Jesus Is Lord of His Church

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.

Hebrews 1, Psalm 2, and the Son’s Royal Coronation

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth and I meant to get a coffee before I did the show and now I have to go without. I had some tests done this week and I had to go for 48 hours without having caffeine.

It wasn�t as bad as I thought, but I seemed to feel tired when that happened. But I�m tired right now, too. So how does that all work out? I have in front of me the message quote, Bible end quote, and I did watch the Bono Eugene Peterson YouTube deal on, what was it, 13 Minutes or something like that.

Of course, some of the things they said were true, some of them I just couldn�t believe how awful it was, but it made for good Christian TV, I guess. I�m preaching Hebrews chapter 1. After he finished, the message says, �The sacrifice for sins, the Son took his honored place high in the heavens right alongside God.

I hate that because the right hand has power, preeminence, superior place, an honored place. The Son sat alongside the Father, far higher than any angel in rank and rule. Did God ever say to an angel, �You�re my son, today I celebrate you.

No, he didn�t. Come on, if you�re Jewish today even, but especially back in the Bible days, and you read the Psalms, what were your favorite Psalms? Maybe Psalm 51, maybe Psalm 1, maybe Psalm 23, I�m sure you�ll have your favorites.

If you lived back then, I�m sure you had your favorites. But if Psalm 110 and Psalm 2 weren�t at the top of the list, hoping, Messiah, dreaming, the Anointed One, longing for kings coming back, God�s Son, the Messiah, and the writer of Hebrews writing to Hebrews about the Hebrew Jesus, telling them to stop being Hebrews, the old covenant system, �Today I celebrate you.

Friends, it should be, �Today I have begotten you. That�s Psalm 27, �If memory serves. It should serve me since this is radio and I have to prepare four hours for each show. I listen to that Dan Carlyle, Hardcore History, Prophets of Doom, four and a half hours.

How long does it take him to do that show? But he probably has Don�t Eat buttons everywhere. I guess we have one on the right-hand side. �Today I celebrate you. That�s one of the problems with these looser translations.

I was reading the new RSV and the NIV 2011, 2 Timothy 3 and verse 16 and 17 about all scriptures inspired, you know, God breathed, that the man of God and then it says the children of God or the people of God or something like that.

Man of God is making you think old. If you�re thinking Old Testament, that�s the preacher, that�s the proclaimer, that�s the prophet, that�s the man of God. This is like an office. Would you rather be called reverend, father, pastor, preacher, man of God?

Man of God told you the proclaimer, the Old Testament proclaimer, Jeremiah. Jeremiah, today I celebrate you. Well, the father did celebrate the son and when was this today moment? Today, well, of course, the son was eternally the son, but Acts chapter 13, we�ll talk about this in another show, using language of coronation, you�re getting a new king.

This is the language of royal coronation. Today you�re my son. Here�s the highlight, the resurrection with the resurrected body and now seated at the right hand of God, the father, that�s the language and of course, God didn�t say that to any angel, but he said today I�ve begotten you, that triggers your mind, Psalm 2 .7, Psalm 2 .7, like where does it say in the Old Testament, I�m going to celebrate you?

Celebration times, come on, celebrate good times, come on, I don�t know if that�s considered or not. Or, I�m his father, he�s my son, does God speak in contractions, by the way? When he presents his honored son to the world, he says all angels must worship him.

Anyway, here�s the point, with the drifter�s magic moment, we have the message moment, I don�t have a sound crew, so I can�t play that music right now, but I was thinking about Hebrews chapter 1, which made me think of Hebrews chapter 2, which made me think of Psalm 2, today I celebrate you, no, I celebrate, today I�ve begotten you.

Whose Church Is It?

Many times in the Christian faith, we have to ask this question, whose church is it? Now, we can ask that at a local level, Bethlehem Bible Church, whose church is it? And once in a while, you might hear a pastor say, I try not to, but I am prone to, wonder, Lord, I feel it, I might say my church, it�s rare though, I�ve tried to correct that, but sometimes I think it, and the universal church, whose church is it?

Now, why is this such an important concept today on No Compromise Radio? If it�s your club, it�s your rules, okay, we�re going to build a fort out in the backyard, it�s 1970, and we have crew cuts, we are in Omaha, Nebraska, we have a code, the code is Go Big Red, and unless you say that code and are part of a group, you can�t get in our tree house, in our tree fort, in our special club, we make the rules, and there are plenty of things in life that the people make the rules, and I�m fine with that.

If you go to the gym that I go to, they have certain rules, you know, rack your weights when you�re done, pay these dues, there are other clubs, fraternals, there are lodges, there are societies, there are parties, i .e. politics, and they have rules.

Nobody says, �Hey, you know what? We don�t like those rules and we�ll make up our own. Now, they might say it, but technically what happens is you�re out of the club, you�re out of this society, and now go start your own, you can have your own rules, but the rules here that have existed, our founding fathers had these rules, here�s how we do it.

So, you get my point. Since the church is Jesus�s, then we have to do what he says. This is especially important these days with feminism, and I am seeing a rise in, within the evangelical ranks, within the evangelical rank and file, a softer complementarianism, a softer view on the Bible when it comes to women�s roles and men�s roles.

And I guess technically you�re still a complementarian if you say that preachers should be men on Sunday morning, but some are going so far as to functionally say, �Men and women have no difference functionally except for the one hour the pastor�s up there preaching.

And lots of times in those churches, it�s only a half hour anyway, so it�s not that big a deal. I guess we can have men reign over us for 30 minutes a week, and I guess some would say it�s still men only for elders.

But there�s a blurring, there is a caricature of the far conservative side of complementarianism. I mean, think about it, egalitarianism, complementarianism, there�s a broad range of views as we find ourselves in different areas, you know, like there are five-point Calvinists and there are five-point Calvinists.

Anyway, I hear my phone over there buzzing, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, it�s probably a telemarketer. But we must remember, and this will help you in many ways, shapes, and forms, it�ll help you serve better, it�ll help you praise better, it�ll help you be more content, it�ll help you be more thankful, and the list goes on.

Christ Bought the Church With His Own Blood

We are in Jesus�s church. It�s Jesus�s church. It�s His bride. Acts 20 .26. �Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men Paul is preaching, �for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

Be careful, Scari, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood. Now, the reference there to God must be God the Son.

Regularly we�ll see God used of the Father, no problem there, because there�s one God, one God subsisting in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and never do we see the Father is the Son and the Son is the Spirit or the Spirit is the Father.

That�s the Trinity. When we see here God, which He obtained with His own blood, the Father doesn�t have any blood. He is a Spirit. And Paul says, �I�m no longer accountable before God, who obtained this church with His own blood, because I preached everything.

I taught it all, to use the language of the English Old Testament. I taught from Genesis to Malachi and everything else that God would have me teach. I, to use the language of a Hebrew person, I taught everything from Genesis to 2 Samuel.

I taught it all, from A to Z, from Abel to Zechariah, Genesis to 2 Samuel. I�m not accountable anymore. I�ve fulfilled my duty. I�ve blown the trumpet. I have educated. I�m no longer responsible. Danger is no longer my middle name.

My problem is I�m looking outside at someone, so I�m not thinking of the show. Now, there could be turkeys. I mean, I don�t mean literary turkeys in a literal way. Turkeys are figurative way turkeys. But my point is, Paul preaches all the counsel of God.

He talks about the redemptive sweep of God�s saving work. He preached the word in season and out of season. He reproved. He rebuked. He exhorted. He had great patience. He taught doctrine, that is, instruction.

He talked about election. He talked about justification. He talked about propitiation. He talked about the eternal Father sending the eternal Son. And now he says, �I want you to pay attention. Watch over yourself.

And he is giving a charge. He is giving direction. He is giving an exhortation to the church elders at Ephesus. You have a pastoral responsibility. Here�s what Paul is saying. �You do what I did when I try to teach ushers around the church to be good ushers.

I tell them, �Treat people like I do. Now, here�s what I mean by that. Imitate me as they imitate Christ. I try to be nice to people when they come. I try to say, �Oh, you�ve got children. Let me walk you down to the nursery.

I try to say, �The sanctuary�s over here. There�s coffee over there. There�s such and such. There�s the bathroom. There�s the bubbla. All these type of things. For use of those that don�t know, bubbla, is the water fountain.

Act like I act. And Paul, �Hey, man, act like I act. Pay attention to yourself. This is important. Oh, he talks about the flock here, of course, but he also calls it the church. Jesus�s blood. Jesus bought the church.

That means it�s his. Now, think of redemption. I know you�re going back to Exodus, but if you think of Ephesians 1, that�s in my mind because we�re memorizing that, �In him we have� present tense, read verse 7, Ephesians 1, 7, �In him, in Christ, we have redemption.

Present tense, we always have it. �Through his blood, forgiveness of sins. So, what�s redemption? We are slaves to sin. We have been purchased out of the slave market of sin. Just imagine being a slave sold to someone.

The purchase price is called the ransom. The ransom price is the death of Jesus. It�s his blood. When we use blood, a metonym, that is a word that�s got kind of like a zip drive function. Metonyms do, and it means a lot.

It�s theological shorthand. It�s shorthand for substitutionary atonement, atoning work of Jesus. He pays his own blood. Since we have now been justified by his blood, right? That�s Romans 5, 9. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

It is his blood that pays his own blood. His ransom, his flock, his church, his bride. The death of Christ is the purchase price. The death of Christ is the purchase price. Bought with a price, 1 Corinthians 6.

Bought with a price, 1 Corinthians 7. All right, now let�s think. Bethlehem Bible Church was not bought with my blood. It was not bought with the elder�s blood. Therefore, it�s not my church. Whose church is it?

It�s Jesus. What does the leader Jesus say to do? It�s found in the New Testament, specifically pastoral epistles. Revelation 21, 9. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bulls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, �Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb�s wife.

Any kind of turf war in the church, any side, any side to root for, to be on, let�s say there�s two separate sides of something, you better be very careful. Why? Because Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18, �I will build your church, Peter.

No, he said, �And also I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. This is Jesus�s church. Well, I don�t really like the worship songs at our church. Now, assuming that they�re biblical, I mean, we cannot like the sappy, sentimentalized, Debbie Boone-like Air Force One stuff.

Air One, Air Force One. But assuming they�re biblical, this is for Jesus. There should be a different question that�s asked. We ought to handle Christ�s church with care. Why? It�s blood-bought. That word �blood� should unlock everything for us.

He obtained with his own blood. Jesus calls the shots. Jesus is Lord. Jesus tells us what he expects in light of who we are as children of the living God. What to do, how to do it, how to go about it, even when he talks about living by faith and walking by faith.

Maybe we should, when we remember the cost of the church so we can handle it with kit gloves, �solo. Maybe we need to add another �sola. Sola, �sanguis. I think that�s the Latin word, �sanguis. S-A-N-G-U-I-S.

Blood alone. We owe our salvation to the blood of Christ, don�t we? We owe our salvation to the death of Christ, don�t we? The church is built by Jesus, isn�t she? When you sing songs like, �Alas, did my Savior bleed

Are you washed in the blood? Nothing but the blood. There�s power in the blood. There�s a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel�s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. E 'er since by faith I saw the stream, thy flowing wound supply, redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die.

What was the purchase price of the church? Christ�s blood, His vicarious death. Blood is used as a substitute for the word �death. Matthew 20, 28, �Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.

He�s talking about His death. I like that old story with John Wesley. We have to have a Wesley story here and then, here and there, now and then, here and then, now and then, here and there. He was coming home from a service, robbed.

The only thing he got though, the robber, was a little money and some Christian literature. Wesley calls out when the guy is leaving, �Stop, I have something more to give you. You may live to regret this sort of life.

Wesley said, �If you ever do, there�s something to remember. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. And according to that little pocket deal, our daily bread. Years later, Wesley was greeting people after Sunday service when he was approached by a stranger.

What a surprise to learn that this visitor, now a believer in Christ as a successful businessman, was the one who had robbed him many years before. �I owe it all to you said the transformed man. �Oh, no, my friend Wesley exclaimed, �not to me, but to the precious blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin.

Sin is costly. Sin is deadly. Sin kills. Sin corrupts. But the blood of Christ is enough. That�s the purchase price. And remember, when we�re saying blood, it�s not like Jesus got his face beat up and anybody that got blood on them got saved.

But think like a Jew, and without the shedding of blood, there�s no forgiveness. Sin costs, and there has to be a sacrifice. Not a strangulation, but a sacrifice. And the Jews would never think just merely blood.

They�d think a symbol of sacrificial death, shorthand for Christ�s substitutionary penalty, death. Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things, 1 Peter 1, like silver or gold from your futile ways of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Christianity, I would say, is a bloody religion. Steeped in religion. Seeped in religion. Soaked in blood. Did I say seeped in religion? I didn�t mean that. I meant in blood. So when Stephen Chalke writes Lost Message of Jesus, Zondervan 2004, the church�s inability to shake off the great distortion of God contained in the theory of penal substitution with its inbuilt belief in retribution and the redemptive power of violence has cost us dearly.

Ipecac. Not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood. He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Hebrews 9 .12. Bethlehem Bible Church, no compromise.

Radio listeners, the church is not yours. You didn�t buy it. You�ve been bought. And since you�ve been bought, then you do what God says. And if God says, I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over man, it�s his church.

To quote MacArthur, if you don�t like that, well, then just pick a different name because Christianity�s already been taken. There�s all kinds of new religions made up by people. I guess you can go I�d rather have you submit and repent, but just don�t call yourself a Christian if you�re going to say, well, I�ll do whatever I want.

We�ve been told what to do. We haven�t just been given natural revelation and we just kind of make things up as we go. No, we�ve been told what to do and how to go about it. We have a sufficient word that tells us exactly how to think and act and do and believe in a local church.

Whose church is it? Well, Paul said, it�s Jesus�s church. And since it�s Jesus�s church, Acts 20, I taught everything. Now, you guys, here�s the baton. You teach everything. What I did, you do. It�s Jesus�s church.

It�s not just Paul�s church. Now, Paul�s gone. You do what you want. It�s not your church. No, it�s the Lord�s church. And I think if you ask yourself the question, I�m serving the Lord in this dishes ministry.

I�m serving the Lord and his people in the nursery. I�m serving the Lord with this audio-visual stuff. That so motivates. God has saved you, redeemed you, and you have trusted in Christ Jesus, and now you think, you know what?

I want to serve him with joy and with gladness as an adopted son. That is amazing. You can write us info at NoCompromiseRadio .com. And if you�d like to write us a letter, it�s Bethlehem Bible Church, 307 Lancaster, West Boylston, Massachusetts, 01583.

You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org, or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.