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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, ìBut we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour ,î 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 isnít for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as weíre called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.
Hereís our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.
Michael Lee Abendroth here with Stephen, I know your middle name, why is it not coming to me? Itís Bob. Stephen Bob Clee, SBC. I was originally part of the Waltons. Schlock Bible Church. Steve Bob. Steve.
Now, when I grew up, I did watch the Waltons some, because I think my sister liked it. And when the one sister called the other sister a ìhussy ,î that was like the worst four-letter type of word we could ever hear on TV, and now look.
It was a throw-down. Is that you, ìhussy ?î I donít know the etymology for ìhussy .î.
At least she didnít call her a shameless ìhussy ,î right?
Anyway, Iím glad to have Pastor Steve back on the show. Heís normally on Tuesdays, but between my schedule, sickness, GI stuff, you know what, Steve, itís making the rounds now. I came in and recorded a show during a colonoscopy prep day, and I said I was drinking so much broth that my new name was Mike Abendroth.
Itís making the rounds. Is it a hashtag? We are going to devote the next two shows to a basic doctrinal quiz. Wow. Basic. Ooh. Uh-huh. And itís made by someone else, itís not made by us, and itís, whatís this, Basic Life Institute?
Itís Bill Gothard.
Okay, good. So itís so basic, a five-year-old could do it. Whoís been in Rwanda for a year can...
No, this is from the White Horse Inn, and when I think of White Horse Inn, of course I think about the literal White Horse Inn, and then I think it was 1991. I started listening to Michael Horton, Kim Riddlebogger, and whatís his name, Dad Ron, Dad Paul, what was his name?
Ron Rosenstein. Rand Paul.
Rand Paul. I remember those days, though, when you were all excited and hopped up on, you know, ìOh, Steve, you got to listen Î Rod Rosenblatt.
I think heís the last guy. Yes, then Ken Jones came in, and Steve, you would find this probably interesting, I would listen to the White Horse Inn on KKLA in ë91, and then at 10 oíclock from, that was 9 oíclock, then 10 oíclock till midnight was Dennis Prager, and heíd interview a pastor, priest, and rabbi, heíd have them all on at the same time and talk theology.
Heíd interview a priest, a pastor, and a rabbi. In a bar.
So, we have a lot of work on our hands, Steve. There are 20 total questions, and weíre going to try to do 10 per show, so that means, what, two minutes a question? Weíre going to have to move. Okay, so you want me to ask, why donít I ask a couple, then you ask a couple.
Okay. All right, number one, these are all true and false questions, weíre in the section about God and Christ, true or false. Jesus was God, but only appeared to be human.
Remember, if part of the question is false, itís all false. And so, the second half is false. He only appeared to be human is false.
And when I think of you, I think about things, quirky things, like, how do you say false in German? Falsch. Nein, nein, nein, falsch, falsch, falsch. Thereís a Greek word, and itís then spinned into the heresy, and itís called dosatism, and it just means to appear.
It means, you know, He really wasnít God, but He kind of looked like it and did some things like it.
And He only appeared to be human, in this case, right? Oh, excuse me. Well, becauseÖ. You got the wrong heresy. Because the idea, you know, this dual Gnosticism, letís throw out the major, you know, Greek philosophical terms, this idea that the physical world is bad and the spiritual world is good, so itís okay that Jesus is God, but not that Heís actually human.
Yeah, the flesh is so bad and wicked and everything else. Are we talking about Neoplatonic dualism? Yes, we are. Paleo. I do love 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John, and itís amazing. Here we have the Gospel of Love, the Apostle of Love, rather, and the Gospels love, too.
And if you donít believe Jesus has come in the fleshÖ You areÖ Antichrist. There you go. Deceiver. Awful. Whitehorse Enlist, 2 John 7, ìMany deceivers have gone into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.
Such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist .î Boom. I donít want to fall into that category. Negative. By the way, Steve, I know we donít have tons of time. Why would Jesus have to take on human flesh?
Why is that He didnít have to take on real human flesh, blood, bones, skin?
As a second Adam, He had to live as a man to be tested and tried in every way as we are and yet without sin so He could not only live the perfect life but then die a substitutionary death. He had to be a man to die for men.
Perfect. Thatíd be a whole show, couldnít it? It could be. All right. It should be. So the first oneís false.
This is our next 20 shows, right? I know. I know. But thereís a reason why we canít do it that way. Right. I know. Maybe we back up. Question two, ìJesus was the first of all Godís created beings .î.
Man, the error falls out of my head here, the name of it, but this is false and this is the kind of thing that you would see from Jehovah Witnesses, from Mormons, from others. This is the idea that Jesus who created everything is the first of all created beings is a problem, Right?
You can't be the creator and created.
When we look at some of the ancient creeds even, and I love studying some of those, and it'll talk about Jesus, the only begotten, or I'll say Jesus begotten, comma, not made. Because they want to make sure when you hear words like begotten, that it's not an English word that means I beget my son and therefore he's created.
What does eternal generation mean? That's another show. But here we realize that Jesus, Hebrews 1, he creates everything. How can he be the first creation? Exactly.
And there's the issue. It's Arianism from Arius.
Right. And they rightly list here, Whitehorse Endo's, John chapter 1, in the beginning, was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was literally prostant on face to face with God. Don't we love John's genealogy?
It's the divine genealogy.
Yep. None of the begat, begat, begat. It's just straight to it. Okay. You want me to do number three? I'll read it. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go. Jesus had a human body and divine soul.
Well, we're on a roll with false. Basically, if you ever take a theological quiz, I think you just put false the whole way down.
It's pretty safe. You're probably going to pass with a false all the way down.
Now they give a verse here. I'd be interested to see what verse they give. You know, if you've got just humanity and not deity, or if you just have deity and not humanity, what's going on? Let's see what the writer of Hebrews says about true humanity.
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
For surely it is not angels he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God.
I want to be quick here, but wouldn't you say the trick to that one is the divine soul? You know, he had a human body, divine soul, that kind of denies the idea that he had a.
Human soul. Do you know what just popped in my mind, Steve, is the whole Benny Hinn deal where he would talk about nine parts of the Trinity, right? So you've got all this kind of wackadoodle stuff.
Yeah, the Trinity cubed, or however that word, I don't know what that is.
Well, they say in their answers, cheat, cheat, there was a tendency in the ancient church to say that matter is associated with humanity and spirit associated with divinity. With the divine, right? Yeah, that's what they were trying to go.
Okay, number four. All right, we're on a roll, actually. We're ahead of the game, I think.
In the Old Testament, God was known as the Father. In the New Testament, as the Son, and after Pentecost, as the Holy Spirit. Say it with me. One, two, three.
Go ahead and answer false. False, go ahead. Not verdad, that's for certain, false. That's modalism, Patrick. So we have Jesus appearing to be human, docetism, right? You have Jesus created being, Arianism.
You have now, modalism, why do they call it Sibelianism, do you remember? Because of Sibelius. That's exactly right. I think we should call junk cars Sibelius or something, you know, Saturn, Sibelius.
You ever buy a Saturn? Only for my daughter. Seriously? Yeah. Megan got one. I like the idea of you knew the price ahead of time, kind of like CarMax. Yeah, and they were safe.
You know, I mean, they were engineered to just be safe and that was my thing, you know, we're going to get our daughter a safe car, so.
I would imagine, left to an unillumined mind, how do we grasp one God and then three persons? Maybe the way they think through this is, well, he used to be the Father, then he came as the Son, and now he's the Holy Spirit.
What does that do for the Athanasius Creed where it talks about there's one eternal God, the Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Holy Spirit is eternal?
It does nothing for it, but this whole idea of modalism, I mean, and there are people teaching that these days, T. D. Jakes being one of the foremost, but what it really says is God is one person in three manifestations.
You might see that in a statement of faith at a church, and when you do, run.
Yeah, because they use 1 Timothy 3, that Jesus was manifest in the flesh, and that just talks about his preexistence as the eternal Son, and then he takes on humanity that has not anything to do with God the Father, then the Son, then the Spirit, three different times, three manifestations, or something like that.
We don't want to talk that way. Jesus manifest in the flesh, fine, Trinitarian modalistic manifestations, not good. Okay. Well, so far, I feel rushed, Steve. I know, I do too.
I mean, we should have just gone for, you know, let's ignore the clock and just go.
I know, because we could have milked a lot of shows out of this.
Well, you know, but union rules and all that.
There's a reason, dear listeners, why we're doing this, and you'll find out later, and I think it's not going to be as fun as we thought it was going to be. Okay.
All right, go ahead. Number five, Mary is the mother of God. True or false?
Pressure. Now, when I first read it, the old Mike theological kind of biblical, biblicism, easy to say, Henry Bibby, I'd want to say, of course not, because we're so anti-Roman Catholic in terms of their theology.
Not personally, I'm friends with Catholics, but, you know, that's how you always soften it. Oh, I have a friend that's Catholic. I love Catholics. I'm not against homosexuality. I have a friend who's homosexual.
I mean, that's just how we talk. But there is a historical context of this about Mary and Jesus. Now, what do we know for sure before we even get into this lingo? Jesus, he was conceived, right, by the Spirit of God in the womb of Mary.
Right. Do we know that for certain?
Yes, we do. Of course. And we know that because of that, because there was no male, Joseph had no part in this, that Jesus was born without sin, which is very, very important. I think, you know, where I kind of step back, Mary is the mother of God.
True in a sense, false in a sense, because is she the mother of the Father? No. And is the Father not God? Well, yes, he is. You know, is she the Father of the Spirit? No. You know, so is she the father of Jesus in his humanity?
Yes.
Yeah. And if it just means that Mary birthed the God-man, well, then we don't have any problem with that. I don't know why they didn't say something about Christotakos or something, that she was the mother of Christ.
Now, of course, Christ is God, and so we can get there that way. The Council of Ephesus said that Jesus is truly God, and the unity of his person by saying Mary indeed bore God in her womb, in that sense, that she's the mother of God, because the word became flesh, Mary mothered him.
So historically, that's what we're talking about. Yeah, and I don't even like their...
I find their answer confusing. I read it this morning, and I'm reading it again, and I still don't understand it. To affirm Mary is the mother of God is to affirm Christ is true man and true God, which is true.
She gave birth to Jesus, who is God, true. His human nature cannot be separated from his divine nature. I'm not really arguing that.
I know. Steve, I looked up a site that I really like because it's good intro, basic and true. Got questions? You ever go to Got Questions? Yeah, I go there a lot. So here's why Theotokos was used. Here's what Got Questions said.
They used that word to counter the heresy of Nestorianism, which cleaved the nature and person of Christ in two. Christ's human and divine natures were completely divergent and unconnected. According to Nestorius, Mary gave birth to Christ, but not to God.
Mary was the mother of humanity, which was distinct from his divinity. Jesus was two persons sharing one body, essentially. That's why they did it. So you can imagine there's some big heresy, and we say, no, no, that's not true.
She literally did bear God. And then we have all these caveats that go along with it. Does that sound better? Yes. So we've had a lot of different errors so far. Modalism. Nestorianism. Uh-huh. Historianism.
Biblicism. You're listening to Pastor Steve and Mike Abendroth here on No Compromise Radio. We're going over the Whitehorse Inn Basic Doctrinal Quiz. Why do you think they put that in there for basic?
They knew everybody was going to say the wrong thing.
Because yeah, I don't know, you know, just to embarrass people, I don't know. You want to do number six? Because this is one we talk about a lot.
So this is... Okay, I'll read number six then. God chooses people because He knows in advance they will choose Him.
God looks down the corridors of time. He sees who will believe. Look, if He chose people on their foreseen faith is the idea. This is the Arminian view, right? Arminius. That we all have free will, that our will is free enough to choose God, that He reserves that right to us or gives us that right.
And the truth is, it's just not seen in the Bible. God chose us in eternity past in Christ. You know, we constantly see whether it's Ephesians, well, Ephesians 1 explains Ephesians 2. God does everything before the foundations of the world choosing us, you know, Christ determined to come and save us, the Holy Spirit determined to seal us.
And why? Ephesians 2 tells us because we're dead in our sins and trespasses. There's nothing good in us, but God makes us alive together with Christ. That's important, Steve.
I'm glad you brought that up. If you don't understand original sin and the fall and how bad it was and it affected Adam's will, mind, conscience, emotions, body, everything, his whole person being, well, if you're not really fallen, then you can choose and God will look down the corridors of time.
Secondly, there's a problem because it wouldn't be predestination anymore. God determining your destiny beforehand, essentially it would be post-destination, right? God would learn something and he'd see that you choose and then he would choose you.
And I think Richard Sibbes said it, a lot of people said it, God didn't choose us because we were holy and blameless, but that we should be.
Well, you just said something important too, because if God learned something, we've got a God who changes and we've got a lot of problems.
Man who's not as bad as he really is and a God who isn't as perfect as he really is.
And not as sovereign as he really is, right? Yep.
Well, I think we're going on a pretty good pace here. Oh, let's just throw this in. What about foreknowledge though?
The Bible says that he foreknew us. Right. He foreknows people, not events.
That has stuck in my theological craw to this day, 30 some years ago, reading Pink's book on attributes and he has a foreknowledge of God section.
Steve's looking at the clock. I know, because we still have four questions to go. Number seven, the only way we can be saved is by the perfect conformity to the law of God.
Well, that is true. You go back to Adam and you think, okay, how is he going to be glorified? How is he going to get through this probationary period? And it's by doing God's law, meriting righteousness, doing the right thing, obeying God.
And that's the way it always is. And so the similar today, the doers of the law shall be justified. There's just a big problem though.
What's the problem? The problem is we can't do that, right? Because we are dead nurses and trespasses and we don't have the ability, you know, we're totally unable to obey the law of God.
I find it, uh, I find it, I find it with joy that they wrote down Galatians four as their proof texts there that Jesus was born under the law and he didn't have to obey the law to get his own righteousness.
He was already righteous. I say it a thousand times. He was inherently righteous, but he obeyed on our behalf. So you and I both like to say sometimes in the middle of a sermon or Sunday school class, are you saved by works?
And the answer is yes. What must I do to be saved? Said the rich young ruler.
Uh, Hey, what are the two commandments? Just do them and you'll be fine. Do this and live. Right? Just do those two little things. Love the Lord, your God with all our hearts on one strength, your neighbor as yourself.
No problem at all. Okay.
Number, number eight, I think you should ask this cause this comes right out of your old handbook. Yes, it does.
We are saved Mike by grace after all we can do.
Now you know the book of Mormon better than I do. But when I was in Salt Lake City, I stayed at a hotel. I saw the book of Mormon there at a Marriott and I asked if they could, if I could have it and take it, I didn't want to steal it.
And they said, someone will come up and talk to you about it, then give it to you. And I said, no thanks. They said, okay, take it anyway. I began to read second Nephi, second Nephi, second Nephangelist, whatever it's called.
Nephi. Yeah. And it said that verse and I could not believe it. I quick got my Bible open and turned to Ephesians two, you're saved by grace after all we can do. And so, you know, my shtick, how are you doing?
Yeah.
If that's the case. Yeah. I mean, the, the idea is, you know, you just, you run that one mile race and if you get close to the end and you start running out of gas, don't worry about it cause God got you.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Well, this is similar to other religions, Steve, where they'll say, God knows you can't really obey perfectly, but he'll take your sincerity into an account, into account. But even our sincerity, I mean, how sincere, right?
I know we're supposed to be sincere in our obedience, but are we really ever that sincere?
Well, you have to get sincere about your sincerity.
I think sincere means in Latin without wax, right? You break a pot, you hold it up and you put it back together. You hold it up and you go, oh, that's been broken cause I can see the wax coming through those cracks there, sincera.
Good info when you go to a yard sale this weekend. I know.
All right. Number nine. Let me ask this one. It says, number nine, white horse in quiz, basic doctrine. I am saved because of my decision to accept Christ. Yeah. Decisional regeneration, right? Because of my...
That's the key word, because.
Because the world is round. Because of my decision. Well, if that's the case, then how would I decide? You know, on what basis would I decide? My unfallen mind, my free will, my, you know, I mean, no matter how you slice it, what you're basically saying is you are morally neutral and able to choose Jesus, able to choose to believe.
And the fact is, again and again, what does the Bible say? Bible says the Holy Spirit causes you to be born again. The Bible says God made you alive. You know, the Bible never says that because of your choice, you have been saved, ever.
When we look at that word because that you emphasized, I just, if I was teaching my kids, I would put my finger over the B-E and you would see the word cause. What's the cause of your salvation? Now you respond, right?
There's fruit, there's evidence, there are other things, but who's on first? That's the issue. What the cause of your salvation? By the way, doesn't that affect our praise? You get to heaven, you think, well, you know, as my brother would say, we did it.
We did it. All right. Good pass. Right? NCAA tournament. Good pass. Nice job. But anyway, for us, we realized that since we were dead, we needed God to be the mover and Titus three. He saved us. And his pastor, Steve said, Ephesians two, four, but God, we are rich in sin, but he's rich in mercy.
Now we are almost, you know, decisional regeneration, by the way, it's, it's, it's like we do something that causes God to do it. It's the same root error of baptismal regeneration. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Number 10.
God is so sovereign. He can change his mind. Now that is sovereign. I go for the first part. God is so sovereign. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's, oh, father, you are sovereign.
But, but if he can change his mind, again, I don't think people realize that the problems that are, are caused by this, right? Because now he's, what, what would cause him to change his mind? He, something comes along that he, he wasn't aware of, uh-oh, now he doesn't know everything.
You know, he sees a better option, uh-oh, that means that he's not all good, you know, and that he's not all wise and that he's no, so all of these kind of, can God do this even though that, well, they're just theologically problematic and they lead to a God that we cannot rely upon.
Since God is so sovereign, he would never change his mind, right? Doesn't sovereignty just drive out all these decisions and you think about providence and look back in your life and you think, no, no, no, it's all been one big plan.
Even the word decree and purpose in the Bible, one singular decree or purpose. I live my life with flow charts, sadly, if this, then that, right? But not with the Lord.
Right. I mean, I, I like the verse here, Psalm 33 11, the counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
And I just still find this so wonderful because I could be in a bad mood, I could be in a good mood, sleep affects me, headaches affect me, my emotions affect me. I'm up and down and up and down. That's why the, the creeds talk about God doesn't have passions, right?
Emotions that would change all the time. One minute mad, one minute angry. And if it does talk about it, it's just language of accommodation.
In simple language, he is not like us.
Well, we've talked today, the WHI basic doctrinal quiz,. Steve, how do you think our audience did?
You think they're in the know? I hope they did pretty well, but you know, the most important thing is that they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in him alone for their salvation.
Truly God, truly man.
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 six, we're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.