Sinful Dreams (rerun)

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.

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, ministry. My name happens to be Mike Abendroth, and I do not endorse intinction under any circumstances. Well, I guess if you're on a desert island, then you have to resort to intinction, but I don't know why you'd have to even there.

Down with intinction. If you don't know what intinction is, you have to look it up. I didn't know what intinction was either until I looked it up, and then I had to do a show on intinction. By the way, that was one of our best downloaded, highest downloaded shows.

How to Worship at Work was right up there, Seventh-Day Adventism, Funny Juice, our Ellen G. White, that was right up there. Paul Simon's 50 Ways to Leave the Mother Church, that was up there. And what was the highest downloaded no-co?

Actually, Josh, if you're listening, I would like to actually find these things out. What were the top 10 downloaded no-co shows, and maybe the top, the bottom, the lowest numbers of downloads. Too bad we can't figure out if somebody starts to listen to No Compromise and then they quit, just turn it off, and we could know the turnoffs.

What the turnoff rate would be, probably today's show, it's pretty fast, so I better get into the subject. I actually think the first subject today on the show, you're going to find interesting, because when I first heard about it, I thought, this is kind of funky.

This is interesting to me, and I like funky, interesting things, all in light of no-co radio. How about this? What about when you sin in a dream? What should you do about it? Somebody asked me that question once.

They asked me as a congregant would ask a pastor, what do I do if I have sinful dreams? What if somebody asked you the question? Let's make you the Bible Answer Man today. I know you don't make 900 ,000 a year, and your wife's not your secretary, making over 100 ,000 a year.

You've got a big house in Orange County. I don't mean you have to be perfectly the Bible Answer Man. Are those things true? I think I read them. If they're not true, please tell me, and I'll read them to you.

I'll make a correction. On air by intinction. Now, where would you go? I guess you could go online now, but before we had the internet, is it a sin to sin in your dreams, basically is the question. Are you accountable for that sin?

Some of the sins are very vivid that we have. Some of our dreams are very vivid, therefore some of the sins in our dreams could be very vivid, maybe in color, maybe you think it's actually happening, and then you wake up and you think, oh.

So where would we go? Who would write about such a thing? I'm wondering if I wrote a book. I'm almost finished with book five, and of course, as you know, only two are published. What does that tell you?

Well, one is going to be published in 2014 by Harvest House. That's a, I think, a done deal. I've already written my stuff and signed the contracts and cashed the advance. One more reason to go with a bigger publisher.

You get a cash advance. I think one check I got from day one, I got no cash advance from day one. I did receive a check for, I want to save five or 12 pounds from England. I actually cashed it, so there you have it.

Richard Baxter on Dreams and Christian Ethics

Back to the point. What book would you go to to talk about dreams? What about, I mean, because if you just type in Christians and dreams and interpreting dreams, you're going to be off on la la land mysticism.

You're going to be stuck in a maze with purple haze all along the watchtower. I mean, it is going to be really, really bad for you because Christians, frankly, once they get into dreams and interpreting dreams, it goes along the, is heaven for real, mumbo jumbo, 90 minutes in heaven, Don Piper, Burbo land.

It's bad. So you want to stay away from that. So does anybody who is trustworthy publish something about dreams? And so while his view of justification was tweaked somewhat, no minor thing I know, but Richard Baxter in his book, Baxter's Practical Works, volume one, a Christian directory published by Soli Deo Gloria Publications, back in the day, Don Kistler's group before it was sold to Ligonier.

I saw Don a while ago at the Shepherds Conference and he, here's a funny story about Don Kistler. He was buying some books and you get a $50 gift certificate from the Shepherds Conference and you pay the fee, 300 bucks to get in and then you get a $50 of free books or free merchandise, free swag, that kind of stuff.

And he had, I think it was $40 worth of stuff and he said, ah, you can, and he was in line right behind me and I was packing up the books that I got. And he was telling the people behind the counter, oh, that's a $10, you know, I don't have time for an extra book for $10.

So that's okay. You can just keep it. And so I know Don, but I don't think Don remembers me. So I reached right behind the counter, it wasn't that far away, for my book, The Sovereignty and Supremacy of King Jesus.

And I put it on his stack and I said, this is only 10 bucks. I think you might like it. He looked at me, he's like, really? I said, yeah, I think you might really like this book. And then I flipped it over and it's got a picture of me on the back and he's like, oh.

And then he gave me his business card and said, if you ever want me to come speak in New England, then let me know. Don Kistler. So Don Kistler published this through Soledad Glory Books some time ago, and he's got a chapter, Richard Baxter does, in this book, Part 7 Under Christian Ethics.

And guess what the title is? The Part, excuse me, Part 8. What was Part 7, just for fun? Let's see what context is. Part 7. Why do we go from Part 8, and if I flip back a page, it says Part 6. So see, it really is Part 7.

This is so wrong. We go from Part 6, directions against sinful excess of sleep. That's what we're talking about. That's the context here. Let's see what Part 5 would be, because that's probably going to go to Part 3 instead.

Directions against fornication and all uncleanness. It does say here, there's no sin so odious, but to love it and frequently use it will do much to reconcile the very judgment to it, either to think it lawful or intolerable and venial.

And he goes on to talk about brutish persons do this. Well, now we go to directions against sinful dreams. Richard Baxter, his book, Reformed Pastor, is an excellent yet convicting work, and much of what Richard Baxter writes is good.

On the technical side, with his Amaraldianism, his four-point Calvinism, and his neo-Calvinistic tendencies, I wouldn't read him when it comes to the finer points of justification. Let's leave that to John Owen, our others.

But I do want you to know that if you have sinful dreams, you can read Richard Baxter. And if you would like to write us at No Compromise Radio with any gift of any size, we'll send you these pages. Oh, that's not true.

You send us a gift and we won't send you anything back. Kind of reminds me when I first got saved and started sending money to Bob Larson. I don't know why I did, but I remember calling the ministry and said, you know, I'd like to help people here locally.

What do I do? And of course, since it was all a scam, there was nobody to help. Help by continuing to send money in so we can hire people to help you. He's got some funky church now in Phoenix. I'm sure James White goes there on Sunday nights when his church doesn't have service.

Causes of Sinful Dreams

Directions against sinful dreams, Richard Baxter. Dreams are neither good nor sinful simply in themselves because they are not rational and voluntary, nor in our power. But they are often made sinful, listen, by some other voluntary act.

They may be sinful by participation and consequently, and it's just a period there, and the acts that make them sinful are either such as go before or such as follow afterward. So think with me, if you will, you have a sinful dream.

Somebody asked you the question, if they've had a sinful dream, what should they do about it? Now, if they said, well, I've had a sinful dream, should I repent of that dream? It wouldn't be wrong, I don't think, if you told them, you know, if it'd make you feel better if you ask God to forgive you, even though these things weren't voluntary.

I'm not going to go against that, but listen to Baxter as we develop our dream, our mardiology. The antecedent causes are any sinful act which distempereth the body, or any sin which inclineth the fantasy and mind thereto, or the omission of what was necessary to prevent them.

So isn't that interesting? So basically, if you watch slutty movies before you go to bed and then you hit the sack, and your mind is filled with slutty things in your dreams, and in your dreams you're doing slutty things, no wonder you're doing those things and they're in your mind because you just were watching them.

So, if you look at pornography, or read a vile book, 50 whatever shades of gray before you go to bed, and then you have a weird dream where there is sexual sin in your dream, and you're the one committing the sin, those are causes antecedent to the dream, and so be careful.

And here Baxter even gives in his Baxterian way, Baxter was from Kidderminster, by the way, England, and when I was in Kidderminster, England, I wanted to go see where Baxter preached, and so I drove to the information booth that was at the center of town.

So Kim and I and the kids were driving through Kidderminster, we took a little detour because I wanted to go see this, and in fact, in the information booth, I said to the person, you probably won't know where this is, but I'm just asking anyway, I'm looking for the church where the Puritan, and he goes, Richard Baxter is?

Yeah, yeah. And so he said, well, there's a statue of Baxter at such-and-such part of the town, and then his church is right down the street at such-and-such part of town. I thought, there you go, Kidderminster, just to even say that word Kidderminster is nice.

The causes which afterward make them objectively sinful are the ill uses that men make of them as they take their dreams to be divine revelations or trust to them or are frightened by them as ominous or as prophetical and make them the ground of their actions and seduce themselves by the phantasms of their own brains.

More brains. When I visited Pat Ebendroth, my brother, he has several children, and I always bring some crazy Uncle Mike gift, and so I got the jello mold that looks like brains, and so I brought them the green jello with the gummy bears, excuse me, gummy worms, and then we put it into the mold, and then you jam the worms in, half in and half out, of course, because you just don't want the worms in the jello brain mold.

You want them sticking out. And then we all thought about the movie More Brains. Well, what is Baxter saying here? Baxter is saying this, if you have a brain, if you have a brain, if I only had a brain, if you had a brain, Mike, you wouldn't tell the stories of the green jello mold.

So here's what he's saying on No Compromise Radio regarding sinful dreams. If you have a dream about something and you take that as revelation, that God's talking to you, that God's saying something to you, that this is divine direction, that is also a sinful use of a dream.

It's wrong to look at some sinful things and engage your mind in sinful things, body in sinful things before you go to bed, and then if you dream about those things you just were thinking about, which often happens, doesn't it?

You think about somebody before you go to sleep, and you're thinking about some church issue, and then you dream about the church issue. I mean, that's what I dream about because I'm a pastor, and so I would imagine if you were thinking about the Detroit Lions and Barry Sanders, and then you fell asleep and you dreamt that you got Barry Sanders' autograph or something, then we'll see it makes sense because it's what you're thinking about before you went to bed.

At least it can contribute to that. So if you have a dream about something and then take that to be divine revelation, that would be wrong. I agree with Baxter on that. Or if you're afraid, I've dreamt that something would happen, it's going to be bad because it was in my dream and therefore it must take place, frightened by them is ominous.

You don't want to do that. That's a phantasm of your own brain. And getting back to the zombie deal, I remember I saw a movie when I was a kid, Phantasm. You wouldn't want that, would you? Direction one, avoid these, says Richard Baxter regarding sinful dreams.

Bodily Distempers, Last Thoughts, and Prayer Before Sleep

Directions against, avoid these bodily distempers as much as you can which cause sinful dreams, especially fullness of diet. A full stomach causeth troublesome dreams and lustful dreams and hath its ill effects by night and by day.

So if you like refried beans, refried beans, frijoles con queso, and you eat those before you go to bed with a little carne asada or something, then you could be in trouble. John Dawkins in John Dawson, John Dawson, the patio daddy guy in Idaho, one of the stalkers of No Compromise Radio, he sent me something right after Thanksgiving and you take some type of roll, one of those granddaddy's, you get a biscuits in a tube and you flatten that out and you make a little pouch and you put in cranberry sauce and you put in stuffing, turkey, gravy, I'd probably put in some hot sauce too.

And then you fold it up and seal it, it's almost like a hostess pie but it's with good stuff. If you eat one of those at midnight and then at 12 .07 you go to bed, that could cause you some crazy dreams.

Now I don't know about the lustful stuff, maybe this has nothing to do with sex, maybe it's other kinds of lust, but you want to be careful. Direction two, Richard Baxter, Directions Against Sinful Dreams.

Endeavor the cure of those sinful distempers of the mind which cause sinful dreams. The cure of a worldly mind is the best way to cure worldly covetous dreams. That's good. Now listen to this, and the cure of a lustful heart is the best way to cure lustful dreams.

And so the rest, cleanse the fountain and the waters will be sweeter by day and by night. Isn't that nice? So as you grow in grace and in holiness and as God brings you along through His grace via your work and sweat and copiao and toil via progressive sanctification, this will get better.

Direction three, Richard Baxter, Directions Against Sinful Dreams. Suffer not your thoughts or tongue or actions to run sinfully upon that in the day which you would not dream sinfully of in the night.

That's good advice. Common experience telleth us that our dreams are apt to follow our foregoing thoughts and words and deeds. He kind of already said this before, but you know Puritans, they like to redo it.

If you think most frequently and affectionately of that which is good, you will dream of that which is good. It sounds like Philippians 3, doesn't it? Think upon these things. If you think of lustful, filthy objects or speak of them or meddle with them, you will dream of them and so of covetous and ambitious dreams.

And they that make no conscience to sin waking are not like much to scruple sinning in their sleep. Direction four, Richard Baxter, commend yourself to God by prayer before you take your rest and beseech him to set a guard upon your fantasy when you cannot guard it.

Cast the cure upon him and fly to him for help by faith and prayer in the sense of your insufficiency. So if you have these reoccurring nightmares and dreams and things that not ought to go through your mind and you're taking steps to do things rightly when you're awake, just before you fall asleep, ask God to protect you.

Guard my heart and mind, Father, when I can't guard it. It's hard to guard it when you are sleeping. Direction five, Richard Baxter in his book called The Christian Directory. Let your last thoughts still before your sleep be holy and yet quieting and consolatory thoughts.

The dreams are apt to follow our last thoughts. If you betake yourself to sleep with worldliness or vanity in your minds, you cannot expect to be wiser or better when you are asleep than when you are awake.

That's smart, huh? Even for a kid of Minsterian. But if you shut up your day's thoughts with God and sleep, find them upon any holy subject, it is like to use them as it finds them. It's true. Yet if it be distrustful, unbelieving, fearful thoughts which you condone with your dreams may savor of the same distemper.

Frightful and often sinful dreams do follow sinful doubts and fears. How about this? This is a good direction. But if you sweeten your last thoughts with the love of Christ and the remembrance of your former mercies, are the foresight of eternal joys, or can confidently cast them and yourselves upon some promise, it will tend to the quietness of your sleep and to the savoriness of your dreams.

Boy, you should see the print on this book. Fine print. This is like Jonathan Edwards type Banner of Truth 2 volume. And if you should die before morning, will it not be most desirable that your last thoughts be holy?

So true. Excellent advice from the Puritan Richard Baxter. Direction six under part eight, directions against sinful dreams. When you have found any corruption appearing in your dreams, make use of them for the renewing of your repentance and exciting your endeavors to mortify that corruption.

Like it? There's more to say there, but I'm running out of time. So let me just read a little bit more when it comes to what do you do if you sin in your dreams? By the way, I think if you sin in your dreams, I would say you probably shouldn't tell other people about it.

So if you're married and you had some kind of wild dream, I don't think you should confess it to your spouse. That would just give them undue stress. That would be direction six for Mike Gabendroth, but that would be no compromise style, not Richard Baxter style.

Do Not Give Dreams Too Much Weight

Let's see. Number seven, direction seven, part eight, directions against sinful dreams. This is going to be a number one rated show for certain. I think probably, I can't remember the thing. What's Waddington's show called?

Crisis Center. Yes, I think they're actually going to just play this as a rerun, like rebroadcast it. You know how Carl Truman comes to preach here and I play him on No Compromise Radio, S. Lewis Johnson.

I think other shows will actually probably play this show as their main. In your dreams, Mike. Direction seven, lay no greater stress upon your dreams than there is just cause. Hallelujah. As one, when you have searched and find no such sin prevailing in you as your dreams seem to intimate, do not conclude that you have more than your waking evidence discovers.

Prefer not your sleeping signs before your waking signs in search. This is good right here. When you are conscious that you indulge no corruption to occasion such a dream, suppose it not to be faulty of itself and lay not the blame of your bodily temperament or unknown causes upon your soul with too heavy and unjust a charge.

In other words, don't go Puritan-like, not all of them did this of course, introspectively driven. Be careful. Abhor the presumptuous folly of those that use to prognosticate by their dreams and measure their expectations by them and cast themselves into hopes or fears by them.

Saith Diogenes, what folly is it to be careless of your waking thoughts and actions and inquisitive about your dreams? A man's happiness or misery lieth upon what he doth when he is awake and not upon what he suffereth in his sleep.

Directions against sinful dreams. Richard Baxter in Baxter's Practical Works, Volume 1, A Christian Directory. Now that was practical, wasn't it? I really appreciate that side of Baxter. It does say at the very beginning, Practical Works is a shorter title.

Here it says, The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, with a preface giving some account of the author and of this edition of his practical works, an essay on his genius works and times, and a portrait in four volumes, Volume 1, solely Deo Gloria Publications, Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

Isn't that amazing? So J .I. Packer writes the intro to this, and then we have Baxter's works. It's got an excellent section on the tongue, the government of the tongue. Actually it follows the discussion of sinful dreams.

Now, I don't know if that makes any sense or not, but to Baxter it did. It talks about directions against filthy, reballed, scurrilous talk. See, don't we need more of that? More directions against that.

We don't need more of that, of course, but we need more talk against filthy, reballed, scurrilous talk, don't we? That probably needs to be the subtitle of No Compromise show, Standing Against Filthy, Reballed, Scurrilous Talk.

What is sin, the greatness of it, and soddish impudence, and terrible consequences. Mike Abenroth here today. What do you do about sinful dreams? I think we've talked about that plenty. If you'd like to write me, it's info at nocompromiseradio .com.

I actually would send you a couple copies of, not this book, but of these pages. And if you write me at info at nocompromiseradio .com, then I'll send you these of no charge. Don't know what else to tell you.

I can tell you that Steve is taping some shows for Tuesday Guy on Saturday. You can't get that here on WVNE, but you can get that online on iTunes, Facebook, TuneIn Radio. You can also go to TuneIn Radio as well.

Write me your questions and I'll try to answer them at info at nocompromiseradio .com. See you this Sunday at 8 .30 a .m. or 10 a .m. or 11 a .m. for Worship Services of Bethlehem Bible Church.

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 10 .15 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.

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