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Today, Pastor Mike talks about Eternal Sin.
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 ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and we are here in the beautiful studios in downtown Burbank having fish since it�s Friday and enjoying every bit of tilapia that we can get our hands on.
You ever seen halibut? Those things look weird. You can write us info at nocompromiseradio .com, and we are trying to do some Facebook Live for the No Compromise group. I�m not really a Facebook guy, and so I don�t really read many comments or anything like that.
What I typically do is I post things to Hootsuite, which gives me an opportunity to just type something in. I send it to Twitter and Facebook, and then once in a while I might read a comment, maybe once a week or something like that.
If there�s a donation, I always read that. Just kidding. But mainly it�s Twitter, back and forth. So I am trying. So if you�ve got friends that want to watch some of these No Compromise videos on this special channel, you can let them know.
Well, what do we try to do here at the show? I try to just speak directly about Christian doctrines and the Lord Jesus Christ. One of my goals, I have many goals in life, but one of my goals is that people never say �I wonder what he really means.
I wonder what he stands for. I can�t really understand. He seems like he�s hedging. He�s trying to play both sides of the field. He�s trying to not make anybody mad. I want people, when they hear me preach and even on the radio show, to say, �You know, it�s pretty obvious where he stands.
I�d like to be clear. I know sometimes I�m not as clear as I should be, but I have a desire for clarity, and I have a desire for, of course, biblical fidelity, Christ-centeredness, but I want everybody to know I know where that guy stands.
And I think that�s good in our culture today, but it is so disregarded, right? You can�t stand up for things because you�ll be the kind of guy who, you know, will receive calls from the tone police very quickly.
When Paul writes to the church at Galatia, the church is at Galatia, the first word he says is �Paul, apostle� in the Greek, and the third word is �no or �not technically not. And it is a book of no.
He�s saying, �No, I�m not going to allow the false gospel to be taught. I�m not going to allow Peter to add in works. I�m not going to allow anything like this to go on, no. And so I�d like to know where the �no� men are these days, men that are not afraid, and women, of course, too, who are not afraid to say no.
Under my watch, no. And you ask yourself the question, �Why does liberalism sneak into a church It doesn�t sneak into the church. There are people in that church who will not say no. And you know, I don�t even really like to say no that much.
I just know it�s part of my job. When my kids would ask me for something when they were little, I really never wanted to say no to them, unless it was like, you know, �Can I eat needles or something
You know, �Can I have these apples for trick-or-treat that people gave us You know, because I always thought maybe they�d I never let my kids trick-or-treat, but if they did, only pagans let their kids trick-or-treat.
By the way, I was such a fundamentalist for so long, �Uh-oh, Jordan just said there are no men, the �no� men are hanging with Beth Moore�s husband. Oops. I didn�t say that. Jordan did. Anyway, of course, we want to say yes very often to things, too, but I just don�t, you know, I don�t enjoy always having to say no.
But what does a true Bible teacher, a true elder have to do? He teaches sound doctrine, and he refutes those that contradict. It�s simple. And even when you think about the Lord Jesus Christ, if you don�t like �no� men, men that say �no� and speak their mind, then can you really appreciate the Lord Jesus?
Of course, He was so kind to sinful people and so dear and gentle to those enslaved to sin. But to the people that knew in their own minds that they had enough righteousness, that they didn�t need the Messiah that God would send, I mean, literally, as I said last night when I was preaching, Jesus blistered them verbally.
It was a verbal blistering. And that one quote, maybe my favorite quote of Jesus in light of this context, is when He said, �You are wrong. And He would say, �No. I mean, if you�re going to bastardize the Word of God and the glory of God, Jesus was going to be all over you, and He would condemn you with His words, and He would say in John 8, �Your father is the devil.
And if you are afraid of following people that say �no� or afraid to say �no� yourself, you might just want to reconsider things, and that�s what we do on No Compromise Radio. Well, what I have in front of me is something from the website, the Internet, that talks about eternal sins.
I was thinking about, are there sins that can never be forgiven? And when people think about sins that aren�t forgiven, they typically think of, what? The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, Mark chapter 3, Matthew chapter 12, and Luke 12.
And essentially, when you look at the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is doing all these miracles by the Holy Spirit�s power, and people are ascribing bad motives, and demons are working through Jesus instead, and you can see the context.
But I did not know. This was brand new to me, that the Roman Catholics teach there are six sins that blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Now, I know the evangelicals typically say, you know, any sin that hardens your heart, and you eventually say no to Jesus, and that�s unforgivable, and I hope that�s not the case.
I mean, evangelicals make their own stupid mistakes too, because I hardened my heart against Jesus for 29 years, He still saved me. Is that the unpardonable sin? Is that what is called the eternal sin?
I hope not. I hope lack of faith isn�t, because Jesus died for people who weren�t believing, right? They had sinned by doubting, sinned by having no faith, sinned by having lack of faith. In other words, can you be saved if you�ve not believed for 20 years?
So Protestants have their problems. But today, because it�s the Reformation on Thursday morning, Reformation Day, we have Roman Catholic things we must talk about. Oh, and by the way, I keep getting email from this lady, I�ll take her last name off, but I�ll just show it.
Lois. Lois is always sending me these big packets of stuff, and this one�s about the fascination and veneration of another Mary that Mike Gendron did, and she�s sending me stuff to respond. Well, anyway, back to this point here on No Compromise Radio.
These are the unforgivable sins, the eternal sins, according to Roman Catholic doctrine, and I think it�s fascinating, but I want you to think about this in the background, the back of your mind. I want you to think, �Really
I want you to think about, �Hello, hello. By the way, keep using �hello hashtag �hello. We�re creating new nomenclature across the World Wide Web. That�s what we do here in the radio show. We have to make new names for things, okay?
So just keep that in mind at all times. New names is what we�re after. Number one, despair. These are sins that blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. Despair. Now remember, we�re talking about sins that can�t be forgiven, and whenever you think about sins and you start thinking about what can�t be forgiven, short of our discussion here in Mark chapter 3 and Matthew 12, what kind of sins did Jesus not die for?
What kind of sins would Jesus� death not atone for? Could He not assuage the wrath of God for certain sins? And everything, when you talk that way, will point to the inadequacy of Christ�s death, and we know His death was adequate, so we can�t talk that way.
We can�t say that, you know, there�s a sin. I mean, what if you met somebody and they�ve just committed the most horrible sins, and I don�t even know all the lists here because I haven�t read it ahead of time.
Spencer was supposed to and give me a report on it, but the guy�s slacking off all the time. You know, think about murder, and you think about what people have done, like Paul, murdering people. Could those sins be forgiven?
And so this is just, to me, part of the Roman Catholic system that�s going to keep people regularly in doubt to their own salvation, and then you�ve got to go back for confession. You�ve got to go back for other sacraments to make sure you keep yourself right with God.
And we are quite certain that the Bible teaches that the law has been kept in our place. Think about it. God gives the law to Adam. Adam breaks that law. That law does not go away. The way to get to heaven is simple, obey the law.
Since now that�s out by our own nature and Adam�s imputed sin, someone else has to come along, human. Yes, Jesus was more than human, but He certainly was human, perfectly human. He then obeys the law for us, and then now He gives us the law out of His gracious hand that we might respond to our great salvation.
Well, can Jesus forgive every sin? Did He forgive every sin of every elect person? The Father in eternity past gives to the Son a bride, a group, an elect people, and Jesus goes and makes atonement for them.
He goes and lives for them. And He, what, there�s some sins that He can�t atone for? So the second one is presumption. So far, here�s what I�m thinking to myself. I have despaired before. Now here�s the sticky part to this whole thing.
They don�t give you any markers, how much to spare or for how long. Now, that�s the trick of the whole thing. You know, it�s the same thing in evangelicalism. When someone says, �You�ve got to treasure Christ above everything in order to be saved.
Who�s the one grading? Because God always grades on a curve. No. He�s perfect, so He doesn�t have anything less than perfection. So if you have to get to heaven by treasuring God, you have to perfectly treasure God.
If you have to get to heaven by desiring God, you have to get to heaven by perfectly desiring God. But when we hear these people talk this way, they�ll tell us about how much we have to desire or how much we have to treasure.
Or in this particular case with the Roman Catholics, how much presumption is too much presumption? Well, I don�t know, so I�ve got to go to the leaders of the Church to tell me. I don�t desire Christ like I should, well, then how much must I?
When what we should be doing instead of this morbid introspection excuse me, where�s a cough button when I need it? I think Todd Friel has a cough button. I have all kinds of buttons over here, I�ll just show you.
These are my buttons right there, but there�s no cough button. When you think about just your obedience, if you want your legal standing to be based on obedience, it has to be perfect. I�m not saying you don�t respond as a Christian and there�s the fruit of the Spirit, but we�re talking about legal standing.
I�m not talking about evidences, I�m not talking about fruit. Make sure you keep that in your mind. There�s ground and there�s evidence. There�s a condition of my salvation and there�s fruit. And this is all about Jesus, and so when you say no presumption because it�s a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unpardonable, it�s eternal, it�s unforgivable.
So that�s the problem with this whole system, and in fact, it is the system. This is the third eternal sin according to the Roman Catholic doctrine, disparate presumption, envying. Okay. Now, let�s say I�ve envied, and I have, right?
I go to New Zealand and I envy Ryan�s, where Ryan lives, and his ministry. Well, how much envying is too much envying before I lose my salvation? Well, any envy, if it�s the condition or ground of my legal standing before God, any envying, it�s damning, right?
How many times do you have to spit in your master�s face before he condemns you? The third one is obstinacy in sin. This is the third eternal sin, and it has in parentheses, willful, persisting in wickedness, and running on from sin to sin after sufficient instructions and admonition.
Isn�t that fascinating? We have obstinacy in sin. Have you ever been obstinate in sin? Have you ever persisted in wickedness? If you�re a thinking person, you�re going to say, �Well, I have, but it wasn�t to that degree, and it wasn�t that long, and I quickly repented after five days or ten days.
But remember, you have to do this and live, to stand before God. You have to have perfect obedience. It is perfect obedience, it�s personal obedience, it�s perpetual obedience, and you can�t stand before God.
See, here�s what I think happens when we have these lists, and of course, we all like lists. Sadly, evangelicals like lists, but Catholics do too, and their rules are more than ours, and their lists are more than ours, just because the nature of how they view the atonement of Christ and how complete was he in his satisfaction of the wrath of God.
But once you get this list thing going on, here�s what I do with my lists. I say, �You know what? God�s not as holy as the Scriptures teach, and my sin isn�t as bad as I think it is, and the self-righteous machinations work themselves throughout me and my thinking, and I make this little deal, and God�s not so holy.
I mean, I don�t say that, but this is in effect what I do, and it�s all just self-righteousness, and that�s the only way you can live. The only way you can live with this is to say, �By the way, Jesus died for despair and all of it.
He died for presumption and all of it. He died for envy and all of it. He died for obstinate sin and all of it. And so, for the Christian, for the believer, he paid for all those, because if you�ve got to stand before God based on some of these things to the degree, you never can.
How can these be eternal sins, unforgivable sins? Here�s the fifth one, �final impenitence in quotations or in parentheses, �to die without either confession or contrition for our sins. Now, this was me, but not as a Catholic, as a Lutheran.
I was younger, I thought I was dying, I had my tonsils out, I was probably 20, and starting to bleed, and you can bleed out from tonsillectomies, and we don�t have the Internet, so I can�t type on WebMD and do hypochondriac type of things, and I think there are some spiritual hypochondriacs out there who struggle with despair, presumption, envy, and obstinacy and final impenitence, but that�s another show.
And I�m thinking, �I�ve got to confess all my sins, because if I die with one unconfessed sin, then what will happen Now, if I would have died then, I think I would have gone to hell, because I had a fake faith, I had a spurious faith, it was a faith based on waters of baptism, i .e., regeneration.
I thought baptism saved me when I was sprinkled as an infant. I was trusting in the wrong Savior, but what if I was saved, and I thought, �You know what? I have to make sure everything�s right with God before I die, or He will not let me in.
That�s what final impenitence is, according to this Christian hermeneutology of eternal sins, unforgivable sins. How about this, if you�re a Christian and you�re dying? You say, �Lord, I�m going to meet you very soon, and if it was based on what I would do, I know I would be undone, because I have so many sins in my life that I can�t even count them all.
I think it�s John Calvin that said, �No one knows the one one-hundredth part of the sin that sticks to his soul. You know, to keep on quoting Calvin, �Our hearts are idol factories. And even as Christians, I don�t do what I want to do, and I say things, and I do wrong things.
And this is the Roman seven-man, so you�re laying there on your deathbed, what do you need to do? And you�ve got your wife there, and your children, and your grandchildren, and you�re like, �Get them all out of the room.
I�ve got to rehearse all these things that I�ve done and confess all these sins so I can go to heaven. How tragic! Of course, if you know of a sin and you confess it, and parentally, you know, you�re asking God to forgive you, and He graciously does, because that�s promised in 1 John.
And we know we sin, and we confess our sins, and He�s faithful and just to forgive us. And God the Father has provided for us an advocate, a mediator, Jesus Christ, righteous, the Greek would say, and He�s the propitiation for our sins.
And you can confess your sins, certainly. But to think about all that, I�m going to say, �Lord Jesus, I�ve failed you in so many ways, especially these two ways, not loving the Father like I should, and not loving other people like I should.
But I�m glad you, Jesus, perfectly love the Father, perfectly love your neighbor, and you have fulfilled that in my place. And the ones that I�ve done, you�ve also died for those, completely, every single one of them.
I have forgiveness, you�ve made me alive by your Holy Spirit, and I have forgiveness of sins, Colossians chapter 2 verse 13, and I�m going to say goodbye to my children and my grandchildren and my wife because I�m going to see you very shortly, not based on presumptuous thinking, but based on what you said, and you said, �If I trust in you, I have eternal life.
That if I put my hope in you, and as the Heidelberg Catechism talks about a hearty trust, �God, I�m going to die, and I have a hearty trust, I�m trusting that what you said is true, and you�re not going to let me not make it, you are going to get me to heaven.
So I�m going to say goodbye to my kids, and we�re going to sing, �Great is thy faithfulness and we�re going to sing, �It is well with my soul and I�m going to kiss every one of my kids and every one of my grandkids.
Versus trying to think about all these things, the problem is we�ve sinned a lot more than we ever could imagine because we think of sins as just, well, you know, adultery and lust, but we don�t think about sins on the positive side.
That is, what I should be doing instead of that should be worshiping God with my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Have I ever worshiped God with my heart, soul, mind, and strength without any sin tainting it ever in my life?
At the Shepherd�s Conference, when I speak at conferences, when I�m singing songs at my mother�s funeral, have I ever really done that, ever, without some taint of sin? And I think the answer is, I don�t think I ever have.
So, how long would it take me to confess a lifetime full of sins? It would take me a lifetime. But Jesus, since He was not just human, He was perfectly human but not just human, perfectly God, truly man, truly God, now Jesus lives a perfect life and His life is of infinite value so it can be given, His righteousness can be bestowed on an infinite amount of people, or a certain amount of people, i .e., the elect, and it has been.
And that�s why His death was so great. He didn�t die for His sins, 1 Corinthians 15, Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and since He didn�t die for His own sins, He died for our sins, His death is of an infinite value because His character is of infinite character and infinite value.
And that�s why when you die, you ought to be singing songs about, �My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus� blood and righteousness. And that�s why with a series on assurance here at the church, I�ve been trying to focus on the objective work of Jesus.
Jesus did this, Jesus said that, I believe it, and I will take Him at His word. And then we�ll look at our own lives and see if we�re matching up to what Christians are supposed to do as secondary, subjective assurance.
But in our circles, forget blaming the Catholics for some of this, it is simply a morbid introspection, looking at our lives and seeing how we measure it up. And we�re tricking ourselves because we�re worse than we think.
Simul justus et peccator, simultaneously justified from God�s perspective in this regard, justified and sinful. From another perspective, we still sin. And so the final one here, the eternal sin, the unpardonable sin, the unforgivable sin that�s equivalent to the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, despair, presumption, envy, and obstinacy, final impenitence, and the last one, impugning the known truth that is misrepresenting the Christian doctrine, the Roman Catholic doctrine.
Well, that�s kind of clever by them. Certainly Roman Catholics aren�t dumb. They�re clever. They�re smart. And then now, we�re going to throw the gauntlet out that if you�re a Protestant or you�re a questioner or someone says, you know, I don�t know if the Latin Vulgate really meant that when Erasmus then translated it into Greek in 1516, make righteous, declare righteous, etc.
I�m not really sure about that here impugning the known truth. And for the Roman Catholic system, who determines who knows the truth? It�s the Church. She�s the one. She�s the one dictating, this is Scripture, versus the Church both East and West, recognizing what Scripture is.
Friends, if you�re watching this today and you�ve committed sins, bad sins, sins like I�ve committed that I don�t want anybody to know about, skeletons in my closet, I want you to know. Quit looking to yourself.
I think you should recognize, yes, God, I�ve sinned against you in these ways, and they�re awful. Nobody else knows about them but you do. But there�s a Redeemer, and when Jesus came to seek and save the lost, when Jesus came to give His life a ransom for many, when Jesus Christ said on the cross, �It is finished when Jesus Christ lived this perfect life and He died for sinners, He died for really bad sinners.
And you just need to accept that by faith. Jesus, my focus is too much on myself and how bad I am. When I think about law and myself, that needs to then drive me to the gospel. Don�t only think about law, don�t only think about the righteous requirements of God, take the next step.
When you break the law, think about the one who dies for lawbreakers and He becomes a curse for us, Galatians 3. That is such good news, because when I meet people, they look pretty nice, white picket fences, suits and ties, but on the inside I know it�s bad.
That�s why we need to have Jesus come and die for us, because if we could have made it on our own, we wouldn�t have needed Jesus. So, my name is Mike Abendroth, this is No Compromise Radio. This is another show, this will be posted up on No Compromise Radio soon.
We�re doing a little experiment with some of the Facebook stuff, and I think my pocket Jesus is my strength. It�s about time to close off the show. God bless 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 bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.