Now as Christ we're confessing,
now as our Jesus we call. Shower the blessing, shower the
blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling,
but for the showers we plead. Thank you, Gabe, Jerry. Let's go back to Deuteronomy
32 now, Deuteronomy chapter 32. Read with me again the first
four verses of Deuteronomy 32. Give ear, O ye heavens, and I
will speak, and hear, O earth. the words of my mouth. My doctrine
shall drop as the rain. My speech shall distill as the
dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers
upon the grass, because I will publish the name of the I ascribe
you greatness unto our God. He is the rock. His work is perfect. For all of His ways are judgment.
A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right, He is who. For the previous four or five
years, we have experienced severe drought. around here, haven't
we? And perhaps this message would
have been more well-received or more precious and refreshing
then than now. I can't help but believe that
the Lord is now bringing so much rain, sending
so much rain because folks probably haven't thanked him for the rain. We went so long without it, and
I'm sure people were begging for it. And then the Lord sends
it, and very few probably thank him for it. Like the children
of Israel, remember they said, We want meat. We're tired of
this manna. We want meat. Remember? They said, we're so
tired of this light bread. They didn't deserve that. We
want meat. So God said, OK, it's going to
come out your nostrils. We'll send so much of it. Right? Also, I think this should be
a reminder to everyone that it's very easy to see that God could destroy this whole planet
by water, isn't it? One day of rain, a torrent like
we had yesterday, can wipe out a lot of things. How about 40
days and 49? Well, anyway, for those who realize
that we still are in a drought, and I'm not talking about physically,
we still are in a drought. Right now, spiritual drought,
the worst it's ever been. It's only going to get worse,
I believe. Those that realize this, they sang that song, sang
that song, showers of blessings. Oh, that today they might fall. And for those who realize that,
perhaps this message will be greatly refreshing. Again, I
can't make it so. I can't make it so. What is preaching? Sat there thinking about that.
What is preaching? Is it the preacher getting all
excited and moving the people to do this and do that? Is it
my ability to make things interesting? Is it my ability to say things that move you? No, it is not. It's the faithful
standing up and declaration of this book. That's all it is.
More than anything, it's a declaration of God's Word. And if God is
pleased, he can take a still, small voice and break the hardest
heart. If God is not pleased, all the
enthusiasm I can muster, all the emotion that I can bring
forth will not cause anybody to dance. All the weeping will
not cause anybody to mourn. But if God is pleased, It's the
faithful declaration of his Word. What am I going to do this morning
by his help? I'm just going to look at these
verses. Verse 1, the Lord speaks in his
Word and says, Give ear, O ye heavens. Now, these are not the words
of Moses. It's written, the psalm of Moses, but none of this book
is written by men. Not one word. This is the Word of God. If it
were only the words of Moses, then you can take them or leave
them. Right? If it were only the words of
Moses, then I can stand up and quote Confucius. Confucius as well as Moses. This is God's Word. And so they're
not words to be taken lightly. That's what he said. That's how
he begins this whole thing. See, God commands the heavens
to listen. Give ear, O ye heavens. Look
down at God's Word, verse 46 and 47, which we did not read,
which are some of my favorite verses. Verse 46 and 47, He said
unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify
among you this day, which you shall command your children.
Teach this to your children. to observe, to do all the words
of this law, of God's Word. It's not a vain thing for you.
It's your life. This is your life. It really is. We say that, don't
we? I say it. You say it. We all say it. Christ
is our life. Worship is our life. Well, here
we are. Here we are. And so we should
be saying, Lord, quicken me. Make me alive to your words of
life. You see, it is a saver of life
unto life. It is a saver of life unto life.
Only life responds to life. Only life responds to life. Dead
people won't respond to the words of life. Only those that are
alive. But sometimes we get so feeling so dead and so cold. Say, Lord, quicken me according
to your Word. And there's never been a more
glorious passage written in all of God's Word than right here,
what we're reading this morning. Give ear, O ye heavens! Give
ear! God commands that the heavens
listen when he speaks. You reckon they do? You reckon
they do? You reckon the angels and the
cherubs and the seraphs stop and hush their mouths and listen?
How careful do you think they listen? Give ear, O ye heavens! Hear,
I'll speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth." This
is written to the creatures of this earth. This is to whom this
applies. You and me. This applies to us. It doesn't
apply to the angels. Are you with me? Come on. Give me ear, O earth. We've got ears to hear, Lord.
Let them hear. Give ear, O ye earth," this is
to whom this applies, poor, needy creatures like we are. We're
poor and needy, and some truly are doomed and dying. Truly, this is like a man standing
up, hollering, fire, to folks in a burning building. It's so.
And only if he, by his grace and mercy through the preaching
of the gospel, plucks us as a brand from the burning. we will perish."
I've heard that before, and I didn't know you haven't. Here, O earth, listen carefully,
words of life. But no, the Scripture says, God
has spoken once, yea, twice, but man perceiveth it not. God commands our attention. God's
Word. I was reading this, reading God's
Word, and I looked up, and there were several Faces and I know
the flesh, I know the flesh, but still it it's disturbing
me when folks won't look at this book. I mean, actually, look
at this book. It's not my word, it's not Moses
words, God's word, it's it's it's life or death. This is a
life or death matter. I preach as one as a dying man
to dying man. Truly, there's no promise of
tomorrow. This is your life. Got to hear it. Words of life.
Words of life. And only if God in mercy gives
us ears to hear, a heart to receive the word of His mouth. All right,
he says, give ear. My doctrine, verse 2, my doctrine
shall drop as the rain. My doctrine. What is doctrine? I told you that story of when
I worked on the railroad, how that they would have little preaching
services every Friday at lunchtime for whoever wanted to attend.
And various self-pronounced preachers would come and spout off their
stuff. One time, the fellow who was
in charge of that asked me to He provided a preacher for one
Friday. When I had a preacher, I knew
a man that would preach. And the closer it came to the
Friday where he was supposed to come, the more nervous that
fellow got, the fellow in charge, because he knew we talked a lot
about what we believed. Until finally, about on Thursday,
he came up to me and said, now, he said, now we've got people
of all kind of faiths. He said, we have people of all
different denominations. He said, tell this preacher,
don't preach doctrine. Tell him, don't preach doctrine,
just preach Jesus. What did my brother preach? I
told him that. What did he preach? Faithfully
preach 2 John 9. If any man abide not in the doctrine
of Christ, he is none of his. The doctor that's exactly what
it what is doctrine. Teaching just a word for teaching. It's the doctrine of God he says
my doctor my teaching now listen this is important would you listen
carefully. He said my doctrine. Doctrines, plural. Doctrines,
singular. You know, every time it speaks
of the doctrine, God's doctrine, it's singular, my doctrine. Every
time it speaks of man's teachings, it's plural. Every time it speaks
of the devil, the doctrines of the devil. But whenever it speaks
of God's teachings, it's one doctrine. Now, isn't that significant? Why is that so? Do you know? Because the doctrine of God is
one. The teaching of God is one. All
of this book is of one. From cover to cover, it speaks
of one. The doctrine is the doctrine,
I quoted it, of Christ. Let me quote it again. Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ's.
The doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abided in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. This whole book
has one message. Christ and him crucified. The
whole book. All the doctrines, all the teachings
of various things, all the truths go together to make up one truth.
All the doctrines go together to make up the doctrine of salvation
which is in Christ and Christ alone. It's the story of Christ. And to the thirsty soul, the
Lord says, to the sinful soul, the needy soul, the message of
this sovereign mercy of God in Christ and Christ alone, he said,
will drop as rain. My doctrine, the doctrine of
Christ, shall come down like rain. Now, who needs rain? Parched and dry. My doctrine shall drop as rain,"
he said. Read on. My speech shall distill
as the dew. Yes, rain as a small rain now,
upon the tender herbs, showers upon the grass. Now, as I said,
right now may not be the time to appreciate rain. It's a blessing of blessing.
Life will die on planet Earth. You go very long at all without
this water that just comes down from the sky. How many just water
pours out of the sky that sustains everything that has breath on
this earth? It just freely falls from the
sky. What a blessing it is. Never take it for granted. Never
grow tired of it. Never murmur and complain of
it. We live because of it. But, you know, we've had
so much of it. It's like everything. If we have
too much of it, we take it for granted. Maybe even grow tired
of it. But now he says, my doctrine
shall drop as rain, as a small rain, as a gentle rain. Wednesday
morning, I think it was. We didn't have service that night
so I hung around the house and I went out on the front porch
and Wednesday morning, now it rained, and Tuesday and Monday,
but Wednesday morning was the most pleasant rain of the year
I think. I sat out there on the porch
and it was just a real gentle rain, just real gentle, and on
that metal porch roof, and oh, it was so refreshing. It was
just, surely everybody in here can enjoy a gentle summer rain
like that. Huh? You see, my doctrine's going
to follow like that. I'm not just driving the Torah
around. I need to learn to preach like
that. Not rain that just beats you
down, but gentle refreshing rain, as the dew, he said, the dew
that distills on the small herb. Oh, my. Anybody have basil growing
in your garden anywhere? That's the most, Nancy, that's
it, isn't it? That's my favorite herb of all. That's the most
fragrant herb on planet Earth. If you go out some morning with
a dew that's come up, if you have that, you walk anywhere
near it. Oh, it's wonderful. That's what he says my doctrine
will be like, but only to the thirsty. My doctrine will drop
as rain, rain that waters and moistens and refreshes and causes
to grow, a doctrine that is fragrant and lovely and pleasant to the
parched soul as it showers upon a grave. Because, here's what
it is, here's my doctrine, verse 3, because I will publish the
name of the Lord. This is my doctrine. This is
it. This is the doctrine which refreshes.
This is the doctrine which gives life like water. I will publish
the name of the Lord. Is this not a lesson in preaching
for me? Huh? What are you going to preach? The name of the Lord. Any and every time. The name
of the Lord. What's his name? What's his name? Wonderful. Counselor. The mighty God. The everlasting Father. The Prince
of Peace. What's his name? Jehovah. God our Savior. That's what the word Lord here
is. All the way through, when you
see the word Lord in capital letters, it means Jehovah, God
our Savior. What's his name? Jehovah Jireh.
Oh, anybody that's needy, the Lord will provide. What's his name? The Lord Jehovah
Rapha, the Lord our healer. Like that woman with issue of
blood now, she went to the Lord. What's his name? Jehovah Nisi,
the Lord our banner, our captain in whom we trust. The Lord Jehovah
Shalom, the Lord our peace. Jehovah Rea, the Lord our shepherd.
Jehovah, know any others? Sidkenu, to the unrighteous. That's like rain on the grass. The Lord our righteousness. Jehovah
Sidkenu. Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is
ever present. What's His name? The Lord Jesus
Christ. What's His name? Jesus. Call His name Jesus. He
shall save His people from their what? Sins. He said their sins
and iniquities I'll remember no more. To sinners, that's a
sweet name. Jesus. Something about that name. What's His name? Christ! representative,
messiah, mediator, intercessor, desmond betwixt us, the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen
now, I'm going to publish the name of the Lord. I'm going to
tell you what his name is. The Lord God, he said to Moses,
merciful, gracious, who by no means cleared the guilty, but
forgiving iniquity. Abundant to pardon, merciful,
what's his name? Out of the thirsty, that means
a lot. What's his name? The Lord who's ever merciful,
who delights to show mercy, who's ready to pardon. What's his name?
To a guilty sinner, here it is. Ready to pardon, that's his name.
Ready to pardon. My doctrine shall drop as rain.
That's the name of the Lord. Ascribe ye greatness unto our
God, he said in verse 3. Ascribe ye greatness unto our
God. What's the doctrine we're to
preach? Our great God. That's what. Turn with me to Revelation 5.
Revelation chapter 5. Ascribe ye greatness to our God.
How much greatness? How great is it? Well, he's got
a name above every name. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. How great is
he? Ask the Shulamite maiden about
her beloved. She will tell you. He is the
fairest of ten thousand, the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the
Valley, the Bride and Morning Star. How great is he? Listen to all of God's people. They sung a new song, Thou art
worthy to take the book, to open the seals thereof. For thou wast
slain, and thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And thou hast
made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on
the earth. And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels." Yeah, they heard his voice, didn't
they? Describe greatness to our God, angels. Okay, they said.
We will. About the throne, beasts and
elders, a number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand
and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive power. How much greatness? All
power. riches, and wisdom, and strength,
and honor, and glory, and blessing in every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard say, Blessing,
and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon
the throne of the Lamb for ever and ever. Ascribe ye greatness
unto our God." How much greatness? All greatness, whatever word
you can come up with, whatever adjective you can use. I'm like Moses here in our text.
He said over there in verse 31 about these people that talk
about a rock. He's not a rock. He just rolls along at their
whim. They talk about gods that can't save. They have no hands
but their hands, no feet but their feet. Gods that can't save
a flea. Gods whom Christ, yes, said here
in this text, call on, see if they'll save you. And they do.
People call all the time on God. The whole world gets together
collectively, calling on God, do this, do that. He's not even
listening. The God is not. Their gods can't
save them. Why? Because they don't have
ears. They're idols. Yeah, their rock is not our rock. They're not as our rock. That's the next line here. He
says, "...describe thee greatness unto our God. He is the Rock." I wish I could preach this like
it ought to be preached. He is the Rock. The Rock. The Scriptures talk a great deal
throughout the book about the Rock, the Rock, the Rock. What's
he talking about? He's talking about a chief cornerstone. In other words, that which—back
in the old days, they used to build buildings on stones. They used to use stones. They
didn't have poured concrete. They used to use stones, all
right? The building, the whole building, started with the master
builder laying a chief cornerstone, a cornerstone that was shaped
and made just perfect. It had to be perfect. And it
was generally the biggest of all. And it was laid in place. And then the whole building was
fit to that. It had to fit accordingly to—it
all went together according to that stone. And there it lay. And the Scripture says, whatever
the builder lays, it's laid. And nobody, the building, can
say anything about it. And there she is. Staying right
there. It's there to stay. And if that
cornerstone is right, everything else is going to be right. And
whatever you build on it, keep building, keep building, no matter
how high you build it, if that cornerstone is set right, everything
fit to it, it's going to go up and be right. And it's going
to stand according to the strength of that stone, that foundation.
Well, the Scripture says Christ is that chief cornerstone whom
God himself laid. The cornerstone, the foundation
of all things rests on Jesus Christ. He is the rock of ages. When did God Almighty set this
stone, this rock? When did he set him? The rock
of ages, before the world began, God said, This is my son. This is the Christ. Upon this
rock will I build all things. Heaven and earth is going to
revolve around him. Everything is going to be built
on him. Everything is going to stand or fall according to as
it relates to him. The foundation, oh, the foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid by who? God himself. It's laid. Men don't like it.
I don't like that. Your religion is too narrow.
There she is, boys. There she is. We don't like it. We'll move it. Been trying for
years. Can't do it. Too big. You ever
had a rock too big in your yard, Brother Henry, you couldn't get
out? I told you about that stone in my driveway. I got it out.
There's some rocks I can't get out. Well, there's a rock which
no man can move, thank God. A rock of ages. That's that rock
that's cleft for me. How about you, John Davis? God
said, there's a place by me in the rock, in the cleft of the
rock. I'll hide you when the overflowing scourge of my wrath
comes by. It will not come nigh you, but
you'll see my back part, and you'll hear my name proclaim.
You'll see my goodness pass before you. It's a cleft of a rock,
a hiding place, a shelter from a storm. Who is it? What is it? Christ, the solid rock. Ask that
wayfaring ship floating out there on those raging waves. Yonder sits the rock. Just get
your anchor in the rock. My anchor holds and grips a solid
rock. On Christ the rock I stand. Ask that fellow, getting ready
to meet God, what's your hope? What's your foundation? What's
all your, you're going to leave this place? How do you, how can
you bear it? Because I'm standing on a rock. I feel secure. I feel safe. Firm, solid rock on which we
stand. He's the rock. You notice that? The rock. His only one. The rock. His work is perfect. Aren't you
glad about that? His work, the work that this
rock did. He is the rock, and his work
is perfect. I didn't know rocks did work.
Yeah, they do. Well, they do. They're always
there. Solid. You can cast all your
weight on it, according to the rock, according to what you can
build on it. He's the rock. His work is perfect. His work is perfect. His work
of righteousness. is perfect. His blood is perfect. It cleanses us from all sin.
His intercession is perfect. Whoever Christ prays for, their
faith will feel not, because our rock doesn't fail.
His work is perfect. His redemption—did Christ make
a down payment? Then it's not perfect, is it?
He made an atonement. for His people. He paid for their
sin. It's perfect. His work is perfect.
All His ways, read on, and I'm going to close, His ways are
judgment. All His ways are judgment. Scripture
speaks much of this, how that God shall judge His people. That
doesn't mean that they will be, that God, they stand before the
judgment. When it talks about God judging
his people, judgment. All my daughter's life, she has
come to me to make decisions about things, ask me questions
and things that have gone on around our house that affect
her. I make judgments. You understand,
I make judgments. In other words, whatever it is
that I decide, that's what we're going to do. That's what he means
by judgments, all right? All his ways are judgment. Everything
is according to the will and purpose of this God, our God,
Leroy, everything. God worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Not man's will. There's not one
single thing that's left up to the will of man, not one thing. Doesn't it say he worketh all
things? Hmm? Yes, it does. Keep saying,
you know, it's up to you. No, it's not. Now, they can have
a God like that. I'm glad it's not up to me. Aren't
you? I'm so glad. Now, little blank, if you'll
add yourself to the house. Little stone, if you'll join
up, you'll be all right. No, if he lays me on that foundation,
I'll not be moved. I'll not be moved. Everything
works according to his purpose and for the good of his people. Everything, all his ways, are
according to his divine, all-wise purpose. Perfect discernment
of our every need. He's the God of truth and without
iniquity. The God of truth. Didn't Christ
say, I am the way? I am the truth. I am the life,
no man, be he Iraqi or American, no man, be he Indian or Chinese,
no man, be he or she Japanese or French, no man cometh unto
the Father but by me. I am the way to God, the only
mediator between God and men. the man, Christ Jesus, I am the
truth. Everything else is a lie. Every
religion is a lie, but the religion of Christ, the doctrine of Christ,
I am the life. Those that don't have the Son
don't have life. Neither hath the Son hath life. The truth. That's the truth.
So help me God. That's what God says. God of
truth without iniquity, holy, holy, holy is his name, just
and right. You see, fair. Men, women, children
all over the world, when things happen, they say, that's not
fair. How can God be just? Shall not the God of all the
earth do right? That's not fair. Why do you think
people have done away with the Old Testament? All they see is
a God that's angry and a God that kills. We read it there
in Deuteronomy 32, didn't we? The vengeance of God slaying
the people. They don't like that. They say, that's not fair. God
ought to love everybody. No, sir, he shouldn't. No, he's
just. That's the first thing he said.
I'm a just God and a Savior. But first, I'm a just God. I
will by no means clear the guilt. I'm a holy and just and righteous
God and a Savior. So he will first
be just, will he not? He'll do what's right. Everything
that happens is right. It's just. Salvation is not us getting what
we deserve, not us getting what's fair. You know that? Salvation
is not us getting what's fair. Salvation is us getting mercy. See, this is salvation. This
is not fair. Jesus Christ took my punishment. He didn't do anything
to deserve it. He didn't do anything to deserve
it, but God poured out on him his wrath and his judgment and
his hell. That was me! Now, here I am. I didn't do anything to deserve
God's love and favor and goodness and grace—nothing! God said,
You get credit for what Christ did, and I'm going to give him
what you did. That's not fair! Thank God. Salvation is by mercy, it's not
by God being fair. If God was fair, he'd only let
holy people into heaven. Good people would only be saved.
That's what's fair, that's what the law says. But thank God,
he's merciful. But yet he is just. God, he said he wouldn't by no
means clear the guilty. God can't just up and forget
sin. Forgive sin. It's got to be paid
for. So, really, God does give me
what I deserve. Because in Christ, I've been
made righteous. I've been justified in Christ.
When God sees me, he sees me as holy as Christ. I'm dressed,
I'm covered up, and he's righteous. When God sees me, he sees me
as holy and righteous, without blame, unreprovable in his sight.
The only thing God can't see through is the blood of Christ,
the righteousness of Christ. So he is just. And the law comes
and says, He's a sinner. He deserves to be punished. God
says, No, he's not. He's righteous. He's doing what's
just. If Christ laid down his life
for my sins, I must go free. The law demands it. Justice demands
it. Describe you greatness, our God.
How much? Not enough time. Well, we're
going to spend eternity doing it. Those people that I just
read from, that's what they're doing right now. They never quit. Give Him no rest, the Scripture
says, until you describe all greatness. All right, let's sing
a closing hymn. I think this will be a good one.
If I could find it. 272. Yeah, that's it. 272. On Christ the Solid Rock. Nice thing. Let's sing. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' love and righteousness. I dare not trust a sweetest prayer,
for I'm wholly in Jesus' name. On Christ's solid rock I stand,
no other ground is sinking sand. No other ground is sinking sand. His hope, His power, and His
love support me in all that I've become. All around my soul He'll
play, He makes all my hope insane. From Christ the solid ground
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpets
sound, O Mary, it can't be found. Rest in his righteousness alone,
All blessings there be for the throne. On Christ the solid rock
of Zion, is Thank you. Okay.