Flee to Refuge

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 you can tune us in across the radio dial. Remember those old car radios for the presets and you�d have to pull out the little button and then you�d have to push it back in and that would be your preset for your AM radio.

I like those. Those are kind of the good old days, right? I sometimes look at the YouTube demographics for No Compromise Radio YouTube channel and much to my chagrin, the average person that watches NOCO videos, 55-year-old male from the U .S.

Well, that�s about right. I think I�m younger and hipper and all that stuff, but of course, perception, reality, two separate things. I did a little study this week on bank failures. I didn�t study, I just pulled it up online, bank failures.

1984, Continental, Illinois, $40 billion in assets. 1988, First Republic Bank, $32 billion in assets. IndyMac Bank, 2008, $32 billion of assets. American S &L in 1988, $30 billion. And Bank of New England, because I wanted a little taste of home, Cooks Illustrated.

1991, $22 billion. How does that happen? I mean, I know they just don�t keep your money. They take your money and they invest it and stuff like that, but bad investing, unforeseen circumstances, mismanagement, and to think that you at least believe that you can trust the bank.

Eternal Security and Preservation by God

Now, there�s something worse than losing all your money at the bank, and that would be losing your salvation. What if God could lose your salvation? Obviously, Jonah, salvation is of or from the Lord, that is a good summary, not only temporally of the Old Testament with Israel and Jonah and others rescued by God, but also spiritually, that�s a great truth, a great fact that God is the Savior.

What if God could lose your salvation? And we know the answer to the question, can He lose your salvation, is no, because God�s person, God�s character, God�s promises, Christian, if you�re listening now, in spite of circumstances that could be perceived as contrary to God�s love and promises, God won�t lose you.

You are preserved by God, and because of that, you can trust in Him. Because of that, you should persevere. Thinking about God and His character solves so many problems. And so today, we�re going to talk a little bit about preservation by God.

And of course, in the eternal security debate and discussion, it is better to think about eternal security when you would say preservation of the perseverance of the saints, and then even better, perseverance by God.

Lloyd-Jones said, �God does not merely initiate the work and then leave it. He continues with it. He leads us on, directing and manipulating our circumstances. Restraining us at one time and urging us on at another.

And then I might add, �My own words, and He will make sure that if you are a Christian, you will be glorified. It is an impossibility that God could lose a Christian. Now, if you think you earned your own salvation, if you think you control your own salvation, then it would be easier to think in your own mind that you could lose something that you gain.

But since God does this, it�s the work of the triune God, the Father in election, Ephesians 1, the Son in redemption, Ephesians 1, and the Spirit sealing, Ephesians chapter 1. The hope of your future salvation is certain.

It�s no more certain than if you were, no less certain, or no more certain than if you were in heaven now. And you can trust in the Lord. And that�s what�s going on in the book of Hebrews. As you know, I�ve been dabbling a little bit with the book of Hebrews.

Tomorrow, I preach, matter of fact, the book of Hebrews. And today, in real time, it is�what�s the date today? It is December 15th, Saturday, 9 .07 p .m. And here I am at the church, Bethlehem Bible Church.

Because I like to talk about my message or talk through my message before I preach. In the old days, I would stand up and preach a sermon on a Saturday night like tonight and go right in the pulpit. And sometimes people would come in and clean or do this, that, or the other, and many times it was bad timing for me.

Here, at least, if I�m at home or just driving down to the studio, that makes it simple. Probably the cleaners will show up at any time. Hebrews chapter 6. You can trust the promises of God in spite of circumstances because God is trustworthy.

His character is true. And when you trust on the Lord Jesus Christ and have Him as the high priest�Jesus is the superior high priest, that is the book of Hebrews�then your salvation is certain. And like Abraham, in hope against hope, he believed.

And, of course, no matter what your circumstances are�and I know it�s easy for me to say that�s true, but it is true. No matter what your circumstances are, you can trust in the Lord. And he uses, in Hebrews chapter 6, Abraham and Isaac as an illustration to show you that God keeps His promises.

He has fidelity to keep those promises. And He is the basis of our hope. He starts off with a warning in Hebrews chapter 6, and that warning passage is something that everybody knows, right? That�s our default to Hebrews chapter 6, if asked the question, what�s in Hebrews chapter 6?

Oh, warning. You know, there�s the apostasy section early on, and you�re not saved by doing religious things or having religious experiences�what I call Judas experiences, apostasy experiences, apostate experiences.

And you�re certainly not saved to just coast and go on cruise control. You are saved for lots of reasons, and one is to respond with works of faith, and faithfulness is what we could call it. And he says in 6 .12, �Imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

And we regularly dog those that simply teach, �Dare to be a Daniel and having the Old Testament full of moral exhortations and be like people. But in a real sense, in the right way, since Abraham is not trying to do anything himself, he�s so weak and feeble, remember how he offered up his wife on not just one occasion but two.

He did trust in God in spite of circumstances, right? And the issue was, God said He was going to make him a great�threw him a great nation, and then he�s supposed to kill his son Isaac. How do those things go together?

And Abraham, his deduction was God is able to raise Isaac from the dead, and that is why we should imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises, because those people were focused on the Lord Jesus.

And that makes it easy for us to look at them and then see where their focus is. If the terminal point, if the end point, is on Abraham, then we�re wrong. �Dare to be an Abraham. Well, maybe you should imitate Abraham as he�s looking to the Messiah in spite of the circumstances.

That turns it into something wonderful for us. And so Hebrews 6, verse 13 and 20, there is a great focus on the person and work of the triune God and how you can trust His promises and trust in His character so that you, verse 18, can be encouraged to hold fast to the hope set before you.

I�m positive. I think�a little deviation here�I want to say about 2 ,500 to 3 ,000 people are different downloads for NOCO�s episodes, and it�s probably the same people who are continually downloading them.

So if I said there�s 600 ,000 or 700 ,000 downloads per year, I don�t even know what they are anymore, I should ask. But even if there�s 2 ,000 people who listen to this, I�m sure many of you have either gone through, are going through, or of course will go through a lot of trials.

So what do you do, right? We have the recipients of this letter, and they are really getting persecuted, and their back is really up against the wall, to the extent that they want to, some of them at least, go back to Judaism, go back to the temple, and that�s a real temptation.

Maybe my old life was easier before I became a Christian, and this writer wants the readers, and you if you�re a Christian, to think through the issues before you go back. You are to rest in Christ Jesus in His work, His purged sins, remember?

Chapter 1, He�s been raised from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, chapter 1, and you can trust Him with your eternal soul. Your eternal salvation is safe in the hands of God, and you can find not just encouragement, verse 18, but strong encouragement to keep resting, to keep trusting, to keep focused on this God who I described six ways in Hebrews chapter 6, and in this session and the next session at No Compromise Radio, if there is a next, we�re going to look at those attributes of God.

And the first one, He�s a promise keeper. I know I could talk a lot about bad fads, and maybe I�ve done that in other shows. Some fads die slowly, evangelical fads. I wish all evangelical fads would die faster deaths, quicker deaths, but some are slow going, and probably because we are so dumb that we just feed those beasts and they get to carry on longer.

I mean, if they had no money for budgets, then they wouldn�t carry on, although you can carry on quite a long time without a budget. That�s No Compromise Radio for this is going into the ninth season.

You can go to Patreon, our Patreon account, and find out how much they give to us per month, and you�ll see what you could operate a radio show on, what kind of budget. God is a promise keeper, Hebrews 6, 13, 14, and 15.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, �Surely I will bless you and multiply you. That�s right from Genesis 22, right after the Abraham and Isaac, he was going to slay Isaac.

And essentially, and I�m not going out on a limb here, it�s pretty easy to say essentially Abraham did slay Isaac, at least in his mind, and he lifted up that knife to kill him, and of course was interrupted.

And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. I think it was probably 25 years before he, before Isaac was born, and Abraham obtains the promise. The Talmud is very interesting. It says this, most, a lot of times the Talmud is dumb, it says things that I wouldn�t agree with.

I mean, maybe it�s not dumb, but I just disagree with it. And here, it�s right on. And Moses said before the Holy One, �Blessed be he, sovereign of the universe, thou sworn to them by the heaven and the earth.

I would have said, �Just as the heaven and earth can pass away, so can thy oath pass away. Now however, thou hast sworn to them by thy great name. Just as thy great name endures forever and ever, so thy oath is established forever and ever.

God said, �You can trust me and Abraham in fact did. And this is amazing to think how encouraging it would be for the recipients of this letter to remember, yes, Father Abraham and what he did there.

Not only are the promises in chapter 12 of Genesis, 15, 17, 22, and this is a special focus on 22. God is a promise keeper. He�s also an oath maker. That�s hard to say. He�s also an oath maker. He�s an oath maker, verses 16 and 17, I just got a little email here, �for people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.

What do oaths do? They confirm what�s said and they just stop every argument. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.

Now that�s pretty amazing. What do we have here? We have God condescending to humanity to make sure they trust in him. He could just say his word, that would show. He could give a promise, that would show more, and to use the language here, to show more convincingly, that�s with an oath.

He really wants the sinful, frail, finite creatures that he loves to get this point. And this oath is the way he goes about it. He swears by himself. You can think of Isaiah chapter 45 and other passages.

Well, he�s a promise keeper, he�s an oath maker, and he is a truth teller. So that by two unchangeable things, verse 18, in which it is impossible for God to lie, �We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

Two unchangeable things, God�s promise, God�s oath, they are unchangeable. They can�t be transferred, they can�t be altered, they can�t be changed. The secular Greek, using this word �unchangeable is even found in the context of wills and contracts.

You can�t disregard this contract, you can�t annul this contract. No one except the Maker can change this contract. You can sense how irrevocable this idea is. Isaiah 55, �So my word shall be� this is a different translation �So shall my word be, which goes forth from my mouth.

It shall not return to me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. Isaiah 55. God is going to keep His word. He is not going to lie. God is incapable of lying.

Titus 1, �In the hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began. And of course, cretins are liars, they�re evil beasts, they�re lazy gluttons. But God doesn�t lie. Therefore, Christian, when the Bible says, �If you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation He doesn�t lie.

You say, �Yeah, but I�m going through a trial. I know, but this is what God�s word said. So, you can trust in who God is. He keeps His promises. He makes oaths and keeps them. He tells the truth and doesn�t lie.

And He�s a refuge. Verse 18, �We who have fled for refuge. And remember, we�ve talked about this at least at church, maybe not on No Compromise Radio. We do play the sermons on Monday here on the radio show.

Flee for refuge. You talk to Jews, flee for refuge, flee for refuge. Remember the Jewish people who have received this letter. They know Psalm 2, they know Psalm 110, they know Psalm 45, Psalm 89, Psalm 102.

Deuteronomy has been quoted. So many things have been quoted that people would just understand quickly from the Old Testament. And if I ask you, what does it mean to flee for refuge? You are going to immediately say, if you�re thinking from the Bible, from the Old Testament, Jewish Bible, you�ll be thinking Numbers 35 and those six cities of refuge.

And if you kill someone unintentionally and make it to that city before the avenger, the relative of that dead person catches you, you are safe. You have asylum and you are in a city of refuge. That�s what these people that are receiving the sermon, Book of Hebrews, are thinking about.

And the great part about it, remember, the Book of Hebrews is about Jesus, the high priest. For he, Numbers 35, must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.

That is just so great. We, of course, are not just guilty of unintentional sin, but intentional sin as well. And we can flee to refuge to the Lord Jesus Christ. And you notice this is very much the high priest dies, and therefore, the person is free.

It�s like an atoning death almost, at least a picture of it, a type of. The high priest dies, and then the person is free. And I don�t have to say much for you to just understand as a Christian. That�s amazing.

The high priest dies, we�re free. And of course, we know the high priest dies and is raised and intercedes for us, chapter 7. But here, the refugee, he has asylum, but he can�t go back to regular life until the high priest dies.

That�s amazing, fleeing for refuge. And we don�t have a city of refuge to flee to. We flee to a person. But if there was a place to flee to, a city to flee to, Hebrews 11, 16 talks about it. But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Salvation is secure for you, Christian. You take refuge in Christ Jesus and trust in his promises. You�re safe.

That�s so great. The sinner running to refuge from the penalty of sin, from Satan, the avenger. That is just a great picture. Refuge. When you read the Psalms now, Psalm 31, �Incline your ear to me, rescue me speedily.

Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me. How about Psalm 31, verse 19, �Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you.

Psalm 34, verse 8,. �Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. He's the city. That is wonderful. Psalm 36, 7,. �How precious is your steadfast love, O Lord, that children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

See, all that language harkens back to Numbers 35. Psalm 37, 40,. �The Lord helps them and delivers them. He delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in him. Psalm 43, verse 2,.

�For you are the God in whom I take refuge. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy Psalm 46, �Think, Luther I have to get rid of that call, �Think, Luther, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 91, �I will say to the Lord, Yahweh, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Two verses later in Psalm 91, �He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge.

His faithfulness is a shield and a buckler. Psalm 91, verse 9, same psalm,. �Because you have made the Lord Yahweh your dwelling place, the Most High, who is my refuge. Psalm 94, 22,. �But Yahweh has become my stronghold and my God, the rock of my refuge.

Psalm 118, verse 8,. �It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. And then Psalm 144, there are others, but just for today, �He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues people under me.

And all I can say to that is, �Selah. Stop and let that sink in. Well, this is Mike Abendroth at No Compromise Radio. Just a side note, yesterday, my friend Chaplain Bill Bryan of Dallas Seminary, he retired years ago, died.

What a neat guy. You might want to just pull up Dallas Theological Seminary, Chaplain Bill Bryan Tribute. The funeral will be December 21st. My son will fly into town that day, so I cannot make it, otherwise I would go.

It'll be in Dallas, Texas. What a neat man. Bill was summarized by joy in Christ and then joy in serving others. And I'm going to miss Bill. I liked Bill's direct responses to questions, but I really appreciated just his demeanor for other people.

And he was the one, the chaplain, that was at the bedsides of people. I even saw on Twitter that Tom Buck said that his daughter had five open-heart surgeries and Bill was there every single time. That's the kind of guy Bill was.

And of course, it's the work of God in a man's life. And that gives me hope that God's not finished with me and I would like to be more like Bill Bryan. I know his sons, especially Bill and, excuse me, Eric and Gary.

And what a legacy. So I can't wait to see those men and think of Bill. I did call Bill when he was pretty sick. And I said, Bill, you know, I've already called the chaplain to say, pray for me. And then now the chaplain's the sick one.

And so I just wanted to call and pray for you and just say, I love you. We talked for a little bit and I talked about, you know, wanting to pray for him. And then he goes, he said, go, start praying. I said, okay.

Go. Oh, he played the trumpet, sang the song. Really a neat guy. There are a few people in my life that I've said, I wish you were my dad, but not too many. I can think of two. My wife said, you've said that about a lot of people.

Well, yeah, the rich ones, but for spiritual side of it, that's not true. Spiritual side, I think two people I've said that to. And Bill Bryan is one of those people. Bill, I loved you and look forward to seeing you in heaven as we worship the Lord Jesus Christ together.

My name is Mike Abendroth, NoCompromiseRadio .com. 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.