It is Finished (Part 2)

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. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

Faith, Hebrews, and the Difference Between Faith and Faithfulness

My name is Mike Abendroth. I looked outside and it�s kind of rainy, so I thought I�m going to do one more show. I�m going to do one more show, and here�s what we�re going to do. I don�t even know if this thing works, but this is recorded for a radio show, but I just took my phone and put it on, and there it is, Facebook Live for the NoCo Insiders Gnostic Group.

So here�s the scoop. You�re probably going to see this pop up now. If you�re on Facebook, you should be working. This is my work, Hebrews 5. And I think we�re just going to answer any questions. So if you�re on, there were ten people, I think, watching.

There were ten. And so if they want to ask any questions, I�m going to try to answer them. If nobody asks questions, then I will have to revert to Lectio Divina. All right, well, until I see anybody ask questions, let�s talk a little bit about Romans chapter 4.

Now, if you would just think a little bit with me about the famous people in the Bible, that is to say, heroes of the faith. And you probably don�t have to go any farther than Hebrews chapter 11 and the faith chapter.

I think many Christians think that the faith chapter is the faithful chapter, that these men and women that were talked about were so faithful. Now there�s faithfulness involved, that�s true, but what about their entire lives?

When the text says in Hebrews chapter 11, �By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called out to go to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. Later on it says in verse 17, �By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said, �Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

He considered that God was able even to raise from the dead, from which figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. So those are two illustrations there of �by faith. What does that tell you?

This is the book of Hebrews, and in the book of Hebrews you could probably summarize the book of Hebrews by Hebrews chapter 8 verse 1. And the cool part about this is, I'm going to have to advertise it ahead of time, we're going to do live Q &A, but I don't know how to do that.

Now the point in what we are saying is this, what's the Hebrews epistle about? What's the sermon of Hebrews about? Some call it a sermonic epistle, some call it an epistolatory sermon. I turned the light on, but I don't know if I like that light right there, or if I did that.

Is that better? Do you care? Do I care? I don't know what I look like, but that is a shiny bald head. It says in chapter 8 verse 1,. �Now the point in what we are saying is this, we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven.

The point is, and even Hebrews chapter 3, �Consider him right? Consider Jesus. He's the one you need to think about. And we get to chapter 11, and then we think chapter 11 is all about our faithfulness.

Now the difference between faith and faithfulness is pretty big. Faith has an object, and the desired, required object is Jesus Christ, who is always faithful. And because of that, then we should desire to live a holy life, a faithful life.

For these readers, they knew they weren't always faithful, but they could have faith in the Messiah, and in particular, Abraham had faith in the Messiah to come by faith. That is shorthand for by faith in the Messiah.

This has nothing to do with their great lives. Yes, faith in the Messiah yielded things like, �I'll offer up my son yielded things like, �I'm going to look for a better city. That's true. Now, I don't know if you can see this, I guess it's backwards, �to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Are you supposed to end sentences with a preposition? No, because it's backwards, so it's not. Now, do I invite people? Can I invite people in this thing? I don't think so. It says live, so we're just doing live.

It doesn't matter because I'm recording on this. So this is how we do the radio show. I just thought I would try to film this. I don't know if it works. No co-group live. I can see the tiles on the ceiling, and one seems different than the other.

Our basement flooded a few months ago, and it's now fixed and put back in place. But when I start to paint, now I notice all the spots that need extra paint. When I do trim, I look at all the spots that don't have the trim done right.

And then now when I look at the ceilings after I put a drop ceiling in, this one's not right. Well, maybe this should be the time I make my plea. I like it when police officers and chiropractors attend the church that I pastor.

Why? Well, it should be obvious. That's a dumb question. Why? Because I'm safe and well-adjusted. The other day my back was burning so badly, I thought I'm going to have some kind of psych. I feel like I'm in some straitjacket.

I couldn't get in. It was a holiday weekend, but got adjusted two days ago. Everything's well. It is well with my soul. Now what happens in Romans chapter 4? We're talking about faith, by faith Abraham.

Romans is trying to tell you that you don't have a leg to stand on, as it were, when it comes to your own righteousness, because it's defective. If you're trying to get to heaven the legal way, you can't make it.

But you can get to heaven the gospel way, and that is trusting in the person and work of Christ Jesus. So it says in Romans chapter 2. Now imagine if you're a Jew in Rome receiving this letter. You'd think, Abraham, he's right up there, if not the person in the Old Testament.

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. If it was actually his faithfulness that got him to heaven, he could brag to everybody. He could brag to 318 servants of his.

I think that's the number. He could brag to other kings. He could brag to other Chaldeans. He could brag to his mom, dad, wives. Okay, wives there. But not before God. He can't brag before God. For what does the Scripture say?

That's a good point. What's the Bible say? Well, let's find out. The Bible says, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Belief, trust, rest. Not of the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due, and the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted.

There's some shorthand here. His faith in Jesus counted. The righteousness of Jesus is counted as righteousness. Now, let's think about that for a second. I must be doing something wrong, by the way, because I'm looking here at the Facebook deal.

I mean, we can't have one person watch. This is the call-in show. I've got a bunch of things underneath here. What does that show? Allow your viewers to request to join you as your guest. Yeah, I think they could do that.

Invite friends to watch. I think they could do that. Darker. Camera. I'm making up things for, like, background. There, that's nice. Let's do that. That's it. It takes a village. Here, wait, wait. Wait, this is better.

There. Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. All right, this is actually better. I like this. You've got to just keep right about right there. See, I don't know these things, these Facebook things, so that's why we're going to do this.

In other words, when you think of the hall of faith, was it Abraham's faithfulness that got him in there, or faith? Come on. Well, if you just start thinking about, for a little while, find a face. There it is.

What did Abraham do? Remember, he thought he was going to lose his own life, so he says, here, take my wife. You can sleep with her instead. Not once, but twice. What does Abraham do? Abraham says, you know what?

I need to have a son, and I will go into my maidservant to have the son. I mean, if that was done today, that'd be a person of power going into his employee or his servant or... I mean, see how complicated and how convoluted this whole thing is?

And he's the father of the faith? Father of the faithful. That's the question. The text goes on in Romans chapter 4, just as David also speaks of the blessing of one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works.

Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Well, what do you need? You need Scripture, two or three witnesses, and now here's the second witness.

I can't stand this anymore. There's...do we want clouds? Oh, there, that's better. That's better. You need two witnesses. So, there's Abraham, and then now there's also David. David...it's the time where kings are out for battle, and David's on a roof, and he sees Bathsheba, and he takes her.

I mean, I guess she went along. The text doesn't say, but I think David got what he wanted. And what's this here? That's dumb. Oh, that is dumb. Turn these off. How do I turn these off? So, David with the woman, and of course, then he kills the husband, a premeditated murder, and Abraham, but when it comes to blessing, lawless deeds, forgiven, sins, covered.

Why? How? Well, the answer is they had faith in the Messiah who forgives those lawless deeds, who never did those lawless deeds. They had faith in the Messiah who covers those sins by assuaging the wrath of God Himself.

Jesus says it is finished at Calvary. He's the one they're trusting, and so faith is in a Messiah, not faithfulness gets you to heaven, because if faithfulness gets you to heaven, how faithful do you need to be?

More faithful than other people? A little bit more faithful? A lot more faithful? How much faithfulness? Who decides how much faithfulness? Religions that decide that are decided, that question is decided by the leaders.

We know God's perfect, so He would want perfect faithfulness. That's why Jesus is the perfect faithful one as representative and dies for our unfaithfulness as substitute. How do I know that? Resurrection.

It Is Finished and the Sufficiency of Christ

Hudson Taylor was a missionary, and he founded the China Inland Mission, and he just kept thinking about, it is finished, it is finished, it is finished, it is finished. That's what we were talking about last time on No Compromise Radio.

It is finished. Here's what he wrote. There dawned upon me the joyous conviction that since the whole work was finished and the whole debt was paid upon the cross, there was nothing for me to do but to fall upon my knees, accept the Savior, and praise Him forevermore.

That's the only thing that I needed to do. What must I do to be saved? Evangelist Alexander Wooten said to a young man who asked him that question, it's too late. What do you mean it's too late? Is there nothing I can do?

The evangelist said, too late. It's already been done. It is finished. The only thing to do is believe. Faith and faithfulness are different. So, when you think of faith, that just shall live by faith, that's in an object, that's shorthand, in the object, in the person of work of Christ Jesus.

By faith, by faith, by faith chapter is all about the Messiah. Why wouldn't it be? It's in a book about the Messiah. You just all of a sudden get to chapter 11, you'll lose your mind. I mean, I lose my mind.

All these sermons about these faithful people. I think if you talk about sermons about faithfulness in these people, derived from their faith in the Messiah and empowered by Him, I could go along with that.

Great. Philip Bliss wrote, lifted up was he to die, it is finished was his cry. Now in heaven exalted high, hallelujah, what a Savior. We talked a little bit yesterday about it is finished. What Jesus said on the cross, the finisher, completer, and that would be a good word for you to know, to telestai, in English, three words, it is finished.

When you talk to Roman Catholic friends, any work system, religion, family and friends that you know, Muslims, Seventh-day Adventist, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, especially Catholics though, Catholic Catechism 2010.

Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others, the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity and for the attainment of eternal life.

Talk about bad news, talk about a lie. It's worse than bad news and a lie. It is finished was his cry. That's that Bliss song. Lifted up was he to die. Lifted up was he to die. It is finished was his cry.

Now in heaven exalted I. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Amen. Hebrews 5 says, he became the source of eternal salvation. He's the author. He causes it. That's the word, cause. He's the author, cause, source, founder.

That's the idea. It's fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. That's the meaning, essential meaning.

The pioneer of salvation. Remember they used to have pioneer clubs? I think they used to have pioneer clubs, pioneer boy clubs. It was kind of like Awana, but for churches that were fundamentalistic. Didn't want Awana.

Speaking of which, you know, we've got these ideas with crew, right? Campus crusade for Christ. I guess if you don't like the word crusade, you should probably still keep Christ, but it's crew. Crew, Roo.

I was just down at New Tribes Missions headquarters in Sanford, not Stanford, Connecticut, but Sanford, Florida. They've now changed their name to Ethnos 360. It looks like Ethnos, but it's Ethnos 360.

I don't know, maybe the tribe language they didn't like. Do you know why? Pioneer, boys, Awana, every year for Awana, for several years, started over 21 years ago here, I had received as the pastor, a letter that Awana had me sign.

And it basically, do you believe that the Bible is inerrant? Jesus is the only way, resurrection's literal, virgin birth, miracles, kind of like, you know, the five fundamentals. And then, are you cessationist?

You're not teaching the charismatic gifts for today, the signed gifts for our generation. They took that out though. What does that do for me? Here's my Awana love right here. That says you can do a 3D avatar.

Where's my avatar? Oh, there, right there. There's for Awana for you. And Awana wonders why people go to pioneer, I guess. Jesus is the source. He's the pioneer. Some people call him the captain, the captain of our salvation.

That word source means something that causes. That's the idea. Source, cause of eternal salvation. So, when you think about your own salvation, who caused it? Well, you know where I'm going. It says in 1 Peter 1, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

If you're a Christian, who caused it? And you say, well, I don't want to give the answer because I'm Arminian and I know where this is leading. Okay, we're still friends. What's the Bible say? He has caused us.

What does Hebrew say? The source of, the cause of eternal salvation. Yeah, but what about that? No, well, what's this text say? We'll get to those other texts later. He's the cause. And friend, come on.

You realize that He has to be the cause because we're sinful, and if we could be the cause, then why send Jesus, Galatians 2? Right? When you pray, how do you pray? God caused them to be a Christian. God orchestrate things according to their free will in such a way that you don't impinge on their moral agency and violate them in any way.

You see, make them born again. And by the way, when you make them born again, God, they'll respond out of their new nature with faith, which leads to faithfulness. Yeah? Yeah. Of His own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.

God is the source. He's the pioneer. He's the author. Acts 13 .48, and when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life, what?

Believed. I'll drink to that out of my Star Wars, sorry, Star Trek mug. Here's the fun. Here we go right there. That's called a good cup of coffee. Yum. I want to taste it. I want to chew it. That's bad.

Acts 18 .27, and when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he, Paul, arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed.

How do you believe? Through grace. It's God's work. Meredith Klein would say there's no such thing as unmerited grace. It's demerited. That's the way to think about it. That's right. Well, my name's Mike Abenroth.

This is No Compromise Radio. I tried to do this Facebook Live thing again. It didn't show me anything. No questions asked, not a one. How does that work? How am I going to increase my ratings for that?

That's going to be bad. Shiny happy people. Well, if you want to write me, info at nocompromiseradio .com. If you've got the little scoop on how do I do things better on these Facebook deals, that would be good.

Oh, there's all kinds of stuff on here. Look at that. See? I don't know these things. This is just stuff that I don't know about that I need to know. So anyway, if you want to tell me the cool things to do, that would be good.

Oh, there, that's it. That's it. That's the aura. That's the shining aura. Hopefully, I'll be Hebrews 5 this week and then moving into the 511 passage soon enough when it comes to maturation and juvenalization.

Juvenalization. The juvenalization of Christianity. This is Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio. If you want to order some books, the sexual fidelity books on sale, if you want to buy in bulk, and same thing with things to go bump in the church.

In other words, I got boxes of them. I need to get rid of them. Okay, first I say goodbye to you.

Finish. Then I say goodbye to you. 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.