Conduct Which Adorns Sound Words

Q: What does the Bible say about sound doctrine?

The Bible emphasizes the importance of sound doctrine, as seen in Titus 2:1, which instructs believers to speak things that are in line with sound doctrine. In Titus 2:1, believers are urged to speak the things which become sound doctrine, highlighting the foundational role that doctrine plays in the Christian faith. Sound doctrine serves as a guide for believers in their conduct and attitudes, ensuring that their actions reflect the truth of God's Word. The Apostle Paul underscores the need for integrity and sincerity in teaching these truths, which not only shape the character of the believer but also adorn the Gospel message. Churches that neglect sound doctrine often lead to confusion and spiritual impoverishment among believers, making it vital to hold fast to sound biblical teachings.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of God is true?

The truth of God's doctrine is affirmed through Scripture, where God reveals His nature and purposes, as demonstrated in Titus 2. The doctrine of God is true because it is established by His revelation in Scripture. In Titus 2:9-10, Paul instructs servants on how to conduct themselves in a manner that adorns the doctrine of God our Savior. This demonstrates that sound doctrine is not just a set of beliefs but is embodied in the character and behavior of believers. Furthermore, the consistency of God's Word across the Scriptures, along with the experiential realities of faith and the transformative power of the Gospel, affirm its truth through the lives of those who adhere to it. By studying the Scriptures and engaging with God’s revealed truth, believers can confidently assert the veracity of doctrine.

Q: Why is doctrine important for Christians?

Doctrine is essential for Christians as it provides the foundation upon which their faith and actions are built. Doctrine serves as the foundation of the Christian life, supporting, sustaining, and shaping the believer’s faith and conduct. In the sermon, it is likened to a building’s foundation, which must be solid for the structure to stand firm against adversities. Proper doctrine provides a framework for understanding God’s character, His redemptive purposes, and how believers are to relate to Him and to one another. Moreover, sound doctrine cultivates a clear and sincere faith that encourages believers to live out their beliefs in ways that glorify God, thus adorning the doctrine. The absence of sound doctrine can lead to misguided zeal or dead orthodoxy, which fails to embody the grace and love that should characterize a believer's life.

Q: How can we adorn the doctrine of God?

We can adorn the doctrine of God through our conduct, integrity, and showing love and kindness to others. Adorning the doctrine of God involves embodying the truths of His Word in our daily lives. This means that our actions, attitudes, and interactions with others should reflect the grace and integrity of the teachings we hold. In Titus 2:9-10, Paul emphasizes that servants should demonstrate good fidelity and honesty; these qualities not only reflect sound doctrine but also make it attractive to others. Additionally, practicing forgiveness, humility, generosity, and patience serves as a demonstration of the grace we have received from God. When doctrine is accompanied by godliness and sincere love, it becomes a compelling testimony to the world, showcasing the transformative power of the Gospel.

All right, let me read Titus
chapter 2, verses 9 and 10. Exhort servants to be obedient
unto their own masters. and to please them well in all
things, not quarreling, answering again, not stealing, forlorning,
but showing all good fidelity, integrity, honesty, that in order
that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior
in all things. I hope that I am not too old to learn. This morning I spoke on the subject,
hold fast to sound words, to true doctrine. Hold it fast. Get it and hold the truth fast. Tonight I'm speaking on an equally
important subject. conduct, attitude, which becomes
sound doctrine, or attitude and conduct that adorns sound words. And look at our text now, Titus
2. And three times the word doctrine is used. Three times. It says in Titus 2, 1, listen,
Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. Sound doctrine. Who is the Lord God? Tell me
who He is. I'd like to sit down with some
people sometime, and don't put away all the Sunday School literature,
put away all of the books and magazines they've read, put away
everything, and just hand them a Bible and say, sit down there
and you tell me who God is. You open this word. I don't want
to hear who you think He is. I don't want to hear what your
mama said about Him. I don't want to hear what your
old preacher said about Him. I don't want to hear what you've always
thought about Him. I want you to tell me from the Word of God.
And if you can't do it, you're in trouble. Take that book and
open it and tell me who God is. Tell me about His glorious attributes.
Tell me about His creative power. Tell me about His wisdom. Tell
me about His glory. Tell me about His justice. Tell
me about His redemptive purposes. Tell me about God. Who is God?
Can you do that? Well, I'm religious. Do you know
God? Take that book and tell me who
God is. Don't you add anything to it? And don't you tell me
what you... Well, I've always thought, that's
not what I want to hear. I want to hear what God says
about himself. Can you do it? All right, tell me who you are. Tell me what happened in the
garden. Tell me about representation. Tell me about Adam. Who is Adam?
Where did Adam come from? What was the responsibility upon
Adam? God made Adam, how'd he make him? What happened to him?
What took place in the garden? How does that affect me? There's
just one man, Adam. We'd better find out something
about Adam and what happened to Adam and who Adam was. And
the consequences and results of Adam's fall, because that's
what put us in the mess we're in. All right, tell me how man can
be just with God. Take this book and tell me how
man can be just with God. Tell me how God can be righteous
and justify the ungodly. I hear people say, well, I made
my peace with God. How did you do it? Tell me how
you did that. On what terms did you make peace
with God? Did you dictate the terms or did God or did some
preacher? Tell me how you justified yourself
before God. Tell me what you did with your
sins. Tell me what you did about God's holiness. How did you reconcile
God's holiness when you made your peace with God? I didn't
make peace with God, never have, never did. Somebody else made
my peace with God. Somebody else who had an opening
to God, somebody else who pleased God, somebody who met God's terms
fully and completely. He made peace with God for me.
How did you make peace with God? Well, I tell you, this is serious
business. And they keep saying, don't preach doctrine, preach
Jesus. You can't preach doctrine, I preach Jesus. Preach Jesus,
not preach doctrine. You can't do it. It's an impossibility.
Take the Word of God and tell me how God can be just and justified.
Job said, how can man be clean with God? Job was a pretty smart
fellow. If a man dies, shall he live
again? Well, I believe he will. Well, how do you know it? I tell
you, this is so serious, and that's what he says here in Titus.
He said, speak the things, speak the things. And I know, God bless
your heart, the trouble's not out there, it's up here. The
mess that we're in in churches today is not from the pew, it's
from the pulpit. That's what got us in the mess
we're in. Compromising, covetous preachers who refuse to tell
men the truth. That's what got us in the mess
we're in. And the bad thing is my people love to have it so.
From the priest to the prophet, they're all covetous, and my
people like to have it so. They buy them all. They pay them. Look at verse 7. He talks to
you young men. He said, In all things showing
yourself a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness. Pure doctrine. Pure doctrine. In doctrine showing uncorruptness,
gravity. Now, I'll tell you this, in 1989,
about all the comments that people make about religion is joking. Did you know that? We're a bunch
of jokers. Our preachers are a bunch of
jokers. They come in a hospital room, they start joking. They
come in a room in a home, they start joking. They go to a preacher's
meeting, they start joking. They're a bunch of clowns is
what they are. They think we're supposed to keep people happy.
The average preacher thinks he's a cheerleader. He's not supposed
to get serious. They won't get serious with you.
One man in this church told me he used to be a member of a certain
church here in town, and the pastor was there over 30 years.
And the pastor came to his home one day, and he and his wife
were sitting there, and they reached out and got the Bible
and opened it up and said, we need some help. He said, let's
don't get serious, let's play cards. And he wouldn't talk to them.
In doctrine, showing yourself uncorrupt, grave, and sincere. Look at verse 10, not stealing,
but showing all good fidelity that you may adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior. That's three times that doctrine
is mentioned in this one chapter. Doctrine. Good, clean, straight,
pure, biblical, scriptural, God-honoring doctrine. And then we say, leave
doctrine alone? Peter exhorts us to always be
ready to give an answer to everybody that asks us a what? A reason
for your hope. You got a reason? Got a reason? You know, somebody said this,
three things I want you to get. I think it's very interesting.
Doctrine to a believer. Now listen, this is good. Say
like Brother Richardson, this is good. It didn't come from
me. It's good. Listen to it. Doctrine to a believer
is what a foundation is to a building. That's what doctrine is to a
believer. And you see that in three ways. Number one, the foundation
supports the building. Does it not? The foundation supports
the building. Without a proper foundation,
the building cannot exist. It cannot exist. What's the first
thing you do when you build a building? Lay the foundation. That's the
first thing. That's what supports the building.
That's the very existence of the building, is the foundation.
And so when a man comes to know God, the first question is, like
the Ethiopian eunuch sitting beside Philip, he turned and
said, of whom does the prophet speak? That's in that instance,
that's a number one. Let's find out who he is. Who
is this the prophet's talking about? Saul of Tarsus on the
road to Damascus is the foundation. Who art thou, Lord? Or that blind man whom the Lord
had healed, and the Lord Jesus said, Do you believe in the Son
of God? He said, Who is he? Who is he? So if you're going
to have a building, the first thing you've got to establish
is the foundation, and the foundation is who he is. Is that right? Is that right, Jim? That's the
foundation. You've got to start there. Who
is he? Who is he? Now, I can have a building if
I've got a foundation. A building not on sand, but on
a rock, because that's who he is. He's the triad stone, the
chief cornerstone, and the sheer foundation. All right, the second
thing this man said is this. The second thing is this. Right
doctrine, like the foundation, sustains and supports the building
when trouble comes, when wind blows, and the storms come against
the building, and the rain falls, and the flood comes. I tell you
this, the higher you plan to build, and my aspirations are
pretty high tonight, the deeper you've got to lay your foundation.
How high are you planning on building? How high? Our Lord said, the wise man did
what? He digged deep. Aren't you a little afraid of
this religion that comes so easily? Doesn't it ever trouble you that
you've got this eternal matter, this foundation laid, this foundation
for high aspirations to the very presence of God, that you've
got this thing fixed up like that, without any digging, without
any searching, without any study? Doesn't that trouble anybody? I went down to the church one
night, and I heard a preacher and heard an illustration and
a poem, and I just got fixed up for eternity. That's a quick
foundation. When our Lord said in Luke 6,
this man, that's what the fellow did built on the sand. He got
that thing going quickly, John, but the man that built the house
that stood is the man that digged deep and found the rock, and
that's where he laid his foundations. That's the way it is. So the
foundation, number one, supports the building. The foundation,
number two, sustains the building. And right doctrine, like the
foundation, shapes the building. What shape is this building?
The shape of the foundation. If your foundation is square,
your building will be square. If it's round, your building
is going to be round. The foundation, you can look at the foundation
before the building is ever built and determine what that building
is going to look like. That's right. And I'll tell you this, if Christ
is your foundation, you can look at the foundation and tell what
the building is going to look like. That's right, it shapes the building.
A man's doctrine, whoa now, a man's doctrine determines what kind
of person he is. That's exactly right. Does it not? A man's doctrine
determines what kind of person he is. And I'll tell you this,
what kind of person he is reveals his foundation and his doctrine.
Now, let's say that again. The foundation of man's doctrine
determines what kind of person he is. And what kind of person
he is will tell you in a little while what kind of foundation
he's got. That's right. Our Lord said that,
to whom much is forgiven, he'll love much. If his foundation is knowing
the love of Christ and the grace of Christ, then he's going to
show the same thing, love and grace. That's right. He said
this, out of the heart the mouth speaks. What's in the heart?
Christ is in the heart. Then that's the way the mouth
will speak. He that loveth not knoweth not God. By this shall
all men know ye are my disciples, if ye love one another. That's
how we know you're his disciple. I want you to turn to the book
of James. The book of James. I'm moving right in to the point
I want to make here now. The book of James, chapter 2.
James 2. A man, yea, a man may say, You
have faith, I have works. Show me your faith without your
works. Why it can't be done. A man's doctrines will determine
his works, and his works will reveal his doctrines. I'll show
you my faith by my works. You believe there's one God,
you do well. The devil believes there's one God and trembles.
But wilt thou know, vain man, that faith without works is dead?
So wise men, now watch this, wise men, three things, just
like Paul says here in Titus chapter 2. Wise men, number one,
never compromise the doctrine of God our Savior. They speak
the things which become sound doctrine. And wise men take their
doctrine seriously, with all gravity and sincerity, with uncorruptness. They're serious about it, and
they're sincere about it. And thirdly, wise men seek to
adorn the doctrine that they believe in all things. What does
the word adorn mean? What does the word adorn mean?
Well, it means to make attractive. It means to give credit to something. Make it pleasing and give credit
to it. It means to call attention to
it. Let me sound a warning to myself and to you and to all
men. To follow religion, to follow religion and righteousness without
sound doctrine will lead to wildfire. It always does. It leads to wildfire. It leads to zeal without direction. If you try to follow religion
and righteousness without doctrine, without a foundation, it leads
to wildfire. It leads to activity without
a goal. And it leads to zeal without
direction. But also, now listen, and this
is where we've got to zero in on this thing right here, because
nearly everybody here professes to believe sound doctrine. But
to follow doctrine, without godliness, and without grace, and without
love, will lead to dead orthodoxy. And I'll tell you this, dead
orthodoxy is not any better than wildfire. Dry, cold, dead-letter
orthodoxy, and nothing is more obnoxious than theology without
heart. That's right. Nothing is more
obnoxious. What is it to adorn the doctrine? That's what he says here to us.
Adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Adorn the
doctrine. We believe the doctrine. We speak
the things which become sound doctrine. We're serious about
the doctrine that we believe. I am. I am dead serious about
the doctrine which I believe. But is it possible for us to
contend for the truth and not be contentious? I believe it
is. Is it possible for us to contend
in sincerity and gravity for the truth of God without being
contentious? Is it possible for us to be orthodox
without being obnoxious? Is it possible that we can lift
up Christ, lift up Christ, without putting down his people? Is it possible for us to exhort
people, and at the same time, I mean exhort now, in truth,
and at the same time encourage them? Is it possible for us to
preach with patience? and wait upon God? After all,
I'll tell you this, you know, when we get impatient with people
who do not believe what we know to be the truth, let's remember
that for some of us it took a good while to learn the gospel. A
good while. Charles Spurgeon gave this illustration
one time. He said, if you're in a ditch, with a bunch of blind men, you're
one of them, blind in the ditch, in darkness, and a good Samaritan
comes and lifts you out and gives you sight and puts you on the
solid ground. How are you going to treat the
men who are still in the ditch? Are you going to take a stick
and beat them and say, it looks like to me that you'd get out
of there? You didn't get out until he picked you out and pulled
you out. So let's preach with patience
and wait on God. Let's witness in love. Let's
be gentle to all men. I ask this question, what has
your gospel done for you? Oh, boy, I can tell you a lot
of things the gospel has done for me. The gospel of Jesus Christ
has lifted me out of the miry clay. The gospel of Jesus Christ
has given me eyes to behold the glory and beauty of Christ. The
gospel of Jesus Christ has given me faith to believe in Him and
trust Him, given me a righteousness, presented me before God, accepted
in the Beloved. Good! Now, what has the gospel
done in you? That's a good question. What
has the gospel done for me? What has the gospel done in me?
The Apostle Paul was a master preacher and a master theologian. a master theologian. The Apostle
Paul was a man who uncompromisingly, uncompromisingly preached the
gospel of Christ. Did he not? He wouldn't budge. He said, though we are an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel, let him be accursed.
That's a man bold in his God. Boy, he came forth in Ephesians
1, he said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the
heaven, is according as he chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ unto himself, and hath made us accepted in
the beloved." In chapter 2, he said, you who were, you happy
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past
you walked according to the course of this world, fulfilling the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the mind, and the pride of life,
and whereby nature, children of wrath, even as others, but
God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved
us, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God." Whew! Boy, I tell you, that's preaching,
that's theology, that's a foundation. But when the master theologian
came to the closing chapters of the letter to the Ephesians,
he said to them, now speak the truth in love. Now he said, put on the new man
created in Christ Jesus in true holiness. He said, let all bitterness
and wrath be put away from you. He said, Be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ's
sake forgave you. He said, Wives, be obedient to
your husbands. He said, Husbands, love your
wives. He said, Children, obey your
parents. This is the theologians. This
is the sovereign gracers. This is a man who wouldn't budge
on sovereignty, and depravity, and election, and particular
redemption, and irresistible grace, and perseverance. And
he comes along and says, servants, do a good day's work now. Don't you steal from your employer.
Don't you answer back when a foreman tells you to do something, do
it, as under the law. You don't need to get shoe polish
on your lips. would just do a good day's work. And you masters,
treat that man that works for you right now. You've got a master
in heaven. You see what I'm saying? And that's what we come to here,
Ronnie Red, Titus 2. Listen to this, Titus 2. Whew! I tell you, verse 1, speak those
things which become sound doctrine. And I want this so Desperately,
I told somebody last week, three things that go through my mind
all the time, all the time, all the time. Three things, three
areas in which I want to grow, grow, grow. One's faith. All things are possible to them
that believe. And that's not a, that's a directed faith, object
of faith, Christ. Prayer. You have not because
you ask not. You have not because you ask
not. Ask and you shall receive. Knock, it'll be open. Seek, you'll
find. But I'll tell you, He said this, He said, Now by this faith,
hope, and love, that the greatest of these is love. The greatest of these is love.
And I don't want, I want to be a sovereign grace preacher, but
I want to be a grace preacher. I want to preach a grace graciously. You see what I'm saying? I don't
want people to hate God because of me. If they hate God, let
it be because of God. If they despise the doctrines
of grace, don't let it be because I presented it in such an ugly
fashion. Because I was always read to
argue and quarrel and debate and look down and rebuke and
reprove and be hard. I tell you, there's a lot of
difference in meekness and weakness. You can be meek and not be weak. But I tell you, you can be strong
and not be meek. That's what Moses... Moses was
no pantywaist, but he was the meekest man on earth. That's
what God said. And he says here, you aged men,
you older men, verse 2, be sober and grave and temperate. and
sound in faith and lovable, lovable and patient with these young
people. Be tender. Be tender. I tell you, we can
adorn the doctrine not only with integrity. Integrity is fine. It's necessary. Honesty is necessary. But I know some people who are
honest and who have integrity that just ain't sweet. We adorn the doctrine not only
with integrity and morality, but we adorn the doctrine with
happiness. Happiness, be happy rejoicing
the Lord. We adorn the doctrine with love
and kindness. Speak tenderly, speak gently
with people. Folks need encouragement, they
need a kind word. Show us a song, something like
show a little kindness. And if anybody ought to show
a kindness, it's us folks to whom God has been so kind. Is
that not right? We can adorn the doctrine with
unselfishness. Be generous. Let your hands just
flow out to others. Don't be a dead sea that collects
things. And it's a dead sea, all right,
but let it flow in and flow out. God gave it to you, give it away.
Be unselfish. Look for somebody to help. We
can adorn the doctrine with quick forgiveness. Just quick forgiveness. You don't have to plan to forgive
somebody. You don't have to sit around
and study to forgive somebody. Just forgive them. That's the
way God forgives me. He just forgave me. What do you
mean? I mean we see it every time we
open our big mouths. We see it every time a thought
goes through our mind. And God is always quick to forgive.
Always quick to forgive. I heard John singing that song
that blessed me, and he said, Forgive me of my debts. What's
the rest of it? As I forgive those who are debted
to me. Boy, I tell you, if God's forgiveness for us was based
on our forgiveness of others, we'd be in slight trouble tonight.
Anybody here be in trouble? We ought not be. We can adorn
the doctrine with humility. Old Paul wrote in Romans 8, whom
he foreknew, he predestinated to be conformed to the image
of God's Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren,
whom he predestinated, he called. Whom he called, he justified.
Whom he justified, he glorified. Romans 9, Romans 10, Romans 11,
comes along Romans 12, and what does he say? Brethren, I beseech
you, by the mercies of God, you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And don't be conformed to this
world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. And don't you think of yourself
more highly than you ought to think, but think soberly, as
God hath dealt a measure of faith to each one. You ain't nobody.
You just think you are. That's adorning the doctrine
with patience. God give me patience. Tribulation
work is patience. You know why? Because He has
to beat us to death to teach us anything. We won't sit and
learn it while the preacher preaches it. We've got to find it out
the hard way. We're all from Missouri. God has to show us.
He tells us, why does He have to show us? I preached this morning,
And the very example of what I was talking about was right
here, and I'm waiting to see if the man heard me, or if he's
going to have to hear from God. But he's going to hear one of
us. You see what I'm saying? What I was talking about this
morning in the message, a man sat right here in this congregation
who needs to hear it. And if he don't hear me, he's
going to hear from God. And I hate to see God have to
beat a man. I hate to see a man have to lose something close
and valuable, even his own life. But God will teach us patience.
And if we can't learn it from the Word, we'll learn it by experience. Is that not right, Cecil? That's
so. Now, it all depends on how you want to learn it. You say,
I don't have to pay attention to you preaching. No, you don't.
You can deal with the Master. But let me tell you something.
He'll set your field on fire. I won't. I'll just stand up here
and tell you what it says. But if He sets out to bring you,
He'll bring you. That's right. And you just take
it. You can hear it from here, or you can hear it from there.
And He moves slowly, but He moves. I've watched it happen. And I
can stand right here and give you illustration after illustration.
You bow your back, and God knows how to break it. He knows how
to break it. We can adorn the doctrine with
patience and a holy calm. a holy calm, and adorn it with
perseverance." Let me give you something here. And he goes on
to age women, the young women, the young men. He deals with
all of us, doesn't he? He says, adorn this doctrine.
Adorn it. But somebody wrote this on this
subject. Now listen to this. We do not adorn the doctrine
with beautiful buildings. That's not the way you adorn.
That seems to be the way religion is trying to impress the world.
They keep building higher, bigger buildings, glass buildings, funny-shaped
buildings, steeples. You don't adorn the doctrine
with a beautiful building. You adorn it with a broken heart
and a contrite spirit. You see, if you'll go out of
this building and stand out yonder under the skies, especially in
the daytime when the sun's shining, stand under the blue sky. That's
God's ceiling. Stand with the grass and flowers
at your feet. Look at yonder snow-covered mountain
and the deep forest and the rolling meadows. That's God's house. That's God's house. What in the
world can we build worthy of Him? Our little old buildings
look like shanties when you look at His magnificent universe. So I can't adorn the doctrine
with something like this. And I can't adorn the doctrine
with choirs and cantatas and we put on these robes and all
these things and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, they can sing. Oh, I grant
you they can sing. And all these orchestras and
instruments, they all do a good job. But I tell you this, that
doesn't adorn the doctrine. Because you go out and listen
to the birds sing. You go out and listen to the
wind whisper through the pines. You go out and listen to the
water ripple over the rocks. And God's rain fall upon the
ground. That's God's music. That's God's
music. I need to get into the flow of
that, don't I? and glorify Him with the music of my soul." And then we don't, this man says,
we don't adorn the doctrine with our dress. I think people ought
to dress in a way that honors God. I wrote an article here
one time on, you say, well, how do you, do
you all have a dress code? Well, it's kind of this way.
Don't underdress or overdress. You can attract attention either
way. Dress so that when you worship
God, you don't call attention to yourself, but we come together
to worship Him. But we don't adorn the doctrine
with our dress, our religious garb, our black hats and black
suits and black ties and black socks and black shoes and black
hearts. The perfect man stood in Eden's
garden, clothed only in the beauty of holiness, and he pleased God. He didn't have nothing on. but
holiness. I'd like to get in that direction,
wouldn't you? I'd try to impress anybody with
wearing your crosses. And then we don't adorn the doctrine
with our intellectual nonsense. I'm getting older and I'm getting
tired of intellectual nonsense and religious arguments and debates. Aren't you? It's getting weary
of it. Somebody said the gospel is best
adorned when it's unadorned by our rhetoric. You like that,
Ronnie? I do too. I'm tired of hearing
preachers preach that I don't know what they're talking about
and they don't either. Barnard said one time, he said, pick
a subject you don't know anything about and the people know less
and you can have real liberty. The gospel is best adorned when
it's unadorned by our rhetoric. I'll close with this, and I hope
that I've been a blessing to me and to you both. I hope I've
met a need that we have. Speak the things that become
sound doctrine, and in your doctrine don't you budge, and don't you
budge. No sir, you stand and stand firm.
We're going to, by God's grace, aren't we, Cecil? That's what
we believe. I believe it more now than I ever believed. Whiter
the hair, the more I believe it. And you too. I'm not moving. But I hope God
gives me the grace to dress it up a little, don't you? Make
it attractive. And this is what Spurgeon said,
and I'll close with this. You know, before I read this,
what Spurgeon said is a scripture. Don't turn to it, but over in
Zechariah, our Lord speaking, and he says, And one shall say
unto him, What are those wounds in thine hands? And then shall
he answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. The house of my friends. I want
to say to myself and all the sovereign grace preachers and
all the doctrinal preachers, let's preach grace graciously. Let's preach the gospel with
patience, clarity but compassion. We'll never be compromisers,
but I would be a comforter. I don't ever plan to be a coward,
but I do want to preach with compassion. And I never hope
to change my message, but I hope by God's grace I can change my
manners. Don't you? Change my manners. All right. Here's what Spurgeon
said, and I'll quit. He said, I don't need faith to
stop the mouth of lions. I need faith to stop my own mouth. I don't need faith to tear down
the walls of Jericho. I need faith to destroy the walls
built between others and me by ill feelings and misunderstandings.
Tear down those walls. Get them down now. Get them down. Anybody got that? Get them down.
Level them. The walls of Jericho fell by
faith, and these walls that we've built by some misunderstanding
or bad feeling, preacher among preachers, you know how it works.
That was the walls that needed to fall. And I don't need faith
to smite the Philistines. Nope. My Philistines are the
enemies of my soul, such as pride, envy, jealousy, and bad feelings. I need to get out there and make
war against those enemies. And last of all, I don't need
faith, Spurgeon said, to build monuments to God, for all of
these will be destroyed. I need faith to live so that
others may see my life and my works and glorify God, and through
that relationship I can build a lasting fellowship for the
glory of God. I tell you, far more credit to
a man or woman to build a friendship in the gospel. and a brotherhood
than to build a building and put his name on it, Mahan Memorial,
or Harding Memorial. It'd be better to build a fellowship,
wouldn't it, and walk the glory in Christ hand in hand with some
brother. Oh, I tell you, let's look at
it. Let's look at it and look at
it seriously, adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. All right.
Mike, come lead us in a hymn, please.

Conduct Which Adorns Sound Words

What does the Bible say about sound doctrine?

How do we know the doctrine of God is true?

Why is doctrine important for Christians?

How can we adorn the doctrine of God?

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Conduct Which Adorns Sound Words

What does the Bible say about sound doctrine?

How do we know the doctrine of God is true?

Why is doctrine important for Christians?

How can we adorn the doctrine of God?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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