A Sheep Remembers

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.

New Year Update and Health Report

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and it is a new year. Glad to be alive this new year. It is, if I have my calendar here in front of me, January 4th, Tuesday, 2022.

And, um, I think weíre back to normal, and weíll start having live shows Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, sermon on Monday, and rerun on Friday. Thanks for being patient with me. My health is pretty good.

Like now, I just started talking, Iíll probably, you know, breathe like that a little bit here or there, but overall, things look pretty good. I had a CAT scan, and they compared it to the first CAT scan and said, weíre probably, you know, they said, weíre, weíre, you probably shouldnít be here.

Weíre surprised that youíre standing here looking at the new CAT scan, which looked a lot better than the old one. And I said, what are my chances, odds, you know, statistically speaking, probably in six to 12 months, I should be back to 90%.

And I probably wouldnít even notice the difference between the 90 and 100 unless I was cranking it on the bike, which I hope to do someday. I am tired. I have kind of COVID fog sometimes. I said to my son the other day, I wanted him to move the refrigerator, and Iím like, would you move the, Iím like just pointing at it, I forget the name of it, uh, can you move the, uh, air conditioner?

So, that kind of stuff. But as long as I donít do that in the pulpit, and what if I said youíre saved because of faith? Well, that would be a heresy. What if I talked about infused righteousness to stand before God on Judgment Day?

That would be wrong. I have to be very careful, imputed, infused, imparted, we have to know these words, right? Prepositions matter, words matter, theology matters, sin matters, the Lord Jesus matters.

So, overall, thank you for praying, uh, back preaching every Sunday, went to New York City with my friend Andy, Pastor Andy there at Providence Reformed Baptist, whatís it called? Probably something like that.

Excuse me. And feeling pretty good, uh, hope to travel, uh, to California here in March and just kind of get back to life, back to normal. Iím riding the life cycle or walking on the treadmill, usually an hour a day, not, not killing it in terms of calories burned, but anyway, feeling much better, thankful to be alive, literally.

Psalm 150, verse 6, ìLet everything that has breath praise the Lord .î And to have breath and to have oxygen, uh, lots of people around me I know have COVID Omicron, but I havenít been affected. I think I have immunity from the Delta.

And Iíve heard, by the way, and I, this is not usually fodder for the show, that if you get Omicron, itís a lot, um, better in terms of, itís not as bad rather for your respiratory system. And itís kind of a, kind of a, see, now Iíve got the brain fog, uh, it gives you better immunity against Delta.

But anyway, my name is Mike Abenroth, No Compromise Radio. Uh, I got another Patreon supporter, so I think weíre at 11 Patreon supporters, Iím very thankful for that. I want to try to encourage you as I talk about the Lord Jesus.

Money, Ministry, and Christian Consumerism

I donít know if you know this, but the show, No Compromise Radio, used to be a lot more popular when I would just go after people all the time. And then now that I talk about Jesus more, we donít have as many followers.

But it is what it is, and, uh, I will be content to be the F-list celebrity. Speaking of which, I noticed, uh, the other day, thereís a booking, like, talent agency type of thing for speakers. And you can get all kinds of speakers, and you just have to go through the agency, and thereís a fee, and Iím sure this agency gets, you know, part of the honorarium.

And it is wild. Uh, David Platt, for instance, if you want to book him for a speaking engagement, itís $10 ,000 to $20 ,000. Tim Keller, $5 ,000 to $10 ,000. Matt Chandler, $5 ,000 to $10 ,000. Tillian Tevigean, $10 ,000 to $20 ,000.

And I just thought, yikes, Iíve always thought, you know, people that require money to come and speak, uh, the Ted, uh, Paul, excuse me, not Ted, but the Paul Tripps of the world. It just, somethingís wrong with all that.

This is just all carnal. And then to see it in black and white, $10 ,000 to $20 ,000? Now, if I, I mean, this has never happened to me, but if you said, ìWe would like to have you come speak, Mike Abendroth .î And I would say, ìSure.

What are the dates? What are the message titles? Tell me, you know, a little bit more about it .î I, I donít ask for any money, right? And when we ask for people to come here to speak at conferences, if they ask for money, we just, you know, that just, we just close up shop.

You know, itís assumed that people pay for the flights and everything else, and if some businessman said, you know, ìYouíre flying five hours or 15 hours to Tel Aviv or something, and we want to bless you, and hereís a, uh, first-class ticket .î Well, okay, that part I get.

But if I demand a first-class ticket, and if I, somebody hand me a check, and it was $10 ,000 for two weeks of ministry overseas, Iíd be in shock, first of all, because Iíve never received anything like that.

But if they gave it to me, because thereís a bit, like I said, a businessman that wants to bless, okay, fine. But if I say, ìItís $10 ,000 to get me ,î itís some, this is just really, really awful. I mean, even when I look at the ChristianBook .com CBD calendar, uh, catalog, rather, I just think, ìOh, brother, what, what, what are we doing ?î And Iím sorry to say, many, many times itís about the money.

Itís about the money. And you look at Bibles, and how much money you can make on study Bibles, and new translations, right? How many new translations do we need, right, over and over and over? And I understand that Zondervan wants theirs, NIV, so they donít have to pay other people.

I understand that Southern Baptist want theirs, so they donít have to pay other people. I get all that. But it is really, really something when you just watch, you know, the Sarah Young page, and itís ìJesus Calling for Christmas ,î ìJesus Listens Gift Collection ,î ìJesus Calling Large Print ,î ìJesus Calling for First Responders Exclusive Editions .î You heard me right.

Did you know you can get ìJesus Calling ,î that blasphemous book written by Sarah the Channeler Young, and it says, ìReward heroes with peace and joy from the Lord .î What do you mean, ìfrom the Lord ?î Itís from this ladyís head.

I mean, I guess if you eat enough peyote, you can come up with anything. I mean, it sounds like God is talking as if he was a 48-year-old woman, or whatever age she is. But you can get ìJesus Calling for First Responders ,î ìArmed Forces Members ,î ìFirefighters .î These are each, you know, each one, you get four different ones, ìLaw Enforcement Officers ,î and ìMedical Professionals .î I went to the boot barn not that long ago, and I wanted to get some boots, because I donít have any cowboy boots.

I havenít had any for quite some time, and I thought, you know, itíd be nice to get some cowboy boots, and my wife and I go out and dance a little bit. I did take her dancing the other day, and I didnít do too poorly in terms of my lung capacity.

I feel like somethingís stuck in my throat now, but we were happy to dance, and anyway, I got some boots, and so I went up to the cashier at the boot barn, and they said, ìAre you a First Responder ?î I said, ìNo, but Iím sure thankful for the First Responders .î I sometimes think Iím a First Responder because Iím a pastor, and the guy looked at me and goes, ìThatíll count .î So I got $179 boots, which I was going to pay, for $99.

So now Iím doing boot barn commercials. Itís the boot barn. I would say, when I think of money and these Christian gifts and all that, if you go to a typical Christian bookstore, I donít think they have many these days, but they make more money selling little trinkets than they do good books.

But when you look at these authors, Iíd say ñ letís see, I donít want to exaggerate or over-exaggerate ñ 90 of the books are just garbage, and that means even some books written by good authors, we donít even really need.

How many how-to books do you need? How to overcome depression? How to have a better marriage? How to raise your children? How to overcome anxiety? How to communicate better? Thereís a lot of how-to books, and I guess some are fine.

How to interpret the Bible, how to see Christ in the Old Testament, how to preach. I get it, but theyíre just ñ I mean, come on. Why are people spending their money on this? Discerning the Voice of God DVD curriculum, of all places, of all things.

Itís only $149 for the DVDs, but anyway, thatís it for Mike Ebenroth today on Rampage stuff. What else is happening in the news? I think itís interesting to watch pastors and other leaders when it comes to opening up churches.

Romans 13 and the Misuse of Government Authority

I think probably the most misunderstood, misused, misapplied verses for 2021 would be Romans 13. Iíd like to talk about that sometime here in the future. I think I was duped for a while on a certain way to think about Romans 13, but Iím not duped any longer.

At church now, I started a new series, Ephesians, and I wanted to do an overview, so Iím doing two sermons per chapter. So thereís six chapters, and Iím going to do a total of 12 sermons. It might turn into 15, but around 12 sermons to give an overview of what the Lord Jesus is doing in His church.

David Calhoun's A Sheep Remembers and Psalm 23

So the rest of the time today, the 15 minutes that I have left, I want to talk about David Calhounís book entitled, ìA Sheep Remembers .î You know, itís one thing for me to dog practical how-to books and then give you nothing in place of that.

So I thought today, out of my magnanimous heart, which, by the way, when you go through trials, the Lord lets you see what youíre really like, and itís not too good, often, especially if weíre honest with ourselves, and you realize, okay, when the proverbial chips are down and youíre saying to yourself, hmm, Iím at the end of my rope, and it could be judgment day, or it could be eternity, weíre already judged as Christians, and that already happened, so thereís no condemnation in Christ, but man, sometimes you donít like what you see.

And then you make a lot of resolutions, and you, you know, if I get better, Iíll do this, that, or the other. Itís crazy. But while I was sick, I read a book, Banner of Truth book, and most everything that they do is excellent, with a few exceptions, Richard Baxter.

And thereís a book written, A Sheep Remembers, by David Calhoun. Now, David has gone to the Lord, I think, last year. You probably know him, if you know anything about theology, that he wrote the two volumes on Princeton Seminary for Banner of Truth.

Thatís probably what he is the most well-known for, unless you sat under his tutelage at Covenant Theological Seminary for, whatís, 30 years he taught there, church history. David Calhoun. And what he did in this book is he, while sick, started walking through Psalm 23, ìThe Lord is my shepherd .î.

And thatís why itís entitled A Sheep Remembers, because the Lord is our shepherd, and we are his sheep. And when you walk through this, you are going to be encouraged. Iíve been moved to tears reading this book, thinking about the compassionate shepherd that I have, the tender shepherd, even back in that little childrenís poem, remember, about Psalm 23, ìJesus, tender shepherd, hear me.

Bless thy little lambs tonight .î Psalm 23. So I want to encourage you to get Jesus Calling for firefighters who are left-handed and have IQs over 100. Is that a book? I want to encourage you to pick up this little book, A Sheep Remembers, and you can pick one up for yourself and maybe for your pastor or someone else in ministry.

Very, very encouraging. And so he starts off each chapter with a little segment of the psalm, ìThe Lord is my shepherd .î. And then he has certain sections, and these are the sections. The first section, after the introduction, is commentary.

And he will pull commentary quotes from a variety of different scholars. For instance, Martin Luther said that the words ìThe Lord is my shepherdî are brief but also very impressive and apt. The world glorifies and trusts in honor, power, riches, and the favor of men.

Our psalm, however, glories in none of these, for they are all uncertain and perishable. The Lord is my shepherd speaks a sure, certain faith which turns its back on everything temporal and transitory, however noble and precious it may be, and turns its face and heart directly to the Lord, who alone is Lord and is and does everything .î.

Luther concludes, ìIn this single little word, shepherd, there are gathered together in one almost all the good and comforting things that we praise in God .î. The first section is the commentary, and it goes on.

And he'll give quotes and little insights from scholars of the past and of the present. And then he moves to some prayers and quotations and stories. And this is like a pastor who would tell you what the passage says and means.

And then it's this, I don't want to call it practical application. It's an expansion of why this truth matters for today. The Puritans would say all doctrine is practical and all practices is doctrinal.

And he goes through some prayers, quotes, stories of encouragement for people who need a shepherd, who are going through difficult times. And for me, I was going through this time of, you know, respiratory failure, and it was comforting to me.

Well, the last part of every chapter is his testimony. It's called My Testimony. Sorry, I'm still coughing. And what he would do is he would relate his personal struggles with health issues. In light of remembering this shepherd as a sheep.

And he said in this particular section, after seeing my mother's picture and hearing my father preach on the Good Shepherd, I said to my mother that night, he was little, I want Jesus to find me. She replied with biblical wisdom I did not understand until much later.

He already has. And then he gives the poem, I sought the Lord and afterward I knew. He moved my soul to seek him, seeking me. It was not that I found, O Savior true, no, I was found of Thee. And he in a wonderful way relates how when he was a kid and he went to go hear his dad preached and he was thinking about the 90 and the nine and the Good Shepherd and finding that sheep.

And I just found it so touching. I want Jesus to find me. I mean, that is just so great. Well, my name is Mike Avendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. You can always write me, Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com.

I get a few people writing here and there. I'm thankful for that. Like I said, the bandwidth of the show, maybe because I've been sick and there's been no content, no new content. But overall, it doesn't matter if, you know, whatever the downloads are, a thousand, fifteen hundred per show, then that's fine.

I mean, I'm surprised one person listens. David Calhoun struggled a lot with health. And I'm trying to find the page that talks about how many times he had to go into surgery and had chemotherapy. In the chapter, He Restores My Soul, chapter three, he starts off with Horatius Bonar's 1843 poem, I was wandering sheep.

I did not love the fold. I did not love my savior's voice. I could not be controlled. I was a wayward child. I did not love my home. I did not love my father's voice. I loved afar to roam. The shepherd sought his sheep.

The father sought his child. They followed me over hill and dale, over deserts waste and wild. They found me nigh to death, famished and faint and lone. They bowed me with the bands of love. They saved the wandering one.

Jesus my shepherd is, t 'was he that loved my soul, t 'was he that washed me in his blood, t 'was he that made me whole, t 'was he that sought the lost, that found the wandering sheep, t 'was he that brought me to the fold, t 'was he that still does keep.

I mean, now that's good. I mean, if you talk about Free Church of Scotland preaching, that is excellent. And then he has the stories and the prayers, and then he has the testimony. And you are going to be encouraged.

Providence, Psalm 23, and the Mercy of God in Suffering

Okay, I've got my little sheet right here, my cheat sheet. And here is Spurgeon on Psalm 23 in David's little book. Look at the past and see how he has guided you. How very little you and I have had to do with it after all.

We have struggled. We have fretted. We have repined. We have fumed against the workings of providence. But after all, I do not know that we have had much more to do with it than the sheep in the stream has to do with the way in which it has floated to the other side.

And of course, if the Lord is providential and faithful in the past, and he doesn't change, then we see him in the future. Well, I found the pasture that I'm looking for. I found the chapter that I'm looking for, chapter 5.

And you can tell why this is going to mean something to me, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. The very valley of deep darkness, as the Hebrew might translate Psalm 23, verse 5.

He talks about Samuel Radegast's poem, Whatever my God ordains is right. Here shall my stand be taken. Though sorrow, need, or death be mine, yet I am not forsaken. My Father's care is round me there.

He holds me that I shall not fall. And so to him I leave it all. Well, he, David Calhoun, the author, talked about his lymphoma. And here's the section that I thought was pretty amazing. The cancer that began in my neck spread to my throat and then to the colon, requiring over 50 colonoscopies during the next 25 years.

I mean, for me now, I'm 61, and there was cancer in my family. So I started getting colonoscopies, I think when I was 40, and then every five years. I don't know, I've had four or five, and they're no fun.

All the stuff you have to drink ahead of time, go lightly, they call it. That is amazing. David said, occasionally my cancer would be in remission for a year or two, but it always seemed to return. After I retired from teaching at Covenant Seminary, and his wife, and I moved from St. Louis to the Chicago area to be near our daughter and her family.

The new oncologist told a colleague, I have a patient who has had mantle cell lymphoma for over 30 years. His friend said, no you don't, that's not possible. And here, David is rehearsing this psalm, even though he was going to die.

And then he brings in wonderful truths by, for instance, John Calvin, if God should change my circumstances so that ease gives way to suffering and laughter to tears, it is enough to know that I am still his child.

He has promised to acknowledge me always as his, and in that I rest content. Especially when we live in today's society where everything is your best life now, and have it all, and good health, and prosperity, and name it and claim it.

It's counter to what we are sold. And that's why we need to rest. I rested so often in the psalms. I would read the psalms. I couldn't believe how many times it said refuge. God has made refuge, God is our refuge, you know, fortress, strong tower.

Here's a good little one from Psalm 23, J. Douglas MacMillan said, somebody said to me last night, I am sure Mr. MacMillan, you have noticed that there are only two negatives in this psalm. Well, I've been looking at this psalm a long time, but I've never particularly noticed this.

How on earth did I miss them? I will not want, I will fear no evil. What wonderful negatives they are. Stuff like that, I would just read when I could still hardly breathe, and I would think, you know, this is, this is the mercy of God.

It would be the mercy of God if I died, when I die, and it's going to be the mercy of God while I live. In this book, David Calhoun says, you know, it's, it's a mercy that God gives us time. He said the old Christians would pray, please God deliver me from sudden death because we need time to prepare.

And I need to make sure that everything's all up to snuff when it comes to earthly matters and then that I'm trusting in the Lord Jesus. Well, my name is Mike Abenroth, this is No Compromise Radio. Sorry, I have just a little bit of a rattle in my throat still.

I don't have it on Sunday. I don't know why I have it today, but it is what it is. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your prayers. The doctor said to me, I can't believe you're alive when he looked at that other CAT scan and I just blurted out the grace of God in prayer.

And that's true. That's true. I might nuance it a little bit more now, but thank 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 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.