Psalm 139 and Divine Comfort (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.

Ministry Updates, Upcoming Projects, and Media Appearances

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth and it is a Saturday, Saturday, September 3rd in real time. In NOCO time, I don�t know, this is later in the week, September 9th or something like that.

Who knows, 8th. We have lots planned for NO Compromise Radio. Let�s see what are some of those things. The assurance book, Gospel Assurance, should be out by the time you get this podcast. I had a couple delays on a few things, but it should be out.

Gospel Assurance, 31-day guide to assurance, and you can just pick and choose whatever chapters you want. You can read it in 31 days, in 93 days. Different Reformed authors are talking about the doctrine of assurance.

I have finished the five-part series for American Gospel Television, AGTV. Thankful for Brandon and his ministry there. There�s a five-part series on law gospel, five-part series on sanctification called Sanctify, and I should be filming, Lord willing, this fall, a five-part series on assurance.

That�s kind of, I guess, if my life was known for, my ministry was known for Christ-centered preaching, law gospel, assurance, sanctification, that�d be good. That�s what I want to be known for, not discernment ministry.

All those assurance, sanctification, law gospel, they all relate to the Lord Jesus, right? That�s why this is now a Christ-centered ministry. Colossians 1, 28. And also, I did, I filmed American Gospel 3, and I didn�t film the whole thing.

They just interviewed me, and so, who knew, I mean, I might make it in for one minute, for no minutes. I was supposed to be in the first one, and I was too sick. Second one, we made it in. I think I had the final say on that one, and I think I�ll be in the movie Cessationist, so we�ll see how that works.

I haven�t filmed it yet, but I was asked to be in it. By the producer, by the director, by Martin Scorsese. All right, what else is going on? Well, Matt Chandler�s in the news, of course, with the big announcement about him stepping down.

Dear friends, I don�t know anything about what Matt Chandler did. And I don�t promote the ministry there at Village, Acts 29, right, there are probably some good guys in Acts 29, obviously, some decent churches.

But overall, the whole Village thing, I don�t think Matt, I think, as some have said, it was into ministry impulsively, right, without ordination and all that stuff, at least to my knowledge. And now this seemingly impulsive, I don�t know, was it discipline, was it not?

I mean, I don�t know what happened, but the way it was announced, the way it was done, the way it was worded, postmodern way, therapeutic way, it just, something�s wrong. Maybe he didn�t do anything wrong, but in this overly, I mean, it�s charismatic, it�s pietistic, it�s just kind of the way I guess they do things.

I don�t support the chit in the ministry there because of his BLM stuff and the police stuff and the, you know, he�s mad at these discernment anonymity bloggers and got really mad and it just, I don�t know, I just don�t.

I don�t wish anything bad on him when he preaches the gospel and it goes forth, amen, Philippians 1. But the way it was done was weird. You could tell, okay, what�s going on with church discipline, what�s going on with Matthew 18, what�s going on with 1 Timothy.

If you�re disciplined, shouldn�t everybody else fear? I think that�s what Paul�s talking about. You discipline an elder so everybody�s like, yikes, I don�t want to do that. Anyway, that�s just my general take on that.

Of course, there�s lots of talk about federal vision now in Moscow, Idaho, and I�ll probably do a show sometime, I probably should. Federal vision is heresy. You do not get into the kingdom by baptismal regeneration, receive all the benefits of union with Christ, adoption, justification, regeneration, sanctification, etc., as long as you obey.

That�s a wrong gospel, that�s Rome. And therefore, I don�t care if they�re culturally cool, if they�re theonomist, if they�re post-mill, if they�re this, if they got a cool city, if they�re into whatever they�re into, I�m not into it, right?

There�s known plagiarism there, there�s known federal vision kicked out of the denomination for your wrong views on justification, the way people talk about women, the way other things are talked about in that realm.

That�s just, I�m not going to promote it, I don�t read it, I�m not going to snuggle up to them. That�s what I�m going to probably start calling it on No Compromise Radio, for those promoting the Wilson theology and the Wilson compound and the Wilson, all that stuff.

I�m just going to start calling them the �snugglers snuggling up. There are other people you can listen to if you want to talk about how bad the culture is and standing up against egalitarianism and standing up against feminism and standing against Vax Mandates and closing down churches and being very masculine, the list can go on and on.

I can go elsewhere for that. If you get Sola Fide wrong, then yeah, but they�re really good with culture. I simply know, the answer is no, I won�t be promoting any Doug Wilson books for a long I haven�t for a long time.

I was listening to somebody a while ago and I thought it was interesting that, I think it was Aldo that he said, �Notice, okay, Wilson gets kicked out of the denomination, right? He starts his own. Then he doesn�t say much about federal vision stuff for a long time.

It�s all homeschool, it�s all patriarchalism, it�s all analyze culture, critique the culture and he just laid low and it�s kind of like blown over and then now every Baptist in the world wants to go snuggle, snugglers.

I used to listen to the Stranglers when I was younger, but I haven�t listened to the Snugglers. I think the Stranglers are still doing some shows, they�re 80 years old doing shows. I dreamt last night that I was 80, I�m only 62.

I think the lead singer quit or the lead singer died or something, then they have the bass guitarist or someone else in the band who starts singing the songs, but they don�t sing like the regular singer, but it�s still the Stranglers, crazy.

Pastoral Concerns: Church Discipline, Culture, and Abortion

I got back from California and was happy to be home and see the folks at the church. I�m in the book of Ecclesiastes, as you know, probably, but I wanted to talk about a few things. The first thing I wanted to talk about in 1 Corinthians 6 was unrighteous lifestyles prove you�re not a Christian.

A lot of them have to do with sex, fornicators, adulterers, puts an idolaters there too in 1 Corinthians 6, 9 and following, because all the idolatry stuff and the sex and the temple and everything was all combined.

And then homosexuality, and I wanted to remind the congregation that we need to tell our young people, especially as they go off to college, as they meet people in the workplace and they get older, that you can have a grandma who�s super nice and she�s not a Christian.

That doesn�t mean that what she believes is true, right? You have Christian friends. They�re mean and ornery and feisty and fundamentalisticly oriented. And that doesn�t mean Christianity is wrong, right?

Wrong? Right. Are we clear, Crystal? Similarly, you go off to college and you have a bunch of gay friends and they�re kind and nice and warm and inviting and they have fellowship and communion with one another and community and missional, this, that, and the other.

And then your Christian friends, you know, dog you and turn on you and are mean. What does that mean? It just means because of common grace, people can be kind and they can be nice, but that doesn�t mean what they believe is true.

So I wanted to navigate through that and then I wanted to talk a little bit about hell. And it�s a good reminder for us to be thankful and to be evangelistic. And then I also wanted to talk a little bit about abortion.

And, you know, there�s this thing in the church these days, probably not many, but some, and they basically think, �Well, I don�t want to vote Republican. I don�t know how they think, but this is what I imagine.

I don�t want to vote Republican because there are bad things about Republicans. And of course, it�s not like God�s party or something. And therefore, I don�t want to vote Republican. So I want to vote Democrat because I�m into this, that, and the other.

But every Christian realizes that abortion�s murder. And then so how do we vote for people that, you know, that�s the party platform, right? You have sin as a party platform. So people think, �Well, if we ban abortion, then people are going to do it unsafe.

They�re going to do it unsafe. We don�t want a lot of abortion, but it�s going to have to be done to make it safe. You know, make abortion rare and safe and that kind of language. And I just think that�s total capitulation, total compromise.

Abortion�s never safe. Actually, it�s never safe, and this is the wrong order, but it�s never safe for the woman because there are psychological issues, spiritual issues at play. It�s never safe for that, conscience issues.

It�s never safe, it�s sometimes not safe for them medically because there are botched things, right? Every time you go in, you have to sign the paperwork, �I�m going to have some procedure done and it could possibly lead to this, that, or the other.

And it�s always fatal for the baby. And how can it be safe, right? And it�s not their body, it�s not the woman�s body, it�s a baby. And there�s all the talk about, �What about rape and incest and everything else

Well, it�s not� I mean, God opens and closes the womb. I obviously think rape and incest are horrible sins, but we�re not going to kill the baby, right? And how many� what�s the percentage of those even happening?

And short of ectopic pregnancies, what are Christians doing? The murder of these little babies, I mean, you take a little baby and you, you know, outside the womb and you give it to a hell�s angel and they know what to do, right?

Mafia bosses know what to do and to be kind and gentle and for the sake of freedom, for the sake of sex, for the sake of who knows what, you know, the lead singer Fleetwood Mac, I don�t want to, you know, ruin my career.

We wouldn�t have these albums if I would have had a child. It's like, �This is sick. This is sinful, sick. Thankfully, every sin that�s committed, there�s a greater Savior than those sins. And there are men who have pushed their lady friends or wives, girlfriends to get abortions and the ladies have done it and they�ve murdered their baby, they�ve paid for somebody to murder it, they�ve allowed them to murder it.

I mean, the list goes on and on and they can be forgiven, they can be cleansed and they can be made whiter than snow, just like a fornicator or adulterer or anyone else. And therefore, this is just a long intro for me to say, I want to talk about those topics a little bit as I was gone, because I think it�s important for the congregation, and then get back to Ecclesiastes.

The Comfort and Warning of Psalm 139

So that�s kind of where I am in life and what�s going on. I am working on the S. Lewis Johnson Colossians Commentary, hope to get that out soon, and some other 31-day guides to try to help the Lord�s local church.

I�m also writing another article for the Heidelblog, you can get my �From Lordship to Law Gospel� series there on Heidelblog, I think it�s .net, R. Scott Clark�s website, and so I�m working on another one now called �From Synergistic to Monergistic Scientification.

All that to say that we want to talk a little bit more today, in general, and specifically about Psalm 139. Psalm 139. This is one of those psalms that some people say you should read every day. And I�ve been reading it every day for the past week, and I think they�re right.

It�s one of these psalms where, of course, if you go visit someone in the hospital and they have a new baby, you read Psalm 139. This is one of those psalms that you say to yourself, �Okay, I need comfort, and how do I get comfort?

I�m in a trial. This is the psalm. It says at the end of the psalm, it�s interesting. People don�t know what to do with this, but it�s not that hard. �Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God. O men of blood, depart from me.

�They speak against you with malicious intent. Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred.

I count them my enemies. David, he�s hurting. David�s on the run. David has enemies. And so when you have enemies, and you have persecution, and you have trials and distress, and maybe it�s relationships, maybe it�s health, I mean, just the broad, broad spectrum of �I�m anxious, I�m hurting, I need help, God help me.

This is the psalm, Psalm 139. And the key to all of it is, he reflects, David does, on the Lord God himself, the triune God. And it says at the very beginning to the choir master, a psalm of David. And when you read this psalm, you�ll think, �God�s great.

I mean, we live in a world where everybody�s the greatest. Our society is infatuated with calling people great, Alexander the Great, Catherine the Great. What did Muhammad Ali say? �I am the greatest.

And when I was growing up on David, excuse me, on, not David Letterman, but Johnny Carson, we had the great Kreskin. Maybe you have read about the great Houdini. I read a biography about Houdini. It was very interesting.

You don�t just have the circus in town. You have the what? What kind of show on earth? The greatest show on earth. I think we might be living through the Great Reset. Great? Hmm. Well, here is the greatness of God.

And if you�re a Christian, the greatness of your God. Behold your God. And when you�re in a tight spot, and you�re in a trial, here�s a good psalm for you. You probably memorized it. You probably read it.

It�s probably comforted you. And we�ll try to make sure we don�t say to ourselves, �This is so familiar that we never can touch it, because it�s just so familiar. But I just love to dive into it. I�ve taught it before, and I need to teach it again.

Our people need it again. This is the greatness of God. Spurgeon said, �Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.

The most excellent study for expanding the soul is the science of Christ and Him crucified in the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. And so that�s what we want to do. We want to understand and study God, one God, three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We don�t believe in three gods. We don�t believe in the Son is lesser, in eternity past. No, no. We want to understand this God. And Hosea 6 states, �For I delight in loyalty, God says, rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

That�s not God saying it, but God, the Holy Spirit, inspiring Him to say that. See how I rescued that? I know. You have a poem, and you sing it to a musical instrument, accompanied by a musical instrument.

That�s what a psalm means. Hebrew means praises, and that�s what these are, praising God for His being, His attributes, right? God, we look at Him, and we say to ourselves, �Okay. For our human minds, to get our minds wrapped around things, we call them attributes, or perfections, or characteristics, as God shows who He is, this great God.

And He, in the psalm, shows us several attributes that are going to be very, very applicable to whatever you�re going through, because God�s relevant. You say, �How can it be applicable to all these people, all these places, and practical for all these people, places, situations, cultures, time zones, centuries

Well, because God is relevant. And when people say, �Well, are you going to have anything more practical, Pastor, at the church I think they want a checklist. Once in a while, probably a checklist is fine.

But God�s relevant. And I mean, if you look at the book of Hebrews, it�s pretty simple. What do you tell a bunch of people on the run? Don�t forget your life straw. Don�t forget your flint. Get some food, and head to the hills.

Without being too crass, you don�t need to tell them that. They don�t need to know that. Because they already do it. They already know. That�s just how we�re built, okay? Alright. Head down. Figure out what we need to do.

Well, what needs to be told to them? Don�t forget about Jesus. Fix your eyes on Jesus. He�s a high priest. He�s got you. He�s not going to let anything overtake you. It�s not in His plan. Everything�s going to work together for good.

He�s making intercession for you. He died for you. He�s standing at the right hand for you. When you need Him, that�s what you need to be reminded of. And that�s similar here. Very similar here. This is one of those passages that just helps you with adoration, with worship.

And it�s very theological, but it�s set to poetry, kind of like Ecclesiastes 3. It talks about the sovereignty of God, but in poetry. You could call this maybe applied theology, as some have called it.

This is personal theology. This is a theology that you need. This is, you know, if you think about every attribute, and then how does this attribute apply, because how is God relevant in my life? Because I�m thinking about, you know, it�s not God has love, but God is love.

What does that mean? What does that mean when I was a believer, a believer, my relationship to God has changed, God hasn�t changed, what do these things mean? I think in preaching today, Psalm 139 kind of preaching is needed, because it�s talking about who God is.

It starts off with the greatness of God. Everything is looking up, right? We�ve got blinders on. We can�t see. We�re looking around. We�re looking down. We�re looking in. You look inside. You know, your heart�s deceitful.

We need to look up and out, and we should be doing this often. I mean, I talk about reading this every day. Pythagoras read this every morning and every evening, it was said. I wonder if those things are really true.

Luther prayed five hours a day, because he was so busy. I don�t know, maybe. I guess if you live in a, not a cloister, not a nunnery, an abbey, not a convent, whatever the male version of that is. What are those called?

I�m not so sure. All right, Psalm 139. Big picture. We�ve got 24 verses, and there are four sections. Each section has, amazingly, six verses. And when you look at your Bible, you can even see the little double space at the end of verse 6, at the end of verse 12, at the end of verse, any guesses, 18, and at the end of verse 24, and then it goes on to Psalm 140.

So super simple. If you like taking notes, four, what do we call them, points? Four sets of six verses. That�s the structure of the Psalm. And essentially, if you were looking at attributes, you could say omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, and holiness.

And the holiness is when it�s kind of implied, and I�ll talk to you about why I think it will work that way. But God knows you, dear Christian. God is with you, dear Christian. By the way, if you�re not a Christian, God does know you.

God�s power extends to you, because He�s so creative, powerful. And how should you respond if you know this God, since He is holy as well? That�s it. And everything here is with the tone of comfort, because if you think to yourself, okay, God knows everything I do.

You�ve got two options on that. You�ve got, oh, that�s comforting. He knows everything I do. Or it�s, uh-oh, He knows everything I do, right? This doctrine could keep you from sin, oh, I ought not to look at pornography, because God knows.

I ought not to say this, because God knows. There�s no secrets. I can�t be hidden. I can�t be in a chamber with lead all around it, and the X-ray vision of God can�t see through. No, this should be helping us say no to sin.

But in this particular psalm, these attributes are set to a tone of comfort. This is a praise of comfort, of thanksgiving, and you think, okay, here�s this great God, and yes, He�s transcendent, He�s over us, but He�s also close.

And you�ll see lots of language of you, you, you. No, you�ll see language of me. Because when you read it, you think, okay, He knows me. God knows me. He�s with me. He searches me. He knows me. Anyway, four attributes of God, knowledge, presence, power, and implied holiness.

There was that old phrase, remember, everything I enjoy is either illegal, immoral, or fattening. Not this. Finally. Finally. Finally. And you get to enjoy God and worship Him, and praise Him for His omniscience, and praise Him for His omnipresence, and praise Him for His omnipotence, and praise Him because He�s whole.

So holy. Well, hey, that�s my introduction, and the show�s already over. I have thought about going to just a show or two a week, and then it just could be longer, I guess. But why spoil the format, especially if we�re on the radio stations in Wyoming and in Alaska?

So we keep the little 30-minute format. I�m going to change the intro and the outro, but I�ll do that a little later.

Closing Station Identification and Church Information

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.