Doctrinal Listening

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and today we're continuing to talk about the subject from last week. As you've probably figured out, we have a new format at No Compromise Radio, and that is Mondays on the audio feed, we have a sermon that I preached at Bethlehem Bible Church.

Fridays on the audio feed, we have a rerun of one of the shows that I've done. And then Wednesday is the new content. Not Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, but just Wednesday's new content. And it is video, as you see.

Or if you're listening, by the way, you can go to the YouTube channel and check it out. If you only see and you can't have any sound, turn up your volume so you can do that. You can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.

You can write Spencer at info at nocompromiseradio .com. Maybe that'll now go to Mario. Who knows? You can't keep good work around here. Good workers. So Mondays, sermon. Friday, rerun. Wednesday, new content.

And if I hear from the masses that you want new content on Tuesdays now and Thursdays, then we'll have to figure that out. I'm talking about listening to sermons. The last two videos we have done talked about George Whitefield, how to listen to a sermon.

And then I took 2 Timothy 4, verses one and following, how a preacher is supposed to preach and said that if a preacher is supposed to preach a certain way, what could we learn from that same passage on how to listen to a sermon?

If it's to be preached a certain way, it's to be listened to in a similar way. So that's what we were doing. And so today is kind of part two from 2 Timothy 4, one and following on how to listen to a sermon.

And I think I've got eight points and they all start with D and they all end in L-Y. And so L-Y words are, words in L-Y are adverbs kind of modifying a certain, modify a modifier. If we were doing this for American Gospel right now, I'd just go time out.

This is a cut, but we just, we just power through on No Compromise Radio. Here's what we've seen so far. Dogmatically, that's how you should listen. So when the Bible says, preach the word and only preach the word, don't preach anything, book reviews and current economic issues, you should only accept the word.

You come wanting God's word. Number two, devotedly, in season and out of season is how it's to be preached. So don't you listen to it the same way? Should you not listen to it the same way? No matter whether you want it or don't, whether the culture wants it or not, whether you get him persecuted or not, devotedly stand ready, preach the word in season, not a season.

Differently, that is to say, sometimes the preacher will convict of sin through the text. Sometimes he will give you the balm of the gospel. Sometimes it'll be law. Sometimes it'll be gospel. Reprove, rebuke, exhort.

So differently, sometimes it's comforting. Sometimes it's accusing in terms of our obedience or lack thereof. Diligently is number four, and we are to preach the word with reproof, with rebuke, with exhortation, and with great patience.

Patiently preaching, patiently feeding, patiently proclaiming God's word, even though we might not see any growth, and we are to receive the same preaching with the same attitude. That is to say, we should hear with patience, and if he keeps saying things over and over and over again, well, let's just listen to it.

We will sit underneath the word of God and not over it. So today, we come to the new point, and that new point is number five, doctrinally. Now, what Paul says in 2 Timothy 4, verse 2, he says, preach the word, be ready in season, out of season.

Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience, and it says instruction, but literally the word is doctrine or teaching. It could be translated instruction. No problem there. Our society seems today to be saying down with doctrine.

It's like the chant. We don't want doctrine. We want application. Don't tell us all this doctrinal stuff, cerebral with our brain. Christianity is living, and we need to know how to live our lives, and so who needs doctrine?

Now, if you're not careful, you forget that Ephesians 1, 2, and 3 in general is very doctrinal-oriented, with a lot of indicatives, a lot of gospel truths, who you are in Christ, and then in light of that, live out what you know.

Walk in a manner worthy of your calling, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1, and if you're not careful, you forget about the doctrine that's found in Romans chapters 1 through 11, and therefore, living sacrifices, renewing of your mind, language of Romans chapter 12.

We want to be careful that we're not saying, just give me Jesus. Down with doctrine, give me Jesus, because if I said Jesus, what do you think of? Another guru, another teacher, another way of religion.

If I say Jesus, you need to be informed of the real Jesus from the real Bible with real doctrine, eternal Son, assuming human nature, truly God, truly man, perfectly man, perfectly human. Didn't I just say that?

Perfectly God. So there's a lot that, if I say Jesus, a lot of things should be flooding your mind, prophet, priest, and king, mediator, all these things. So if I say Jesus, this is a doctrinal statement.

A Lutheran wrote this, a Lutheran commentator, Leopold, doctrine has been decried in our day as though this word meant dry, sterile dogmas, which are simply handed out so that people may bow to them in unquestioning assent.

This view is used to justify the opposition of doctrine in life and the supposition that people in our day do not want doctrine, but doctrine is any adequate statement of divine fact. I'm going to say that again.

Doctrine is any adequate statement of divine fact. Here's the truth about God. That's called doctrine. The statement may be long or short, Leopold said, may have one or another form, but it must be adequately present.

It must adequately present the divine fact or facts. No sensible man will say that he does not want to have these facts presented to him, that he wants something else instead. Doctrine is the foundation and the fountain of all religious life.

False doctrine of a false religious fact is doctrine, and this applies in the four ways indicated in chapter three, verse 16. What is Leopold saying? Doctrine is just something that's true. Don't you want to know something that's true?

Don't you want preaching with truth? Don't you want preaching with the undergirding rebar of doctrinal truth so you have stability and support? It's hard to get through a big trial in life, a big temptation in life, if you've got weak doctrines.

Strong doctrines are going to help you when it comes to big temptations. Titus chapter one, holding fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

Preaching is supposed to be doctrinal. Preaching is supposed to be doctrinal. Now let's flip it around to you, the listener. You are to go to church to worship the triune God on Sundays with many things in your mind, but including this, I hope it's a doctrinal sermon.

I wonder when's the last time you said that? The doctrines today. I can't wait to learn a sermon that's full of doctrine. I know you because I am you and I preach to people like you. Oh, I'm looking for practical application.

That's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for helping me be good and to be nice because it's good to be good and it's nice to be nice. And I need some of these things. I just need to be told what to do.

Well, I could tell you all doctrine is application and all application is doctrine, but I won't even say that. I just want to try to impress upon your mind that if pastors are supposed to preach with doctrine, that you should say to yourself, I'm not going to be bugged at doctrine.

I'm not going to be saying to myself, oh, I invited a visitor and all that guy's talking about is the Trinity. I can't even understand the Trinity. And here he goes again, talking about some eternal son who assumes flesh and three in one, one in three, and the unbegotten father and the begotten son and the proceeding spirit from the father and the son, all this other stuff.

I just, I want to be good. That's all. My wife and I are getting in arguments. I just need to know how to do it better. Here's what one man said, Philip Brooks. There's a statue of Philip Brooks, by the way, Mario in Boston, right there close to the common Philip Brooks and Philip Brooks would always say preaching is true through personality.

He wasn't the most Calvinistic man, but here's what he said about doctrine that was good. The truth is no preaching ever had any strong power. That was not the preaching of doctrine. The preachers that have moved and held men have always preached doctrine.

No exhortation to good life that does not put behind it. Some truth as deep as eternity can seize and hold the conscience, preach doctrine, preach all the doctrine that, you know, and learn forever more and more, but preach it always.

Not that men may believe it, but that they may be saved by believing it. Oh, fascinating. You'd like to go to heaven and you're an unbeliever. You need a doctrinal message. Who is Jesus? Who are you? What is sin?

Who is God? What is God? Warren Wiersbe said, above all else, the preacher must preach doctrine. He must not simply tell Bible stories, relate interesting illustrations, or read a verse and then forget it.

True preaching is the explanation and application of Bible doctrine. Anything else is just religious speech-making. That's what Wiersbe said. Titus chapter 2, but as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.

I heard Kevin DeYoung just came out with a devotional book, Doctrine for Every Day. You know, you have those everyday books for, I don't know, Bruce Reed, Richard Sibbes, or Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, those type of books.

Well, there's one now with doctrine. And so five days a week for 52 weeks, you could read something very pastoral about doctrine. It's good for you to read doctrine. You ought to get Lewis Berkoff's book on systematic theology.

Concise, easy to read. You want to look up something about the effectual call, something about heaven, something about repentance, something about whatever you want to learn about, you just open it up.

It's my favorite systematic theology, Lewis Berkoff. They've got a new updated version. It's kind of red, black, and white. You can get that. You need to read doctrine, doctrinal books. Colossians chapter 1, verse 10, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

It's doctrine, increasing in doctrine. Spurgeon, when I cease to preach salvation by faith in Christ, put me in a lunatic asylum, for you may be sure that my mind is gone. Here's how I could retranslate it.

When I stop preaching the doctrines of Jesus and salvation, you know I'm crazy. See, because Spurgeon is underneath that preach the word, in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience, and doctrine.

You have to give them doctrine. So you, dear congregant, do you like doctrine? Do you like doctrinal preaching? I think you do. You maybe just don't think to yourself, oh, that's a doctrinal sermon. But in fact, it is.

Here is what some people say. I don't want those big words, propitiation, simplicity, incomprehensibility, hypostatic union, whatever you think big words are, eschatology, omniscience, reconciliation, and redemption.

Whatever those words are, those big words to you, you're like, I don't really, just Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so. Okay, what do you do at work? Do you use big words at work? Do you use acronyms at work?

Do you use certain computer programming language at work? Do you have certain words that you use in the hospital as a nurse or a doctor for work? Do you have certain words that you use when you're a pilot of an airplane?

Of course, you use big words all the time. So we're not gonna try to dumb things down. If the text says something, we're gonna use that language. Now, as a pastor, if I say propitiation, I usually try to explain it.

That is to say, God's so holy, His wrath must be assuaged. That's what propitiation is. We should try to help people. But you learn big words all the time. So you're learning doctrine all the time. Here's what Machen said, but I, for my own part, am not ready to acquiesce.

I am perfectly ready indeed to agree that the Bible and the modern man ought to be brought together. But what is not always observed is that there are always two ways of attaining that end. One is to bring the Bible down to the level of modern man, but the other is to bring the modern man up to the level of the Bible.

Well, for my part, I'm inclined to advocate the latter. And I am by no means ready to relinquish the advantages of precise terminology in summarizing biblical truth. In religion, as well as in other spheres, a precise terminology is mentally...

I don't know how to pronounce it. Economical, something having to do with economy. I've never seen that word in my life. Economical, economical. What in the world? It repays amply the slightest effort required for the mastery of it.

Thus, I'm not ashamed to speak even in this day and generation of the doctrine of justification by faith. So I don't know what he's talking about in half the sentence, but here's what I do know. Instead of Machen thinking he's got to bring the Bible down to me so I can understand, he's trying to elevate me up to the biblical truth so that I can understand.

And that's what I'm trying to do when I preach. Keep hearing things over and over and over. Back to that with patience part. And before you know it, I mean, I'm sure Mario would agree that when he first got here and he's starting to hear sermons, he's probably thinking to himself, okay, don't like the music, but people seem kind of friendly.

Boy, that guy sure seems to believe what he's preaching. Sermons kind of long for my liking. Nobody's really raising their hands in church. Don't I have you, I have you figured out. Kind of like stuffy suit and everything else.

And wait a second, the weeks go on. And before you know it, I've got this kind of figured out the sense that it's justification by faith alone. And it's not my works. And here's who Jesus is. And all these other things, they start everything.

It's like this big bunch of puzzle pieces. And before you know it, they're starting to interlock. And you're like, wait a second, I got that corner piece, sufficiency of scripture. The Bible better be preached.

I actually like that. Oh, Jesus is the only way. Let's not make any bones about that. That's another corner piece. Here's another corner piece that I want to live my life in a holy way, not for acceptance of God, but because I am accepted, I want to make him look good.

Here's another corner piece. And then you start filling in the rest. And you're like, wait a second, before you know it, you're not even thinking about music and people and everything else. You're like, this is expository preaching in a Christ-centered way.

Piece by piece by piece, brick by brick by brick. Am I right? See? Doctrinal preaching. It's to be given by the pastor. It's to be received by you. And by the way, if you listen to NoCo, you probably like doctrinal preaching.

Number six, devoted. Wait, I've already used this one. Devotedly. And now I've got another one. I got two devotedly. This is why I do this before I preach the sermon, because otherwise I'd be doing this in the middle of my sermon.

We already did devotedly. Now here's another one. Devotedly, except I spelled it devoutedly. What's the difference between devout and devote? Oh, maybe I fixed it in my mind. Devotedly is something like I'm devoted to someone, right?

Greece. What's her name? The lady sings Hopelessly Devoted to You. What's her name? Who's the lady? The Aussie. She died. John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Hopelessly Devoted to You. We never sing that song at church.

Now instead of devotedly, it's devoutly. Now I got it. I can't read my own writing. I'm sure glad I did use you, the practice guinea pigs. What if I did this on Sunday morning? Devotedly is not devoutedly, even though I'm a public school person educated at Omaha, Nebraska, Laura Dodge Master's Elementary School.

Okay, let's start this over. Listen to preaching devoutly. That's it. That's our show right there. What do I mean by devoutly and not devotedly? Hopelessly Devotedly to You? No. Hopelessly Devotedly to You.

Now it's devoutly. In all seriousness, listen to 2 Timothy 4. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and kingdom, preach the word.

That is devoutly. With no sense of flippancy, no sense of this is a game, no sense of this is no big deal. This is with prudence. This is with discretion. This is with care. This is with the serious, somber nature.

He says, I charge you. This means I'm going to testify under oath. Pastor, raise your right hand and swear after me. I will preach the word of God, knowing Jesus is going to come back. This is serious.

I know this is going to have eternal consequences. Jesus is coming back to judge the living and the dead. All these people I'm preaching to, they're either going to go to heaven or go to hell. And I'm to give them the word because the word is either going to harden them and confirm them and their unbelief, or it will give them new life, new life.

And that's why Jesus came the first time, not to condemn the world, but to save people. Second time, it's going to be judgment. And in light of that judgment day, knowing that I should have been judged, but Jesus was judged for me, I'm now to preach the word.

So if that's the way it should be preached, I think I should probably pay attention during the sermon. I think I should probably not be doing Sudoku during the sermon. I think I should not be checking my emails during the sermon.

I think I should probably be paying attention that if it's a charge in the presence of God, even Christ Jesus, to preach the word, I should probably be thinking, you know, this is a big deal. One man said, I never see my preacher's eyes, though they with light may shine.

For when he prays, he closes his, and when he preaches, mine. I close my eyes when the preacher preaches. Here's a little hint. If you can see my eyes, dear congregation, when I'm preaching, I can see yours.

I know what you think. You think you sit back far enough, you close your eyes, I can't see. If you can see my eyes, I can see you. When you sleep, I can see you. I had one lady, dear lady, Dallas Brown is her name, and she's in Texas now.

She said, Mike, my eyes are so painful and dry. It's hard for me to keep them open for a long time, and I just want you to know, I'm gonna have my eyes closed when you preach, but I will be listening intently.

And you know what? I believe her, but she's rare, because typically, people are nodding off during the sermon because they're just tired, not because their eyes are dry. Is it a sin to sleep in a sermon?

I mean, maybe you had to work five shifts to provide for your family. I'm not trying to slam you. I am trying to say this. It's a big deal to preach the Word of God, and so therefore, it should be a big deal to hear the Word of God.

So whatever way you could do this to make sure you understand the importance of it, that's what you should do. I mean, let's just say you had a guest speaker come for church. Maybe you love Billy Graham, and Billy Graham came to church to preach.

I bet you'd pay attention. You're like, wait a second. How am I gonna sleep? I mean, I only get to hear him every once in a while. So it's not Billy. It's not me. It's the Word that's being preached. That's the idea.

And so we do our best to try to pay attention because it's a big deal. Actually, you know what you could do if you like to sleep? Sit in the front row because it's harder to sleep in the front row. If you have a hard time paying attention to people, the preacher, because there are people in front of you doing stuff that you don't like.

Like if I sat behind a couple that just started dating and the guy's got his arm around her, I'm thinking, she's not yours yet. If a married couple wants to do that at church, fine. But it personally would, I mean, I'm not gonna try to control the universe, and I'm not trying to say it's a sin or something, but I wouldn't let my kids do it.

Holding each other's hands and arms and all that stuff. You're not even engaged. You're not even married. You're just dating. Get your hands off of her. Once you're married, you're one, fine. Kim and I sometimes hold hands while we sing or my arms around her.

We don't usually hold hands while I'm preaching because that means she'd have to be up on the platform with me. If I saw people in front of me that bugged me, I'd sit up at the front. And as it is, I sit up in the front for no reason except I'm closer to the pulpit when I need to get up to preach, but I'm kind of glad because there's nobody in front of me doing dumb things.

He sees it all. That's right, Pastor Steve, Tuesday guy sees it all. How much time do I have? Five minutes. Number seven, how do you listen to God's word defensively? Defensively, what do I mean by that?

Well, we live in a really ungodly world and you better have your defenses up. Here's what first, here's 2 Timothy 4 .3, for the time will come where they'll not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires.

Instead of wanting doctrine, we'll have unsound doctrine. Instead of having sound doctrine, we'll have disease doctrine. We'll have Joe Osteen doctrine. We'll have doctrine that says you give money, God gives you blessings.

It says they want to their ears tickled. Now truth boxes ears, it doesn't tickle ears. I started my boxing career when I was, I don't know, 12 or 13 and Scott Labs hit me in the ear and I cried. Man, your ears hurt when they get hit, ouch, let alone get bit by someone else who's boxing, but that's a whole other story.

I started Muay Thai boxing, I don't know, several months ago. I haven't done it lately because my knee hurts and it's hard to push off with a bad knee and everything else, but so far I haven't been hit.

Actually, I think I've told the story. I had to say to my instructor, I can't get hit because I'm taking these leukemia drugs that make my blood thin and I'm not supposed to be hit. I bleed really easily.

I mean, so many times I looked down, I'm like, how did I cut myself? I don't know, just bumped. And so my wife said, it sounds just like you. You go to boxing class and you get hit other people, but they can't hit you.

I said, that's a perfect way to do it. Actually, some people that take the drugs that I take, even if they would hit with their gloves on, they'd be all bruised, but that didn't happen to me and hopefully my knee's better, I'll box.

Back to the point. Word of God boxes ears. It shouldn't tickle ears. That's not what we go for. Please tickle my ears. No. So when everybody else is wanting ear tickling, we're not supposed to have that.

The pastor's not supposed to do it and I don't want my ears tickled is the right attitude of a congregant, not to have the ears tickled. Now, I think I said eight, but I think Mario, I've only got seven.

I think that's it. I think when it comes to preaching God's word, we should preach God's word in season, out of season, and we should listen to God's word in season and out of season. As the pastor prays that the word run swiftly, congregant, why don't you pray?

Why don't we land the plane this way? Pull up on Sunday morning with your family in the church parking lot and everybody's about ready to get out of the car and say, by the way, before we get out of the car, let's pray.

Lord, help us to pay attention, to be good sermon listeners, to be good worshipers and throughout the entire service. Help the pastor, help the singers, help the sound people, help the nursery workers.

This is one big orchestration for Jesus Christ to be praised. Made that happen. My name is Mike Cavendraw. No comment.