the righteous, but one group of people, sinners. Sinners to
what? Repentance. To repentance. This doctrine of God is to sinners,
is to dry This doctrine to sinners, and this is no lifeless doctrine.
This is a doctrine that gives life. Isn't that what rain does?
You have a plant. Without water it'll die. It is
of necessity that it have water. So is a thirsty sinner. We need the water, we need the
doctrine of God that descends not as a storm, but as a tender
rain. A gentle rain upon the tender
herb. Behold, the work of Christ is
perfect, a work that is finished, a work that needs no help. Is
this not a gentle rain? Here God sings to the broken,
to the weak, and wounded sinner to the tender plant that bows
before God in his guilt. Listen to the words of Jesus
Christ. How tender is this? Come unto me. All you that labor and are heavy
laden. And I will give you rest. What are the requirements? requirements. Are you weary? Are you weary
of sin? Sin is no joy, it's a burden. There is no joy in the things
of this world that lasts. Things of this world become wearies.
Are you weary? What does Christ say? Come unto
me, you that are weary and heavy laden. He doesn't say come unto
me, you that are perfect, you that are whole, you that need
no physician. No, you that need one, come. And I'll give you something.
I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. Learn my doctrine. For I am me. and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest under your soul." How gentle is this
rain. How gentle is this doctrine. God's doctrine of Christ's perfect
work descends to the sinner, to the unworthy. Jack Shank said
this a long time ago. He said, you say you're unworthy
of least of God's mercies, Is that your condition? You're unworthy
of God's mercies. Aren't you glad that Christ is
worthy and that his redemption is accomplished for the unworthy? You say you have no goodness
or merits to claim. Aren't you thankful God accepts
sinners based on the goodness and merits of his son? You say the law affords me no
hope. You're right. But the gospel declares mercy
and grace that is freely given to sinners because of the doing
and dying of Christ. You see, this this salvation
is free. The only way you can not have
it is if you try to earn it. You need it. Come. What Christ said, come to me.
Don't come to the preacher. Don't come anywhere else. Come
to him. This is a tender message, a message
of mercy and grace. This is the doctrine of God,
that there is nothing needed or wanted. Of the sinner. God doesn't need
anything you have. If you're a real sinner, you
know that. You know there is nothing you can give to God that
make you acceptable. This doctrine comes to sinners. We come based on the perfect
work of the rock. His work is perfect. His work
is a work of grace, unmixed by the hands of men. This is the
doctrine of God that drops upon the souls of sinners. Now look,
this doctrine that we preach also concerns this, the depravity
of man. We preach the gospel of God's
free grace. But in order for one to need
it, he must understand his nature. The doctrine of God declares
the depravity of man. Look at verse 5 of your text. They have corrupted themselves.
Their spot is not the spot of His children. They are a perverse
and crooked generation. Though God's doctrine of Christ
is sure, His work is perfect, a work that should be received,
that should be believed by men, yet we read here, they have corrupted
themselves. This is true of us all, isn't
it? We have corrupted ourselves. By nature our spot is not the
spot of the children of God. David said we have come forth
from the womb speaking lies. Isaiah said all of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all together become
an unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. This is the doctrine of God concerning
man. That man is lost and dead. By one man's sin entered in the
world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. Though God had spoken such a
message of grace, though we preach this message of grace, why is
it not received? Isn't it a tender message? A
message of free mercy. Forgiveness of sins. Pardon from
all iniquity. Behold, the work of Christ is
perfect. Do you need a perfect work? There
it is. It's free. Why will men not believe it?
One reason. They are absolutely and utterly
dead. They're dead. Because he cannot,
and because of this he cannot receive it. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him. Neither can he know them, because he is spiritually condemned. Therefore let us see that the
gospel in its work then it must be a secret work. A secret work. The work of God that descends
from heaven to the sinner, it must be a secret work because
it must come from within. It must come from within. It
must work on the heart, the depraved hearts of man. An inner work
must be done. Remember back in verse one, look,
he says, my, my doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall
distill as the dew. Dew is a mysterious thing. At
least it was in this, this time. It didn't know maybe all the
science of it and stuff, but it is. Where does it come from? When you get up in the, when
you go to bed at night, the ground could be just totally dry. And
you get up in the morning, now the rain, it didn't rain all
night. Nothing. And you walk out in the grass,
it's all wet. Where'd that come from? Mysterious work, isn't
it? It just appeared out of nowhere.
Isn't this how the word of God descends on the hearts of men?
Like the dew, it's a mysterious thing. There's a sinner, one
who despises God, Not looking for Christ. Not looking for Christ. Not looking
to his gospel, believing his foolishness, but once the Spirit
of God gives life, once He gives the dew of life and faith, His
dew of life, faith appears, not by an act of will, or eloquence
of the preacher, but by the free grace of God, the dew of life
springs up in the heart. He sees his sin in the dryness
of his soul and his need. Do you know your need? Where
did that come from? One day you didn't have a need
and the next minute you did. That's how the Word of God appears.
It comes on the soul without being asked. I'm so thankful it worked this
way that God never waited for me. That he came to me. One minute, I did not believe
in the very next minute, do I believed? That's how the word of God descends
on the heart. I says, like the wind, you don't
know where it's coming and where it's going. You can only see
the effects of it. I don't know where the word of
God is going to go and give who he's going to give it to. Let me ask you this. Do you have
a need of it? Do you need Christ? And let not conscience make you
linger, nor a fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requires. Is to feel your need of him.
This is a work of God upon the heart. When God's gospel of Jesus
Christ descends like the rain and it distills like the dew.
on the hearts of men. Life springs out. Life springs out. What's the
evidence of this life? One thing, faith in Christ. Faith. In. Christ. John says, and many as received
him to them gave me the right to become the sons of God, you
received him. You see that little herb, little
dried up branches just begging for the rain. And all of a sudden
the dew distills on it. You know what that plant does?
Sucks it in. Could it do anything else? If it had life, can a plant do
anything else? Just natural to suck in that
rain, isn't it? It's exactly how it is with the sinner. It's
just natural now for us to believe. Faith. And once this work of
faith comes in, we know this, this is the doctrine of God,
that all who are living must have a conflict. A conflict. You that are living,
is it not so with you? That once we had one nature,
now we have two. The flesh and the spirit. Flesh lusts against the spirit,
the spirit against the flesh, and these two are contrary one
to another. When he talks about Israel corrupting
themselves. Moses is giving a prophecy saying,
look, you know, once you cross over, that's what you're going
to do. You're going to do something
stupid. You're going to you're going
to be you're going to go after other gods. You'll sin. Like Israel, they were delivered
from Egypt by the blood and water. They were delivered, but we still
see are like Israel in that we soon are fallen and crooked. That is, we are continually plagued
by the old nature that resides in us, what Paul calls the old
man. The old man, this is why we must
continually put him off. This is the doctrine of God.
Put off the old man and his deeds. Put on the new man which is created
after God in true holiness. So as Israel struggled with sin,
Abraham, David, Moses, all these saints that went before us, can
you not see them struggling with sin? This is true of everyone
who has received the doctrine of God, who believes on Jesus
Christ. We struggle with sin. Constantly. So when you read this, they corrupted
themselves. My conscience surely convicts
me over and over that I have corrupted myself. You that believe. Do you not loathe yourself? You find anything good about
you? You know, as part of the covenant,
God's eternal covenant, you look at a thing is Ezekiel 36 said
they shall loathe themselves. You to believe you loathe yourselves
because we have corrupted ourselves. What do we need that? We that
are constantly swarming, what do we need? We need the doctrine
of God to refresh us. I need this again when that plant
takes in that water. Is that all he needs to do one
time? You need to be watered one time and that's it. No, he
constantly needs the rain. So do we constantly need the
doctrine of God. We need to hear it again and
again. And listen what happens when
we fall. Look at verse 6. Listen to the gentleness of this
rebuke. Do you thus reward the Lord,
O you foolish and unwise? Is that how you repay Him? We look at our sin. and hear
his words. Simon. Loves me more. Yeah. I love you. No, no, Simon. Do you love me? Yet. No, Simon, listen, do you
do you love me more than me? Is that not tender? Is that not
distilled like the dew on your hearts? Here's the refreshment. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. It is the love of God that refreshes
the soul. It's why I don't talk much about
your love to God. What good would that do? I know you love him. Question. His love for me, does
he love me? That's the only way my love can
be sustained, is if He loves me. So what's the remedy for
this wicked and crooked nature of ours when we are rebuked?
Look at this in verse 7. Remember the days of old, consider
the years of many generations. What's the remedy for such sorrow
and grief? What is it? My doctrine. Remember
my doctrine. Remember this, believer. God
says, I have chosen. I have loved you remember. Remember. In your dry state,
remember the doctrine of God, this I have chosen you, I have
elected you. Remember this. I have put you
in union with Christ. You see, my wagons hitched to
Christ. Whatever he has, I have. Whatever
he's he's earned, I've earned. And since that I'm hitched to
Christ, listen is remember his success. Scripture says he hath by himself
obtained he entered in with his own blood once having obtained
eternal redemption for us How long is that? How long have you
been redeemed? Remember this That he has given
us his spirit He has given us life and faith. Don't think little of faith,
friends, don't think little of faith in Christ. It's impossible
for men to do. You do it. Yeah. That's that's amazing, isn't
it? Remember how he gave you faith. And remember this, it's
God that keeps you. Tammy, you are wanting to go
to Florida again next year. If you live that long, consider
this, God's kept you that whole time. I keep you. And I ask you, this is the doctrine
of God cold. Is it hard? Is it cruel? Not to the tender herb. Now,
listen, you put do on a building all day long. It's no value to the building.
Why? It's not living. But to those of us who are living
God's doctrine, where we find God's doctrine, I know what God, you know who
God is, what God requires, what God has provided right here.
My doctrine comes from this word. This whole word speaks of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. God magnifies His Son, magnifies
His work. He is the rock. He is perfect. His work is perfect. You are
crooked and perverse. Why do you do that? Remember the days of old. Remember
His doctrine. You that know it, remember it. Remember his electing grace,
his redeeming grace, his regenerating grace, his keeping grace. And I know this to you, his doctrine drops like the tender rain. distills like the dew on our
hearts. And that what he said about his
word in Isaiah 55. He said, as the rain cometh down
from heaven and water at the earth. Give it bread to the. Seed to
the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word descend from
heaven. And do what? Exactly what I determined
it to do and what was his determination you read the rest of that is
to give life joy and peace to sinners Sinners tender plants dried up
withered herbs That's who benefits from this doctrine God said that's
my doctor And that's the only doctrine
I want to talk about from this pulpit. Jesus Christ. And crucified, believe on him. Believe on him. Trust him. He said this, you shall be saved.
That's pretty. I always like his words emphatic,
isn't it? There's no guesswork here. You will be. Pray God bless us.