Death Beds and the Gospel

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. Mike Ebendroth, back in the studio.

They're doing the parking lot outside, and so once the noise starts, who knows what's going to happen.

You can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com, and thanks for your emails.

Thanks for your support. Hopefully a new website coming up here soon. Got some help with that, and I'm feeling much better.

So back to Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, new shows. The Wednesday show,

Mario Films, that's on YouTube as well, and I'm just discombobulated today.

I don't know. I was all ready to start daily radio again, and now I don't know what

I'm doing. Somebody criticized me the other day, and they said, oh, he's only got 300 subscribers on his

YouTube channel. Of course, my flesh wanted to say, yeah, we had 5 ,000 until we lost the channel.

Anyway, you can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. Just a couple updates.

It was interesting, and I haven't made comments on this yet. I was watching the

Paul Washer message at the Shepherds Conference in 2026, and I just thought

I'd like to see what he's going to say, see if he's going to encourage people, get after people. I think

Paul has about seven messages and travels the world with those, and I wanted to see which message that was.

By the way, I didn't say that. Somebody who knows Paul well said that, but I think it's probably true.

Anyway, he said that he went to go visit John MacArthur in 20,

I believe 2025, when John wasn't able to come to the Shepherds Conference because he was ill, and that he didn't know what to say, and so he—just generally speaking now, don't hold me to it.

It's been weeks ago—that he asked John about his spiritual life, his prayer life, how's he doing in that realm, and I posted on the show—or on Twitter, rather—that

I think you should give people the gospel on their deathbed, not the law, and I put a short snippet of that Shepherds Conference message—I don't know how long, 20 seconds -ish—and it got like 380 ,000 views.

380 ,000 views. I was accused of misrepresenting

Paul, not showing the full clip, saying deathbed, and John was just on his sickbed, he wasn't on his deathbed yet, that Paul's this,

Paul's that, Paul's the other, I'm this, that, and the other, and so I just wanted to talk about that a little bit today in general.

Oh, I was doing it for clicks. I think I did get about 80 new followers. I probably lost 60 of them on Twitter.

But the question of the hour is, what do you say on someone's deathbed? The question of the hour is also, what do you want said to you when you're on your deathbed?

And my third question is, if you want a certain thing said on your deathbed, then why don't you want that said to you while you're living?

Because we are all on the way to death.

How do you comfort people in life and in death? Hey, that kind of sounds like Heidelberg to me.

So today we're talking about, what do you say on someone's deathbed? I'll just start off by saying

Heidelberg chapter, or question one, what is your only comfort in life and death?

And so, do you think it's going to be gospel or law? Do you think it's going to be done or due? Do you think it's going to be the person, work, and promises of the

Lord Jesus? Or do you think it's going to be, how's your prayer life? Now, I speak of these things with some knowledge and expertise regarding deathbeds in two different ways, and I'll get back to Heidelberg in a second.

Number one, I've gone to people's deathbeds and I've talked to them. Number two, while I've had two different bouts of cancer, two different kinds of cancer, it was nothing compared to being in the hospital with COVID delta in 2021, 16 days, and nearly didn't make it.

And I was coming to grips with heaven, eternity, and what comforted me when

I thought I was going to die. Every day the doctor would come in, and I was hoping for good news, and he would say, pretty much at best, you're stable.

So, I'll get back to this in a moment, but it's not like I'm just talking just to talk.

In a month, I'll be 66 years old, so there's some experience there, although that doesn't make me, you know, above everyone else.

You know, what's true is true, it doesn't matter how old you are. But I've been to deathbeds, and I've been on what

I thought was my deathbed. So, what comforts? Now, back to Heidelberg. What is the only comfort in life and death?

Heidelberg Catechism, question one. Answer. Do you think it's going to be law, do, or gospel, done?

That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins and delivered me from all the power of the devil, and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly

Father not a hair can fall from my head. Yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore by his

Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me sincerely willing and ready henceforth to live unto him.

Gospel or law? I think it's gospel, don't you? Yeah, of course it is.

Here's the good news, right? It's not have you prayed enough, have you read enough, do you evangelize enough.

When I thought I was on my deathbed, by the way, I thought at least initially, the first few days in the hospital,

I would evangelize the nurses, I would say to doctors when they would come in, and staff, is there any way

I could pray for you? I'm a pastor. One guy said, you need more prayers than I do, type of thing.

And so I was reading my Bible. As the oxygen got less, then

I could just listen to my Bible, but I wasn't praying enough, reading enough, evangelizing enough.

But my son gave me a little three -by -five card from Hebrews 13, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Gospel or law? I received a message from Scott Clark, and he said,

Jesus loves you and died for you, and you can trust him. Gospel or law? Now, when

Paul Washer goes to John MacArthur's house, and he begins to talk to him, obviously there's nothing wrong with saying, how are you doing spiritually?

I don't know if Paul was bragging when he told the story. I think he, probably like all of us, likes to tell some of his exploits in a way that's,

I think, in a bragging way. But I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

That is to say, you know, how are you doing? How could I encourage you? It must be hard, or something like that.

I don't disparage anyone for doing any of that. But the bigger context is,

Paul is law -heavy. Paul is often Neonomian.

Paul is often, do you think you're a Christian? We'll see if you are or not. Paul is less than gospel -emphasis -oriented.

How do I say that? Often when I hear him. Now, people will say, oh, you need to hear this, you need to hear that,

I've heard many things from Paul, etc. Okay, fine. I'm not an expert on every one of his messages.

I'm just saying that it is duplex gratia, Christ for pardon, justification,

Christ for us, and Christ for power, Christ in us, sanctification, and it is the gospel that motivates guilt, grace, and gratitude.

Law guides, gospel motivates. And so my whole point was, as I posted that, what do we tell people on their deathbed?

And I used Paul as the example—that is, Paul Washer—as an example, with a larger context involved, because he is law -heavy.

And I have a lot of things in my life that I don't do well, but I was not trying to do it for clicks and followers.

I mean, who cares? I'm not verified.

That should probably tell you something, that I'm not spending the money for the extra emphasis and extra views and extra exposure.

My point was simply, when you go to someone's deathbed, give them the gospel.

And you say, well, I think probably Paul did. And by the way, John MacArthur said that he was glad for those questions.

None of that changes my main point. When you go to visit a

Christian on their deathbed, you give them the gospel. You give them gospel truths.

You give them good news. You give them promises and hope. Now, if someone's not a believer, what do you do when you go into their deathbed?

Well, you give them the gospel as well, not reassuringly in the sense that, hey, everything's fine.

Of course, you give them the law to expose their sin so that they reach out to the Savior by faith.

Yes, that's true. I think they're going to start up here. It's so much for the lunch break.

We'll see how much we're going to get done. Obviously, if you go to a person's deathbed, you're going to preach the law.

Of course, of course, of course, of course. I was in the

Midwest, and people are like, like at, like at. You don't even say like that.

It's like at, like at. They're good people, like at. My point is, you give people who are

Christians the gospel. John Knox reportedly, on his deathbed, wanted

John 17 read to him. And if you believe it, raise your hand. And he said, yes,

I believe it by raising his hand three times. I don't think he could talk. Act of obedience, no hope without it,

Machen writes John Murray from his deathbed in a hospital in North Dakota.

When I'm in the hospital, God says through Hebrews, I'll never leave you or forsake you.

You give people good news. I walk into my friend's room, Mark. He was a member here.

Hi, Mark. It's Pastor Mike. And you know you're going to die. He opened his eyes.

He was on a morphine drip. And we talked about heaven and how

Jesus loves him, died for him, and how, Mark, you can trust him, the risen

Savior. I went into my friend Ray's room in Boston when he was about ready to die.

By the way, it was Ray that got No Compromise Radio Ministry off the ground. He bought the equipment. He bought the radio time.

He said behind the scenes, don't let anybody know. Now we don't have to take care of his rewards.

He's got the eternal rewards, seeing the Lord Jesus face to face. I walked into the room, and his wife and children were there, and his daughter -in -law.

And I just said, Ray, it's Mike, and are you afraid to die?

And he said no by shaking his head. He was kind of gray, eyes closed.

And I said, good, because Jesus loves you, and he died for you, and you can trust his promises. Giving people the gospel.

My point is, while I do have a problem, not with Paul Washer per se, but his preaching,

I don't think—and I've done a show before on an open podcast to Paul Washer, and people say, well, you know, you've just got this problem with Paul Washer.

I don't think it's a personal problem. I think if I meet

Paul Washer, I'd be happy to talk with him. He'd be probably—he doesn't know who

I am, probably doesn't care who I am. So, I'm just looking at this thing here.

I'm hoping that this button works. What in the world is that?

Hmm. Oh, I guess it does work. It's the preaching.

First of all, I couldn't listen to him every week, because he doesn't do exposition. At least to the big conference that I've heard,

I think he's done a proverb series on YouTube or whatever. I'm not exactly sure.

But are people law -heavy? Are they gospel -heavy? Do they know the three uses of the law? First use, exposing sin and unbelievers.

Third use, as a guide for believers. Second use, civil for both believers and unbelievers. You know, curbing sin in society.

And if you don't know that, if you don't know Christ for pardon, Christ for power, if you don't know gospel motivates and the law guides believers, if you're just, you know, having that attitude—at least it seems to me that it's, you know, you call yourself a

Christian, let's find out—you're not measuring up, not giving hope, afraid that if you give too much gospel that there's going to be licentiousness.

And by the way, that's really what we're talking about, is it not? And I don't mean Paul Washer talking to John MacArthur on his sickbed, because people said, oh, you said it was his deathbed, and he was just sick.

Okay, okay. You just gave a snippet, you didn't give the whole message.

Okay. You think I'm trying to win some kind of argument?

I'm trying to say that give people the gospel on their deathbed. If you come visit me and ask me how my prayer life is when

I'm on oxygen, I can tell you how my prayer life is. Bad, because I can't think.

Am I reading my Bible? No, I can't think. I don't hardly have any oxygen. I'm just listening to the

Bible on my phone app, the ESV app. If you ask me, am

I evangelizing? I tried, but then I'm getting sick. I can't. So what do you go tell people on their deathbed?

You tell them about the person and work of Jesus and His promises, and how the Father in love sends the

Son to rescue people like them, and how God's never failed, and He never leaves, He never forsakes,

He never breaks a promise, and we're looking for this glorious hope. That's what you talk about.

You don't talk about, well, how are you doing spiritually? I think you talk about what's your only comfort in life and death.

That's what you do. That's the point, is I want the emphasis on the gospel. When you preach to believers,

I want the emphasis on the gospel. I'm not saying you can never say, how's your spiritual walk doing?

But that should be minimal. People are afraid of lawlessness and sin.

Okay, I get it. Unholy living, sinful living, lawless living is wrong.

God is holy, and He expects even His children to live lives commensurate with their calling, to walk in a manner worthy of their calling,

Ephesians 4, verse 1. Antinomianism is sin. Any kind of preaching that minimizes holy living is sinful.

Any type of teaching and instruction from pastors and preachers that somehow denigrates obedience is wrong.

But I think people are afraid of grace. It's Romans 6 .1. It's Romans 6 .1.

It's Lloyd -Jones' famous quote. And people are afraid that grace will lead to licentiousness.

What's the solution to antinomianism, and what's the solution to neonomism, or legalism, or nomism, or law stuff?

It's the gospel. You don't have to forsake sin in order to come to Christ.

When you come to Christ by grace alone through faith alone, you'll begin to forsake sin.

The law motivates true or false. The gospel motivates true or false.

The gospel motivates as true. The law motivates as false. It's a guide.

There's no animating principle. Yes, the law is a reflection of God's holiness and righteousness.

Yes, it's good that God gave the law and His kindness to direct us, to first show us our sins as unbelievers and now to direct us as believers.

Yes, that's true. But this whole thing—people need to read—if

I sat down with Paul Washer and we sat and had a cup of coffee, I'd probably be struck by how friendly he was, how nice, his desire for holy living and piety.

I would even pay for the coffee or lunch. And I think if I talked to him about these things, he probably would agree.

But it just doesn't flesh itself out in the ministry. That's all, because pietism,

Keswick, Wesleyanism, Arminianism. And I would say to Paul, do you read any books on preaching?

Because here's the most important book on preaching that I've read lately and I assigned to all my students, and that's

Why Johnny Can't Preach by T. David Gordon. And the congregation needs to know that we're for them, and we're preaching

God's goodness in Christ to them, and we want them to excel, and we want to encourage them.

There's nothing wrong with conviction. There's nothing wrong with the law. There's nothing wrong with reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction.

Obviously, we do that. But then we give the balm of the gospel. It's Richard Sibbes. If Richard Sibbes was known as the sweet dropper, dropping in grace and kindness of God, how would you characterize your pastor?

How would you characterize me? How would you characterize Paul Washer? And I would not characterize Paul Washer by the sweet dropper.

Part of it is, I know what this is like, because I was too law -heavy. I would like that ministry of law, law, law, law.

Here comes the sound outside in the parking lot, hundreds of thousands for the septic tank.

You know, I never ask, Will—I rarely ask for money from No Compromise Radio. Well, I never ask,

I just say, you can give at Patreon. But I could probably start saying to people, give to the septic system overhaul at Bethlehem Bible Church.

Actually, then you could get a 5013c tax deduction. All right, well, my name's

Mike Ebendroth. I'm going to have a very short show today because they're starting the construction outside again and everything else.