Pat Abendroth: Gospel Trends (Part 2)

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.

Introducing Pat Abendroth and the Theme of Gospel Trends

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. Today, I'm introducing Patrick Abendroth again, Part 2, Gospel Trends, things that are happening in evangelicalism that hurt the gospel, that you don't want to believe in.

Pat is the pastor of Omaha Bible Church. You can access his sermons at omahabiblechurch .org. He's a Ligonier ministry student, doctorate of ministry student, should graduate soon, and I think you'll hear some insightful analysis as Patrick looks at the gospel.

Anyway, it's good to have my brother in town for the conference. You can access all his messages here at bbcchurch .org. Thanks to all the helpers, Ajay and the team, for putting the new website together.

Pat Abendroth, Trends in the Gospel, Part 2 today on No Compromise Radio, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

Pastor Pat. Instead of acknowledging I'm a sinner, don't look to me, look to Christ. Good news, hope in Him. This is why I think 2 Corinthians chapter 4 is helpful. If you just drop down to, maybe let's start down in verse 5.

It'll produce popularity if you just live the gospel, which you can't really do, but you'll become popular and you'll be cool because you're a great example, at least from what people can see. But how about verse 5?

For what we proclaim is not ourselves. I would suggest to you when we say we live the gospel, we are proclaiming ourselves. He says we don't proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ. Notice it's proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord.

How about verse 7? We have this treasure in jars of clay. That's a good self-describer. To show the surpassing power belongs to God, not to us. We don't want to preach our toilet selves without words.

We want to open our mouths and have everybody know. When I'm doing a Bible study last week with my unbelieving friends, I want to point them to the righteousness of Christ and hope in Him and acknowledge before them that I'm broken, that I'm a sinner.

And boast in Christ because even if they think I'm all that, in time they're going to figure out I'm not. They're going to find out you're not either. Hope is outside of you. It's in Christ. We're not going to take the time to go there, but even the opening verses of chapter 4 are so helpful when it comes to, we're not preaching ourselves and cunning and tampering with God's word.

I would suggest to you that when we say we're preaching without preaching, we're tampering. We're not being honest. The good news is meant to be proclaimed. It's meant to be preached. So the glory goes to not us, but to Christ.

And I want to be better at preaching and proclaiming and not pointing to me. Maybe just a show of hands, just to kind of take the temperature here. How many of you think you've sinned enough today to go to hell?

Yeah. Hello, my name is Pat. Right? I'm glad we're having this recovery meeting. See? Hello, my name is Pat, and I have a problem. I'm so glad. By the way, one of the last times I did that at Omaha Bible Church, I was shocked at how many people wouldn't put their hand up.

One person sticks out of my mind and just sat there and shook their head. Think about it. If God's requirement, standard, is to love him with your heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love him with all of your faculties, including motive, that all that you are is given toward that.

I would suggest to you that none of us in this room have ever done that perfectly, completely for one second. Preach the gospel with your life. Let's preach Christ. Let's preach Christ. Hope is in him.

Hope is in us. Now, again, please don't misunderstand. We want to live. I want to live in a way that glorifies Christ. I want to bear fruit in my life that compliments, not contradicts. But until we see Christ, right, we won't be made like him.

We're waiting for glorification. We know it's locked in. It's going to happen in light of what Romans says in Romans chapter 8. But we're living in that time when it's not fully realized. So let's preach Christ, not ourselves.

Gospel Illiteracy and the Meaning of the Gospel

Let's move to another gospel misstep, and that would be gospel illiteracy. Gospel illiteracy. Mike mentioned earlier, and we're going to go to 1 Corinthians 15 and look there if you'd like to turn there.

Mike mentioned earlier that it's nice that there's a recovery of the gospel and lots of talk about the gospel. I heard the other day that there's a gospel study Bible. Don't know anything about it, but there's a gospel study Bible, and we have gospel community groups, and we're gospel-centered and Christ-centered and gospel, gospel, gospel, gospel.

I'm thankful for those things. I really am. And that movement, that recovering has definitely affected my life, and I'm super thankful. But we don't want it to just be rhetoric. That would be a shame.

What is the gospel? What is the gospel? It starts by knowing what it is. Well, we've already talked about that a little bit. Let me use a couple of case studies to kind of shock you out of the place that perhaps you're in.

I was in Florida this summer. I was taking a class, and just at night taking a break, I was going on a bike ride, and I'm going by a super cool church. It was the kind of church I'd want to have the building.

It was just awesome looking, and it looked cutting-edge, and things were really happening. I'm riding my bike by the church, and their church motto with a really cool sign was on the side of the building.

It was clearly what they were all about. Huge letters. Loving God. Loving neighbor. Slogan of the church. I think it was on the kiosk too. That was their theme. And what I said out loud was, Law Church.

Law Church. Is that what you would have thought? Now, maybe I'm out of line. You can correct me later. Law Church. Oh, Church of Legalism. I had a guy tell me last weekend. We had a conference at our church, and he told me.

He said, You know, I just want to tell you. I don't really know him very well. He's a friend of a friend. I just want to tell you that for the last 15 years of my life, what I've been committed to and the slogan of my life has been loving God and loving neighbor.

It's been awesome. I said, Oh, so you're really committed to the law. He looked at me like I was from another planet. Jesus summarizes the law as loving God with heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself.

Summary of the law. Law Church. How about that? Is the gospel loving God and loving neighbor? I don't think so. I don't think so. The gospel is the good news that the one who perfectly loved God and perfectly loved neighbor did everything necessary, did it on our behalf because we're miserably failing at it all the time.

And so should Bethlehem Bible Church be law church? What message do you have for this community? You have good news. 1 Corinthians 2 to know nothing among you except the law that condemns. Take that, Boston.

Take that, New Hampshire. Take that, Rhode Island. No. To know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. The law keeper treated as if he's the law breaker, which is good news for us so that we can have our law breaking atoned for.

That's what it is. Now, please don't get me wrong. This is just a short kind of seminar. But, yes, we do need to preach God's law because we need people to know that they're law breakers, that they're guilty.

So, yeah, we do want to preach that to the surrounding community. But that's not what we're all about because we preach that law message so that we understand guilt, and then we preach the good news of the one who is none other than Christ.

And then, this is how the guy was at Omaha Bible Church last week, no doubt, as we talked further. Then, in response, yes, we want to say, the law is good and righteous and holy, and I do want to love God because that's what's right.

And I do want to love my neighbor because that's what's right. But we've got to make sure we keep things in the right order or we're confused. I have a little five-year-old son. Strict orders. I said, Owen, you're not to talk at the dinner table when I'm talking to the teenagers about this.

And we're reading that Kevin DeYoung book about the Heidelberg Catechism and the two little boys, no talking or mommy gives you a spanking. That's the way we catechize in our house because I want to deal with the older kids.

Yet, the younger ones to do something after on their level. Man, Owen is just dying to talk. Five-year-old sweet little boy, he wants to talk so badly because he knows the answer before the other kids know the answer because he knows the three Gs.

I want you to know the three Gs. Guilt, grace, and gratitude is what Owen would tell you. The law of God shows us our guilt and then we have grace in the gospel and now we do want to do the law of God out of gratitude.

But we've got to make sure we keep things in the right order, men, or we're very confused about what the gospel is. Very confused. I had to read a book recently for a class, an evangelism class. I had to read a whole bunch of books.

I had to review a book. The book was called Evangelism. Written by a guy that went to a credible, conservative seminary that's fought battles for the truth of the gospel. No longer alive. Evangelism is the name of the book.

I won't mention the author to protect the guilty. Never one time in the book, never one time did he state what the gospel is. But he was sure big to emphasize the fruit of the gospel and describe it as the gospel.

1 Corinthians 15 is so helpful. You know it well, probably too well because then we're indifferent toward it, but let's just make sure we've got it stuck in our heads, men. Verse 3 says, For I delivered to you as of first importance.

Everything's important in the Bible, right? But some things are marked, starred. First importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

It's crucial. And sometimes in the New Testament, a certain aspect is emphasized or a different aspect is emphasized or a different aspect is emphasized. But when you boil it all down, it has to do with the work of Christ, perfectly keeping the law, atoning for rebellion, rising from the dead, and you get all of those things emphasized.

We've got to know that. If I say, what's the gospel? I tell new people at Omaha Bible Church, I just want you to say, it's the good news about Jesus. And I say, you pass. Now we can go deeper than that.

It's the good news about Jesus. Yes. It's the good news about His historic work. Here's a question for you. Is the gospel following Jesus? Is it good to follow Jesus? Yeah. You need the gospel because you're not good at following Jesus, by the way.

Out of gratitude, now you want to get good at following Jesus. There's hope in that. We also have to remember the gospel isn't the response. What's the right response to the gospel? We heard it earlier in Romans 1, verse 16.

You believe. You trust. It's the right response. And we do call people to respond once we tell them what the gospel is. Once we tell them what that is. Let's move on to another one. Let's move to another abusive gospel misstep.

Christians, Culture, and the Finished Work of Christ

Are we on number four? Okay. How are we doing? We're doing great. I'm having fun. Glad you guys came just to watch me have fun doing this. I would do this at my house if you guys weren't here. This is where it's at.

Number four, another abusive gospel misstep would be Christians are to redeem culture. Christians are to redeem culture. And by the way, those of you who go to this church, I'm saying a lot of things that your pastor would never dare say, right?

Two peas in a pod, I'm afraid. So if you're thinking, would you bring a different guest speaker next time? Because I don't want just the same stuff that Mike teaches and believes. I guess that's just how it goes.

So I'm so thankful for that and good fellowship. Number four, Christians are to redeem culture. It's a big one. Big one in circles I run in, and big one if you want to be accepted and relevant and cool and recognized and affirmed and published.

Why are we here? We've got to redeem culture. We've got to transform culture. Just a simple question for you. In the Bible, when the New Testament talks about redemption, where's the focus? Jesus redeems what?

Sinners. That's the focus for sure. That's the focus for sure. And by the way, also, if you want to turn to Galatians 3, we'll see it. I'm also going to read Titus 2. Another thing that's important about this is the New Testament doesn't speak in terms of something that's left undone.

Jesus is redeeming. That's not the emphasis. It's on a different syllable. Okay? It's not redeeming. It's what? It's redeemed. Duh! It's almost like we just go, Duh! He redeemed. Duh! He's not redeeming when it comes to sinners who are the focus.

How about Galatians 3 .13? Just a sample. Christ redeemed us. Work done. Work completed. And it's the us emphasized from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Titus 2 .13. Our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us.

Finality. Completion. Done. Historic work. He came here. He did it. And He ascended and sent His Spirit. And He will come again one day. But notice the two major points. He redeemed. Completed action.

And notice also that it's not about a culture that's being redeemed or cultures. It's about a people. We've got to remember that. It's almost like we've just lost our minds. Just think simply. Think biblically.

What's the Gospels? The good news about how Jesus is redeeming culture. We could pack the place out if we were to talk like that in promoting this. You men have a great opportunity to speak the truth lovingly about the clarity of the Gospel is.

Listen to this. This is a quotation from a writer who has a published article in a theological journal. Conservative Bible believing theological journal. And I quote. How would you critique this or how would you affirm this or not?

In short, the Great Commission is the announcement of the good news that Christ has made it possible for us to take up once again humanity's cultural mandate. I got a sad look on my face for that one.

In short, the Great Commission is the announcement of the good news that Christ has made it possible for us to take up once again humanity's cultural mandate. That's problematic on so many fronts. It's a huge problem.

Christ made it possible. And now what? We're going to take up the cultural mandate? It has major issues. It's a major issue because He didn't make things possible. The Gospel is the good news about Christ's finished work, right?

It's problematic on another level because it devalues the work of Christ. Who was given the cultural mandate, by the way, back in Genesis? Adam was given the cultural mandate. And who is going to fulfill the cultural mandate?

Us? Maybe in a certain sense. We want to act like human beings and we want to do that. But according to the Scriptures, the ultimate fulfiller, the true genuine fulfiller of the cultural mandate is Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15, verse 45 refers to Him as the second Adam, the last Adam. So the first Adam doesn't do it. He fails. And so what do we do? We pick up where He left off. That's the good news. We don't pick up where He left off.

The good news is one would come who did what He didn't do on our behalf. There's a reason why it's called the last Adam. Jesus fulfilled that. He fulfilled everything necessary. And if we get that confused, it's not very long and it's no wonder so many of these people do.

Super important. It's not very long before we start losing sight of even things like justification by faith alone. And that's where the drift goes. Adam failed. Last Adam succeeded. The good news isn't that we pick up where first Adam left off.

How tragic. The good news is the last Adam did it all perfectly. And we live in light of the Gospel. We live in light of that. This is good. This is positive. This is right. The first man, Adam, became a living being.

The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. So good to know and to understand this. Doesn't mean we don't try to do anything to impact our world. We obviously do. Jesus said we shouldn't be salt and light.

He said we are salt and light. Obviously, we want to make a difference where we live and breathe and have our being and bring glory to Christ. But it's not that big weight hanging around your neck that you better fulfill the cultural mandate.

Well, you're living in gratitude toward the one who did fulfill the cultural mandate perfectly and his name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. This could take us in a million different rabbit trails but let's just think of one illustration here.

Let's just think for a minute if we're going to really... Okay, what we need to do is transform the culture and re-pick up where the first Adam left off and what we need to do is have truth and justice and righteousness, specifically God's word and it's going to be what takes over the culture and takes over the society and it's going to change everything and what we need to have is a thoroughgoing Christian nation following Christian ethics.

By the way, I'm all for righteousness and I'm all for being salt and light. Don't misunderstand. But if we're really going to... We're going to bring the two together. If you could do that, would you really want to do that?

Bring church and state together. Well, that was an experiment that didn't go so well the last time it happened. We're all embarrassed by things like crusades. By the way, we should be. I mean, just think about it.

What's the Christian ethic when someone insults you, they strike you on the cheek, what do you do? Yeah. Thank you, sir. May I have another? What's Romans 13 say about the government, the culture at large, the outside unbelieving culture?

Established by God and when something bad happens, the police should turn the other cheek. Not last time I checked. Last time I checked, that shotgun and that policeman's car isn't for decoration. That's the new Pat translation of the New Testament.

The contemporary version. It says, they don't bear the sword for nothing. Justice. The church is not... The Christian ethic isn't that. Turn the other cheek. There's something to think about. It's different.

Again, that doesn't mean we don't want to make an influence and we don't want to have good things happen. We do. We have to remember that we're called to preach the gospel and the gospel isn't about transforming culture.

And by the way, Jesus, when he comes back, will transform the culture. Let's not be functional post-millennialists. Let's not do that. He'll transform the culture all right. Let's remember he's coming again and he'll destroy the earth and recreate it.

All right. Let's move on. I think we probably have time to at least do one more of these. Abusive gospel misstep number five. The Bible is a book of timeless truths for living. The Bible is a book of timeless truths for living.

The Bible as God's Story of Redemption, Not Mere Timeless Principles

Now, that could be true. But that's not the best way to describe what the Bible is all about. It's not the best way. Because if that's the best way, we sound a lot like old Protestant liberals.

Who denied the gospel. 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.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.