Romans Six One

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.

Compromise Radio ministry.

Steve, that is the first time I�ve said that since late March 2017.

Yes, it�s been quite a while.

Okay, so here�s a true story.

I am on the tour bus in the Wittenberg area

during the Reformation 500 tour, and there�s a couple on the bus, and they were

No Compromise folks, and their names are Troy and Kathy.

Well, Kathy was excited about the show, and she was listening regularly, and so she said to Troy, this was

months before the trip, �You have to listen to this show.

So they listened to a Tuesday show, and she was all excited because she was going to get her husband

liking No Compromise Radio, and then Troy was telling me, he said, �And the show is awful.

You guys talked about nothing.

� And I looked at her and said, �This isn�t No Compromise Radio.

This is No Content Radio.

� Welcome to No Content Radio.

So he listened to a few other shows, and then he went on the trip.

Okay.

That was a nice song.

So I have the microphone in the front of the tour bus, and I would talk about

Staubitz and how he was listening to Luther�s Confessions, etc., and so one time

I�m on my 1 .5 speed, so I told Troy, I said, �Go up and sit in the front and give us a little tour.

� So he just sat down without even hesitating and said, �Welcome to No Content Radio.

� So we are back in the studio.

We�re recording some live shows.

Thank you for your patience the last April, May, June, July, August.

We just played reruns.

At least we had a lot of reruns.

I apologize for the Bugs Bunny reruns.

I think our strategy on Tuesday is typically we have fun together, and we have at least one theological

point, concept we�d like to address.

Is that true, usually?

What we try to get to is three in a poem, but sometimes it doesn�t always work out that way.

Was it Song of Solomon, you know, is unlike regular epistles, epistles, you know, three points in a poem, and Song of Solomon is a

poem in three points?

Excellent.

One of my kids said to me the other day, I was looking up something about Song of Solomon or they were going through the Bible and seeing it, and it said, �The Song

of Songs.

� Dad, why is it called the Song of Songs?

And so I had to give the answer.

Out of all Solomon�s songs, this is the song.

Number one.

With a bullet.

What have I done that�s up your alley, Steve?

I listened to some NPR show, and it was about

George Jones songs and how sad they were.

And then I watched some of the George Jones memorial, and Vince Gill couldn�t get through the song that

he was singing, he was crying.

And then another song Alan Jackson sang, a George Jones song, and

Garth Brooks is over the side.

He kind of stood up in honor.

And you could see George Jones� wife there weeping, and I thought, wow.

You talk about lamentations.

This is it right here.

He stopped loving her today.

That�s right.

So what else is happening?

Any kind of grandkid update before we get into the show, a very serious show today?

The grandkids are all good and growing and swimming and, you know, things

have been good.

We went to, Janet and I went to the U .K., and we went to

Storyland with the grandkids, and we had a wonderful time while you were gone.

I did not know there was a Storyland in the U .K., but, you know, I guess they�re all No, no, no.

We went to the one in New Hampshire.

Well, when I was in Santa Cruz this summer, I did not go on any rides down on the boardwalk.

They have this great old -fashioned wooden roller coaster called the Giant

Dipper, you know, 1923, or, you know, Wilt Chamberlain rode on it, et cetera.

But it throws me around too much, and now I know why Grandpa never went on the rides with me when I was a kid.

Too much excitement.

Well, for like three or four days, I can�t think.

You know, I�m just dizzy or something.

If I had a bad back, I would probably go on it, and it might crack my back and throw it back into place.

But my back was feeling good.

I didn�t want it to do the opposite.

What�s the motion sickness stuff?

I mean, if I�m ever going to go on it� Dramamine.

Yeah.

Dramamine.

I�d have to do that.

But, you know, like Storyland, it�s still calm enough.

Although, I did go on a roller coaster with one of the kids.

They have one, like, semi -serious roller coaster there.

And I was, you know, she�s going, �Let�s go again, Grandpa.

� And I go, �I don�t think so.

� You know, I don�t think so.

Let�s go get an ice cream slushie or whatever they are.

Yeah.

I had a Sonic slushie, kind of a lemon slushie.

That was good this summer.

Okay.

Well, that�s all the no content we can afford.

That�s all the no content.

We are going to Israel.

November.

That�d be nice, too.

February 2018.

You can go to No Compromise site or you can go to Pilgrim Tours or if you�re on Twitter.

You have a Twitter handle, don�t you?

I do.

It was kind of a� The Tuesday guy.

Is it at the Tuesday guy?

At the Tuesday guy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Or at No Compromise Radio.

I think No Compromise Radio�s Twitter says, you know, �By me are the staff� or something like that.

So, I have that little addendum on there because if I say anything stupid, I blame the staff.

Okay.

How about theological books?

Have you read anything good this summer or you like to encourage people to read something this fall that you�ve been diving into?

Theological books.

I mean, I�ve mostly been reading the

1689�what�s the book by�what�s his name?

Oh, that feller over there?

The Reformed Baptist guy.

Sam Waldron.

Yeah.

Yes.

I really do like the book you recommended on the Westminster, though, by Dix, is it?

Van Dixhorn.

Yeah.

Van Dixhorn.

It�s much more� User -friendly.

Yes.

So, you know, I�m like�I mean, sometimes I read what Waldron says and I�m like, �I don�t even

understand this.

� So, you know, not very helpful in some cases.

Van Dixhorn much more plain English.

And then I even busted out R .C. Sproul the other day because his We Confess

book, it kind of goes along with the Westminster Confession of Faith.

So, those, I�ve been doing a lot of that and, you know, but I�ve been reading a biography lately

of Ulysses Grant.

So.

� All right.

Well, tell me a little bit more about the 1689 slash.

Westminster Confession of Faith.

That�s a Sunday school class?

Why are you doing that?

What�s it about?

Well, we�re doing that because we changed over to the 1689, that�s our Statement of Faith.

And, you know, it�s interesting because as you�as we�re going through this book, I mean, just things

about the Garden of Eden and different things that you wouldn�t, you know, don�t typically come up in your

conversation like the Tree of Life, you know, and what would have happened if they would have the Tree of Life

before they ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and, you know, these kind of things.

What would have happened then and, you know, just interesting or, you know, what if they�I mean,

the speculation because it�s kind of speculative.

What would have happened if they would have eaten of the Tree of Life, it�s in Genesis, before

God kicked them out of the Garden of Eden?

Then they would have been fixed in a state of sin, you know, and so anyway, it was interesting.

I have that little app and it�s the Catechism and Confessions app.

If anybody wants to look for it, you can and it is called the

Christian Creeds and Reformed Confessions, James H. Price.

You can get that for free and I like it, Steve, because you can get Westminster Confession of Faith, the London

Baptist 1689 Savoy Declaration and the one that I�ve been reading lately is the Belgic Confession.

I wonder where they wrote that.

What was that?

Probably in Sapporo, Japan.

Sapporo.

Now that was funny.

If you were to ask me, but you haven�t asked me yet, what books I have been reading this summer?

What books have you been reading this summer?

Typically, well, I have read some books about George Washington, that type of thing,

you know, almost like Ulysses S. Grant type of book for you, but I�ve been studying the

topic of justification by faith alone.

I really think that is still a major issue if you wanted to use some of the Reformers terms with

Calvin and Luther and the hinge in which the church turns or stands or falls.

And, you know, I�m conflating all these things because I don�t have my notes.

Can you believe we do these shows without notes?

It�s kind of amazing because they�re so well scripted and, you know, put together.

It�s amazing to me that we don�t have notes.

Well, when we run this show through the Grammarly audio app, nothing really happens.

So we just wasted money on that.

Grammarly.

Anyway, I really can appreciate these scholastic endeavors when

it comes to justification by faith alone because, as MacArthur said, it�s a razor�s edge between

antinomianism and legalism, right?

If you are justified by faith alone or through faith alone,

what if you add a little evangelical obedience?

What if you become morally lax?

There is a fine line, but I don�t like it when people talk about sanctification

in the category of justification.

If you want to talk about it as something that naturally flows from justification and certainly justified people are

sanctified and will progressively be sanctified, those type of things are fine, but there�s a lot of

shenanigans going on with Schreiner and Piper and Moo and other folks when it comes to this.

Well, as an example, recently I entered into a mini -debate where somebody was saying that you need to

repent in order to be saved.

I�m like, �Okay, let�s just think about that now.

Well, that�ll probably be a whole show sometime.

Are there conditions and qualifications for salvation?

Do you have to forsake sin in order to be saved?

It�s all the Merrill Controversy stuff, right?

And if you say to people, �Believe and then the text says they repented or sometimes it�s

the other way around, is repentance ground for justification or is it

evidence or is it an instrument?

I like those kind of questions because we�ve got to go back to the ground of justification has to

be the perfect work of Christ Jesus and not any of our works because our works,

even sincere ones, are tainted.

Yes, they are.

Justification of sinners, Belgic Confession, Article 23.

One of the things I�ve noticed about confessions, Steve, is they�re devotional.

I mean, not every aspect, but many times they�re written in such a way where I think, �That was good.

That was encouraging.

� To me, the Reformed Confessions are like the Valley of Vision for other people.

I don�t usually read Valley of Vision.

Some great prayers in there.

I just don�t know which ones Baxter wrote.

I don�t like Baxter, so I�m afraid.

I do Valley of Vision on Thanksgiving when we�re all gathered together.

I can�t think so.

Gathered together to ask the Lord.

We believe that our blessedness lies in the forgiveness of our sins because of Jesus Christ

and that in it, our righteousness before God is contained.

There it is.

Okay.

Therefore, we cling to this foundation, which is firm forever, giving all glory to God,

humbling ourselves and recognizing ourselves as we are, not claiming a thing for

ourselves or our merits, and leaning and resting on the sole obedience

of Christ crucified, which is ours when we believe it.

That�s well said.

I mean, what do you add to that, right?

I mean, you ought to just read that and then sit down.

You know, I mean, that�s.

� There you go.

Well, before they did the mic drop, they also wrote, �In fact, if we had to appear before God

relying no matter how little on ourselves or some other creature, then alas,

we would be swallowed up.

Because, you know, our motivations, everything else are not� they�re not what they should be.

It�s interesting just, you know, going through the Gospel of John, what�s his motivation?

You know, it�s always to glorify the Father and it�s always to do the Father�s will and it�s always, you know, and it�s like,

okay, is that how I think?

Is that how I live?

Because that�s the standard, right?

Just how sincere must your motives be?

A hundred percent, you know.

If your motives are N, they need to be N plus one sincere.

That�s right.

Yeah.

Well, and here�s the thing.

My understanding of, you know, when I said a hundred percent, my understanding of a hundred percent would be inaccurate.

You know, what I consider a hundred percent, you know, would not be a hundred percent in God�s eyes and therefore,

you know, fall short.

As we might say in the theological realm, bell -curvish it might be.

Yeah.

Steve, what about this idea that justification by faith alone, God declares you

righteous in his eyes in the tribunal of God because of Christ�s perfect

works imputed to the believer�s account and then, of course, all the sins of the believer

imputed to Christ�s account by this divine reckoning, imputation.

What about the idea that it could lead to moral laxity?

I think the way I would phrase it, and maybe you can push back on it, that justification by faith alone could

lead to moral laxity, but it shouldn�t.

Well, I mean, we were talking about this the other day.

If somebody says, you know, it sounds like what you're saying, you know, from the pulpit or whatever it is, that I can do whatever I want,

you know, that I can sin, that grace may abound.

Well, then they basically, they understood.

You know, they got the grace part.

They just went a little overboard with it because if we understand

what Christ has done and we understand that we add nothing to it, then,

you know, that's the next question.

Well, then I guess I can do whatever I want.

Well, you won't want to.

You won't want to sin.

You know, that's, you know, you get those, the changed desires for the first time ever after you're saved, all of a sudden,

you want to obey even though you won't fully obey.

I think you'll understand where I'm going in just a second, Steve.

Okay.

If you simply keep reading your Bibles, after you read Romans chapter 3b,

4, and 5 about justification, how it works, who accomplishes it, what's it based on,

what are the grounds for it, what are the benefits from it, if you keep reading, then chapter 6, and this is

our verse for the day, right?

We have a lot of no content radio, but for today, Fred Butler, it is Romans 6 .1.

What shall we say then?

Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

By no means.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

And it goes on in that chapter and just talks about, you know, you're either a slave to sin or a slave to Christ.

So, you know, when you're set free by Jesus, you are

also enslaved by him.

You know, what does he say over and over again?

If you love me, you'll keep my commandments.

You know, those who follow me will take up their cross daily.

Well, what is he talking about?

You know, it is a matter of obedience.

Those who are saved do obey.

They don't obey perfectly, but they want to obey.

Belgic Confession, the next article after justification 23, the article is

24.

That seems perfectly reasonable.

I mean, it would be weird if it were 28 or something.

Sanctification of sinners.

It says, therefore, far from making people cold toward living in a pious and holy

way, this justifying faith, quite to the contrary, so works within them that apart

from it, they will never do a thing out of love for God, but only out of love for themselves and fear of being condemned.

It is impossible for this holy faith to be unfruitful in a human being.

Well, I mean, when you deal with somebody whose heart is really hard against the

things of God, it gives you pause.

You know, it makes you wonder.

You know, somebody is a professing Christian.

They've been coming and, you know, now their life is a mess and they look at you and say, well, I don't really care

about those things.

You know, I'm cheating on my wife or I'm, you know, I don't want to stop

taking drugs or whatever the situation is.

You have to look at them and go, okay, was this person ever saved in the first place?

Because no true believer, no child of God genuinely wants to disobey God.

Genuinely wants to live, I mean, well, let's put it this way.

And I've been thinking about saying this from the pulpit or, you know, Sunday school or whatever, maybe I have

said it, but the idea of maybe a rebel Christian, you know, one who

rebels against God, that's just, that's a contradiction in terms

that is, as I did say from the pulpit and had to explain, I said, you know, there are

incongruities.

There are things that just don't go together.

And that's that rebel Christian.

No.

Jesus was the ultimate rebel.

No, no, he was not.

And, you know, I had a CD of hymns and they had all these different hymns and one was called

the Rebel Jesus.

And I'm like, I hated that song.

Well, I just put that right up there with that Pat Boone album where he's got the black leather jacket.

He's what, 79 and a half years old.

He's on a motorcycle.

Doing Alice Cooper covers.

Uh -huh.

Sermonators and stuff like that.

I watched an Alice Cooper video the other day and he was explaining his Christian faith and

how he grew up and what he does.

And I think he opens up his house to the youth group at the church there in Phoenix now, like Bryn told me.

I saw a video that he did just talking about Glen Campbell and, you know, about how they….

Oh, that's right.

I saw that one too.

And I thought, well, you know, I don't know Alice Cooper, but, you know, it was interesting just how he's talking about

his faith, you know, kind of.

So, who knows?

Steve, when it comes to Romans 8, it says, There is therefore now no condemnation for

those who are in Christ Jesus.

Full stop, verse ends.

And you want to add things.

And many commentators do.

I mean, after all, justification, my faith alone, flip side of justification, there's no condemnation,

same language except one's positive, one's seen in the negative light.

If there's no condemnation, then could I live a morally lax life?

And the answer is, if you ask the question, as Steve said, and as Martyn Lloyd -Jones has said, if people

ask the question, at least they understand the free, sovereign grace of God and how it's lavished on sinners.

Well, I was reading the other day, Steve, Romans 8, verse 1 in the King James Version.

Right?

The authorized version.

Yeah, I did authorize it.

And maybe the listeners know the answer to this question.

I haven't studied it yet, but I will ask the question.

Why did they add in the later manuscripts, in the Byzantine manuscripts, Texas

Receptus type of vein, it says this, There is therefore now no

condemnation to those which are in Christ Jesus, comma,

now we got the little Mu ad, the little Shriner ad, who walk not after the flesh, but after

the spirit.

So there's no condemnation for you as long as you're walking after the spirit.

Legalism.

I know.

So I want to know why that was added in there.

It's almost as if you've got a scribe and he's writing this down and he realizes, wait, if I just say

there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, you know, the Bill Gothards of the world aren't going to

have a leg to stand on.

People are going to be running crazy.

Yeah, I know.

And I think I asked you the question earlier, the answer to my own question, can people, you know, could

people take this as, you know, antinomian?

I get to live a morally lax life.

If the answer is yes, but you shouldn't, if you really understand who God is, what he requires, what

justification is and what it does, you shouldn't want to.

Well, if I could say it this way, what the gospel should do for you as you think about

it, as you contemplate what Christ has done for you, it ought to humble you and make you think every day just

how blessed you are.

And if that's your mindset, you won't be thinking, what can I get away with?

You'll be thinking, how can I get to know Jesus better?

How can I follow him better?

You know, it's going to lead to sanctification.

It's when people think that almost of the gospel as a one -time act in their

minds, you know, it's that one -time belief, just a scent.

And then that, you know, and then they're done with it.

Well, Christianity isn't about a one -time decision.

It's about a life -changing decision.

In other words, with ongoing consequences.

We could put it in the perfect tense, right?

God does a one -time act in you, causing you to be born again, and then he transforms you

into the image of his son.

And when you're talking about tenses now, I'm thinking about the present tense.

Are you believing?

Right?

Are you a Christian?

You know, have you believed?

I guess that's a fine question.

That's how we talk.

That's parlance of the evangelical speak.

But are you believing, right?

Are you believing right now?

And can't we say to people who are struggling, who are tempted, who have fallen into sin, are you believing

that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior right now?

Are you trusting in his work?

Because if you are a sinner, you're a child of God, and God has not kicked you out of

the family because you've sinned, boy, that would be bad.

That would be really bad.

Oops.

Well, I mean, and again, what do you get into then?

Perfectionism.

You know, if I displease God.

And we've talked about Romans quite a bit.

If you look at Romans 8, after following 28, you know, what does he say?

Nothing will separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Nothing created, you know, nothing –.

Yeah, but I thought I could jump out of his hand.

No.

No, I guess I'm created.

Sorry.

Yeah.

Nothing, nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus, and that includes your

sin.

Well, you've been listening to No Content Radio today with Mike and Steve.

If you'd like a book recommendation, you could read 1689, Westminster Confession of Faith, Belgic Confession,

or Recovering from the Reformed Confessions.

No.

Recovering the Reformed Confession, R. Scott Clark.

That would be a good place to start.

See you next time.

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.

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