They Call Me The Seeker (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.

The Show’s Purpose: Proclaiming Christ Without Compromise

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, looks like Abendroth, but we say Abendroth. My brother, Pat Abendroth, my sister, Marcy Abendroth, we say Abendroth, my kids say Abendroth.

Everybody says Abendroth, even my daughter whose last name's not Abendroth anymore. We all say Abendroth. So anyway, if you say Peter Uberoth, if you say Abendroth, Aben-roth, if you say, I don't know what you say, but I'll just say, okay, fine.

I think we have been on the air now. We just finished our 12th year. Can you imagine that, 12th year? Feel fired up, wanna talk to you about who Jesus is, the one who never compromised. That's why the show is named No Compromise, is present tense.

That's not the reason it was, but that's the reason it is now. You can just go to the show. They usually are 24 and a half minutes. We are on podcast and two stations, one in Wyoming with my friend Brian, Pastor Brian, and another in Alaska.

And I don't know if Evan had anything to do with that or it's just the folks up there, Kratz and others. I'm thankful to be on both of those stations in Alaska and Wyoming. I'm looking forward to this fall, going to Omaha Bible Church with Pat Avendroth.

And there's a conference there in October, Matthew Barrett, JV Fesco, and myself. And so I guess I'm the token Avendroth. Glad to do that. I have to be very, very careful on what I say about the Trinity.

Very careful. I'll be going there, but home on Saturday night, because I really wanna be committed to Lord's Day ministry here in the United States. Here at Bethlehem Bible Church. You can go to our website, bbchurch .org, two Bs, two Cs, bbchurch .org.

Lots of good content there. You can see our Statement of Faith, which is the London Baptist Confession of 1689. When I think of other Westminster standards like the Confession, Shorter, Longer Catechism, Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Dort, those six forms of unity, as it were, I can almost agree with everything in them.

And like reading them, our Statement of Faith is the London Baptist Confession of 1689. I'd encourage you to read that sometime. It's interesting. Read the Savoy Confession, where Thomas Goodwin and John Owen had a lot of influence in that particular confession.

A few little differences here, there, that you can read about. Very interesting how London Baptist Confession and Savoy, why they, I'm not talking about baptism, but why they differed on certain aspects to try to bring something out, maybe that's a little more clarifying or more in line with either Savoy's Congregationalism or London Baptist Confession's Baptistic kind of deal.

Jesus, the Law, and the Need for Grace

We are talking about Jesus on this show. If you like Jesus, you'll like this show. It doesn't mean inevitably, but if you don't like Jesus, you won't like the show. That's really what I'm after. If you like Jesus, I hope you like the show.

You might not like the guest, you might not like my tone or the way I talk or anything like that. Just put it to 1 .5 speed and it makes listening to me much easier. I usually listen to podcasts at 1 .5 speed.

I critique sermons of others when they ask. Sometimes I critique people when they don't ask. I love preaching. I love to be preached to. I love watching sermons. I love listening to sermons. It's just one of the reasons why I ride a bicycle is I like to be out.

I like to exercise. I like to try to stay fit, try to stay thin at least as much as possible. But I love to listen to shows. I love to listen to podcasts that are about the Lord Jesus. I don't listen to many secular shows outside of Victor Davis Hanson.

That's probably the only one I listen to. Maybe there's a one-off here or there, some special series on, I don't know, kidnapping Frank Sinatra Jr. or something. Then I might listen to that just out of interest.

Who's the guy that does the six-hour podcast on war and stuff? Hardcore history. Oh, maybe his last name starts with an M. I don't know. We're talking about Jesus in Luke 19 with a man named Zacchaeus, rich tax collector, hated.

And I wanna talk about this because I wanna remind everybody here who their Lord and Savior is. Especially, especially, espresso, expresso. If you're at a church where you just get beat up all the time with law, there's nothing wrong with law.

It's good, it's right, it's holy. Romans 7, 1 Timothy 1. If it's used lawfully, and some Christians sit in churches, week after week after week after week, where the good news, grace incarnate, the Lord Jesus is assumed.

He's tacked on at the end. He's sung about but never preached about. People can even take gospel accounts of the Lord Jesus and turn them into things that people have to do. Let's face it, if we have to stand before God at any time on the ground of our own righteousness, we don't have many options.

And here's something that's not an option, is to make the law less than what it is. It is requiring perfect, entire, exact, perpetual obedience. It is irrevocable, and it is demanding. And it will, if you wanna stand before God based on your own works, based on law keeping, based on meriting righteousness, it cannot happen.

It will not happen, you will not be able to do that. And for Christians, we need to be reminded that even today, think Jerry Bridges, think Galatians chapter two. Even today, I stand before God based on the work of Christ Jesus.

And salvation, the whole lot of it is by grace. You are justified by grace alone through faith. You are sanctified by grace alone through faith alone, right? And then you are glorified by grace through faith.

Grace alone, faith alone. And when people don't hear that, they go elsewhere. And so some of you live too far away and can't come to Bethlehem Bible Church. So you listen to the podcasts. You listen to preaching on Sunday because you're dying to hear about Jesus.

Where can you go to hear about Jesus? And that's one of the reasons why this show has taken a turn from its critique mode. And I'm not, I still will critique and I can say, you know, Francis Chan is off the deep end.

What's Platt doing? He's woke. Jason Meyer at Bethlehem Baptist Church leads because he's trying to get everybody woke and then leaves. I mean, these are all my, you know, in my opinion, this is what's happening.

And you can kind of look at that and you can say what's going on at Southern Seminary and you've got people teaching woke stuff even though the president says we don't do woke stuff here. I mean, it's just crazy.

I'm gonna do a sermon, by the way, on the Antichrist spirit of social justice because it is anti-Jesus, anti-Jesus's unity in the church, anti-Jesus's redemption, anti-Jesus's sufficiency of scripture, anti, anti, anti.

And it is a cancer that destroys. Bring that in and it's destroyed. Let the camel's nose in the church tent, it's over. But anyway, back to the point at hand. Some of you, maybe many of you listen because you just like a little balm.

You just like a little good news. You'd like to be reminded that though you're weak and sinful and you struggle just like me, God loves you anyway because Jesus died for you. And the triune God has even granted you faith so you might rest in him and trust in him.

And all day long, your conscience says law. All day long, your marriage could be law. All day long, your work is law. Law, law, law, law, law, law, law. I don't care if you tell me that I'm against the law.

I'm not. But it needs to be used lawfully from the hand of Christ, your brother, your mediator, your advocate. And if you break the law, there could be discipline and there could be some earthly consequences, but no eternal consequences.

Those have been paid for by the Lord. And so we need to get a good dose of Jesus, not only for pardon, but also for power. Not just Christ for us, justification, but Christ in us. The power of the Holy Spirit in us.

We need just to be reminded. So whatever popularity this show has, I think it's because of that. I think I want to be blunt, straight on. You ask me a question, I give you an answer, but we're gonna talk about who Jesus.

And all the rhetoric that goes behind other things, I kinda just wanna cut to the chase. In the old days, I think we had more men listening than we do ladies. I'm not so sure about that anymore. There are very many lady listeners and I'm glad for that.

And I do have a softer side when I'm around my wife because she won't put up with anything less. She expects me to be godly. Law. Oh, brother. Pastor Steve is coming in here in a few minutes to help do some Tuesday shows.

So he should be back. State trooper just pulled in the parking lots, turned around. I hope they're not coming in asking for passports. Yeah. You have like church issues, like if it wasn't enough for homeschool, private school, public school, if it wasn't enough for contemporary music or Psalms only, if it wasn't enough for can you celebrate Halloween or not, if it wasn't enough, do you celebrate Christmas or not, if it's not enough whether you can drink wine or not, it's not enough if you can eat meat sacrificed to idols or not, it's not enough if you can fill in the blank and now we have mask, no masks, vacs, it's not a vacs, you know, back and forth and all this stuff.

It's like to be a pastor. Good thing the Lord is building his church and good thing that we can rest in him because it is crazy time. So that's maybe one more reason why we should enjoy a show like No Compromise Radio because we get to hear about the Lord Jesus.

Zacchaeus, Divine Seeking, and the Triune Plan of Salvation

Jesus sees Zacchaeus. For all Zacchaeus' human seeking, we know that it's divine drawing of Zacchaeus and Luke 18, it is impossible for somebody rich, humanly speaking, to be saved but with God, everything's possible and now Jesus, the God-man knows Zacchaeus' name.

He clears out a large swath so he can now get through the crowd. That's the inference of scripture and he says with divine necessity, with the divine imperative kind of thought, I'm gonna go to your house today.

That's what I'm gonna do and Zacchaeus was super happy. Maybe he had heard about Matthew, i .e. Levi, in Luke chapter nine, getting saved and following Christ. Maybe he heard about that and he knew, I'm sinful and I need a savior and so I'd like to see this Jesus.

It could have been other reasons why he was seeking Jesus. Maybe he just wanted to see somebody who was nice to tax collectors because all the other Jews weren't nice to tax collectors, let alone arch tax collectors and instead of receiving spit, maybe he would hear some good words or see Jesus' face or who knows what.

We don't really know. What we do know is putting the pieces together in eternity past, the triune God with the pactum salutis, covenant of redemption was gonna rescue sinners. That was part of the plan and if you wanna talk about economies of the Trinity and stuff like that, we see Ephesians one, the father choosing, he chose Zacchaeus.

If you're a Christian, he chose you. The son redeemed Zacchaeus at the cross. He redeemed you. In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. That's Ephesians one, seven and then the Holy Spirit sealed us to the day of redemption.

Chapter one of Ephesians, verses 13 and 14. Triune God rescuing and we see that happening right now. He, Jesus, is saving Zacchaeus and he's gonna go to his house and Zacchaeus received him gladly with great joy and when they saw it, Luke 19, verse seven, they all grumbled.

He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. I think doctors go to sick people's houses, don't they? That's what they do. That's what they do and that's what Jesus, the great physician, is doing, spiritually sick.

Actually, they're right. He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. That's true, that's right, because that's why he came. This is Luke 15. Lost, found, rejoiced, lost, found, rejoiced, lost, found.

Now they're mad. You Pharisees are mad, like the brother, but you should be rejoicing. You should be rejoicing. An image bearer is saved. Yes, I know he's a tax collector. Yes, I know he's done all those things, but they're grumbling.

They are offended. They don't care about this man. They're using it to say bad things about Jesus. Very, very interesting. Jesus says, I need to go be, I need to go to your house. I must. And now they're saying, you know what?

He's gonna be a guest. Literally means he's gonna, like if you unhitch pack animals, time up for the night. That's what Jesus is gonna go do. They probably think Jesus is some kind of animal if push comes to shove.

And they are grumbling, a far cry from Luke four, glorified by all. Far cry from Zacchaeus. Rejoicing. They're grumbling. And you have heard me said on the show many times that this word for grumbling is a word that sounds like what it is.

And so when you slander somebody or whisper, that sounds like what it is. Pesarestes. That's the sound of the Greek word. Similarly, grumbling, gungismus. And I could do it this way. Gungismus, gungismus, gungismus, gungismus.

They're grumbling. This is not the Messiah. This is not what we do. It's like, you know, you're in Afghanistan and Jesus says to somebody in the Taliban, I wanna go stay at your house. What? What is he doing?

What is he doing? I mean, this guy steals. This guy cheats. He's a scoundrel. And they begin to grumble. I don't know if it's true or not, but some lexicons say that since the preposition dia, D-A-I, through, is attached to the word grumbling, it's like it just goes through the crowd.

Grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble. You can hear it. You've done it. So have I. Grumbling. He's gonna save him. He eats with sinners. This man receives sinners and eats with them. I mean, this is gonna be happening in Luke 15 as well.

This is not right. We're not gonna do this. Calvin, it is thus that the world disregards the offer of grace, the grace of God, but complains bitterly when it is conveyed to others. If you eat with somebody, back in those days, this is close fellowship.

Obviously, Jesus is not going to celebrate Zacchaeus' sins. That's what toleration is today. We tolerate people not enough. We have to celebrate their sins. Jesus doesn't celebrate sin at all. Sin is a strike against God's holiness, as it were.

Jesus doesn't celebrate sin. He dies for it. That's what he does. He's punished for it. He assuages the Father's wrath for it. Jesus never celebrates sin. And when it comes to all this side A, side B Christianity and all this stuff regarding what's going on in the PCA and elsewhere, Jesus doesn't celebrate sin ever.

Heterosexual or homosexual or asexual or anything else, sin is never celebrated. But that's what they want us to do now is celebrate sin. And here, Jesus is going to go have fellowship because he's seeking and saving.

That's what verse 10 talks about. He came to seek and save the lost. How do you seek and save the lost? You add humanity to the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Son, so you can be representative and substitute.

And you live for them, you die for them, and you're raised for them. And you intercede for them. Man's a sinner. I mean, he's the chief tax collector. And Jesus must be a sinner too. And of course, sinner for us just means anybody that falls short of God's law and his glory.

But back in those days, I mean, sinner was, it was just despicable. That was the word for the lowest of the low. Will Zacchaeus say anything? Have we heard from Zacchaeus? Has Zacchaeus said anything yet?

Hmm, out loud at least. Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything,.

I restore it for fruit? Yes. Evidence? Yes. Social justice? Reparations? No. Let's take a look at this verse for a little bit here on No Compromise Radio.

He stood. That's interesting. Zacchaeus stood. Some people wanna say, you know, this is like standing your ground. Okay, so you got the crowd. Gongusmus, gongusmus, gongusmus. It's going through complaining, murmuring.

He's gonna go be with the sinner. This is awful. I can't believe it. This is the Messiah. Behold your God. This guy's not good. Be careful. Beware. He's not the son of David. Don't believe a word he says.

And now Zacchaeus stands. What's he gonna say? Will he grumble too? What will he say? I mean, maybe grumbling at Zacchaeus. That might've been true, but Jesus, no. I wonder if we can tell if this guy's been saved or not.

Has he been saved? Well, he formally stands. He's gonna make an announcement. Hey, this is what happens when it comes to the response of the work of Christ in a person's life. Justification, declared righteous.

Sanctification, God begins to change people by grace alone, through faith alone. And people begin to respond with obedience, with holy living, with wanting to do the right thing. A .T. Robertson said, apparently Jesus and Zacchaeus had come to the house of Zacchaeus and were about to enter when the murmur became such a roar that Zacchaeus turned around and faced the crowd.

Wow, half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I've defrauded anyone of anything, which he had, I restore it fourfold. Now, I don't know why this is so hard. How hard is it to think through the issue when it comes to the ground of your salvation, dear Christian, has to be perfect.

The ground that you stand on before God's tribunal, as it were, better be perfect, because God's perfect. What are you gonna do, just have one little O-ring that's bad in your space shuttle of righteousness?

So the ground is Christ's work. He's the Savior. He obeyed the law perfectly, entirely, exactly, perpetually. He died for all of our sins where we did not obey the law perfectly, entirely, exactly, perpetually.

And therefore, we get a righteousness that Christ earned, credited to our account. Christ gets sin that he didn't earn, credited to his account. And God accepts that transaction, the great exchange, by raising Jesus from the dead, literally, physically, bodily.

Death couldn't hold him. That's the ground of your salvation. Are you trusting in that, resting? Maybe there's anxious thoughts, maybe it's not a perfect faith, but your faith doesn't need to be perfect because A, nothing you do is perfect, and B, the object of your faith is perfect.

That's why we don't tell unbelievers to surrender and yield and commit and treasure and have allegiance. Those are all fine and dandy once you're saved, but it's simple resting, trusting, receiving, relying.

That's what we do. That's the only thing we can do because we can't do anything in order to be saved. We're trusting in the Lord. That's the ground. The ground of your salvation has to be perfect. It has to be the Lord Jesus' work.

Now, is there evidence if God justifies while distinct sanctification is inseparable with justification? We have a lot of people who are legalists and neonomians and gnomians and they don't like it that we're not after people all the time with surrender, this, that, and the other, and telling that to unbelievers and they wanna know where the law is in our life and everything else.

And one of the things they forget is there's a difference between root, perfect Jesus and His work, and fruit. If your fruit is the root, then your fruit has to be perfect, correct? Well, here we have the great evidence of Zacchaeus' salvation.

This didn't save him. Jesus saved him. You say, well, I don't have a lot of fruit in my life, but there's a little. Well, wonderful, I understand. I wish I loved my wife more. I wish I submitted to my husband more.

I wish I loved my neighbor more. Wonderful, that's the work of God in your life. I'm glad for that. And we're full as Christians of repentance, changing our mind, and then the fruits of repentance will do things differently.

And therefore, we can really come to this passage and say, we see the Savior Jesus, He saves. Ground of our salvation is Christ's work. The evidence here, He's changed, He's different. And He is showing evidence that He's really repented.

Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio.

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.