Theology, Methodology and Doxology (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 of 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 I'm your host. And we have a particular format for our show that I try to stick to, stick by as often as possible.

Mondays, we have a sermon, verse -by -verse exposition from 1 Corinthians.

Tuesday, I'm usually with Pastor Steve for ecclesiastical issues with a little humor thrown in.

I would be ecclesiastical and Steve would be the humor. Wednesdays, I try to talk about books, books that you should read or books that you should avoid.

Fridays, usually something controversial, something, a critique of another sect or cult or schism or schism or chasm.

And then Thursdays, I try to talk about something that would be positive, positive, encouraging. And that would be a particular doctrine, lordship, repentance, something like that, trying to teach something that would be sound doctrine.

And so today is Thursday and today's sound doctrine is, how do you respond to biblical truth?

That is to say, if you learn something that's true about God, it should change the way you live.

And so if you could look at a blackboard, if you're driving down the street, actually I don't have blackboards much today, they have these new touchscreens at my son's high school and you just kind of touch them and they're,

I think, thermal sensitive and you just kind of can write up on the board. But whatever kind of format you have there, some kind of iPad doodle program or app, think about this, theology, and then draw an arrow, a horizontal arrow, methodology, and then draw one more horizontal arrow, doxology.

So a word about God, theologos, a word about God, theology, leads to the right methods, a word about methods, methodology, methodologos, which leads to the proper doxology or glorification, a word of glory, a word of weight, doxologos, doxology.

And so if you would say to yourself, I'd like to be able to praise God with more enthusiasm, more vigor, what would be another word, more verve, then it all relates back to not techniques, not some kind of pragmatism, not some kind of thing you could learn necessarily at some how -to conference, which are very big and popular these days.

I'm almost conference -style, aren't you? It seems like there's conference after conference after conference. But the right kind of stimulus or the right kind of spurring on techniques aren't found in techniques at all.

They're found in the right view of God. Theology leads to right methodology, which leads to doxology, and so if you've got doxology wrong or methodology wrong, it means you need to back up and revisit the

Word of God to understand God properly. So if you understand God in context, this great

Creator God, and you begin to read Genesis, Exodus, I'm reading through Ezekiel now in the mornings, and it's just a wonderful book to show the

God -centered nature of the Bible, then if you understand God correctly, then you can praise

Him and you can respond to who He is. The indicatives, statement of facts about God, God the

Son is the Great High Priest. Should lead to imperatives, well, how do we respond?

We should respond by obeying Him in this area or that area. These are the responses.

And so here on No Compromise Radio, on Thursdays especially, I like to talk about something that would be a positive sound doctrine type of thing.

If elders are in Titus chapter 1, to teach sound doctrine and refute those that contradict,

Thursdays is teach sound doctrine, Friday refute those who contradict. And so last time we began to look at the book of Hebrews, 13 chapters, 13 short chapters.

When you study the book of Hebrews, it's amazing to think that the writer didn't say this was some kind of long treatise that it was hard to get through.

For most Christians, I could ask you the question, when was the last time you read through Hebrews? Two days, three days, or just read it from chapter 1 all the way through chapter 13?

Christians are, in my opinion, afraid of the book of Hebrews. And I think they do that, as Philip Hughes says, to their own impoverishment.

If you look at the end of the book of Hebrews, he says, I urge you, brethren, bear with this word of exhortation.

It's like a sermon. It's an exhortation. It's something that would be wonderful to read. I wish some pastors who preach poorly would just get up and read this for their sermon on a

Sunday. They'd do a better job. Same thing with people that stand on the street corners and preach down at people and just are angry.

Why don't you open up the Gospel of John and just begin to read it? That would be better outdoor evangelism, in my mind, in my opinion.

But the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 13, 22, I urge you, brethren, with this word of exhortation, for I have written to you—what's the next word?

I have written to you briefly. Can you imagine? Hebrews 1 to 13,

I have written to you briefly. And so in this brief letter that talks about the great high priest,

Jesus Christ, and how he is not just better, but he is eternally better.

There's no one who's going to come along and one -up him, good, better, best. If Jesus is better, there's nobody who's best, because he's eternally better.

He is more superior than all the mediators, all the so -called priests throughout the ages.

And so he is a better mediator than the prophets, the angels, Moses, Aaron, and the new covenant.

He is a great mediator. He is a great high priest. And that truth has implications.

It pushes you, and it's like breathing. You have gravity that's pushing in on your lungs, and you are forced to breathe.

I challenge you, try to not let that happen, and you can't try for very long.

Of course, I don't want you to hurt yourself, but if you try to stop breathing just in the car, you're going to pass out, and then your body will begin to breathe, because there are external forces pushing in on you, and those forces include gravity.

And so this external force that's pushing us, this doctrinal force, is not necessarily a thing.

It is a person, and the person of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who cloaked himself with human nature at the

Incarnation, has become and who is the great high priest.

So where we are in this particular book, we're looking at Hebrews chapter 11.

There's been a response, chapter 10 should be, you should believe, draw near. You should take personal possession of this great high priest.

You personally have to believe. This is not some covenant. This is not some kind of national.

This is for Israel. These are for the Jews, and by definition, since I'm Jewish, since I'm a son of Abraham, I'm in.

No, you're in this relationship with Jesus by faith in him.

You do have a personal relationship with Jesus, either friend or enemy, but everyone listening has a personal relationship.

So the writer of Hebrews wants you to have a personal relationship of friend, to have him be

Jesus, to be your great high priest. And even though we are weak and frail, other people who are weak and frail have run the race and they have demonstrated their true saving faith.

And that's what chapter 11 is all about. You are to continue to the end, at the end of Hebrews chapter 10, and there are people who have done that.

And then in chapter 12 in Hebrews, there's a motivation for continuing to run the race, to endure

Hebrews chapter 12, and the greatest motivation that anyone can have in the Christian faith and the

Christian walk and the Christian conflict, as Hughes calls it, is to look to Christ Jesus.

He is the great example of all and for all.

It is not wrong to take a look at the walk of faith, the hall of faith, the people who are in chapter 11, but if you'd like the real person to look at, the real exemplar of a person to follow, that person is the

God -man, Jesus Christ. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance in the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Fixing our eyes on ourself. No, you fix your eyes on yourself and you'll be sad, depressed, not thinking correctly.

We focus on ourselves too much. And so now we're told to fix our eyes on other people.

No, they're going to let us down as well. And they are not the perfect examples. Even Daniel, even

David, they sinned. Right, Paul, the writer of Hebrews. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Friends, that is the missing link to Christianity, the study of Jesus Christ.

We have all kinds of morals being preached to us and how -to's and seminars on what to do with marriage, finances, relationships.

And those things are good as they flow out of theology that says

Jesus Christ is worthy to be worshiped, believed, followed, trusted, etc.

That's what we need. That's what you need. You need to fix your eyes on Jesus. As my grandmother -in -law, who's almost 98, used to say, you need to gaze on Jesus and glance on your own problems.

Because if you only glance on Jesus and gaze at your own problems, your life is going to be upside down.

Isn't that so true for us? We worship ourselves and we take care of ourselves and everything's about the

God of self. And it begins to distract us. And we forget about the greatness and the preeminence of Jesus.

After all, if you really consider Jesus as preeminent, the superior one, the great one, your life would show it.

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. No, not that kind. But something if your life will really show it.

If you're happy and you see, I don't even know what the song is to go along with that, but there's some kind of song says something about, then your life will surely show it.

Yeah, that's it. Where's Cooley when I need him? We will have our lives show what we believe because theology leads to methodology, leads to doxology.

And so no casual glancing to Jesus. No fixing your eyes upon the

Levitical system and Moses and Aaron and the lambs. No, if you want to run this race, then you look straight ahead.

You don't look down. You don't look to the left. You don't look to the right. You don't look behind you. You concentrate like Stephen did when he was getting killed in Acts chapter 7 with singleness of purpose.

He is trustingly looking at Jesus without distraction. That is what you need to do.

If Jesus is great, since Jesus is great, third class conditional, then you ought to trust him.

You ought to look to him. He's the originator of faith, the archagon.

He's the completer. He's the teleos. And so Luther says, the beginner and completer of faith.

Christ starts your faith and leads it to consummation. Isn't he worthy of having our eyes fixed upon him?

Yes. Verse three, for consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

And that's what was happening. That's what happens to us today. The audience who received, the readers who received this book, the book of Hebrews, were growing weary.

They were losing heart. You can imagine they were longing for the old temple. Well, the temple was still up at the time, but they were longing for the temple and its grandeur and its splendor and all the sensations that it would give visually.

And, and, uh, uh, you could smell the incense, et cetera, smell the dead animals too,

I'm sure, smell the blood, but they wanted all this. And here they are. And, uh, poor, uh, readers of the

Hebrews. The only thing you have is Jesus. And so he's trying to say, look at how great Jesus is.

And when you consider him, you're not going to grow weary and lose heart because you know, he'll start the faith and he'll also complete it.

That's why Albert Barnes gave some information a long time ago that I often quote, maybe this should be your homework assignment, no compromise radio listeners.

I entreat you, Albert Barnes says, to devote one solemn hour of thought to a crucified savior, a savior expiring in bitterest agony.

Think of the cross, the nails, the open wounds, the anguish of a soul. Think how the son of God became a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief that you might live forever.

Think as you lie down upon your bed to rest, how your savior was lifted up from the earth to die.

Think amid your plans and anticipations of future gaiety, what the redemption of your soul has cost and how the dying savior would wish you to act.

His wounds plead that you will live for better things, end quote.

That is absolutely categorically true. Hebrew says there's going to be some discipline, but be encouraged, chapter 12.

He says there's going to be an enablement of grace, chapter 12. He's going to say there's wrong attitude that you could fall into with horrible consequences.

He says, don't deny the faith. He gives the fifth warning, don't deny

God by refusing to hear his voice. Then he gives this great contrast between Sinai and Zion, one terrible thing, one joyful thing, one horrible thing, one wonderful thing.

And it is designed to pierce the heart of the person to say, you know, it is better to go for the scene that leads to life and joy versus, as Hendrickson said, doom and death.

Jesus Christ is not terrifying like Sinai was, and Jesus gives this kingdom that cannot be shaken.

And then he gives some concluding exhortations, and that's what we're after today. Theology leads to methodology, leads to doxology, so what you believe determines what you do and determines how or to what extent you praise the

Lord. So these are the concluding exhortations from chapter 13.

And each one is quite fascinating. He doesn't give some kind of transition, he just gives them.

So if you're just tuning in right now, my name is Mike Abendroth, and I am the host of No Compromise Radio here on WVNE, or you can go to iTunes, type in No Compromise Radio, or you can go to NoCompromiseRadio .com.

And what I'm trying to do today is to say that you need to understand who

God is, and then in light of who he is, and by the power that the Spirit gives you, to respond to who he is.

And these are the responses to Jesus is a great high priest, greater than the prophets, greater than the angels, greater than Moses, greater than Aaron, greater than the

Old Covenant. Jesus is so great. If Jesus is great, how then, as Francis Schaeffer said, shall we live?

Theology leads to methodology, leads to what? Doxology. There you have it.

Chapter 13, verse 1, here's the first thing he says in chapter 13, let love of the brethren continue, present imperative, ongoing imperative, be concerned about the needs of other people.

And that's brotherly love. It's not heiress love, it's not agape love, it's not store gay love, it's brotherly love, being concerned about a brother or a sister in Christ, being concerned about their needs.

That's the first thing you should do if Jesus is a great high priest. Isn't that an amazing connection? The next one is, be hospitable, be hospitable.

I mean, you'd think he would say, give more money. You'd think he'd say, go get rid of all your worldly goods.

You'd think he'd say, no more entertainment and hedonism. You'd think he'd say, no, because this is not right at all.

It doesn't have anything to do with that. These are the real responses to Jesus is the superior high priest.

Love other people. To be hospitable. Wow. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by this, some have entertained angels unawares or without knowing it.

It's also a present imperative. Back in those days, you couldn't really stay at a hotel overnight.

You want to stay outside overnight. And so you needed to have someone who was kind and who understood

Jesus was a great high priest and then you would care for people in need.

Now this whole angel deal without getting into too much of it, Abraham and Sarah, Lot, Gideon, and Manoah all entertained what they would come to find out later, or at least we would find out through scripture would be angels.

And so love strangers. I could flip this around as well. If you don't love people with a brotherly love, you need to revisit your theology in Hebrews chapter one through 12.

If you're not hospitable to people, you need to revisit your theology because these just go along with it.

A cart and a horse, train and the caboose, all those kinds of things.

Number three, remember the prisoners. Hebrews 13, three, remember prisoners as though in prison with them.

How would you remember people, prisoners, if you were actually in prison with them? Well, you'd remember them because you'd see them every day.

Those who are ill treated since you yourselves are also in the body, especially in the day when

Christians for righteousness sake got thrown into jail. Now there are certainly some people, Christians who make a bad decision and they get put in jail or people who get put in jail for bad decisions and then become

Christians and they would be worthy of our ministry as well. Present imperative.

Number four, be faithful in the marriage relationship. Verse four, let marriage be held in honor among all.

Well, that seems to make sense because Jesus and his love for the bride of Christ came before marriage was even invented.

That idea came from the eternal counsels of God in Titus chapter one and other places in the eternal decree, the eternal covenant, covenant of redemption, the father, son, and the spirit.

And therefore, let's make sure we show the visible representation of the great son of God dying for the bride by making sure marriage is held in honor among all.

Show me people that want to say marriage is in between a man and a woman. It's through, it's, you know, anybody and everyone, doesn't matter how many people and what sex you are,

I'll show you someone who doesn't understand the foggiest notions about Jesus Christ, his plan, his work, and his priesthood.

And let the marriage bed be undefiled for fornicators and adulterers. God will judge.

The marriage bed, that is sexually, the word is talking about there. It's not dirty.

Sex in marriages is clean. It's pure. It's good. Sex outside of marriage is always the opposite.

It's dirty. It's selfish. It's impure. And here we have many people throughout the centuries who would say that celibacy is more holy than sexual intimacy.

And the writer of Hebrew says, that's not true at all. That's not true at all. God will judge violators of sexual sin.

Back in those days, that was a shock to the system too, because so many people engaged in it, who would ever think God would judge for something like that?

That was unheard of. Number five, how do you respond to Jesus, the high priest? Don't covet. Let your character be free from the love of money.

Be content with what you have for it. He himself emphatically has said, I will never desert you, nor will

I ever forsake you, so that we confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?

Jesus is your high priest. Stop being greedy. You got a problem with greed? Revisit Jesus, the great high priest.

He says in verse seven, remember your leaders. Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you.

Consider the result of their conduct. Imitate their faith. Look back and look at these great gifts that God has given you, including leaders.

And yes, it's true. They lived and they died and they got older and maybe some got senile.

Maybe others seem to waver towards the end of their life, but you need to keep reading. Verse eight, you want to see the ultimate leader?

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Earthly leaders come and go, don't they?

Your pastors come and go. The old saints, they get old and they die.

But Jesus doesn't change. The unchanging nature unto the ages, into the ages of eternity.

Jesus is the same. He is the great leader. Don't let anybody tell you that Hebrews 13, 8 is some charismatic verse.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Speaking in tongues is back in the Bible day, therefore it's today.

First of all, it's not going to be in the eternal state. So that doesn't seem to work. But second of all, this has nothing to do with gifts.

This has nothing to do with signs and wonders and anything else. This has to do with follow leaders. And you want to see the great leader?

Here, remember your leader. And here, remember the great leader, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

So it goes on and I don't have enough time for the rest with food laws and praise and give thanks and pray.

But I will say this, what you believe determines how you live. And I don't even need to say to you during the week, how are you?

I don't like to say that to people, although it just rolls off our tongue, doesn't it? If you ask somebody, what have you been doing this week?

I can find out. I'll already know if it's been a good week for them or not. What have you been doing?

Because if you have been doing things for the glory of God, by the power of the spirit of God, you will be having a good week.

How are you is a feeling oriented question. What have you been doing?

Well, that will reveal feelings because feelings follow emotions. So if I ask you in one week, how are you?

It'd be better for me to ask, what have you been doing this week? And if you have been reading books like the book of Hebrews and you recognize that Jesus is the great high priest, you'll be having a good week because you'll be responding with love and hospitality and praise and thanksgiving and not having any greed because theology determines your methodology, which determines your doxology.

Don't forget that. No Compromise Radio. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth 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.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.