What Jesus Accomplished (Part 1)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Ebendroth, and here we are with the new music. Few people have said they like the new music, so we'll just see. If you're ornery, maybe we'll go back to the English beat.

Did you know Terry Hall of the Specials died last week? That's sad. I think 63 years old. Anyway, my name is Mike Ebendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry, and you are listening to a show that is dedicated to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ.

We use the Latin duplex gratia, Christ for pardon and Christ for power. Not just Christ for justification, but also for inner renewal, God's sanctifying work. What else? I hit mute and didn't know what to do there.

It is December 22nd in real time. In no-code time, it's like the 27th or something like that. We'll see what the bomb cyclone does this weekend. It's supposed to be 53 degrees here today in rain, and then in a couple days, it's supposed to get down to 11, but that's nothing like Montana, minus 33, or I saw Omaha, minus 15.

That is cold. All right, what else is happening? You can get Gospel Assurance two different ways now, both on Amazon, but you can get the guide, which is a couple hundred pages long, some days with 31 days, some days being 10 pages, 12 pages, and you can get the 31-day devotional, one page, one ping, and one ping only.

You can buy that on Amazon, and it's easier. One side of the page is notes, the other side is encouraging positive K-love assurance, and that's that. If you want to order Sexual Fidelity, the hard copy, I don't think you can get it on the website anymore.

We're trying to get a new website. I canceled PayPal, etc. Then someone said to me that PayPal owns Venmo, so now I use Venmo. Now what are they going to do? Social credit is coming to a payphone iPhone near you.

All right, that's enough of the talk for the intro. You can give us five stars if you want. I think that's what people tell me I'm supposed to do now. I've been doing the show 14 years, and just this year, we started doing the five stars.

I have my new RODECaster Pro 2 that I'm recording from, finally trying to figure it out. I've got the new music. I might have a permanent intro and outro sometime, but at the moment, not right now, and it's got all the pre-programmed things.

I found some other pre-programmed things that I could put on if I want, like this. See? What do you think of that? You could do that if you wanted. You could do this.

I think it's so funny. And how long have you been on that medication? See? What do you know? How about a nice Hawaiian punch? Plop, plop, business, oh, what?

All right, that's enough of that. And I have other ones. I have other ones loaded if you're going to be that way. See? There we go. All right. Back to what we're known for, talking about the Lord. It's Christmastime season, and many people remember the Lord Jesus at His birth, and I know you, as listeners, understand that He came for a purpose, that He just didn't come to stay in the manger, that He came to do something.

And what did this Jesus come to do? Obviously, not stay in the Virgin's womb, not stay in Bethlehem, not stay in Nazareth, but He came to do something. So today on No Compromise Radio, in light of Christmas celebrated last week, what did Jesus come to do?

He did not attempt these things. He did not attempt and fail. He didn't do just a few of them. He didn't do half of them. He didn't do some of them. The Father sent the Son to do many things, and we're going to talk about six of those on the show today, tomorrow, and maybe the next day.

We'll just see how far I go. When Jesus said at the cross, it is finished, everything the Father sent Him to do, He accomplished. And of course, He was going to be raised from the dead, if you want to include that, as sending the Son to die and then having the Son raise Himself.

Of course, we believe in inseparable operations, and so the Father raised the Son, the Son raised the Son, and the Spirit raised the Son. I love the book of Hebrews, and I preached through it starting back in 2015, but I find myself regularly returning to the book of Hebrews.

You probably do too. If you had to have one New Testament book that wasn't Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, my guess is you might pick Romans, maybe Galatians. I mean, it's a wonderful book, but Hebrews has 13 chapters, Galatians just six.

The other day, I was thinking Philippians has three chapters. I don't know what I was thinking. There's so much good stuff in chapter four. I probably wasn't thinking. I heard they have some new long COVID memory drugs that you can use.

I think it's for ADD people, ADHD people, and something else. So who knows? Maybe I'll take that. Maybe I could pay attention better too. Who knows? Six wonderful things Jesus came to do, and by the way, He did them.

Let me tell you what they are first, and then we'll talk about them on No Compromise Radio today, because I think it's going to motivate you to be thankful, to have a heart that's not a complaining heart, but a contented heart, a heart that rests in the finished work of the Lord Jesus.

I mean, if Jesus came to do these things and didn't do them, well, then you ought not to be resting. You ought to finish the job that Jesus started. But Jesus came to destroy, to deliver, to seize, identify, propitiate, and help.

Destroy, deliver, seize, identify, propitiate, and help. That's what He came to do in Hebrews 2, verses 14 through 18. Now, there are other things that He came to do, and heal, and preach, but in this passage, six wonderful things Jesus came to do, and He did them.

I mean, one of them sounds impressive. If He just only did one, right, to destroy, you know, the power that the devil had, which is going to be the context for that. Two, that would be marvelous if He just did two of those.

If He did three of those, that'd be fantastic. If He did four, that'd be incredible. If He did five, that'd be spectacular. But six, worthy of praise. And since it's Christmas, O come, let us adore Him.

Maybe that's the name of the show today. O come, let us adore Him. You know, listening to this show, that Hebrews is about the sufficiency, the supremacy, the exaltation of Jesus, the high priest. That's what we're after.

Jesus is superior to the prophets. He's superior to the angels. He's superior to Aaron. He's superior to Moses. He is not just a priest. He is not just a great priest. He is a great high priest. And in chapter 1 of Hebrews, it starts off with a veritable bang, like Genesis 1 .1, not starting off with a big bang, but big bang in terms of just amazing.

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 the 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. And 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.

That's how the book starts, and that's pretty much going to be a theme of the entire book, Spotlight on Jesus. These people receiving this sermon letter were persecuted. They were on the run. Maybe they were going to lose their lives eventually, we don't know.

And the writer, some say it's Paul, some say it's Luke, some say it's Barnabas, some say it's Virgin Mary, wrote this. Any guesses who might say that? Any guesses? Now, I'm going to have to have categories for my little preloads here for audio.

I'm only going to say certain things at certain times, because then it's just going to be too much. Today's the first day I have it loaded, most of the entire pads loaded, and then I can just load up things like this.

Remember who that was, Charlton Heston? He's in the cage for Planet of the Apes, and they're spraying him down with water. No other humans talk, right, but he can talk. When I was a kid, we would go to movie marathons and nothing else to do, and so you would go, and I think probably they've had that for Lord of the Rings now or Star Wars.

For us, in the early 70s, mid -70s, it was Planet of the Apes marathon, and you'd watch three or four of them. So I can't remember the order or anything anymore, maybe not even the titles. Probably need that medicine to remember, but it was Planet of the Apes was the first one, and then Return to the Planet of the Apes, is that right?

Battle for the Planet of the Apes, maybe Beneath the Planet of the Apes, The Great Escape of the Planet of the Apes. Anyway, that's where that comes from. Chapter two, it's the same type of thing as chapter one in the book of Hebrews, is extolling Jesus and his humanity.

Remember, he's truly God and truly man. You see truly God in chapter one, truly man in chapter two, everything in subjection under his feet. Verse eight, now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.

At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him, but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, humanity emphasized, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone.

Of course, God doesn't die, right? God cannot die. Therefore, we need the God-man because the divine nature dies. Does the human nature die? Yes. Not the divine nature. I think I just misspoke. Human nature dies.

That was a bad mistake. I don't even know which one I said. I can't remember, see? Let's just start over, just in case. The human nature can die. Divine nature cannot die. So, the eternal Son, the divine Son, he takes upon himself human flesh, right?

He assumes human nature. And, you know, maybe we don't want to talk about addition or anything like that. I don't want James Dozal to email me or anything. But we, matter of fact, let's see, to even use the proper language here, so no one can get after me when I'm thinking about the God-man.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, our very God from very God, begotten, not made, of the same essence as the Father.

Through him all things were made. For us and our salvation, he came down from heaven. He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made human. There, we can use that language, don't you think?

He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again according to the Scriptures. Right there, that's from the Nicene Creed. And therefore, we've got this eternal Son, divine Son.

Chapter 1 is also human, right? Human will, human nature, human essence. Do you want to say human essence? Do natures have wills? So he's got two natures, he's got two wills, right? Human will, divine will.

Not my will, but thy will be done. Chapter 1 screams, Jesus is supreme. And then chapter 2, it does the same thing. In chapter 2, verse 10, before I get into these six wonderful things, I want you to know that this was all planned out.

And even the language here, you might speed over it if you're not careful. But Hebrews chapter 2, verse 10, for it was fitting, ESV says, that he for whom and by whom all things exist and bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

It was fitting. That's interesting. Designed, not by chance. Obviously, God's in control of the weather, he's in control of bomb cyclones, he's in control of history, our government, and he has a plan of salvation, we would call it.

Now, sometimes we think of plans, we have all this if-then flowcharts, bad things can happen, we don't plan it out properly, things are unforeseen, something happens, there's a hazard, we are haphazard.

There's a hazard and there's a haphazard, right? Hazard, haphazard. Did I already play this one? You want answers?

I think I'm entitled. You want answers! I want the truth! You can't handle the truth!

Well, that's kind of true, because with Tom Cruise in Scientology, he can't handle the truth. It was fitting for Jesus. This is interesting. The power and the wisdom to effectuate the plan of God, it was fitting for the eternal Son to suffer?

Hmm. One translation says it was only right. Holman Christian Standard says, for in bringing many sons to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God, all things exist for Him and through Him, should make the source of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

You might think that it was fitting for God to be worshiped, exalted, but here we see that He would suffer. It's proper, because this is the purpose of God. This is the plan of God. There's no other way to redeem sinners.

Fitting implies that very thing. How are you going to have God and His justice upheld? What are you going to do? Withhold it? No, you have to uphold it, right? This was planned out by God in the eternal counsels of the Godhead to send the Son.

Jesus' sufferings, in other words, did not come about by chance. No, no, this was God, who never lies, promised before ages began. Before there were angels, before there was anybody, He made a promise within the Trinity.

We call this a pre-temporal covenant. We call this an intra-Trinitarian covenant. Lots of covenants, God and man make the covenants. God makes the covenants with man. You see all kinds of covenants in the world.

They try to make them with God. Here, God, within the persons of the Trinity, makes a covenant within Himself, right? The Son's going to assume human nature. He's going to perfectly obey the law and fulfill all the demands of the law through His holy life, His meriting righteousness, His obedience, and He's going to suffer, and He is going to experience the wrath of God for the elect, and God's justice will be satisfied or assuaged or propitiated, and then He's going to rise from the dead.

And the Son, in eternity—this wasn't decided, you know, step by step, there's no time in eternity—He voluntarily accepted the conditions of this, as John Owen would say, and assumed the work as surety of the covenant.

Owen goes on to say, the Father approved and accepted the performance of the Son, who likewise laid claim to the promises made in the covenant. And you think about the resurrection. What's my point? My point is, this is all planned.

The incarnation was planned. You say, well, I know that. I know, but I'm reminding you, because we all need reminders. Well, on No Compromise Radio today, we're going through Hebrews, and I wanted to give you at least the start.

Six awful—no, six awesome, six awesome things Jesus did, came to do them, and He did them, and we ought to then give Him thanks. You ever have a radio show and you can't really talk? That would be bad.

Oh, is there anything else I haven't played on this? I don't know, but I think it's time for Judge Judy.

And how long have you been on that medication?

See, she can't talk either. How long have you been at medication? I know I won't do that very often, but once in a while, just because I've got this new thing, I can, and then I will. Number one, destroy.

Jesus came to destroy. When I think about Christmas, when you think about Christmas, you ought to be thinking, what did Jesus come to do? He came to destroy. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.

That's exactly why Jesus came and took on, assumed human nature, flesh and blood. People get upset about Satan, they're afraid of Satan, how much power does he have, can he thwart God's will, can he oppress people, can he oppress people?

Oppress, possess. Jesus came to destroy the one who has the power of death, that through His death He might be destroyed. Now, we believe that there is a real being called Satan, right? He is not in the category of Tooth Fairy, He is not in the category of Santa.

Even our Lord Jesus talks about the devil regularly. Jesus Himself had a personal encounter with Satan in Matthew chapter 4. Remember, the Holy Spirit impels Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

There's a dialogue between Satan and Jesus. He, Satan, is powerful, but he's not all-powerful. He is not a caricature with a red pitchfork and tail like we see, some horns or something on your shoulder telling you to sin.

He disguises himself as an angel of what? Light. And Satan has certain powers, and you might say, well, I have a cross, I have a crucifix, I have religious icons, I'm going to throw some holy water at him.

That's not going to work. When it comes to Satan, we just kind of lose our minds. We think he's in charge of hell. We think he's, you know, exactly opposite of God in power. We're kind of dualistic, and there's good and there's evil.

We think that somehow he's everywhere, right? That he knows every possible thing. That's not true. We know that he's a created being. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and that's just a merism for everything, all things.

Well, that includes the devil. God didn't make the devil, but he made the angels upright, right? And there's a fall. When that fall is in Genesis and all that, you can figure that out on your own. That's not my realm today.

We know that Satan's pride led to his fall. I will, I will, I will, I will. And now he accuses. Now he rules the world. Now he's the prince of the power of the air. Now he's an accuser. Now he's a tempter.

Now he's a deceiver. Now he's an adversary. Now he's one who opposes. Now he's a slanderer. Now he is one who is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. And if that's the case, it would be good if Jesus would come and take care of Satan, don't you think?

That he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, to destroy. It does not mean annihilate. It does not mean obliterate. I mean, if I was running the universe, maybe that's what I would do, right?

He's just gone, extinguished. But this word destroy, might destroy, it means to deprive something of its power. To, you know what, to disarm. Maybe that's a better way to think about it. Remember, Satan's powerful.

He's got delegated power, delegated, not really sovereignty, but delegated rule, and God is sovereign over Satan. And of course, Luther would say even the devil is God's devil. That's why you shouldn't fear him.

But more importantly, we shouldn't fear him because Jesus came, that he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. He, the devil, is still alive, but has Jesus at Calvary smashed the serpent's head?

Is that true? When you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, will you ever die? The sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law. But Jesus has paid for your sins, and he's obeyed the law for you. So, what about 1 John 3, 8?

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Now, most likely what's happening is this.

You sin, Satan the accuser says to God. Wages of sin is death. He, the Christian, has sinned, and he deserves eternal punishment, eternal death, spiritual death. I demand for justice to be upheld, and the death penalty, eternal death penalty, be exacted.

I demand that that is paid. Accusations by the devil. Luther said, if he does not stop to vex me, but faces me with my sins, I reply, dear devil, I have heard them, I have heard the record, but I have committed far more sins which do not even stand in your record.

Put them down too. I mean, if God is for us, who can be against us? He did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? The power that Satan has is broken.

Can spiritual death hold you? Can physical death keep your body in the grave? Well, no. He's got the sovereign dominion over death, it seems, that's delegated, Satan has, but now we don't have to say to ourselves, hmm, well, if I die, then I'm going to go to hell, or if I sin, I'm on my way to hell.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, Colossians 1, 13 and 14. Jesus assumes human nature, and he's a substitute dying in our behalf.

And therefore, while Satan opposes the purposes of God, his time is short, and lo, his doom is what? Sure, Jesus had to be human to die. That's what says here that he partook of the same things in chapter 14, and he, Jesus, right?

Humanity, frailty of humans, does what? Lives for us, dies for us. He who existed long ago partook, right? That's even right there a little bit of the covenant of redemption. S. W. Johnson says, the death of death by death gives death its death.

That's good. Devil's power that he got in Eden, taken away. He can't hold anything against you. You are forgiven, dear Christian. Your body's not going to stay in the grave. Jesus, the resurrected One, will provide you with eternal life the moment you believe.

That's good. It's like Jesus' death killed Satan's weapon. Hey, this person owes me eternal...this person owes you, God, eternal damnation. No, not anymore. Aren't you glad for that? Aren't you glad God's righteousness is true, good, right?

He'll do the right thing, and if Jesus has paid for your sins, you don't have to pay for your sins as well. Jesus has come to destroy. Well, I just looked at the clock. Wow, that time went fast. My name is Mike Abendroth, and one of the things about this show is you can go to iTunes.

I think you can only get the last 10 shows. I don't know why we've tried to fix that, but you can go to nocompromiseradio .com, pull up the old shows. They're all right there, ready for you to listen to or tell your friends at 1 .5 speed.

For our friends who are the radio stations now, I don't know how long to make this show, because the intro and the outro on the old shows made me talk for 24 and a half minutes, and now we've got 28 minutes or so that I do the shows, and then we hope that they can just figure it out.

My name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry.