State of Theology (Part 4)

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.

Duolingo, Latin, and Spanish Small Talk

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and Pastor Esteban is here today. Steve�s reaching out to those that don�t speak English, and so today�s No Compromise Radio for the first time ever will be done in Espanol.

Si. Hey, I was doing the Duolingo app for Latin, as we say here, Latin, and I didn�t pay for it, so I ran out of hearts, and then I just kind of quit. I was doing it every day, I don�t know, for 14 days or something like that, and won extra stars and gems and everything else.

And you�ve been doing your Latin, sorry, your Spanish for how many days in Duolingo in a row?

Estaba cansado ayer. Something about tres años?

No, I was tired yesterday. So have you been keeping up, like 400 days or something in a row?

I think I�m at 960 or something like that. Seriously, is your Spanish better? Yeah. Okay. And did you... I mean, if I brought it in and I just read, because some of what I do is just reading, and then as I�m reading it, I�m kind of translating in my head.

If you listened to me read, you�d go, �Dude knows how to speak Spanish, so...

And do you pay the extra for Duolingo? Yeah, I do.

And the reason I do is because I found the hearts thing kind of frustrating, right? And this way, unlimited hearts, and I just... How much is it a year?

80 bucks or something like that. Because I thought I would like to learn Latin, but I would get these hearts, and then I got the wrong endings for the verbs, and then I ran out of hearts. And so the next day, I�d have more hearts, but I forgot what I said wrongly, and then I guessed the same way again.

And so then I just, I thought, �Oh, I can�t do this anymore. But I�d like to learn how to read a little more Latin.

Okay. Well, I mean, you can learn multiple different languages. You could learn German.

There�s a time I thought I�d start to learn German since I�m going there every other year, and I haven�t been for years, so maybe that was a good decision not to waste my time to learn it. Auf Wiedersehen.

Tschüss. Tschüss. We�re talking about the State of Theology, Ligonier Lifeway Surveys, come out every two years. Many podcasts have been talking about it, but Steve and I, we�re always.

We have all the best insights here, no compromise really.

We�re thankful that you listen. And so we�re going to talk today for the next, oh, 20 minutes or so about the State of Theology, working our way through. Last time we ended with, �God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

And today we�re working to another statement, Statement 7. I don�t know why they didn�t put statements 1 through 7. We�re just getting the highlights, I guess, on this website of theirs.

Yeah. I mean, if I were editing this thing, I�d do it a little bit differently. I know. It�s kind of hard to read, don�t you think?

Yes, I do. Yeah. So let�s just talk a little bit, Steve, about Statement 7. And so they are surveying people, both general population in the United States and then evangelicals based on their definition of Christianity, which I�ve heard worse.

Yeah. Yeah. And so at least it talks about born again or whatever. Jesus is literal and he died literally, et cetera. U .S. evangelical findings, up quite a bit. Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.

2020, 30 agree. 2022, 43 agree. How can you be an evangelical and say he was a great teacher, but he was not God? Well, let me see. You can�t be. So here�s kind of a left field question. Do you think eternal functional subordination has anything to do with this?

If that�s being spouted by very popular people, that Jesus was not submissive incarnationally only, but he was submissive in eternity past, less.

Maybe I think there�s just a lot of confusion out there. I mean, think about it this way. I think even, what was the question again? Because I think maybe a Mormon, a great teacher, but was not God. See, they would say he was God, but then they would, you know, if they thought too much about it, they might say, well, there was a time he wasn�t God, right?

I mean, I�m flummoxed, I�m bamboozled. How can this be? Evangelicals say he�s not God? Only thing I can think of is if you do a word search, as my brother called it, sola word Kind of this biblicism, Jesus never says, I am God.

He never says, you know, ego, a, me, theos, or whatever the right endings are.

Okay, he doesn�t. I mean, that would be a really bad take, right? Because, you know, they want to stone him for saying, you know, before Abraham was, I am, kind of thing. So he did, like I said to a Muslim once, you know, the original audience, the Jews, understood perfectly what he was saying.

And that�s why they got mad. John 8. And that�s, and John 10. And that�s why they eventually put him on the cross. And, you know, it was to mock the whole idea that he was God. Oh, you�re God? Take yourself off the cross.

You know, all these, just egging him on all the time, you know, demonstrated to us. But the idea for an evangelical, here�s what I would say. I would be very curious, actually, to interview or to talk with these professing evangelicals and say, give me the gospel.

Because if you can�t identify Jesus Christ as God, both God and man, truly God and truly man, then I have to wonder what you think happened, right? What the whole gospel is about.

Steve, something�s wrong here. This cannot be real in my mind. Jesus was a great teacher, but he�s not God.

Well, how about Jesus died for my sins. If that�s all you know, right? I mean, that sounds really good until you say, well, how was Jesus able to die for your sins? And they go, I don�t know. That�s what the Bible says.

In other words, and this is where we get into the whole, you know, this is meme world, right? Where M-E-M-E, not mean, but meme, meme world, where there�s so little theology going on that sometimes people are surprised to find out that they don�t know anything.

So, for example, Jesus died for my sins. Well, it sounds all well and good until you say, well, how is it that Jesus, being a man, could pay for your sins? Well, I�m not really sure, because they�ve not been taught that Jesus Christ, eternal.

God. Come on, that�s all esoteric, Steve. It doesn�t fill seats. Monday is going to be a hard day. I�m not getting along with my wife. I need some help with communication skills. That�s what I need on Sunday, please.

Hmm. Okay, well.

Okay, well. I mean, that�s really nice if Sunday morning is Toastmasters, but if it�s church where we�re worshiping the triune God, well, there�s a reason we call him the triune God, right? It�s because Father, Son, and Spirit are all God, they�re all equal, etc.

I�m not going to talk about the Trinity here, but if you don�t understand that Jesus Christ is God, then how could he possibly have died for your sins? He could have maybe died for his own sins, or he could have died for one other person�s.

Let�s say he lived a perfect life. He could have died for one person�s sins, but.

How do you have an infinite amount of righteousness to bestow on all those who would believe? It�s impossible. It�s impossible.

One man could not have that kind of righteousness, to have infinite value. Had to be the God-man.

Had to be. I wonder if we ask a statement, �Jesus was a federal head and then U .S. evangelicals would say, �What�s a federal head Yeah.

At best, you�d get, you know, dazed and confused looks, and maybe something like, �What does this have to do with the federal government I mean, people wouldn�t know anything about it.

What�s the word for �federal� in German? It�s something �Bundestag� or something, �Federal Day� or something. I have no idea. Okay, �Bund�, B-U-N-D. Yeah. I think that�s the root. Yeah. Steve, when I look at this list and I think,.

�Okay. He was a great teacher, but he was not God. So how can you be a great teacher and say you are God by, remember that little �hands� acronym that we use by, I think his name is Bowman who came up with it.

If you look at your hand, and there�s one, two, three, four, five digits, and so each digit is a letter for �hands. H, �honor. He receives the honor of God. A, �the attributes of God. N, �the names of God.

D, �he does the deeds of God, i .e., raised himself from the dead, forgives sins, walks on water, et cetera. And then S, �he�s prayed to like he�s God. What do you mean he doesn�t call himself God in the Bible?

Well, I�m just going to read it from John 10 at verse 29, �My Father has given them to me as greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father�s hand. I and the Father are one. And then verse.

And they all knew what that meant. Right. Here we go. Because verse 31, �The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, �I have shown you many works from the Father. For which of them are you going to stone me

The Jews answered him, �It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God. They understood 100%. They would have passed the quiz.

They understood what his point was, and they did not like it. They hated it, as a matter of fact.

I also think, Steve, about that word, �Kurios, Lord. We get the import of that from the Old Testament, Yahweh, right? How do you translate Yahweh into the New Testament Greek? And so when I think, I think when Jesus is called Lord and calls himself Lord, he�s thinking Yahweh.

Yeah. Yeah. So, Mike Ebendroth, Steve Cooley, No Compromise Radio. We think Jesus was a great teacher. Sometimes that�s not emphasized enough. The greatest. Uh-huh. You read the parables, and you just go, �Ouch.

Matthew 20, and the way Jesus describes that parable about pain, the people that started at 5 p .m., they only worked an hour, and he paid them first. And you can just imagine when everybody else is thinking, I think, �Oh, there�s no teacher like Jesus.

I mean, where�s the union when you need them, you know?

Every time I drive by a Home Depot or a Lowe�s, and there are people out front wanting to get hired, I always think of Matthew 20. Uh-huh. Okay. This one�s interesting. This is Statement 16. This is under the big umbrella of truth.

You can probably know where this is going to go right away. And here�s the statement, then the evangelical finding is going to be 26 agree. Here�s the statement that they agree with, and one quarter of them agree.

The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true. Now, how can we get that one again? Didn�t we just do that one?

It was, I think that was all adults, maybe?

Oh, yeah. Now evangelicals, 26 agree.

26%. I mean, again, I think it just comes back to the pulpits. You know, what�s being taught, I mean, go to a church website and read what they say about the Bible. You know, it�ll be something like we believe, you know, that the Bible is God�s truth or some, you know, some like, I mean, if it�s two sentences, that�ll be a lot because nobody really wants to talk about the Bible.

I think God says of the Bible, �This is my truth. Yeah.

I mean, let�s talk about how God loves you. Let�s talk about how perfect you are. Let�s talk about how Jesus can�t wait to have you into heaven.

The Sufficiency and Truth of Scripture

London Baptist Confession, 1689, a great copy with an introduction by my brother, Patrick Evendroth, and kind of a cool look, don�t you think? I do. But I think that ship is later than 1689 that�s on the front, but it�s still cool.

But it�s in the storms of life, but it�s not going to hit the rocks.

I won�t read every section, but I will read part of section one, chapter one, Holy Scriptures. �The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.

Although the light of nature and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God as to leave men inexcusable, yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and His will which is necessary unto salvation.

Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times and in diverse manners to reveal Himself and to declare that His will unto His church. And it goes on and on and on. I think you get an idea, even from the Lundenbaps Confession, that God�s Word is His Word.

And this is why, you know, I�m glad we�re confessional now, because the confession gives so many details and so much, you know, depth to what it says about theological truths. And it�s not just this completely superficial, like, you know, here are the ten points that we believe, you know, and like we just can�t wait to get dispensed with that, so, you know, right?

I mean, we have more important things to talk about than doctrine. Uh-huh.

So true. What�s kind of nice on this website, when it talks about God is truth, and then you put your cursor over the hyperlink, and it says, �Numbers 23, God is not a man that He should lie, or a son of man that He should change His mind.

I mean, just, again, pointing to the truths about God that should so impact us, when we just think about who He is and about how He�s not like us.

Objective Truth Versus Personal Opinion

Statement 31, �Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion. It's not about objective truth. Kind of related, and 38 of evangelicals agree. And so, you know, it�s subjective, it�s experiential.

Someone came to me the other day, Steve, here at the church, and they said, �My friend who�s lost their mother years ago was concerned about their mother�s salvation, and were they in heaven or not. There really wasn�t much fruit in their life and in her life, and so I�m worried, and I began to pray, �God, give me a sign if my mom�s in heaven.

And God knocked on the door in my car window and said, �Such and such. And I just said to the person at our church, and they were thinking about it rightly, I just said, �I can�t argue with experience.

Because if somebody has an experience, fine, but the whole world is full of this subjective assurance, �My theology, my truth, my this, my that. What about, remember, you used to say at the Bible study back with Harley, �What would this verse mean if you were dead

There�s a real truth to this.

Yeah. I mean, our subjective worldview, our subjective experiences don�t impact the truth, the eternal truths of God.

And stop there just for a second. For that statement that you made was so good, �eternal truths, and now us.

Yeah. I mean, you know, what�s phenomenal to think about is, you know, in the Bible, because we have history, we have actual historical accounts and everything, we sometimes forget that this is just, if I could put it this way, the historical narratives and all that are the wrapping paper of the eternal truths, right?

I mean, it�s only, I�m not saying they�re dispensable, I�m just saying they only reveal the eternal truths about God to us, right? And it�s done in such a way that we can kind of comprehend it. And it helps us not only to remember it, but to also, you know, more firmly understand it.

I mean, when we see things like Korah�s rebellion, what do we really understand? We understand God�s holiness, and we understand God�s power, because here�s Moses, and you know, and he just says, �Oh, that�s the way you want it

Here it is, boom. And what happens? Instant destruction upon all these people. And, you know, and it�s just a solemn reminder now, is that narrative only true in that narrative, or you know, are the principles only true in that narrative?

No, the principles are eternally true. God is holy, God is powerful, and it�s a good thing to keep those things in mind at all times.

Steve, brilliant point. Evan was at my home the other day, and we were talking about reading the Bible, and we had some younger folks there, and he was helping them with, okay, here�s how I read the Bible in the morning, my personal Bible reading, and why it�s important, and how you read it through the lens of, I�m learning about who God is, right?

So your illustration with Korah is a good one. What do I learn about God as I see this narrative, this account? I�m learning about who God is through the lens of Scripture, and He�s revealing things about Himself, and therefore, He is an objective being, I mean, objectively true, and therefore He�s going to communicate objective truths through that.

And that�s why this whole subjective thing is a big, fat myth. It says it�s not about objective truth. Well, Bible is about belief in a God outside of us who�s objectively true, and therefore, we learn about objective truths.

Well, and just that statement really bothers me. Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion. Just think about this. What does evangelical mean? It means you accept certain truths, and you feel an urgency, and I think that was somewhere earlier in the Ligonier survey.

You feel an urgency to communicate that with other people, right? You want other people to be Christians. Well, if you�re saying it�s a matter of personal belief or personal opinion, well, my belief might not be other people�s belief.

What right do I have to tell other people that they need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ because that�s my personal opinion? No, no, those are the words of Jesus, right? The exclusivity of Jesus is not personal opinion, it�s biblical truth, and I need to declare that.

I think if I took a verse out of the Bible, maybe misquoting it contextually, but we will not have this man reign over us.

I think that would be right for, you know, most people, right? They don�t want Jesus to rule.

Sexual Ethics, Gender Identity, and Abortion

Steve, there�s a lot of questions left. We don�t have much time, and this should be our last show on this, so we�re going to do, like, a speed round, and I�m going to make a statement, and then you can�I�ll quote a statement from Ligonier�s study, and then you can say whatever you want, like, one minute or less.

Okay. Statement 25, �Sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin. Ninety-four percent agree, evangelicals. Yay. Now, how can that be, and they say, �Jesus is not God, but he�s a good teacher. I don�t know.

Something�s wrong. Ninety-four percent, you know, I mean, obviously it should be 100%, but man, compared to everything.

Else, that�s pretty good. What if I say, �Sex outside of, well, traditional heterosexual marriage is a sin. I guess that�s what they mean, though. Yeah. Traditionally.

That is what they mean, traditional. Well, I mean, I assume that traditional marriage would mean one man and one woman, right?

How traditional? Back in the Old Testament with Abraham?

Or since, you know, 2010.

Statement 27, �Gender identity is a matter of choice. Only 37 of evangelicals agree.

37%, meaning 63%. Well, I still think that�s ridiculous. You know, �Male and female created he them. I mean, Jesus said it. The Old Testament said it. And really, there�s no room for. �Gender identity is a matter of choice.

What gender identity really is, I mean, first of all, it�s child abuse if you�re letting a child do that. I think I have no words for doctors and parents who would do that. But secondly, it�s the ultimate expression of spiritual impoverishment, right?

If I can�t even get to the point where I understand that I�m a man, then what else can I know?

Why was Israel so hated over the centuries? You know, we�re reading through Esther on Sunday morning. Well, because God chose Israel. Not because they were great, mighty, anything else, but because Deuteronomy 7, God said He just loved Israel.

So there�s this anti-Israel, anti-Semitism that exists. Well, what happens now? God made you a man. Well, no, no, I don�t want to be a man, right? God made me a male. No, no, I don�t want to be that.

It�s a rebellion against God. And people say, �Well, look at how many suicides and how much depression and everything else goes along with this. Well, I wonder if they recognize that some of it goes along with if you�re going to say at the core essence of my nature that I�m not male nor female and we�re not talking about some weird hermaphrodite case.

Well, the things are going to go poorly.

Yep. And I mean, it�s, you know, a thousand years from now, if they dig up Bruce Jenner�s body, guess what they find? Bruce Jenner was a man, no matter, you know, what he called himself when he died.

Oh, we�re going to go down to the one that�s Statement 26, �Abortion is a sin. Ninety-one percent of evangelicals agree. Ninety-one percent. I don�t know how nine would disagree, but 91.

Well, it�s not terrible. I think, you know, people don�t like to stigmatize anything, and I think maybe there�s some, well, you know, kind of the 9 are like, �Well, we don�t know the circumstances.

What do you think, Steve, if it was written that a mother that goes to an abortion clinic is murdering her child? How many do you think would agree with that, evangelicals?

Yeah, I think the odds would go way down. You know, instead of 91, I think you�d probably be in the 60s somewhere.

Because it�s one step removed, right? The doctor�s killing the child or the nurses, but the mother�s going in there to have the child killed. So how does that all work out?

Yeah, but people don�t like that idea. I mean, it�s even, you know, even me, because as soon as I say, �So you�re going to murder your baby well, it kind of dampens the communication, you know, pipeline, and I really want to be able to reason with somebody, and as soon as I call them a murderer, I mean,.

That�s� Right. And so there�s a way to talk to people, but in a sense, this is premeditated murder. Yeah. Right? I�m going to go have this doctor kill this child, et cetera. Well, all right. We only have a little bit of time left, so we go straight to the conclusion.

Pastors Must Teach the Bible More

And the conclusion is, �Pastors, please teach the Bible more. Yeah.

And I mean, if you�re not in the habit of quoting the confessions, maybe you should be, because the Church writ large is in sore need of sound doctrine. You know, enough, let�s just put away all the nonsense of they need something to help them get through Monday through Friday.

What they need is to have a higher view of God, a lower view of themselves, and a right view of what Christ has done in reconciling us to a thrice-holy God. We need that over and over and over again in the Gospel.

Well, and if I want to know how to get through the week, I can click on YouTube and find lots of those things, but there�s only one place I can find Bible teaching about the exclusivity of Jesus, the risen Savior, and that should be the Church.

And when it�s not, then what, right? What do we tell people here all the time? If you want to hear a sermon about Jesus, you�ve come to the right place.

Yeah. If you want to hear a sermon about how to love your neighbor better, then go to the Unitarian Church or go to, you know. They�re prettier.

Yeah. 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. 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.