It's a privilege to be here and
preach the gospel again to you. I'm so glad our church sends
their love. And I pray God will be with us. Give me the liberty I need to
preach. I pray God will give me that
unction of his spirit and give you the same spirit that you
could receive it. We both need the Spirit of God
to do what we're doing, worshiping our Savior through the preaching
of the gospel. Now, if you take your Bibles
and turn back to where Mark read, Deuteronomy 32. I had him read
it, so I would need to for you. But we're going to try. And look
at these 14 verses here. I make no illusion that we may
not make it. But I pray, Lord, give us grace
in what we do see in these passages of scripture. I've entitled this
message God's Doctrine. God's Doctrine. Moses here in Deuteronomy 32
says, give ear, O you heavens, and I will speak. And hear, O
earth, the words of my mouth. Now here Moses is giving the
song to the children of Israel, which is directly from the lips
of God. He is speaking on the behalf
of God. That's what a prophet is. A prophet is nothing more or
less than a mouthpiece For God and Moses is speaking in the
behalf of God and he calls everyone to hear. Oh you have it In this
amazing angels here what we're saying and it they don't understand
I And yet we understand, and they give more earnest heed sometimes
than we do. But he says, hear, O heavens,
and I'll speak, and O earth, and the words of my mouth. So
God's prophet was sent to speak the word of God, even so it is
with preachers of the gospel of Christ. We are nothing more
or less than a mouthpiece for God. Paul said this, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. Be ye reconciled unto God. We
are ambassadors. And so this word of Moses that
he is speaking as a prophet is surely the word of every gospel
preacher. We are to preach simply the word
of God. And what is this word that Moses
was given that I desire to give to you tonight is this. This
is what we desire to preach. My doctrine. This doctrine here
is none other than the doctrine of God. Now this word doctrine
in our generation is given a bad rap. You say doctrine to people
and they get, their eyes begin to close or they begin to be
angry. Religion, religious men today
say this, let's not preach doctrine. Let's just evangelize. Let's
not preach doctrine, let's just all get along. Let's not preach
doctrine, let's just worship God together. This philosophy
is not of God. This is the philosophy of man
and not of God. And this truly shows their ignorance
because doctrine. Doctrine means nothing more or
less than this, teaching. That's what the word means. So
what are they saying? They're saying, let's just worship,
but not teach. Let's just get along, but don't
teach me anything. Let's just evangelize, but not
teach. Let's not be divided by teaching.
They're ignorant. They're ignorant. Now true enough,
a man may know true doctrine and not know Christ. You may
take everything of the doctrine of God and have it all locked
in here. And you may die in your sins.
Now you pay attention, there will be many Calvinists in hell. Why? Because they're trusting
in what they know. And they don't know who they
know. So you can know doctrine and
not know Christ, but listen to this. No man can know Christ
without true doctrine. You cannot know Christ apart
from his doctrine, his teaching. How can one witness of God that
he does not know? Isn't that what Paul says? It's
pretty much summed up there in Romans 10. How can you believe
in Him in whom you have not heard? And how shall you hear without
a preacher? How shall they preach except
they be said? This is necessary. This is God's means by which
he conveys his doctrine through the preaching of the gospel. So you can't have worship without
doctrine. You can't have evangelism without
doctrine. And God's people are not going
to get along with you if you don't have God's doctrine. So Jesus, you know, he told that
woman at the well, the Samaritan woman, he said, you worship.
You just don't know what. She did not know until he taught
her true doctrine. And so then, what is the doctrine
of God? God says here by Moses, hear
this, my doctrine. What is the doctrine of God? Now, no man then can be saved
without this doctrine. Therefore, we study doctrine,
it is necessary, even because it is the foundation of all our
faith and practice. The doctrine of God should be
the foundation of all your faith and practice. Where do you get
such doctrine? What is the source of God's doctrine? Our doctrine is not just teaching
anything. The source of our doctrine is
not based on the opinions of man, the philosophy of man, the
wisdom of man, the traditions of man, or the creeds of man. The sole source of God's doctrine
is that book you have in your hands right there. This, my friends,
is the source of all God's doctrine. We have no true doctrine without
thus saith the Lord. The word of God is the source
of God's doctrine. Go to 1 Peter. Go to the place
here. Go to 1 Peter chapter one. 1 Peter chapter one and see what
he says about this word. Now you who believe, this is
who he's speaking to. He said being 1 Peter one and
verse 24, being born again. You that are born again, how
is it that you were born again? By what means did God use? You
were born again, not of corruptible seed, not of corruptible seed,
but incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. All flesh is grass, and the glory
of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth, the flower
thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And here it is, and this is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Now, we who are saved,
we know the necessity of this word. It is the incorruptible
seed. It is the seed that liveth and
abideth forever. This is the word of God. It's immutable. How many men
over the centuries have tried to change this word, twist this
word, and yet they all die. And this word is still here.
Still here, it is a word that liveth and abideth forever. The
word of God, this doctrine of God that is preached, the Holy
Spirit has taken this word and given us spiritual life. He's given us life. And by this
same word, this word endures forever. And by this word, the doctrine
of God, which is the gospel of Christ, is preached unto you.
Now these truths in the word of God are not denominational
dogmas. The truth of the word of God
is not church creeds or confessions, is not doctrinal debates or theological
thesis. This is the very word of God. And it's not up for debate. Somebody
wants to debate this book, I don't want to hear it. I don't want
to hear it. Now many today will try to mix
things and develop their doctrine based on the Word of God and
traditions. You got a whole group of denominations
that base their doctrine on a mixture of the Word of God and traditions. Others base their doctrine on
the Word of God and church confessions or church creeds. While others
use the Word of God and then base their doctrine on their
emotions, their feelings, their opinions. But the moment men
do that, when the word of God and their traditions, when the
word of God and their feeling, when the word of God and their
creeds do not come together, when they're opposed to one another,
you'll know this, that men will take their traditions, men will
take their feeling, men will take their creeds and abandon
the word of God. We know this. The Pharisees did
this. Jesus told those Pharisees, he
said, by your traditions, you make the word of God of none
effect. When you mix tradition with the
word of God, it is of none effect. When you mix the word of God
with man's creeds and they contradict one another, what do you get?
You get that gross doctrine of infant baptism, progressive sanctification. You get all kinds of evil doctrines. doctrines of devils and Today this most the generation
is fixed on the Word of God and their feelings their experience.
Well, this is my experience. I don't care What is your experience have
to do nothing nothing It is the Word of God that is the source
of all truth and doctrine and The sole source, the only source
by which we are to get the doctrine of God is simply the Word of
God. Therefore, we like Moses, we
call upon men to hear this message, the message of God's saving grace
only by the Word of God. That's the only place you'll
hear God's doctrine is in the Word. And so we like Moses call
upon men to hear this message and not to give themselves to
their opinions, their thoughts, the wisdom of man, but base their
doctrine solely on the word of God. This is what Paul said in
2 Timothy 3. He said, all scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is profitable. What's the first
thing for what? Doctrine. Doctrine. for reproof. You know what doctrine
does? Doesn't it reprove our feelings,
our traditions, our creeds? It reproves us. It rebukes us.
And it exhorts us. And we do this with all longsuffering. Paul said, I'm not gonna like
it. Just do it with longsuffering.
Keep doing it. We keep preaching this same gospel why it's safe
for you. It's good for you to preach this gospel. for doctrine,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man
of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works.
In the very next chapter, he says this to Timothy, I charge
you, I charge you before God, preach the word. Only the word,
always the word. For how long? Well, you do it
in season and out of season. When men like it and when men
don't. When you feel like preaching it and when you don't feel like
preaching it. in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine. And doctrine. Why? Because a time will come
when men will not endure sound doctrine, but will heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away from
the truth and turn to fables. What are these fables? Traditions,
feelings, opinions, creeds, confessions, they turn to fables. This is
why we are to constantly preach the word. This is the source
of all true doctrine. But what is the doctrine of God? Now we know that this is the
source. I've spent a few minutes telling you this is the source.
But what is the subject of God's doctrine? This book you have
in your hand, do you realize how amazing this book is? You
usually can't find two news organizations reporting one thing and saying
the same thing, right? And they've seen it 24 hours
ago. This book was written, Old and
New Testament, by 35 different authors or more. It was written
over thousands of years on three or four different continents.
Most of these people have never met each other except the apostles.
And yet this book is in perfect harmony. As though it was written
by one person. And it was. It was. It's in perfect harmony and unity. It is as one voice because it
has one message. And that message is concerning
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was telling them a second ago,
a man called me to preach, and he said, I got a topic for you. It's Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And you could preach it from Genesis to Revelation, whichever
book you wanted to choose. That's our whole topic, is Christ
and Him Christian. But why, this is the sum and
substance of God's message to men. He says in our text, he
says, give ear, listen, oh heavens, and I'll speak. Hear, oh earth,
the words of my mouth, my doctrine. What is that? It is Christ. Christ is the doctrine of God. It's not a set of facts to be
memorized. It's a person. glorious person. It is his son. It is the work
of his son that is to be magnified and honored and set before you
because that work and that person is the only hope for sinners. Therefore we set him before you. No man that preaches desires
you to look at me. I don't want you to see me. I
want you to see him. Why? That's God's doctrine. I
want you to see God's doctrine. God's doctrine and teaching is
all about his son. All about his son. You remember
when he rose from the dead, he told his disciples, he was teaching
doctrine to his disciples when he rose from the dead. And the
scripture says, and beginning at Moses. Where are we at? We're at Moses. And Moses and
all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. This book's about Christ. If
you go try to find anything else but Christ in this book, you've
missed it. You've missed it. God won't speak about his son.
Men don't want to hear about his son. God has spent centuries
writing this book solely about his son and about his perfect
work. In the book of Acts, you have
over 30 years of preaching. 30 years of preaching. And every
single message is about Christ and him crucified, Christ and
him risen from the dead. Every message. For 30 years,
you have this in the Word of God. Behold, in the mystery of
the Word of God, that all its centers around is the perfect
person and the perfect accomplished redemption of Jesus Christ, which
was proven by his resurrection. God says, my doctrine. And if
you look in verse four, you're gonna see who his doctrine's
about. He is our rock. My doctrine is about my rock. Well, who's that? Well, you know
that in Isaiah chapter 28, the Lord said, behold, I lay in Zion. What? A stone. A triad stone,
a precious cornerstone. This stone, this foundation upon
which all the souls of his elect are built is Christ. He is the
rock. He is the foundation upon which
every believer rests our souls upon. He is our rock. That word rock could also be
a refuge. He is our refuge. He's not only
our foundation, he's our refuge. When I think of refuge, the first
thought comes is Noah's Ark. What a refuge. What a refuge. You know, Noah endured the wrath
of God. How did he survive and no one
else did? He was in a refuge. The refuge endured the wrath
of God in his place. Christ is our rock. He is our
refuge. This is the sum and substance
of God's doctrine. It's Christ. It's all about Christ. Now then, listen how God says
his doctrine is going to fall, how his doctrine is going to
come. That this doctrine of God is
a living and effectual doctrine that gives life to the dead and
refreshes the living. Look what he says, verse two.
My doctrine, this is how it's going to come to men. My doctrine
shall drop as the rain. My speech shall distill as the
dew. as the small rain upon the tender
earth, and as the showers upon the grass, because I will publish
the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God. Moses describes how the doctrine
of God comes, and he says it's gonna come like a gentle rain. God says, my word's gonna come
down, it's gonna come down like a gentle rain on the tender herb. Anybody afraid of gentle rain?
Is there any fear in gentle rain? Is there any fear in the dew
that distills in the morning grass? No. No, it's a refreshment. This doctrine of God is likened
unto rain simply because it comes from above. God says my doctrine
is going to come from above. It's not going to come from man
upward. It's not going to come out of
man. It's going to come from God down to man. That's how rain comes, comes
down. I use an illustration of this.
Let's just use Adam as an illustration. What an illustration this is.
When God made man, he made him upright. And yet when Adam sinned,
He died spiritually, we know this. Wherefore, by one man sin
entered the world, and death by sin. He died. Therefore, we
too, in Adam, died. And like Adam, man tries to cover
the nakedness of his sin. He tries to cover his sin. Adam tried to cover his sin with
fig leaves. Our Father, brought sin and death into this
world, he also brought false religion. Isn't this the purpose
of false religion, trying to cover sin? Not deal with it,
not do away with it, not redeem it, but cover it with his works. That's what Adam did. Now what if God left Adam to
himself? What if God did not come down
to Adam? Then we all would have been like
the angels who are now in chains, those fallen angels who have
no hope. But that's not the story. God
descended down to man. God came down to, now how did
he come to Adam? Now, you and I would have come
to Adam totally different. Were you sorry, son of a gun?
How dare you? We would have probably just killed
him. God didn't do that. He came in the cool of the day, gentle. And he came with tender words,
Adam, where are you? He didn't come in condemnation
because condemnation had already fallen. He didn't come in judgment
because judgment had already taken place. Adam was already
dead. Jesus said this, I came not to
bring condemnation. Why? Because man is already condemned. And God comes down with a gentle
voice. Though he fled from God, it was
God that pursued Adam. It was God that found Adam. And
behold, the soul of man is barren and dead and lifeless. Our sins
have separated us from God, and yet God comes down to man. He came not in condemnation and
judgment, God does not come in the storm
of justice. He does not come by the thunder
of the law, because the law can only condemn. The law cannot
help us. The law has a purpose, friends.
It only has one, to convict and condemn. It cannot help you. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified and deciphered by the laws and
knowledge of sin. What good would it have done
to Adam just to be convicted and then die? It's not what God came down for. Therefore, behold man before
the presence of God who he has offended, whose fig leaves of
religion have failed him, His nakedness is now exposed. His
excuses are empty and vain. His soul is found as a dead plant
in the heat of God's condemnation. So how does God's doctrine then
fall from his lips? How does God's doctrine fall
from his lips to Adam? It falls as the gentle rain,
refreshing, life-giving rain. What were his words to Adam?
He said this, the seed of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent, and he shall bruise his heel."
What was he doing? He's giving him his doctrine.
He's teaching him his doctrine, and this is such a gentle doctrine.
He's saying this, that the Son of God should come to sin to
be the seed of the woman. that Christ, the dearest and
most loved of God, should come into this world and take on himself
human flesh so as to be a substitute, a representative, a high priest. How tender is this, that God
is promising to send a Savior. How refreshing. You know who
that refreshes? Sinners. That's the only people that refreshes.
That's the only people that rejoice in such a doctrine. And his mission
was to come as a man, as a representative for sinners, and that he should
crush the head of the sinner. He should do away with his sin.
That's what he's saying. He should redeem him from sin. That sin that separated Adam,
that sin that made Adam to run from God. He said, I'm gonna
deal with that. You can't deal with that. I will. I will. Christ is going to come and he's
going to accomplish this work, but how? By the bruising of his
heel. By his death. How can God remove
guilt? Isn't that something? Now listen,
you could be guilty of something and somebody pay you a fine,
but listen, you're still guilty. God says, I'm gonna do it to
where you ain't guilty. I'm gonna remove guilt. And he
does this by the substitutionary work of Christ. By the dying
of Jesus Christ. Is there a more tender gospel
than this? Can you think of any more gentle
way that God could have came to the sinner? And this is how
he comes to us. He comes to us in the very teeth
of our sin and gives us a message of salvation. A message of salvation. John said, behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God. You get that? We should be called
the sons of God. What manner of love is this? In Romans chapter five and verse
six, for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
died. for the ungodly. For scarcely will a righteous
man die for one, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But listen, God commendeth his love toward us
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died. And what was the, what was the product of this?
Was Christ successful? When Christ came down and represented
his people, when he had obtained by his own work righteousness,
when he had died under the justice of God, bearing the sins of his
people in his own body on the tree, what was the verdict? Was he successful? Listen to
God's doctrine. Here is God's doctrine read again
in verse four. He is the rock He is the refuge
he is the foundation and what about his work? His work is perfect
His work is perfect For all His ways are judgment, a God of truth,
and without iniquity, just and right is He. How could God be
just and justify the ungodly? There's the question that any
preacher, every preacher should be dealing with. How can God
be just and still justify the ungodly? And there's only one
answer. Jesus Christ and Him crucified by a representative
man. How can God show such tender
mercy to those of us who deserve nothing but His wrath? Simply
because the work of Christ is perfect to redeem. It is perfect
to atone for the sins of His people. This is the doctrine
of God that we publish. This is the doctrine God has
commanded us to, I will publish this. Look, God says that in
verse three. Because, this is why it's going to be so tender,
because I will publish the name of the Lord and ascribe greatness
unto God. Let me ask you, are you barren?
Are you without life? Have you broken the law of God?
Have you been shut up to self-righteousness and self-salvation? Behold, the
doctrine of God to sinners is no dry and lifeless doctrine. It is as one that falls as tender
rain upon the tender heart of the sinner. Behold, the work
of Christ is perfect. The work of Christ is finished
and needs no help from man. His work is done. It is done above board. His work is without iniquity. It is done in justice. It is
done in truth so that God might be just and justify the ungodly. And here God sings to the broken
and weak sinner. Listen to what Christ said when
He came into the world. He said this, Unto me. Can you get more tender than
that? Come unto me. Who? All you who are heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. Learn what? Learn my doctrine.
Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall
find rest unto your souls. How gentle is the reign of God's
doctrine as opposed to the flood and thunder of false works religion. You know something about works
religion? It's never done. It's never, you never stop working. That's not gentle. God's gospel comes and distills
like the dew upon the hearts of men. It is gentle. Why? It says this, stop working. Come
to me and I will give you rest. I will give you righteousness. I will give you redemption. I
will reconcile you to God. Come unto me. We do not try to heap burdens
upon men as those Pharisees. You know, the Lord told those
Pharisees, He said, you heap burdens on them and you don't
even lift a finger yourselves. The apostle, when they were confronted
with that matter of putting the law on the Gentiles, he said,
you know, we ourselves could not bear this. How dare you try
to put this on them? I'm not trying to put law on
you. Come to Christ. Come now, come
freely, and you'll find rest, whoever you are. Are you heavy
laden? Are you tired of working? Are
you weary? He said, come to me. and you'll
find rest. Jackson said this, I wrote it
down. He said, are you unworthy? Aren't you glad Christ is worthy? He's worthy and that redemption
that he has accomplished is for the unworthy. You say you have
no goodness to claim or merits to claim God's mercy. Aren't
you glad that God accepts sinners based on the goodness and merits
of his son? You say the law affords you no
hope. Right you are. But the gospel declares that
the mercy and grace of God is freely given to sinners because
of the doing and dying of Jesus Christ. This is the only salvation worth
having and the only one worth proclaiming. Jesus Christ came
into the world to save sinners. Does this doctrine not fall gently
upon the hearts of men? It has a gentle rain, and this
speaks to the dead as well as to the living. When God's gospel
comes to the heart of the sinner, it's like dew that distills in
the morning. You see the dew come down, you
don't see it. You just get up in the morning
and it's there. Isn't that how God saved you? You weren't looking for God,
you were dead. You weren't seeking God, you
were dead. You couldn't please God, you were dead. And all of
a sudden, you believe. Where'd that come from? It is
like the word distilled out of nowhere. One lady came to our church and
that testimony she gives, I say this a lot because it's really
worth repeating. She says, I didn't believe. Before I heard the gospel, I
was going to listen to a message. And before I started listening,
I knew this, I didn't believe. But as I was listening, all of
a sudden, I couldn't help but believe. What was that but the
word of God, the stealing, like the dew on her heart, giving
her life? And let me ask you this, how
many times has your heart been so cold and indifferent to the
things of God? So stubborn and full of pride
and sin. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere,
a scripture will come to your heart and it'll break it. It distills like the dew and
the gentle rain on the tender herb. You know what Christ says,
a bruised reed he shall not break. And smoking flax he shall not
quench. His word falls like the gentle
rain on the hearts of his people. And what is this word? It is
the word concerning Christ, our rock. I know this, I didn't get
very far, but I hope you get this, that the doctrine of Christ
is simply this, it is Christ our rock. Are you founded on this rock? Do you rest upon this rock? Why would you not? It's perfect. Why would you try to add anything
to his work? God says His work is perfect.
His work is righteous. His work is holy. His work is
without iniquity. Why would you seek to add anything
to it and corrupt it? Oh, that God would give you grace,
even tonight, to believe on Christ. Just lay down and rest your head
on His lap. Have him come and put his arms
around you. I'll tell you if you're there,
you are safe. You're safe. Because everyone he saves, he
saves forever. I pray that God bless this to
you again. I've got so much more, but I hope the Lord will bless
this. My doctrine, what's the source of it? It's the word of
God. Anything contrary to this word, get rid of it. That's not
the doctrine of God. The doctrine of God is Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Sinners should believe on the
Son of God and be saved. He is the rock and foundation
and His work is perfect. I pray God will bless this to
you. Let's be dismissed in prayer, please. Our gracious Heavenly
Father, I pray that you'd be merciful to us. Oh, Father, be
gracious and kind. Even now, allow thy doctrine
to distill on the hearts of your people. Refresh them, Father. Give them strength and courage
to face the day that Christ's work is perfect. that He has
sanctified, He has made holy all His people. And Father, tonight, if you would,
in mercy, if there be any outside of Christ, that you might give
them this word that they should believe on Him, that they should
come to Him and be saved. This, Father, we publish only
for your glory. And I pray you do it for your
namesake in Jesus' name.