Man Centered Evangelism

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.

We're here to take your calls as well. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Potpourri Tuesday and the Man-Centered Invitation Bible

No Compromise Radio ministry. Mike Abendroth here with Pastor Steve Cooley. Today, we're going to get the date right. Last week, we didn't get the date right. We said it was Tuesday, November 16th. It was probably November 16th in Hawaii when we were taping the show.

But right now, it is November 14th, Tuesday.

Steve, welcome back. No, it's November 24th. What'd I just say?

14th. 14th. On my notes, I have two four. Well, if truth be told, it's really Tuesday, November 17th, but we're taping this show, so that's why I'm all discombobulated. Allegedly. So today, before I forget, I want to invite you to Bethlehem Bible Church's Christmas concert.

Wonderful music. We just have so many talented musicians here. An evening of Christmas joy for the whole family, from adult singers to children's singers, instruments, Friday, December 4th, 7 p .m. You need to write info at nocompromiseradio .com or call 508 -835 -3400 for the tickets.

You'll need a ticket to get in. We'd love to have you bring your unbelieving friends. I'll preach the gospel for five to 10 minutes to make sure everyone understands the claims of Christ Jesus, the risen Savior.

Today is kind of potpourri Tuesday. It's Thanksgiving week. We're going to be celebrating. So I said to Steve just moments ago, let's just kind of mix it up today and talk about all kinds of things, just things that we like to talk about.

In my hand, and in 10 seconds in Steve's hot little hand, we're gonna talk about something called the invitation. This is the New Testament, fine translation, the Holman Christian Standard Bible. It's kind of like the NIV with its dynamic equivalent approach, and I don't think it's a new age translation.

I don't think it's blasphemous translation. I'm not talking about the translation, but I'm talking about the marketing behind it. Listen to what it says on the back. This is your invitation to find hope.

Now this is on the back of the New Testament. Now you tell me if you think this is a God-centered way of evangelizing or a man-centered way of evangelizing. That's our first topic for today. The dreams that energize us always seem destined to pass away.

A promotion, but the new job grows old. A wedding dress passes and a thrilling romance turns routine. A dream house becomes just another place to live. Each one leaves us looking for the next hope that will lift our spirits.

There is one hope, though, that never wears out, never disappoints, and never leaves our emotions drained. You are invited to discover this hope and everyday relationship with Jesus Christ. And it goes on to say about this hope that hope doesn't fade, et cetera.

Steve, what is right and what is wrong with this kind of Bible-selling approach? This is the back cover of a Bible that I think is supposed to, quote, sell, end quote, the Bible.

I don't even know where to start other than to say it's 100 wrong. And by the way, I have to skip to the end of this because you left it off, and to me it's like probably the worst. Explore it, and as you turn each page, you will find this is your invitation to find real hope and life the way you've always wanted.

May I just say that as a former unbeliever, and I'm sure I speak for many in the audience when I say I'm a former unbeliever, I didn't always want a relationship with Christ. That whole idea that somehow, you know, the fulfillment of every dream I've ever had is represented in Christ, it's not true.

It's a fulfillment of every problem, you know, the solution of my ultimate problem, which is I'm a sinful human being prior to being saved, and I need a savior, and I need forgiveness. And in that sense, Jesus Christ is the answer, but he's not the fulfillment of every unbeliever's dream.

This is just such a common thing today. Come to Christ, God will fix your marriage. Come to Christ, you'll have fulfilling life. Come to Christ, and you fill in the blank. The Red Sox will win without steroids.

Come to Christ, you know. I mean, how about this? Let's listen to Jesus's words. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my savior.

Disciple, when you're sick and tired of being sick and tired of your own life, when you realize you are the problem, you've met the enemy and he dwells within you because he is you, and you realize your heart and mind and soul that were made to worship the great creator God is worshiping something else instead, a created being, a creature, four-footed animal, or something less.

Then you say, I have to turn my back on that, and then follow Christ, whether he gives me house, spouse, whether he takes away those things or not. I want forgiveness more than I want anything else. And so I just think, Steve, there are lots of unbelievers, frankly, honestly, are happy, fulfilled.

They like their wife. They enjoy traveling the world. They like their grandkids. They enjoy the garden outside. And so what are they lacking? Probably with earthly standards, nothing.

And you know what, on the flip side of this, if you read this carefully, you just think, well, then I guess life as a believer is problem-free, and yet the book of 1 Peter was written for what purpose?

It was to encourage the church in the face of oncoming persecution. In this life, we are gonna have problems. Peter even writes, if for a little while we are afflicted by various trials, I mean, that is what is going to happen in this life.

So this idea that you get saved and problems end, you get saved, happiness blooms. It's like the ever-blooming garden. Well, that's just, that is not reality, and that is not what the Bible says. It's not evangelism.

It's not biblical evangelism. It's a ploy. It's a ploy to get people to make a decision for Christ, accept Jesus into their left ventricle, to do something where they find Jesus now attractive. I am so sick, and I am so tired of somehow Jesus being proclaimed as some kind of felt-need meter.

Obviously, Christ gives us all kinds of things. He gives us himself, and then he fills in everything else. If he gives us the greatest thing himself, he gives us everything else. But when Jesus says, whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple, he's not talking about a family-sized crucifix that goes around your neck.

He says, you carry your cross because you're going to die dead and gone, kaput, over. The life as you knew it before is over. The life now contains forgiveness, contains the hope of eternal life, contains the Spirit dwelling in you, but it might contain homelessness, divorce, bad health, and just as Pastor Steve rightly said,.

Suffering for the faith. Well, and you know, think about it this way, too. If what they're saying here is true, well, let me put that aside. Let's say that you, quote, unquote, come to faith according to this promise here.

You say, yes, I want to receive Christ, and he is going to solve all my problems. And then you have a problem. Well, then what False advertising. Yeah, your conclusion then is what? Well, I guess it's not true, and I should depart from the faith because it obviously isn't the answer to all my problems like they said it was.

And this is almost a variation on the try Jesus for six months theme. You know, see if he doesn't make your life better. Friends, again, it is not about making your life better. It's about making your eternal life better, but it's about forgiveness of sins.

It's about what Jesus has done and not what he can do for you in terms of day-to-day living.

You sound like me now, Steve. Friends, friends, if you're listening today and you're not a Christian, your biggest problem is not your health. Your biggest problem is not your 401k, how much gold you don't have, Obamacare, swine flu, your relationship with your wife, do your kids like you or not, where are you going to pick your tombstone and be buried, what's your vacation going to be like, what about your job?

Those things are all moot. You'll die one day and then stand before God. And based on your own unrighteousness, you will be disqualified from heaven. You will have earned yourself hell. You need forgiveness.

All those sins that you've committed in thought, word, and deed, you haven't loved God like you ought to. You haven't loved your neighbors yourself. One sin will send you to hell and you need forgiveness.

You need righteousness. You need God's righteousness. How do you get the righteousness of God from God? And his name is Christ Jesus, the righteous one. And you need to bow and repent and follow Christ Jesus as the psalmist would say in Psalm 2, kiss the sun lest you perish.

I'm not concerned about your health. I'm concerned about your eternal destiny. And Jesus says, in the same passage I've been quoting from the show, Luke 14, for which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. So you better count the cost. Here's the cost, person who's listening who's not a Christian.

It might cost you everything, but you'll gain eternal life, forgiveness of sins. You'll be adopted in the family of God. That's what the payoff is. And so until you realize eternal forgiveness versus temporal additions or subtractions, you don't get the gospel.

And this whole thing, Pastor Steve in the front, there's a little poem inside the Bible. The future is uncertain. Schools are protected by armed guards. Many people don't feel safe in their homes. Diseases are killing our people.

Is there any hope? Can we have peace and joy in our hearts? Can we find purpose in our life? Does anyone really care?

Yes, here's hope. Jesus cares for you. This whole approach, may I say it this way, it is sub-Christian. That is to say that it's certainly beneath anything that Jesus would do. I mean, look at Luke 18, where he talks to the rich young ruler and the ruler says to him, a good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

And he says, oh, don't worry about that. Let me tell you how to solve your problems now. No, no, no. He tells that guy to give up the only idol in his life and he sends him away. I mean, it is, Jesus doesn't encourage him towards a simplistic, towards a minimal commitment, which is what this thing, this invitation is doing.

He says, you know what? What you love the most, you give it up. And it is definitely, this is a sub-Christian approach to preaching the gospel. It's not even preaching the gospel.

I don't think Stephen preached that way. I don't think John the Baptist preached that way. I don't think Ezekiel did, Isaiah did. How about wrecking ball evangelism? Basically, come to Christ and your whole life could just be destroyed.

Actually, come to Christ, you'll have more problems than you do now. The biggest problem you have will be alleviated. You'll no longer be an enemy of God and Jesus Christ. You will be reconciled based on Christ's life and death and resurrection, but you will have more problems.

Now, it doesn't mean you won't have someone to help you solve the problems, but you'll have more problems. I'm gonna call this the wrecking ball style of evangelism. The gospel and the law should wreck your old life, so you have to turn to Christ for the new life.

Well, because guess what? Your friends aren't gonna think you're cool anymore. Your family's gonna think something's wrong with you. Everybody in your life is gonna think, well, except for those Christians who were praying for you, are gonna think, this guy is really no fun anymore.

I was thinking, Steve, about MacArthur on the plane and he's trying to study and prepare sermons, but being nice to his person to the left or to the right, and when they ask him, oh, what do you do for a living, like people often say on airplanes and other crowded commuter kind of places, John says, well, I go all around the world and tell people how they can have their sins forgiven in Jesus Christ.

Are you interested? Yeah. And then when they say no, well, fine. He doesn't say, would you like to have a good marriage? They might have a great marriage.

Every sin you've ever committed forever, he says, you can have forgiveness for, and that's exactly right. Are you interested?

No. So to say something good, Steve, about the Holman Bible, when you have a desire to hand something like this out, people read the Bible and I'm sure people will get saved when they read the Bible. And to Broadman Holman's credit, I don't know if they're the actual publishers of this little booklet or not, or they just gave an authorization.

When you turn to Romans, it's got the Roman road underlined, Romans 1 .16. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of salvation for everyone who believes. First to the Jew and also the Greek. And then it's got Romans 2 .4 underlined and then 3 .23 and 5 .8.

And so it has the Bible in here and people can have kind of a bad marketing approach, but the words of life are still powerful to save. And by the way, I'm glad that's true of the Bible because through weak vessels like Pastor Mike and Pastor Steve, if it was able, if we were able to mess it up, we would have by now.

We just want to have to tell people the truth. Here's the truth. You need to repent from your sins because it's the sin problem that must be alleviated by someone else. Dr. Phil can help marriages. Your grandma can help a marriage.

You can help your own marriage, but there's something you can't do, Phil can't do, your grandma can't do, and nobody can do.

Except one person, the God-man. A lot of unbelievers, like you said earlier, have happy lives, fulfilled lives. They have great jobs, great homes, great everything. The one thing they don't have is forgiveness of sins.

And that's the one thing above else that you're going to need on the day of judgment. After you die, all the money, all the happy family relationships, having a great looking lawn,.

None of those things are going to matter. Well, we see people running around for trivial issues and they've exchanged the worship of the creator for the worshiping the creation. And I just want to say to you the words of Jesus.

This is a little different than this invitation Bible. Here's Jesus' demand, no invitation. Here's the demand. Strive to enter through the narrow gate or the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door and you begin to stand outside and knock on that door saying, Lord, open up to us, then he will answer and say to you, I do not know where you are from.

And so what you want to do is this. You need with every fiber in your being to say I'm going to strive to follow Christ Jesus, to read about him, to believe in him, to repent. I know you are weak and sinful and you can't do those things on your own, but you're required to do those very things.

So you better get up and Adam and repent and believe or else.

And this is just so common, you know, to lower the bar these days. That's the methodology. That's the way people approach evangelism. You know, how about raising the bar, teaching like Jesus taught, establishing the sort of, well, what did Jesus say?

He said you had to be perfect. And who evangelizes like that anymore? Sadly, not very many.

Be holy just as I am holy. What helps, Steve, is when we tell people to be perfect, they realize they can't be perfect. Then we present to them the perfect one, Christ Jesus. Be holy like God is holy.

They realize they can't be that holy. Then we present to them the one who is incarnate and holy. I almost said incarnately holy. It might be true. He is the one. It's like law and gospel together almost.

It's a Lutheran paradigm. Here's the law. You can't do it. But now here's the good news. What you can't do, God has done. That is Christianity, different than all other religions. My name is Mike Abendroth, and I am here with Steve Cooley.

This is WVNE 760 AM, a wonderful Christian station. I was thinking about the other day, Steve. Right after us, we have R .C. Sproul and John MacArthur, just excellent shows. Alistair Begg's on before us.

We wanna talk to you today about just a variety of issues, but we're focusing on one issue. And that is, do you think you're wise enough to put an interesting marketing spin on the gospel? After all, Jesus says some pretty tough things.

So did Paul. So did John the Baptist. So let's just water it down and give people felt needs. You can have a better marriage. You need purpose in your life. Here, invitation. You can have hope. We don't wanna do that.

Let's just get back to old Billy Graham style evangelism. The Bible says, repent and believe. I like those old Billy Graham messages.

Well, I mean, is the ultimate goal of evangelism to somehow water things down so that we can quote unquote save people as if we could, or is the objective to glorify God by presenting the truth that he has given us, that we are to defend and protect and proclaim and trusting him to do the work.

If the Bible says, and it does, in John 3 and many places, 1 Peter 1, that it is God who causes us to be born again, then why would we pretend that we can somehow kind of give people a little boost all by ourselves by making things easy for them?

Give peace a chance.

All we are saying. John chapter, excuse me, Luke 9. As they were going along the road, someone said to Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus said to him, welcome aboard. Way to go. I'll fix your marriage.

Good job. Everything will be great. He actually increases the demands of discipleship. The liner text in the Bible says the exacting nature of discipleship, exacting discipleship. Here's what Jesus says.

By the way, do you preach like Jesus in your evangelism? Are you kind of the friendship evangelism, come to Jesus and get a bunch of goodies, kind of a Santa Claus kind of evangelism? Or do you preach like Jesus?

Here's how Jesus preaches. Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. And he said to another, follow me. What's happening here? Jesus knows what's going on in the heart of that person.

And that person wants to follow Jesus for the good stuff. Like other people wanted to follow him for the bread and fish. This guy wants to follow him for lots of things, probably material things like a house.

And Jesus says, I'm homeless. Follow me, you'll give up what you have, your house.

What about this? What about I just let my life do the talking for me? I just, you know, I know that when people see my lawn, when they see my kids, when they see how things run in my home, they're going to say, ooh, there's something different about that guy.

You know, I want to be, I want whatever he has. And then I kind of spring it on him that I'm a Christian. You know, I kind of, I kind of keep, I'm the undercover guy. I only tell people the gospel when they ask.

Secret service. Christianity and evangelism. When you were describing that guy's lawn, I thought, boy, am I living in Salt Lake City or what? This is perfect. Perfect moral behavior. Listen to what Irenaeus said in Against Heresies.

He was an early church father. Error indeed is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest being thus exposed, it should be at once detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress. So as by its outward form to make it appear to the inexperienced more true than the truth itself.

End quote. I'm not trying to say your man-centered evangelistic efforts driven by a motive probably of wanting to glorify God and have the person saved. I'm not saying they're heretical. Maybe we might want to argue the fine points of that.

I am saying they're misguided at best and they're just wrong. They're unbiblical. I would say that they're sinful kinds of evangelism because they don't start with God first. So let's make sure we preach who this God is first.

Even in Romans, Steve, it's all about God. God reveals his wrath in Romans chapter one.

And yet the most typical gospel, sort of gospel presentation these days is God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Well, if that's true, then how do we get to repentance or anything else?

The problem today, and it's been said by Piper and many others, is that somehow we exalt man and we lower God, that we suggest that the gap isn't so great. And that, you know what, if you just really, if you kind of accept Jesus, he'll kind of help you over that gap.

Here's the problem. The problem is God is perfect and holy and just and he's going to punish every single sin ever committed. And we don't think about God that way and we don't present God that way in the gospel.

And if we thought about him that way, and then we went to the people that were evangelizing, we said, you know what, not only are you a sinner, but you were born with a sin nature. You sin because you want to.

And you actually, before you're a Christian, you actually are an enemy of God.

You have a personal relationship with Jesus already.

Yes, you do. You have one with him and you are his enemy. You don't like him at all. And in fact, you hate God. Is that strong? You hate God if you're not a Christian.

Well, and you say, oh, no, I don't. Well, that just proves that you do. You are an utter rebellion against God. And God, there's worse news than that. God is an utter rebellion against you. If God had an army of angels, and he does, they are in a military battle array formation against you.

And by the way, you're going to get it. The bullseye is on you and your heart, and God is a perfect marksman. There's only one tree to hide behind that will give you shelter from the ammo of God, and that tree is called the cross, and you better run behind it.

Well, people say, well, you know what, I'm not God's enemy. Well, Paul says that you are. Paul says in Romans 5 that before we were Christians, we were enemies, that Christ died while we were enemies.

And he's talking about Christians there, not about the entire world. He's specifically saying, before you were a Christian, you were an enemy of God.

Well, today is Po-Pourri Tuesday, and we didn't get much Po-Pourri done, but I will say this.

We'd like to talk about the Pope and Pourri, but. That's right.

The Cost of Discipleship and the Narrow Door

Here's what Jesus said. Do you evangelize this way, listeners? Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house, our brothers, our sisters, our mother, our father, our children, our farms, for my sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now and in the present age.

And what's Jesus saying? You come and follow Christ. You have to turn your back, or at least be willing to turn your back on all those things. He does say, by the way, when it comes to eternal bliss and comes to happiness and joy on earth, there is a payback, but the payback is not given until after.

Am I saying that right?

Yeah, well, and I certainly think the idea that somehow this is going to fix your marriage or whatever, that is not presented ever.

We have a slogan around here at Bethlehem Bible Church. We would say to that approach, Nein Danke. No thanks.

No Compromise Radio. God bless you. 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 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.