Profaning The Sacrifice Of Christ--The Sin Of Presumption

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. My name is Mike Abendroth and in real time, oh, it�s early

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It sounds bad, but I don�t think it is, I don�t think it is, it reminds me of Medusa, it reminds me of siren screams, those kind of things on No Compromise Radio.

Well, you can write me at info at nocompromiseradio .com. You can go to bbcchurch .org

if you�d like to go to the church website. We are here in central Massachusetts, I�ve been the pastor here at Bethlehem Bible Church for 17 years and about five years ago, we thought we�d do a radio show.

So five days a week, we have the show. As most of you know, probably the best thing you can do is, why don�t you tell your friends?

I guess you could send money, can�t find the donate button anywhere, that might change, who knows.

But anyway, maybe I could ask you to tell your friends to listen. And I know some people think that I�ve gotten softer over the years and kinder,

I hope that�s true. Maybe that makes bad radio, I�m not exactly sure.

Well, we�re doing a little miniseries on profaning the sacrifice of Christ.

And so, that�s something you don�t want to do. I�m not encouraging that,

I�m not promoting that, I�m not trying to lay the groundwork so that you could do that,

I want you to avoid it. And so I think that�s a good teaching tool, you know, ways not to worship.

And then you tell those, you know, negative ways, via negation. Is that the way to do it, via negation?

The road of negation. I think it�s an R .C. Sproul kind of quote. That�s a little monster drink today, but I have to let you know,

I don�t have to, but I want to. Hey, it�s my show. I don�t have Tuesday guy here to boss me around.

I tried bullet coffee today for the first time, it�s about one in the afternoon, the only thing I�ve had is coffee.

And it�ll probably show through my voice. If I can�t blame the coffee,

I�ll blame the Novocaine. So I went into the doctor this morning, just a little, when they put the cotton swab with a little brown iodine looking,

I don�t know, lidocaine kind of thing, before the Novocaine you know it�s going to be bad. But it wasn�t too bad, sometimes in the dentist chair my mind wanders too far and all of a sudden

I feel the Novocaine kind of down my throat that I can�t swallow and then you go into these mental problems.

But we�re okay. So far so good. Profaning the Sacrifice of Christ.

I�ve been preaching through Malachi, and Malachi is simply a blistering book. He, the prophet

Malachi, the messenger from God, blisters the priests primarily, but secondarily the people, for a variety of things.

They have listless worship, they have a heart that�s cold for God, it is leftover worship all the way.

And Malachi reproves them because they know better. He uses the language of Israel, technically it�s

Judah, uses Israel loosely, and he just goes after them. I mean it is scud after scud after scud.

And what they were doing, the people were saying, you know what, we know it�s wrong not to sacrifice, but we don�t want to be too sacrificial, and so let�s offer some of our animals up that we could kind of do without.

And they would bring those animals to the priest for sacrifice, and the priest, instead of saying, this won�t do, this is not right, the priest would say, sure, that�s perfect, and then go ahead and sacrifice for the people.

Like people like priests, like priests like people. Deuteronomy had said earlier, but if any has defect, we�re talking about a sacrifice, one of these animals has a defect, such as lameness, or blindness, or any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your

God, Leviticus 22. Same kind of offering language, you want to give the best to God.

You want to say, take this in my place, and of course, thinking ultimately, and thinking typologically, you reflect upon Christ�s perfect sacrifice, if you offer a poor sacrifice, it doesn�t bode well for the great sacrifice of Christ.

Leviticus 22, those that are blind, or fractured, or maimed, or having a running sore, or eczema, or scabs, you shall not offer to the

Lord, nor make of them an offering by fire on the altar to the Lord. And so we don�t want to dishonor the sacrifice of Christ in any kind of fashion.

So this is my tie -in for today, this is how I think this is relevant. Remember, the

Bible is authoritative, sufficient, inerrant, infallible, and a variety of other things.

It�s clear, and it is sufficient. It�s also relevant, and so our job as teachers is not to make the

Bible relevant. It is relevant, but it is a good idea to try to help our listeners, help our students understand its relevancy.

And so they were cutting corners with the sacrifices, and offering profane sacrifices that were not worthy, they were not worthy to be offered.

And so today, while we can�t, unless you�re a Samaritan, I saw some Samaritans offering an animal in Jerusalem, and I didn�t see the actual throat slitting, but they were bringing the thing to where they needed to do that sacrifice.

Unless you�re some Samaritan, modern -day Samaritan today, you can�t really sacrifice. So what�s the relevancy of Malachi?

Well, you can think poorly of the sacrifice of Jesus, and I don�t want you to do that. Last time we looked at, if you take out the love of the

Father, as well as the love of the Son, that�d be a bad way to think of the

Atonement. You need to think both that the Father loves and the Son loves, not just that the

Father was a petulant, angry, bitter Father, and the Son had to purchase the love of the

Father. No, we saw, I quoted Sinclair Ferguson, I mix up Sinclair Ferguson and S.

Lewis Johnson, respect them both so highly, the love of the Father is antecedent to sending the

Son. So that�s what we talked about. Now, this particular show, I want to talk about the sin of presumption.

How is that related to the death of Christ, and profaning it with the way we consider it?

Well, I want you to think rightly about the cross of Christ, and if you do, and if you think it is an adequate sacrifice, it is finished.

If you think of the sacrifice of Christ, to use the language of Hebrews 1, He made purification of sins.

He made purification of sins. If you think about the sacrifice of Christ as a perfected for all time, once for all sacrifice, as Hebrews 10 speaks of, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, it will help you with assurance, it will help you with confidence, and it will help you in this most practical fashion, the doctrine of assurance, the subjective doctrine that, subjective feeling that this doctrine teaches about,

I know that I�m saved. I can know that I have assurance that I get to go to heaven, and I want to say on the radio today that it�s directly related to the sacrifice of Christ.

If Christ�s sacrifice is adequate for all sins, including future sins, including sins of omission, commission, mortal, venial, then you can have assurance.

If the death of Christ isn�t adequate, then there�s no way you could have assurance. Can you imagine, it�s hard to fathom, and it�s a wonderful thing, that you can know right now, today, that you have eternal life.

With 100 % certainty, with absolute clarity, you can have eternal life.

You can know that because of the adequate atonement of Jesus. First John 5, 13, �I write these things to you who believe in the name of the

Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.�

That�s really good news. God didn�t have to grant assurance. He could have objectively done the work, and the

Son makes propitiation, and we just would never know. We hope so, there�s maybe a glimmer of hope here or there, but maybe we wouldn�t be certain.

We can be certain, and God wants us to know, and Jesus said, John 5, �I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and will not be condemned, he is crossed over from death to life.�

Here�s the good news when it comes to assurance and the death of Christ. You don�t have to depend on your own works.

You don�t have to depend on your own righteousness. You don�t have to perform good works in order to have right standing with God.

There�s nothing you can do with your labors to earn a right standing before God.

No religious deeds will do that. You are simply and solely trusting in Jesus Christ and his finished work.

When your salvation depends on God�s works, you can have assurance because there�s no opportunity for loss.

There�s no chance for failure because you�re depending on the God -man. But when you get involved because the death of Christ is inadequate, you�ve got to bear it up somehow, then there�s no assurance.

You can�t ever grant assurance to that kind of a person, but when God has done the work and you see his work,

Jesus Christ�s work finished at Calvary and you know he�s the atoning sacrifice for our sins, 1

John 2, you can have assurance because God�s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

You can have assurance. Now for the sin of presumption.

It makes sense, I don�t agree with it, but at least it makes sense that you have the

Roman Catholic position of the death of Christ leading into daily and weekly offerings of that sacrifice in the mass in addition to purgatory, further cleansing.

The Roman Catholic view of the death of Christ is inadequate. Their view is inadequate because Christ�s death is inadequate.

And so when that happens, if Christ�s sacrifice is not enough, is not adequate, of course there�s going to be no assurance because something depends on the person, something depends on their work and their labor, their religious deeds.

The Catholic Encyclopedia defines the sin of presumption as, �It may be defined as the condition of a soul that because of a badly regulated reliance on God�s mercy and power, hopes for salvation without doing anything to deserve it, or for pardon of his sins without repenting of them.�

Now I�d like to focus in a little bit on that little phrase, �without doing anything to deserve it.�

It�s amazing, isn�t it? Not doing anything to deserve it. This is important because for the

Protestant, we believe we don�t deserve it and we can�t do anything. And if God did it all, then

His sacrifice is adequate and we can trust in that and we can know for certain.

And then 1 John 5, verse 13 is true, Council of Trent, �If anyone saith that he will for certain, of an absolute and infallible certainty, have that great gift of perseverance unto the end, unless he have learned this by special revelation, let him be anathema.�

You can�t know unless there�s some special revelation, like Paul received, they would say, or like the

Virgin Mary received. There�s a website called CatholicBasicTraining .com

and it says, in light of this sin of presumption, this, �While it is certainly true that no one can snatch them out of my hand ,� he�s leaving the fold of God�s love.

This is what sin is, a willing acceptance or doing of something that is not of God.

An analogy would be that no one can snatch us out of a car driving down the interstate, but we can certainly choose to undo the seatbelt and leap out from the car.

It would be fatal, but so is choosing to sin. These verses do not teach eternal assurance, but rather the doctrine that no one can make us sin.

All that people can do is tempt us to sin, but the final choice remains solely ours.

The sin of presumption. Now let me just read to you John chapter 10 and see if anything�s even close to that.

By the way, Romans 8 says, �Nothing can separate us from the love of God.� Nothing created can do that, and last time

I checked, I was created and so is everyone else. John chapter 10, verse 24 and following, �So the

Jews gathered around him and said to him, �How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the

Christ, tell us plainly.� Jesus answered them, �I told you and you do not believe.

The works that I do in my Father�s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me, and I will give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my

Father�s hand. I and the Father are one.�

Does that sound like there�s security? That there�s perseverance?

That there�s protection? To use the language of Ephesians 1, sealing of the spirit?

Arthur Pink said, �No stronger passage ,� referring to John 10, �in all the word of God can be found guaranteeing the absolute security of every child of God.�

And then he goes on to say, �These are Christ�s sheep.� I mean, a good shepherd shepherds his sheep, and if you�ve got

Jesus as the shepherd, what does it say about him if he can lose a sheep, right?

And he gives these sheep eternal life. When does it start? The second you believe in this adequate sacrifice of Jesus, you have eternal life, and it�s given to them.

It�s not merited, it�s not earned. You can�t undo it by demerits.

Pink said, �The Lord Himself declares that His sheep shall never perish. Consequently, the man who declares that it is possible for a child of God to go to hell makes

God a liar. We are secured between the clasped hands of omnipotence.

It has been well said that if one soul who trusted in Christ should be missing in heaven, there would be one vacant seat there, one crown unused, one harp unstrung, and this would grieve all heaven and proclaim a disappointed

God. But such a thing is utterly impossible.� Well, my name is Mike Ebenroth.

This is No Compromise Radio. Don�t forget there�s No Compromise Television at Worldview Weekend. You can get the app,

Worldview Weekend app, for free and watch a lot of TV shows, mine included.

And we�re talking today about the sin of presumption, and if you�ve got a messed -up view of the death of Christ, I see how this view would creep into your mind.

The sin of presumption, a Roman Catholic doctrine, belief in eternal assurance, presuming, they would say, on God�s mercy.

Here�s what one person says in this doctrine of presumption, �It is not just a theological incorrect position to hold, but it is also one which is a sin because it makes one proud, that is the doctrine of assurance, and think that one has no need of God�s further assistance.

The person thinks that they are already permanently saved and they do not need God, the church, or anything else.�

The sin of presumption refers to a belief that regardless of mortal sins, one will still merit heaven.

Well, that�s not a correct assessment. No Protestant thinks that we merit heaven unless you think that merit is based on the work of Jesus�s merit, but not our merit.

The article in the Catholic website says, �Although it is reasonable to assume that someone who is not

Catholic and engages in regular sins for which he or she has no remorse is going to hell, one cannot state so with certainty.�

So, they can�t even say it on the flip side. But I just go back to the Bible, call me a simple man, that you may know that you have eternal life.

That�s why that book was written, 1 John. CatholicDefense .blogspot

.com says, �No matter what the future holds, I�m saved.�

If you say that, that is a sin of presumption. But see, friends, the death of Christ, if it is finished, if it is adequate, if it makes propitiation, if it makes redemption, if it makes reconciliation, if forgiveness is granted for past, present, and future sins, then

I can say, �No matter what the future holds, I�m saved.� I proudly say it. Well, that doesn�t make sense now.

But I�m thankful when I say it. I gratefully say it. Okay? I repent for what I just said. I gratefully say it.

No matter what the future holds, I�m saved. When you go to TheDefender .org,

it�s talking about the presumption and the sin of presumption. The Catholic Church teaches that salvation depends on the state of the soul at the time of death.

Christ has redeemed us, but this is not a guarantee of salvation. It is just a necessary prelude.

Christ did His part. Jesus did His part. Now we have to do ours.

Well, of course there could be no assurance, because it�s an inadequate view of the death of Christ.

That�s bad news. But it does control people. If you�d like to have people coming back for more and controlling them, then that�s a very wonderful doctrine, and it is logical within their system.

But it�s not biblical. I have good news if you�re a Roman Catholic. Before you turn off the radio, I have good news for you.

You can know that you can go to heaven. You can know without a doubt that you�re completely forgiven.

Wouldn�t you like to know that? Wouldn�t you like to know that you lay your head on your pillow tonight and you die, you�re going straight to heaven?

Wouldn�t that be good to know? That Damocles� sword of perdition, of purgatory, to be gone forever based on Jesus Christ, sent by the love of the

Father, it would be good to know. You know what, Roman Catholic? You don�t have to cleanse yourself.

You don�t have to forgive yourself. You don�t have to purify yourself. You don�t have to go through purgatory.

You don�t have to go through temporal punishment. You don�t have to do any of that. I�d just like to just believe today, not in the

Catholic Jesus who didn�t atone for all the sins of all the people of God, but believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ, the one in the Bible who said it is finished, who grants eternal life, and trust in what he did for sinners, trusting in his resurrected life.

If he�s alive today. On the contrary, Council of Trent, if anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in divine mercy, which remits sins for Christ�s sake, let him be anathema.

And I�m telling you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, just like in the book of Acts. And they�re saying, you don�t want to have that.

You�ve got to have others. Ludwig Ott says, a

Catholic writer in Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, that it�s possible to have a good certainty, but not divine certainty.

And so, if you want to get close to being kind of certain, then do a lot of the

Beatitudes, have communion a lot, have love for Christ, do some charity, and have some devotion to the

Blessed Virgin. And you might have some hope. And they would differentiate hope from real belief and assurance.

I want you to know that God wants you to know you can have eternal life if you�re a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not guilty. Jesus takes your sin. There�s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

I love the song because it reflects the adequate death of Christ, simply trusting every day, trusting through the stormy way.

Even when my faith is small, trusting Jesus, that is all. Trusting Him while life shall last, trusting

Him till earth is past, till His gracious advent call, trusting Jesus, that is all.

So friends, read Hebrews 9 and 10. I dare you,

I double -dog dare you to read Hebrews 9 and 10. You will see the adequate death of Jesus, sufficient once and for all.

You will see that atonement needs to be made for sinners like you, and that Jesus Christ made a great sacrifice.

And it was adequate, never to be repeated again, never to be offered again, no need of it.

It was done with finality, it was done with perfection, and when the Father in eternity passed because of His love for the

Son, His love for the church, His love for the elect, His love for the bride, sent

His Son, His Son did the work, mission accomplished. And now the

Spirit of God wonderfully applies the benefits of Christ�s death to the bride of Christ.

And when that happens, you will respond with faith. And so the command to you is, the imperative, the commission is, believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And you can know it. How would you like to know today? Lord, please forgive me for trusting in a

Christ whose death is inadequate and I have to have Him offered again and have to go to purgatory.

When the Bible clearly says, it is finished.

Simply trusting, simply trusting every day, simply trusting