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Solus Christus is one of the five solas that summarise the Protestant Reformers' basic belief that salvation is through Christ alone and that Christ is the only mediator between God and man.
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's Mike Abendroth, and this is Tuesday, and we have Pastor Steve here, and Steve is actually singing a song. He likes to start that just before we're on the air.
He sings a little song. This one was about the airwaves. We want the airwaves, baby, and we want them now.
It was actually dashing through the snow, but...
Jingle bells? I think that was originally a Thanksgiving song. It wasn't a Christmas song at all.
Wow, you are a man of much knowledge.
We just looked up Torah, Torah, Torah. What's Torah, Torah, Torah? Well, if it's an evangelical show like this, you might think it's the first five books of Moses, the first five books of Moses, the first five books of Moses.
Say that five times real fast. Tiger are to attack, torpedo attack, Torah, Torah, Torah in Japanese. Terigato. The only Japanese I know. I knew a little bit from... Is karate Japanese or Korean? It's Japanese, isn't it?
I really don't know. I know how to count to 10, and I know different words for sushi. You know, eel is... I forgot, but sea urchin is uni. I do know that. All right, today we're talking... Moving right along to the Bible.
See, with Steve, if I'm talking pop culture things that he knows about or he likes, then see, he's engaged. He actually sings. But if I'm off on some kind of non-Steve tangent, then he's like, let's get to the Bible.
Hai, douzo. We are talking today about solus Christus, and that is Christ alone. Steve, give us a recap on our series so far on this.
We have talked, you know, I have to think back over the many weeks that we've been doing this. From sola scriptura to sola fide, meaning scripture alone, faith alone, and now today, Christ alone, meaning salvation is in Christ alone.
And the foundational principle, of course, is scripture alone, because if you don't have that, then you'll introduce all sorts of error. Only scripture is perfect. Only scripture is said to be breathed out by God, and any other source of information is not without error.
It's not inerrant. And then salvation is by faith alone, meaning you can't add anything to it. If you truly have been regenerated, and you truly believe, then you are saved, and there's nothing that can be added or should be added to that.
Excellent. Do you know what I learned recently, Steve? That solus Christus means Christ alone. But sometimes it's used in the ablative case, solo Christo. It means by Christ alone. Oh, I like that. And so, yeah, either one is fine.
I never knew really which one to say at different times.
I'd say different ones. Maybe we should do a show about the ablative case.
That would be the ablative. All right, here's what we'd like to do. We'd like to talk today about Christ alone or the exclusivity of Christ. Now, we could talk about this in the sense of the Reformation, the Protestant Reformation, saying that the Roman Catholics believe in another mediator.
Or we could talk about it today in context where people, evangelical people, quote unquote, think that people are the mediators and that people can get saved through someone else and not through Jesus alone.
And we believe that Christ alone is the mediator between God and man. We believe that there's salvation through no other person, no other God. We believe in Christ alone. And that's what the station stands for as well.
We here at WV &E and here in No Compromise Radio reject any other mediator between God and man. Correct, Steve?
Yeah, it's just a shocking concept, even the very idea. I mean, my background being from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Joseph Smith once said something to the effect that other than Jesus himself, Joseph Smith had done more for the salvation of man than any other human being.
And so it's this idea, well, Jesus was good, but I'm not so bad either. And I've also heard people say, unbelievers generally, that Paul basically invented Christianity, that Jesus said a lot of things and that Paul kind of changed everything.
Well, listen to what Jesus said on this very topic. In John 14, six, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And listen, this is kind of exclusive language. No one comes to the Father except through me.
That's very exclusive language. No one, no exceptions, comes to God, comes to the Father, but through him, he is the only way.
Doesn't it mean, Steve, if people think Jesus isn't the only way, that Christ, in fact, died in vain?
Absolutely. Why do they have to, if there's some other means, you know, if well-intentioned Buddhists or Muslims or Mormons or, you know, name the religion, if those people on their own or through their own mediators or through their own works or, you know, their own belief system, if they can get to God, then Jesus never had to die.
What happens with this kind of doctrine, if you pull this out, the proverbial house of cards fall because it affects almost every other doctrine. For instance, if you say it's not Christ alone, then you deny Christ mediatorial work, you deny his substitutionary atonement, you say that it's not sufficient what God did on the cross as he reconciled man to God, you start denying all kinds of other things.
And so we want to make sure that Christ is exalted, that he receives the praise, that he is the one who, in fact, did what the Father sent him to do, and he was always well-pleasing to the Father. Luke 19 .10, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
That's only Jesus can do that because he is the God-man.
Well, and just thinking about the propitiation, the satisfaction that Christ made for the wrath of God. Well, if he didn't really have to do that, if there's some other way to satisfy the wrath of God other than Christ dying, then why did he die?
And what does it mean? And like you said, you've basically taken apart the whole house if you say there is another way. You know, did Buddha somehow intercede on our behalf so that God wouldn't be angry with us for our sins?
And the whole idea falls out of Scripture, so we get back to Scripture alone, but it's this kind of reasoning, and really what it boils down to is political correctness. We don't want to offend anyone from other religions, other belief systems.
We have our way, and that's good for us, but other ways are equally as valid.
Well, Steve, Jesus would have never been born if he wasn't born of the mother, Mary. You know, he needed to be born. And without this kind of, you know, mother of God, we're going to have a big problem.
You almost got me to call you father.
See, when we say Christ alone, we are saying no other mediator, not Mary, not saints, not priests. We don't have priests in the New Testament. We are all priests, that is to say we all serve God. But in terms of mediators, there's only one mediator, and that mediator is not called the Holy Father.
His name is Jesus the Son. He is the only mediator. And if you want to add to that, then you're going to be adding big trouble theologically, big trouble practically. And so Christ alone means salvation in Christ alone.
Well, and you know, you mentioned the mediator, and I'm just turning to it in, you know, my new ESV, being very unfamiliar with it at this point. Is that the update from ESV? That's the N-E-S-V? The N-E-S-V.
No, just in my ESV that is new, meaning fresh, not, you know, it's new to me because we've previously been New American Standard. Aren't there two Greek words for new? Okay, settle down. Power down, turbo.
1 Timothy 2. And he is my guest. We need to have a show on etiquette. I think I'll stay home for that one.
1 Timothy 2 .5, for there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, that nobody else intercedes. Nobody else is the mediator for us other than Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus there.
There's no one else.
Well, political correctness aside, we are talking about the exclusivity of Christ. Jesus is the only way. Every other way is wrong. A decade ago, it was Hinduism that crept in. These days, Steve, it seems like Buddhism is creeping in everywhere you go.
We believe that Christ is the center. Christ is the Savior. There is no one else. And by the way, when this doctrine goes out of a local church, practically, here's what happens. You have a church that focuses on moralistic, therapeutic deism.
You have a church that has things like an apple a day keeps the doctor away, or a penny saved is a penny earned, and it's just a bunch of moralistic how to have a good marriage and everything else because Christ crucified is not preached every week.
Yeah, when the exclusivity goes out, I mean, you could say the glory leaves. I mean, the truth has just walked out the front door. Here's another one, another passage that just came to mind as we were talking about this.
At the end of John 6, when Jesus is given this very difficult teaching, in fact, it's so difficult that the multitudes walk away. And John 6, 66, it says,. And so Peter understood that. You have the words of, there was no one else to whom they could go and be saved.
There was no one else who was speaking the truth, who could speak the truth in the way that Jesus did as the Son of God, the only Son of God. The Christian religion is extremely exclusive by design. It does not allow for a lot of different answers.
It's not a multiple-choice faith. Well, it's interesting.
When you listen to Steve and I, sometimes we talk about the exact same thing. Most times we do, but sometimes we'll take these two different tracks. And so then Steve is talking about that track and I'm on another track, see?
It's like a railroad track. Yeah, it's perfect. Two rails. Because we're basically talking about Sola Scriptura, of course. You have somebody who can take the Bible, Steve, and they don't make Christ center.
You have somebody like that called the Jehovah's Witnesses. That's right. They say they believe in the Bible. You know, here's the Bible, we hold it up in high regard, et cetera, et cetera. But Christ isn't the center.
And so without Christ the center, you run into this cultic moralism, how to manage your money in a better way, how to have your kids off of drugs. I'd like to know if you're out there today listening to WVNE and your pastor continues to give you how-to sermons, I'd like to have you ask him in a polite way, pastor, why don't you affirm the doctrine of sola Christus, solus Christus?
And he'll say, oh, I do. And you can say, yeah, but it seems, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like in practical daily Bible preaching, you deny that. How to be a better neighbor,.
How to be a better parent, how to get your children to obey, how to draw spiritual truths out of the NFL, whatever, whatever, whatever. There are people that do that. Oh yeah, I mean, church after church, I see on the internet, they're all having Super Bowl parties or they're all, I mean, what was that thing a couple of years ago that was really becoming cool to show the old Andy Griffith show and to draw moral truths out of that.
Leave it to beaver. Bible stories, Bible studies. How about this, Steve? If you had to pick a book of the Bible that you would want to have people read that shows Christ as mediator, as priest, as the sacrifice, as the one who's given himself once for sin, what book would you have them read?
Hebrews. That is exactly right. Hebrews is the book. And so if you'd like to look at Christ alone in the new covenant, you will see we don't need Moses. We don't need Aaron. We don't need some kind of other sacrifices.
We need a great priest. We need a great mediator, a mediator who is man certainly to represent us, but God who has an infinite amount of righteousness to give, who himself can go to the father on our behalf, in our place, in our stead, even for his intercession.
And so we have the book of Hebrews that talks about this great priest, this great mediator, because he continues forever, Hebrews 7 .24. He holds his priesthood permanently. He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.
We want you to go to the best priest. Steve, even if we were kind of rationalistically saying, good, better, best, why go to a human priest on earth when you can go to Jesus Christ? There would be no reason to do that.
I mean, and you're exactly right.
When it comes to the book of Hebrews. I mean, over and over again, it exalts Christ and basically tells us that even the best things of creation pale in comparison. For example, Hebrews 1 .13, and to which of the angels, speaking of the father, has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?
He never said that to any of the angels, nor would he, but he did say it to his son. And it's implied there. And clearly there's a special affection for the second person of the Trinity, Jesus, from the first person of the Trinity.
And this whole book, I mean, if you don't believe in Christ alone, you might as well just tear Hebrews right out of your Bible. In fact, you're going to have to do a lot of editing from the Bible. You're going to have to hop, skip, and jump all over the place.
And any pastor who's out there who does that, shame on you.
I used to do the triple jump when I was in school, but I didn't do it very well.
And did you do it so you could dodge teaching about Christ alone?
Hey, listening audience, am I dodging that? No, I'm just trying to make interesting radio. That's all I'm trying to do. How about this, Steve? Would you agree with the fact.
That you're being quite rude? Would you agree? I'd have to give that 97 certainty.
Would you agree to this, that as human ability is on the rise, that is a perception that human ability is meritorious, that we're not as bad, really, as Scripture says? You know, we're really pretty good people.
As we think in our society today, and in the church in particular, that we're getting better, we're not as bad as the Scriptures say, then the need for Christ as mediator, the need for Christ alone goes down.
Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's the operification of our society, of our world, where we become better and better. We need to view ourselves as flawed individuals who need to love ourselves more. And God really is just a very accepting, well, actually, he's really Oprah.
I mean, when you get right down to it, that's what the world thinks today, is that God is just Oprah, wants to love everybody just as we are. We don't have to change a thing. God's out there willing to accept us.
We just have to accept ourselves. That's the picture today. God has been so Lord where there's no holiness, there's no transcendence. He is just like us. Maybe that's why she's on the cover.
Of every one of her magazines. I don't know. Remember that old book at the CBD warehouse sale that they could never get rid of for a dollar? Is it okay to call God mother? And so every time I'd see that book, I'd just say out loud, no.
And then the people next to me, some Gordon College students, are looking at me like, who is this kook? We go to Park Street and we have women elders. It is okay. And so when you have a high view of man, you don't really need a high view of Christ.
Listen to what the Cambridge Declaration says. Unwarranted confidence in human ability is a product of fallen human nature. God's grace in Christ is not merely necessary, but it is the sole efficient cause of salvation.
It goes back to what it always goes back to, the fall of Adam and depravity.
And the whole idea that we would ever think that somehow we could approach God in some other way, that we could somehow make ourselves right, that we could somehow be good apart from Christ is absolute rubbish.
Jesus said, why do you ask me who is good or whatever? There is no one good kind of thing. Paul continued that theme in Romans 3. No one's good apart from Christ. No one's good apart from being declared good because they've had Christ's goodness transferred to them.
Peter's famous words, salvation is found in no one else. And there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
Wait a minute, that's just not right.
He can't do that. In enlightenment world, that's not right. Today in postmodern world, how can you know for sure? Basically, you know what you're saying, Steve? You're just prideful because you think you've got a corner on the truth, don't you?
This whole Christ alone business.
Yeah, me, Peter, Paul, and Jesus himself.
I'm glad you didn't say Mary, Peter, Paul, and Mary. That would have been quite the faux pas.
But Mary, why are you always in the 60s, by the way? You're not old enough to be a child of the 60s. But the interesting thing is Mary, I don't wanna speak for Mary.
She's too busy praising Jesus right now, saying thank you for saving me from my sins. This whole idea, you know,.
She knew that she needed a savior. She didn't put herself as some kind of mediatrix, and I'm sure you cover that in another show, but she talked about her need for a savior in Luke chapter one. I mean, there's just no getting around this doctrine except for to set scripture aside and to reason things out for yourself.
How about the angel's announcement about Jesus' birth, the nature of the baby who will be born to Mary? She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their lack of self-esteem.
He will save his people from their prideful, moronic view that there's only one God named Yahweh.
Well, does that mean, though, you know, that he's gonna save his people from their sins? Maybe there are other people who are gonna be saved another way.
What about that, huh? Yeah, maybe they can be saved from that certain, you know, dumb idea that Abraham, you know, believed in God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
I mean, the only way around this, again, your own reasoning kind of going into the white pages or white spaces of scripture, you know, looking for some loophole so that you don't have to bow the knee to Christ.
That's what this is all about. I don't want a God who's holy. I don't want a God who's gonna judge me. I don't want a God who sets a standard that I have to live up to. What I would like is to create my own God whose standards I like and who pleases me, and I'll approach him on my own terms.
Thank you very much.
In this program, here's what we'd like. We'd like you, if you affirm this doctrine of Christ alone, to preach Christ alone to your friends. First, we maybe should say that if you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you have not bowed your knee to Jesus the God-man who was virgin-born, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for sinners like you and was raised from the dead, you must repent and believe and follow Christ.
There's no other hope. Study comparative religions at Assumption College or whatever those other colleges are, Clark University, all you want, but Jesus is the only one who can absorb the wrath of God and live to tell about it.
I mean, who else?
I mean, I'm certain there are other people who would like to make that claim, people who throughout history have said that they're the means of enlightenment, that they're kind of the gateway to some sort of higher living, but we need not be confused about what all these other religions are.
Not only are they works-based, but they are also false gospels. They are demonic. They are given by angels of light, that is, demons masquerading as angels and really out to deceive people, to steer them away from this truth of Christ as the only way.
He has to be the only way, and if he's not the only way, you start doing things like the church father Irenaeus, who in a very kooky thing said, well, basically, Eve disobeyed, Mary obeyed. Now that's a lot different than Paul in Romans 5, who said, we've got the disobedience of one man affecting the many, affecting the all in Adam, and you've got the obedience of another man named Jesus, the God-man, who affects salvation for all those in him.
That's a lot different comparison between God and Adam versus Mary and Eve.
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure Irenaeus got a lot of things right, but in this case, he's just trying to make the parallel. Well, if there was a first Adam and a second Adam, there must be a first Eve and a second Eve, and those two just don't go together.
If Christ alone is the Savior and alone is the mediator, I ask you a question, friends. Why do you pray to saints? Why do you think Saint Christopher is going to be a patron saint to your automobile or something?
You don't need to pray to any other kind of saints. God hears prayers through Christ and his work.
And it's interesting, and I would encourage anyone listening on nocompromisedradio .com to do some study for yourselves and see where the whole tradition of praying to saints as intercessors, where it came from, and you would quickly see that what happened is the Roman emperor adopted a lot of the pagan practices and Christianized them, just took all the false gods of all these people and assigned saints to them so that somehow he just kind of Christianized all these pagan practices.
So a thoroughly bogus thing, but you can look it up for yourselves. It's historically correct.
We'd like you to read Romans 7, 8, 9, and 10, and you will be very, very encouraged to see Christ where he should be, and that is exalted. And then you can understand that Jesus is the one that has said
Was that Romans or Hebrews? Sorry, Hebrews. You're right, Hebrews. You could read Romans too, but Hebrews 9 .28. So Christ also having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await him.
Steve, that's the one we want to wait for, not somebody else.
I mean, why would we expect some sinful fallen person like us to be able to intercede on our own behalf? And that gets, of course, that opens up a whole nother can of worms. You know, can a person become perfect and then hear our prayers and, you know, all that other stuff.
Indulgences we don't need.
If you believe in Christ alone. We know that Jesus died for our sins and rose again for our justification. That part is Romans. I'm not saying Romans wrongly in that. So look to Christ Jesus. After all, what's the root word for Christian?
Christ. Well, and I mean, this, you know, getting back to all the other things that we've said, but also his sufficiency. If Jesus Christ isn't enough, then what is? If he didn't die for your sins, then who did?
And if anyone else could, then why doesn't the Bible ever talk about it since it's all that we need? It's Mike Abenroth with Steve Cooley,.
No Compromise Radio. Christ is enough. God bless you.
No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abenroth 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 six. 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.
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