Warning: Heed God’s Word (Part 1)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Opening Remarks, Book Recommendations, and Creeds

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth and this is also a Facebook Live show. If you want to be on the Facebook Lives, I probably do them once a week on a Friday or typically Saturday.

I�m just trying to work through my message in my mind for the upcoming Sunday, and you just have to ask to be part of the group. So far, it�s been fascinating. I have not had to kick anybody out of the group.

I don�t do much on Facebook, but if somebody was causing trouble, I�d have to kick them out of the group. So far, not. So don�t make me start now. My book recommendation for today is The Christian Faith.

This is not the typical printing, but it�s by Theodore Beza. I can just show it. It�s probably backwards online, but The Christian Faith by Theodore Beza, and you would be very encouraged to just walk through doctrine, kind of like a little systematic theology doctrine of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It separates out the chapters in a Trinitarian fashion, and I think you�d be encouraged. The Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Church, the Last Judgment. So I think that would be helpful.

By the way, the other thing that I would encourage you to do is start looking at some of the old creeds. I�d had my discipleship group. We memorized the Apostles� Creed. Of course, there are better creeds than that, but that�s the one that�s probably professed among Christians most often around the entire world, and it just gives a good overview and summary of the Triune God.

I love the part in there that talks about Jesus, and He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. That whole issue about suffering under Pontius Pilate, Jesus is a historical figure.

He is. He was. Of course, He�s alive, and that�s that. We have some new videos. The Fear of COVID -19 is the Beginning of Wisdom. You can go to the YouTube channel, No Compromise Radio, to find that. Ignorance is Thy Name is the next one that should come out next week from the John Bunyan character.

Paul Bunyan? John Bunyan. Of course, I grew up in Nebraska, and nobody told me about Pilgrim�s Progress, but we did drive to Minnesota where they had a large�it wasn�t papier-mache, but something else, by a rest stop.

It was John Bunyan, no, Paul Bunyan and his ox, Babe. So that�s the way it goes. We�re talking about Hebrews and warning passages. There are five warning passages in the book of Hebrews. Let�s see if I can remember where they are.

Hebrews’ Five Warning Passages and the Mixed Congregation

Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 3 into 4, Hebrews chapter 6, that�s the famous one, Hebrews chapter 10, and Hebrews chapter 12. And we talked about this last show, that if you can understand that the book of Hebrews is a sermon that will help you understand the warning passages.

What do I mean by that? Well, when I preach a sermon, I don�t know who are the believers and who are not believers. The Lord knows the people�s hearts, and actually the Lord in Matthew says that He will be the one that will separate the sheep from the goats on those last days, in that last day.

But I know that there are believers and unbelievers. I guess there could be probably four kinds of people when I�m preaching. The people that they aren�t Christians and they know they�re not, they aren�t Christians but they think they are, Christians that are Christians, which sounds dumb, people that are Christians and they know they are, and people that are Christians but they�re not sure they are.

Those could be the four, right? You know, on any different Sunday, I realize when I get up and preach to people there are believers and unbelievers. That�s the same thing with the book of Hebrews. And think about how your pastor preaches.

If you attend Bethlehem Bible Church, you regularly hear me say, �Christian, you�re safe. Christian, God will never leave you nor forsake you. Christian, God�s not mad at you, God�s not angry with you because He�s already assuaged His anger for all your sins on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And while He might punish you, and while you might talk about communion with God as broken, your union isn�t, right? If you think communion, union, John Owen, our communion with God can be broken but our union never can.

And so, dear Christian, while it�s not right to sin, the love of God in Christ Jesus who justifies ungodly people and keeps on loving His bride, that should motivate you to obey. And if you�re not a Christian here today, I want you to know that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.

And I give the warnings, that�s how I talk. I think for too long, maybe, I gave more warnings to people, making sure that they didn�t have a fake faith, a professing faith, a spurious faith, and then I forgot to encourage the Christian.

So, the book of Hebrews is very fascinating because while it has those five warnings, there�s all kinds of good news. Chapter 2, He�s a brother, right? And He will perfect every son or daughter. And you look at Hebrews chapter 7, He prays for you and He�s a perfect high priest, once for all sacrifice.

Chapter 12, He�s the author and perfecter, He�s a finisher of your faith. So, there�s all kinds of assurance there for Christians. But for the unbeliever, there are these warnings. People who say, you know what, well, maybe it is better to go back to what I used to believe.

And by the way, warnings can be good for Christians, how? You might ask. I�m glad you asked the question. Well, warnings are good for Christians because then you realize, you know what, why would I want to go back to that?

I need to keep believing and moving forward. I don�t need to go back to this because if it�s going to be this terrifying, fearful, wrathful day of judgment, I don�t want to go back. These warnings are good for Christians because you could say, you know what, I�ve been delivered from those things.

Praise the Lord. I was a goat and now I�m a sheep. How did I make myself into a new creation? It is the work of the triune God alone. And therefore, it doesn�t surprise me in this sermon where this writer, preacher to the Hebrew people, an existing church, existing people, now getting persecuted, that he warns them and says, after talking about Jesus who ran this great race, he warns them and says, apostasy is real.

Don�t be an apostate. That should not make Christians say, you know what, what do I have to do? What do I have to do in order to stay accepted by God? No, that�s not what you do. If you think to yourself as a Christian, I have to do certain things in order to be accepted to God, you�ve forgotten about the gospel.

You�ve forgotten about the person of Jesus, His law-keeping, His paying the penalty for your law-breaking, and the resurrection, and how you have been justified. And you can�t be any less justified or more justified, and your redemption, and how you used to be a slave to sin, and now you�re not, propitiation, no more wrath for you because the Son has assuaged the wrath of the Father, and the list goes on and on and on.

Therefore, when you see apostasy as a Christian, I don�t care if you check yourself and say, well, do I do any of those things? But they�re not meant, these warnings, to take away the Christian�s assurance.

And you say, well, you know, you can�t really give assurance anyway. I�m not talking about me. I�m talking about through the Word of God. So let me read this passage from this sermon, the book of Hebrews, and tell me if it sounds scary to you as a believer.

Does it sound scary to unbelievers? Hebrews chapter 12, �See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven.

At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, �Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. This phrase �yet once more� indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is, things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. You can hear the sermon even there, kind of alt-tabbing between, here�s this warning to unbelievers, and then here�s how the believers should respond, with gratitude and with thanksgiving, and with, the text actually says, with grace, and with worship, for our God is a consuming fire.

Refusing the One Who Speaks and the Finality of Christ

So today on No Compromise Radio, what do we do with the warning passages? Before we get into this passage, anything more? By the way, when I do the Facebook Live, if you have a question and you type a question and I like the question, or I think I know the answer to the question, I probably will answer it.

And we�ll just kind of jump back and forth between this stuff. I don�t know if I have ADD or not, I�m sure I do. But I think this all started with the concept that when you�re on the radio, if you don�t change things up a little bit, people turn off.

People change the channel. Remember the, you know, a commercial comes on the radio and you�re like, I got to go to the next thing. So I just try to change things up as much as possible, and that�s why we just do all the ADD stuff.

I also want to recommend this book, I don�t know if you can get it anymore or not, Robert Walton, Chronological and Background of Chartres Church History. I really thought that was excellent. It has things I just opened up.

These are whole shows you could do. Look at that. The, what�s it called? The Great Schism of the Papacy. I mean, that is so interesting. You�ve got the Roman Popes, the Avignon Popes, and the Conciliar Popes.

And from 1375 down through 1417, sometimes you�ve got three popes. We only have two today. It seems so odd to have three. I�m used to having two. I don�t know if anybody watched The Two Popes on Netflix, but I don�t know.

I never saw Silence of the Lamb, but I, Vicki said it�s hard to read backwards. I didn�t know if you saw things backwards or not. This is a shirt, TLEF, whatever that is. It�s a new bike company. I wouldn�t know how to flip this around any other way.

You look at these Hebrews warning passages and you say they are ominous. By the way, I learned that this week, ominous comes from the root word. What�s the root word in ominous? My kids are always laughing because remember the big fat Greek wedding and the guy�s always like, the Greek word, the root word, you know, he�s got his Windex out.

Ominous. It comes from the word omen. Did you know that? I didn�t know that. You�re like, duh. Yeah, I know duh, but I did not know. Foreboding, full of foreboding, ominous, I like that. You know, there�s a word relating to ominous, not just omen, ominousness, it�s true.

We�re losing viewers. Here, the preacher in the book of Hebrews says something that�s very fascinating. Verse 25 of chapter 12, �See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. Because basically, it�s just self-explanatory.

Look at the text. �For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. Now, here�s where it�s important to look at the book entirely.

Don�t reject him who is speaking. Okay? Idols, false idols, they can be seen, but they don�t talk, right? God, you can�t see him, right? We�re talking about pre-incarnation here. You can�t see God, but he talks.

And so, if he talks through Moses and there was judgment for the unbelievers, what about it when Jesus talks? Will there be less judgment or more judgment? So when Moses talks and there�s a lot of judgment, because Moses did speak the words of God, what about the son incarnate when he speaks and you disobey?

And that�s exactly what he�s talking about here. Because remember back in Hebrews chapter 1, �Long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. He upholds the universe by the word of his power after making purification for sins. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

If Moses spoke and for the unbelieving and disobedient there was wrath and fire and judgment, what about now that Jesus has come and that Jesus has spoken? And Jesus says, �You�re either for me or you�re against me.

And Jesus talks about as a son of man was lifted up, like the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness and the mildew, John chapter 3 verse 14 and 15 and then 16. What�s the writer�s point? Wait a second, I might be tempted to go back to Judaism, but I have a greater obligation to listen to Jesus because he�s the eternal son.

I had an obligation to listen to Moses. That�s true and fine and dandy. I�m not trying to say the law from Moses was somehow not good, but the speaker himself, Jesus, now? What happens? Well, you know what?

Maybe I�ll just go back to Judaism and maybe the Messiah will come for the first time. Maybe Jesus wasn�t the first Messiah, kind of like Jewish people today that are waiting for the first coming. Wait a second, Hebrews chapter 1 makes it very clear.

In these last days, he�s spoken to us with finality in the Son. What are you going to do? Go back to Moses and wait for Jesus to come the first time, the Messiah to come to the first time? But he said, �Sorry, Mike, I�ve lost the audio.

I�ll try to get back on. Oh, maybe the show�s just better without that. You notice how he phrased this �see to it He loves to use that, this preacher does. See to it. In chapter 3, when there was danger, he said, �Take care, or see to it, brothers, lest there be any evil in you, an unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

Pay attention. This is important. See to it. It�s where we get the word actually to see, bleppo, right? You think of a bleppoplasty? I actually need a bleppoplasty, but I haven�t done it yet. It�s hard to see the need of the bleppoplasty when I have the glasses on, so it doesn�t make it that obvious.

Present imperative. We understand present imperative. You got to keep watching. You got to keep listening. Jeremiah chapter 1, �Who refused to hear my words. Ezekiel 5, �Rebelled against my ordinances.

Zechariah 7, �Refused to pay attention. And how often did the Proverbs talk about paying attention to God Himself and listening to the words? So when the final word comes in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you turn your back on the claims of God in the work of Christ Jesus, then there�s hell to pay.

That�s essentially what�s going on. Your soul is at stake. Destiny is at hand. You have to make sure you understand that God is speaking. Say, �Well, you know what? Maybe I�ll split the difference. Friend, you either receive this word or you don�t, right?

So when the pastor even gets up to preach the gospel, and there�s either on-off, there�s binary deals here. It�s either believe or not believe. It�s not like, �Well, I kind of believe. He is writing to those people here in this book that are kind of believers, which means they�re not believers at all.

�Well, you know what? I don�t really reject Jesus, but I don�t really accept Him. Yes, you do reject Him. It�s just a fanciful thing. You�re just playing games in your mind. People say, �Well, you know what?

Jesus is all love. New Testament�s all love. My God is a God of love. This Jesus who speaks with finality, see to it you don�t reject His words, because this is what the future holds for those people when this Jesus comes back.

�From heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, this is the return of Christ, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. That is, obey.

�They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. R .C. Sproul said this moment, right now, that you�re hearing God�s Word, free grace, the love of God in Christ Jesus, think about who you are, what your sins deserve.

Think rightly about your sins. Think rightly about the Lord Jesus. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Right now counts forever. Right now, who you�re trusting, it counts forever.

There are ramifications past your life. And this pastor wants these people not to go back. And he wants the people who are trusting in Jesus not to even flirt with going back. Don�t turn away. What a sad thing.

You think about the language of turning away. It�s a theme in the Bible. It says in Hebrews chapter 12, �If they did not escape when they refused Him, if we reject Him who warns from heaven that�s sad.

Turning away, turning your back on. You don�t want to do that. Spurgeon said, �If they did not escape who refused Him that spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven.

If Pharaoh did not escape when he refused Him who spoke on earth, dreadful shall be that day when the Christ who this day speaks to you and whom you reject shall lift up the rods of his anger. So, don�t turn back.

Don�t refuse. Don�t reject. And by the way, dear Christian, if you�re saying to yourself, you know what, I wish I believed more, I wish I studied more, I wish I read the Bible more, I wish I obeyed it more.

Good. I�m glad for that. And you should. But who gave you the desires to do that? Who gave you the desire to want to honor God and learn about Him and study His Word? Did Satan give you those desires?

I don�t know. I don�t know why I thought of Satan and CNN. Did CNN give you those? Don�t reject the one who�s speaking. I like his boldness. He just puts that out there and he doesn�t try to reel it back in or give any caveats.

You are going to reject divine revelation. There�s doom for you, right? For us, we see that there�s wisdom of God in natural revelation. We see the love of God in Christ Jesus in special revelation. And if you turn your back on God showing forth Himself to you and His mind and His thoughts and the way of salvation, there�s no hope.

There�s no hope. Rejecting the Word of God is rejecting God. And then he says in verse 26, it�s interesting, kind of how vital is it to obey God�s Word? How important is it to hear God�s Word and believe God�s Word?

At that time, His voice shook the earth and now He has promised, �Yet once more I will shake not only earth but also the heavens. Why should you believe in this Word and not reject the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Because there�s a bunch of shaking going to happen. Now I know in my mind on No Compromise Radio, I�m thinking to myself, �There�s a whole lot of shaking going on. I don�t know if you�ve thought that or not.

I just posted, by the way, on the Facebook channel, Little Richard and his final interview, Seventh-day Adventist. And he has it. By the way, here�s my commentary on that video. Lots of Bible, not much about sin, and lots of man-centered responses to the work of the Lord Jesus.

Don�t hear words like �believe, rest, trust� in the finished work. And so while there was a lot of Bible verses there, and I was happy that he wasn�t running around talking about drugs and, you know, sex drugs, and I guess he talked about rock and roll.

I just was sad, sad watching that. That was two years ago, so maybe before he died he trusted in the real Lord, I�m not sure. As Vicki just said, keeping my list with God short of my sins of disobedience and not responding to His Word.

And you know what? By the way, that�s a sign of a Christian, right? Do unbelievers do that? See, to stand before God positionally, we need to perfectly obey. There wouldn�t be a short list that we�d try to be keeping.

There would be no list. You want to stand before God positionally, there has to be no list of sins. How�s that working out for us all? But since we stand before God based on the work of Christ Jesus, now we want to keep that list short.

Not in order to, but because of. By the way, that will unlock your Christian life. Dear Christian, not in order to stay saved, not in order to have a position, not in order to keep my position, but because of my position.

That will change your life. Why do you read the Bible? Why do you pray? What happens when you don�t read the Bible like you should? What happens when you don�t pray like you should? In order to or because of?

I think that will be very important. Well, there�s a shaking that�s going to come. There�s a big shaking. The 1994 earthquake, that�s the one I remember the most. I remember �89 up in San Francisco because Kim�s grandmother lived up there, and so we drove up to try to help in some of our house repairs and stuff like that.

But it was 1994. I believe it was November. Is that right? November Northridge earthquake? I have it someplace here in my notes. I don�t know where that is. There it is. Northridge earthquake, 6 .7, and it was called a blind thrust earthquake.

I just remember. Oh, there you go, January 17th, 4 .30 in the morning. I remember Haley was little, and by the time I figured out what was going on, trying to get clothes on and all this other stuff, Kim was already standing out in the middle of the street.

We had a house in North Hollywood, and the house was shaking back and forth. It was interesting. The duration, it said, of that quake was 10 to 20 seconds with peak ground acceleration at 1 .8 G, whatever that is.

I don�t know what the G means. Highest ever instrumentally recorded in an urban area in North America. A strong motion was felt as far away as Las Vegas, and the peak ground velocity was 183 centimeters per second.

That's interesting. The fastest ever recorded shaking. I would hate to know what the real shaking is going to be. Now what does a writer do? This writer knows. These people know their Old Testament, and they knew that Sinai was shaking, but there's a greater shaking than Sinai.

Remember the rumble and the fury and the smoke and God descending in the fire and the smoke of a furnace. It says in Exodus 19,. �And the whole mountain quaked violently. Just imagine the shaking that was going on.

Well, fascinatingly, Haggai chapter 2, do you know Haggai is in the Bible? When's the last time you read Haggai? How can you call yourself a Christian without reading Haggai? Oh, by the way, my time's up.

I just looked down. Haggai 2 .6 next time.

God bless you, Mike Abendroth. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.