Well, let's look at that passage
in Romans 6. My text will begin in verse 15,
actually, and then going on over to mainly verses 17 and 18 concerning
that form of doctrine where he said, you've obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine. And I've preached on this several
times. It's been a while. I've been thinking about this
for quite some time because of statements that I read or hear
on the internet from people who claim to be Christian where they
are putting a negative view or negative connotation on Christian
doctrine. And I've got a friend out in
Oregon, Lord willing in April I'm going to be going out there
to preach. And one of the members of the church out there, we talk
quite often. He used to be a member of the
church in Ashland when I was pastor up there. And he'll call
me and he'll say, is this the troublemaker? The thing about it is, and he
means it affectionately, I call him the tree hugger. But he means
it affectionately. One of the things that has gotten
me into trouble in the past was I don't necessarily bow to the
words and phrases of men when I believe it's sort of misleading
from the scriptures. And let me give you some of the
phrases that I've heard. And I could spend a whole message
doing nothing but this. This is how bad it is. But talking
about doctrine. Now you know the word doctrine.
You know what it means? It means teaching. A doctrine
is something that is taught. There are the doctrines of men,
which are wrong, but then there's the doctrine of God, what God
teaches his people. But I used to hear this statement,
that somebody would say, you don't arrive at Christ through
doctrine, you arrive at doctrine through Christ. Now think about
that. How are you going, how does the
Holy Spirit bring a sinner to Christ? Is it some kind of a
mystical feeling, emotion? No, it's through the preaching
of the gospel, the doctrine. You're not going to know anything
about Christ apart from doctrine. Who is he? Who is Jesus Christ? Well, he's God in human flesh.
That's the doctrine of his incarnation, the doctrine of his person. So
that's a misleading statement, you know. It sounds good on the
surface. But here's another one, somebody said, doctrine does
not save a sinner, Christ saves sinners. Well, technically that's
true, Christ is our savior. But Christ saves, brings his
people to himself in the experience of salvation through what? Through
the teaching, the revelation of doctrine, right doctrine.
Now does that mean that when he gets through bringing you
to himself, you know every doctrine perfectly? No, but you know the
gospel, Somebody asked me one time, said, do you have a perfect
doctrine? I said, no, but I have a perfect
gospel. I'll preach it to you and you find a flaw in it. If
it's the gospel now, the true gospel, the true teaching of
God. I had a friend of mine, he said
once, he said, I just don't want to preach dead cold doctrine.
I said, well, now find me in the scriptures from Genesis to
Revelation. where there's any description
of the doctrine of Christ that calls it dead and cold. You won't
find it. It's not there. In fact, I challenge
you, do this, look it up. Do a word search. Anytime you
see true doctrine in the scripture, is there any negative connotation
put to it at all? And there's not. I said the problem
is not dead, cold doctrine. The problem is dead, cold hearts. That's the problem, isn't it?
We're the problem. Somebody said, I don't want to
preach doctrine, I want to preach Christ. Well, that's why I read
that passage in Deuteronomy, if you're just thinking about
it. When he said it in Deuteronomy
chapter 32, he said, my doctrine shall drop as the rain. My speech
shall distill as the dew and as the small rain upon the tender
earth and the showers upon the grass because, now this is his
doctrine, I will publish, pronounce, preach the name of the Lord. I'm gonna tell you who God is.
That's good doctrine, isn't it? I'm gonna ascribe greatness unto
our God. That's what our doctrine does.
whether the cold dead heart believes it or not. He is the rock. He's my foundation. His work
is perfect. I'm gonna talk to you about what
Christ has done, what God has done for sinners through Christ
in saving us by his mercy and his grace. That's good doctrine.
Don't you like that doctrine? I love it. God in His sovereignty, God of
election. If God the Holy Spirit has revealed
to you the doctrine of your sinfulness, I guarantee you, you'll love
the doctrine of election. Because you know if He hadn't
chosen you, you would never have chosen Him. The doctrine of the
person of Christ, the doctrine of the finished work of Christ.
Isn't that good doctrine? His work is perfect. All His
ways are judgment, righteous. A God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right. That's what I want to hear. Somebody says, well, I don't
want to preach doctrine. Well, what do you want to preach? I'll
tell you, if you don't preach doctrine, I'd be just standing
up here, just keep my mouth shut. Is that right? Silence. But doctrine is truth. Doctrine is truth. And Christ
said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but me. You know, when he finished preaching
the Sermon on the Mount, you know what they said? Matthew
7, 28. It says, it came to pass when
Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at
his doctrine. They were astonished at what
he taught. Because he didn't teach them like the Pharisees. Doctrine is not a dirty word,
folks. Somebody says doctrine divides. Well, that's true. If
I preach doctrine is true, and you preach a lie, we're divided. Isn't that right? In Luke 4, 32, when Luke related
what Christ had said on the Sermon on the Mount, here's the way
he put it. They were astonished at his doctrine, for his word
was with power. Authority. Authority. Matthew 9, 35, let me just read
some. Jesus went about all the cities
and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, healing every sickness and every disease among
the people. Teaching and preaching the gospel. The gospel. John 7, 16, when
they were questioning him, he answered them and said, my doctrine
is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will,
he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether
I speak of myself. And I could go on and on and
on about this in scripture. Do you know the Bible teaches
that the only way we can know any person is sent of God, any
preacher, is by the doctrine he preaches? Second John nine,
whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ,
hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. So that if there's
any that come unto you and bring not this doctrine, Receive him
not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed, for he that
biddeth him Godspeed is a partaker, a participant, a fellowship,
a partner of his evil deeds. Paul wrote to the Galatians,
if they come preaching any other gospel, what is that? Any other
doctrine than that which I preached unto you. Again, we could go
on and on with scriptures that relate this. Somebody told me
one time, he said, he said, you're preaching the gospel, but you're
not preaching from your heart. That's what he told me. And I
said, well, first of all, what gives you the idea that you can
judge my heart? I know this, I preach it every
time I get up, to preach every opportunity I have by God's grace.
He said, well, I don't want to just preach doctrine. I want
to preach from my heart to the hearts of people. Well, you can't
do the work of the Holy Spirit, friend. Neither can I. I can preach it to you. I can't
make you believe it. I can't give you life. By nature,
what are we? We're dead in trespasses and
sin. No preacher can give you life. Only God can do that. I'll tell you, if a preacher
truly believes the gospel, truly believes in Christ, he'll speak
from his heart. And as far as the people than him, if he speaks
to their hearts, that's the work of God, not the preacher. Now the Bible says, A lot about
false doctrine. You remember Christ told his
disciples, beware of the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees.
They thought he was talking about bread and didn't understand him.
And then later on, they said, well, now we understand. He's
talking about their doctrine. I heard a preacher say this one
time about the scribes and the Pharisees. He said, in doctrine,
they were straight as a gun barrel and just as empty. In doctrine,
they were not straight, friend. They were a perverse and crooked
generation. Their doctrine wasn't straight,
their doctrine was a lie. It was a false gospel. Well, look here, look at verse
15 of Romans chapter six. The apostle, he's been speaking
about how believers are justified before God through the work of
Christ, the blood of Christ, the righteousness of Christ.
And he says, what then shall we sin because we're not under
the law? We're not condemned. The law
does not condemn us. The law cannot condemn us. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Is that an excuse
to sin in any way? No. He says, you're not under
the law, you're under grace. You stand before God washed in
the blood of Christ, clothed in his righteousness. There is
therefore now no condemnation in Christ. And he says in verse
16, know you not that to whom you yield yourself servants to
obey, his servants you are to whom you obey. That's obvious,
isn't it? Whether of sin and, if you're a servant of the law,
trying to work your way into God's favor, trying to earn,
that's whose servants you are. You're not God's servant. But
whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness,
seeking to follow Christ. But look at verse 17, but God
be thanked. Now here's where we come to.
That you were the servants of sin. Now what is a servant of
sin? I'll tell you exactly. Now don't relegate that only
to the immoral, perverted segment of society, those who are in
the prisons. Those who are just obviously
perverted. A servant of sin is any sinner
who is in the darkness of unbelief without Christ. Fallen in Adam, born dead in
trespasses and sin, coming forth from the womb speaking lies,
without hope, without Christ. That's a servant of sin. I don't
care how you look outside. I don't care if you go to a church
somewhere. I don't care if you're trying to earn your way into
God's favor by keeping every commandment. If you don't know
Christ, if you don't believe in Him, you're a servant, a slave
to sin. Is that right? You can be a model citizen and
still be an unbeliever. That's a servant of sin. So no
matter where you come from, or what kind of lifestyle you led
without Christ, you're a servant of sin. And that's what you still,
and that word sin's the most common word in the New Testament
for sin means you missed the mark. You can be trying hard
and be sincere, but you missed the mark. Why? Because the mark
is perfection. The mark is perfect righteousness,
the perfect righteousness of the law that can only be found
in Christ. Now there it is, He is it. Isn't
that right? It's not in you, it's not in
me, it's not in the preacher, it's not in the denomination,
it's not in works, it's not in our decision, it's in Christ.
And outside of Him, there's none righteous, no not one. So you
were the servants of sin. Now, He says, but you have obeyed
from the heart. that form of doctrine which was
delivered you. Now, another alternative interpretation,
and it really doesn't contradict what's said here, is this, you
have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you
were delivered. And what he's talking about is
that all of God's chosen people, chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world, all whom Christ lived, died, was buried, and
arose again, all whom he redeemed, God's gonna bring them, gather
them under the preaching of this doctrine. Who put you under the
preaching of the gospel? Who put me under it? Always just
a flip of the coin, no. God purposely, Christ said, I
know my sheep. They'll follow me. He seeks his
sheep, he finds them, he brings them into the fold. And that's
what this is talking about. Now, that form of doctrine, the
gospel, will be delivered to you in preaching or in communication
somehow. God's gonna communicate the gospel
to his children by the power of the Spirit. But he says, to
which you were delivered. So what you have here, first
of all, is the right doctrine and the right heart. What do
you say? You have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine. That word
form there is an interesting word. Do you know what it means?
It's like a die, a stamp. It's a pattern. In fact, it's
translated pattern For example, in other passages, it's like a identifying mark
is what it is. The form of sound words Paul
wrote about it, that form. You remember when Thomas said,
In his doubt, he said, unless I see the print of the nails
in his hands, that word print, same word that's used here, form.
A mark. In the book of Titus, it's called
a pattern of good works. In the Hebrews, in the book of
Hebrews, it talks about Moses giving, how God gave him instructions
to make the tabernacle, and in Hebrews chapter five, he said,
make it according to the pattern which I showed you on the mount.
That's the word form, pattern. So this word form is not just
some shapeless idea. It's not some elusive butterfly. It's not some opinion that can't
be nailed down. It's a specific identifying mark
that he's talking about. That does what? That identifies his people. And what is this doctrine that
he's talking about that you were delivered to? It's the gospel.
That's what it is. It's the doctrine of Christ.
Paul had written all about it up to this point, Romans 1, 16
and 17. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
This doctrine is good news for it is the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believe it. It's the gospel of your salvation,
he called it in Ephesians chapter one. He says, to everyone that
believe it, to the Jew first, the Greek also, for therein is
the righteousness of God revealed. That's the identification mark.
From faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live
by faith. The Bible says, faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. It's the truth of
God, who God is in His sovereignty, His justice, His grace, His mercy,
His power. It tells us about the love of
God in Christ. How He sent forth His Son made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law. It speaks of the truth of our sin and our depravity,
our spiritual deadness without life from God. We have no hope
in ourselves. How we have no righteousness,
no goodness, no desire. It speaks of that. When somebody
gets up before a crowd and speaks of the free will of man or a
spark of goodness in man, are they preaching the doctrine of
the gospel? The answer is no. This word doesn't teach that.
The word here teaches that the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God. Neither can he know them. They're
spiritually understood. Somebody may ask, do you understand
all things? No, but I understand what God
wants me to understand. The Bible says the Son of God
hath come and given us an understanding that we may know him that is
true. I think about old Philip going out there on the backside
of the desert. Seeing that Ethiopian reading the book of Isaiah chapter
53, hearing it, and Philip came up to him, he said, what do you
feel about that scripture? He didn't say that, did he? Well,
what's your opinion on that? Or does that make you emotional
when you read that? No, he said, do you understand
what you're reading? And the Ethiopian said, how can
I? Except somebody's sin of God
show me. Who's he talking about here?
What's he done? Who'd he do it for? These are
all doctrines of the gospel, you see. The truth of Christ
and salvation by him, his blood alone cleanses us from all sin. When somebody gets up and says,
now, you're not saved until you get baptized back here. Are they
preaching the doctrine of Christ? The answer is no. If they talk about Christ died,
God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, now it's up to
you, you make the difference. Is that the doctrine of the gospel?
No. The doctrine of His righteousness,
it's the righteousness of God, which is the ground of our salvation,
the source of our life, the worthiness of our existence before God.
The truth of God-given faith. For by grace are you saved, through
faith, but that's not of yourselves, that's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. The truth of repentance. How
God, through the doctrine of Christ, and the power of the
Holy Spirit, changes our mind concerning his way, his person,
his glory. So you have the right doctrine
here. It's the gospel wherein the righteousness of God is revealed.
What was the Jewish problem back in Paul's day? Romans chapter
nine. They sought righteousness, but
they didn't attain it. Why? They sought it by works
of the law and not by faith. What is it to seek righteousness
by faith? Does that mean I'm seeking righteousness
by my decision? Does that mean I'm seeking righteousness
by what I choose or what I do? No, it's to seek it in Christ
and to find it in Christ. That's the doctrine of God. And
he said, I bear them record, they have a zeal of God. They're
religious, but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish one of their
own have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. But he said, for Christ is the
end, the finishing, the fulfillment, the completion, the perfection
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
If you believe, that's a gift from God. And if you believe,
you see that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
That's an evidence. But notice he says here, you've
obeyed from the heart. In other words, it's not only
the right doctrine, but it's the right heart. Well, what's the big deal about
that, preacher? Well, what does the Bible say
about the natural heart of all men and women without exception
by nature as we're naturally born? Well, back over in Genesis
6, 5, it says, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in
the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continual. Somebody says, well, preacher,
that's talking about those bad people back then. That couldn't
be talking about me. I'm a Southerner. I'm a Baptist.
I'm religious. Oh, no, my friend. If you fail
to see your natural heart in that condition, you haven't believed
the right doctrine, you don't have the right heart. Jeremiah 17.9, the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? In the book of Hebrews, chapter
four, it tells us that the word of God, now correct me if I'm
wrong, isn't the word of God the same as the doctrine of God?
The teaching of God? The word of God is sharper than
any two-edged sword, cutting asunder. cutting through all
the human sinful junk that clouds our view of ourselves and of
God and gets right down through the thoughts and the intents
of the heart. That's what it does. Now, is
that the power of the preacher? No. Is that your own inherent goodness,
figuring that? No. It's the power of God. by His Spirit, bringing us to
conviction of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. So what has to happen for us
to truly believe Christ? Well, God has to give us a new
heart. Isn't that right? In other words,
as He said it to a man named Nicodemus, you must be born again. Or you can't even see this. You
can't see the kingdom of God. See this right doctrine the way
you should see it. You can't enter the kingdom of
God without being born again, without being given life. You
cannot hear it the way you need to hear it. But what does God
say in the prophecy of Ezekiel? Ezekiel 36, 26, he says, a new
heart also will I give you. and a new spirit, life will I
put within you, spiritual life. We're dead by nature, but he'll
give us spiritual life. He'll raise us from the dead.
That's what he does in the new birth. I'll take away the stony
heart, the unbelieving heart, the proud unbending heart out
of your flesh and I'll give you a heart of flesh that's pliable
and bendable, submissive. And I'll put my spirit within
you and I'll cause you, he says, I'll cause you to walk in my
statute and you shall keep my judgments and you'll do them.
That's what it takes. It takes a circumcised heart,
and only God can do that. Spiritual. So back at our text,
he says, you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
that was delivered you. In verse 18, he says, being then
made free from sin. Now, Paul in this chapter, he
talks about two different freedoms that are in conjunction with
one another. The first freedom he talks about
is a legal freedom. and it has to do with justification.
Look over at verse seven of Romans chapter six. He says, for he
that is dead. Now, what death is he talking
about? Well, Brother Randy read, when Christ died, he died not
for himself, but as the surety, the substitute and the redeemer
of a people, they died with him. He represented us. He was our
substitute. When he died, having their sins
imputed, charged, accounted him, he died for them. So much so
in God's mind, when he died, we died. When he was buried,
we were buried. When he arose again, we arose
again. So that in verse seven, for he
that is dead is freed, justified from sin. What does that mean?
It means we're not guilty. That's freedom. Christ took my
guilt. We're not cursed. That's freedom. Christ took our curse. We're
not condemned. We cannot be condemned. Because
God cannot lay anything to our charge. He charged our sins to
Christ. We cannot be rejected. We have
a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and
justice. It's the very righteousness of God charged to our account.
That's freedom, isn't it? If you don't have Christ as your
righteousness, if you don't have his blood washing away your sin,
you're in bondage to the law. You're condemned, guilty, bound
for eternal hell. So that's our legal freedom.
That's the basis and the ground of our salvation right there.
But it doesn't stop there. There's another freedom. Look
at verse 18. Being then made free from sin.
The word freed there is liberation. Liberated. How have we been liberated? We've been liberated from spiritual
death. God has given us life from the dead. We've been liberated
from the darkness of unbelief. He's revealed himself, the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Christ is our light. He's liberated
us from being dominated and slaves to unbelief and brought us to
faith in Christ. He's liberated us from our own
works and brought us to repent and look to Christ. We still
have unbelief to deal with. We still have the remaining vestiges
of the old man, the flesh. But He's liberated us. The Son
has made us free indeed. That's right, isn't it? The truth
shall make you free, He said. I wonder if anybody confronted
him when he said the truth shall make you free. Well, now wait
a minute now, the truth don't make us free, you do. My friend,
the truth is Christ and Christ is the truth. The doctrine is
Christ and Christ is the doctrine. You see that? Don't separate
the two. And what's happened? You become the servants of righteousness. Now what is a servant of righteousness?
Does that mean that we can do righteous works? that are perfect
now? The answer is no. Does that mean
we have some righteousness within ourselves? No. You know what
it means? It means we believe in and follow Christ who is our
righteousness. We're slaves to righteousness.
I know what righteousness is now. I didn't know before. I
thought it was my decision, my free will, my works, my efforts. And I was a slave to it because
I didn't know Christ. But now I know what it is. I
know how, listen, I know the standard of righteousness. And
my friend, it's Christ and the glory of his person and the power
of his finished work. I have no righteousness but him
and I serve him. That's what a servant of righteousness
is. It's a believer, it's a sinner
saved by grace, struggling every day in the warfare of the flesh
and the spirit. Realizing every day that our
works never come up to snuff as far as the perfection of righteousness
that can only be found in Christ, but striving to give glory to
God in what we think, say, and do because we love Him who first
loved us, because we want to express our gratitude to Him.
And you know what? Everything that we say Concerning
the glorious person, the finished work of Christ, we express it
in doctrine. It's the only way we can. I can't
express it to you by osmosis or no visions. It's all expressed
through the doctrine that God has brought us under and brought
us to believe from the heart by his power. and His grace,
the doctrine of Christ. All right.