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Mike works through Michael Horton’s “Ten Propositions on Faith,” taken from his “Christ the Lord” book.
Welcome, welcome, welcome, Duplex Gratia Radio, DGR.
My name's Mike Abenroth, welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. Show, I don't know, has anybody counted? Spencer, count these shows, would you please? 3 ,800 shows, what are we gonna do on our 4 ,000th show?
Who knows, maybe we'd make a sound. Anyway, you can tell the older shows because they have a different intro, and that intro is not this. The intro is, I should probably just pull this up on my soundboard for the mirror in the bathroom by the English Beat.
I saw the English Beat, I don't know, a couple times. They're a fun band to see. Ranking. Roger, the other singer, he was never with them when I saw them.
What else?
I don't know, that's it. Mike Abenroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. Today, part two. I've been doing my Duolingo. I have modern Hebrew, modern Greek, Latin, and Spanish. And I don't think I know the words for two.
In all those languages.
I know dos, that's it. What's Latin for two, I have no idea.
Duo, I have no idea.
I've graduated to the Diamond League. There are no higher leagues, so I'm just gonna try to stay in that. And if you do each language every day, you pretty much have enough points to graduate.
That's about it.
I think I'm on day 409 or something like that.
Who knows?
It's better than playing a game, I guess, on my phone. 10 Propositions on Faith and Salvation, edited by Michael Horton, found in his book, Reformation and Lordship, called Christ the Lord. And this particular version is in a book called Justified, Modern Reformation Essays on the Doctrine of Justification.
So Ryan Glomsrud and Horton put together a book, Modern Reformation. It's got Van Gogh on the front. And let's see, who actually printed it? Modern Reformation did.
Hmm.
Okay, I didn't know that was Van Gogh. Cover art by Vincent Van Gogh. Man with his head in his hands.
Okay.
Oh, I got this at Omaha Bible Church. Omaha Bible Church Bookstore, The Well. $11 .25, but I got it free because I was a speaker.
I hope I told Greg that I took it. I hope I told Greg.
The bookstore manager there is named Greg.
Great guy.
If you're at Omaha Bible Church, say hi to Greg for me. If you're in Omaha, go to Omaha Bible Church and say hi to Greg for me. There's a few Mike Ebenroth books there, just because I'm Pat's brother.
Same reason why I'm speaking at the Pactum two years in a row, this coming October in 2024 with Van Drunen, Fesco, and Pat Ebenroth is because I'm the brother. So if there are more brothers, I might not get invited as much.
All right.
Not to read the first five propositions. You can listen to the show, last show, if you want those five, because there's 10, so I thought I'd do five the first show, five the second show. He essentially, Horton essentially says, there's a difference between justification and sanctification.
And while there are differences, different categories, they are inseparable. I don't know why that's such a big deal. Well, Rome tries to blend the two, but in the circles that I run in, somehow people think maybe I don't teach that.
Christ for you, justification, Christ in you, sanctification. Didn't I do a whole five-part series video on American Gospel Television on sanctification called Sanctify?
Yes.
Don't I say to people to keep the law?
Do we do church discipline?
Is holy living important?
Does God chase in believers if they sin?
I don't know what the confusion is, but if you start adding faithfulness into the category of justification, then I'm going to get after you. That's all because I should have got after myself for years.
I'm sure on occasion I taught that, or at least believed it if I tried to articulate my theological doctrines. Essentially, Mike Horton is right when he was trying to keep the categories separate so we don't go the way of Rome.
Rome is the one that blends the two together. And instead of talking about sanctification with words like infusion, they talk about justification with words like infusion. If you don't like infusion and sanctification, well, then say imparted.
Fine, but we're okay. Just keep infusion out of justification. Imputation is what we want. People say, well, it's a legal fiction. Roman Catholics say justification by faith alone imputed righteousness of Christ and his sin bearing would cleanse our sins by imputation.
Then they think it's a legal fiction. Well, there's nothing fictional about having Christ real merited righteousness by him keeping the law credited to our account because he really did keep it and he can really grant it.
And he has an infinite amount of righteousness to grant because he's the divine God man.
That's like a double.
That's like saying chai tea. Chai means tea.
Don't ever say chai tea.
Would you like some tea? Yes, I'll have some chai tea. I'll have some tea tea. Where my mind goes, I have no idea. I said to somebody the other day, I'm sure I have ADD and that's why radio seems to fit me, to suit me.
But you can beat the judge of that.
I guess if you listen, it suits you to some degree. You're wondering what I'm going to say. I met somebody, this is true. I met somebody recently at the church. And I think when they were in Jehovah's Witnesses, our Roman Catholic phase, they used to listen to me on the radio here locally.
That must've been 10 years ago. They listened just to get mad at me. And now they attend the Bible church.
It's a true story. So classic.
Anyway, here to serve. If you listen to me because you just want to get mad, that's fine. So 10 propositions on faith and salvation. Number six, while evidences of the new birth can be discerned by ourselves and others, such evidences do not have sufficient righteousness or holiness to form a ground of assurance or a clear conscience.
For as Calvin says, a fine confidence of salvation is left to us. If by moral conjecture, we judge that at the present moment we are in grace, but we know not what will become of us tomorrow. All right, let's break that down a little bit here on No Compromise Radio.
Remember terminology that's simple. It's tried, it's true, it's biblical, and it's historical. We don't have to make up things. And so we say fruit and evidence. When it comes to holiness and thankfulness and love and affections and obedience and faithfulness, we're all for that.
I mean, actually we believe in three uses of the law. So we're not against the law. We're just against jamming any of our law keeping into the category of justification. But when there is fruit or evidence, let's call it fruit or evidence.
Let's not call it a condition or the ground of justification, excuse me. See how easy it is to make a mistake theologically. If you talk enough, you're going to make mistakes. So we just want to be very careful.
How long can you talk about the Trinity without making heretical statements? Well, for EFS people, not very long.
That's for certain.
Uh-oh, that's a different show.
We have to be careful.
Fruit and evidences are simply that, fruit and evidences. Just call them that. Like R .C. Sproul said, why do we have to go around trying to say other things about it? Why don't we just call them fruit and evidence, right?
And by the way, when people say, Doug Wilson is famous for this. I believe in a living faith. I don't believe in a dead faith. See, sola fide. I think you might want to rethink that if you believe what he says.
Maybe he doesn't still say it, but I think he just did recently about living faith when the whole Kosti Hinn thing happened. And Kosti then called Doug. I think they were FaceTiming or something in a car that I saw the picture.
It was, well, see, I believe in a living faith. You don't think I believe in a dead faith, do you? It's a living faith. That's code. In my opinion, that's code for having love, having affections, having a desire for holiness, categories of sanctification.
If you're talking about a living faith, not a dead faith in the category of sanctification, I'm all for that because faith without works is dead. No problem. Dead faith, living faith, loving faith, obeying faith, affectionate faith, a desiring faith, an obedient faith, a faithful faith.
All those I am totally in agreement with and I'm down for and would sign off on and agree. Drum roll. I don't have any drum rolls, so I don't know what to do. Don't have a drum roll. If it's in the category of sanctification, great.
But when you tell me living faith in the category of justification, I say your federal vision. And I don't care if you call yourself an oatmeal stout federal visionist or a light amber federal visionist or a porcupine federal visionist or a filet mignon federal visionist or a creme brulee federal visionist, you're still a federal visionist.
If you, in the category of justification, have a living faith, that's how you talk, a living faith. And by the way, it's easy for people if they have taught the wrong thing to teach it the right way just by using ways that we have discussed theology for a long time, even if you think of Turreton.
I affirm this. I deny this. And I differentiate by this. That's all it would have to, I mean, in the past I've taught this, it's been wrong for these reasons, and now I teach this. And what I'm not saying is this, and what I am saying is that.
And if you would say I teach a living faith now and when the category of sanctification, that faith is living and loving and desiring and treasuring and obeying and being faithful, okay, it's in that category, but I don't wanna teach, this is how people should say it, I don't wanna teach that living faith is in the category of justification because in the category of justification, sola fide, it's not even sola repentance, it is knowledge, assent, and trust.
Knowledge, intellectual understanding of Christ's historical person and his work, his doctrine, my sin, et cetera, assent, agreeing with it, yes, that's true. And I, with my heart and mind to say that these things are true and then trust that they're not just generally true, but they're true for me, as Horton would even say in this article.
So where am I? Well, I'm in number six, that evidences are not sufficient righteousness or holiness to form a ground of assurance or a clear conscience. So tied into assurance, which was back in number five, how much fruit and evidence do I need?
If that's the ground, well, you need perfect fruit and perfect evidence if it's the ground of salvation. But if it's the evidence of salvation, well, then there's just a little bit of evidence, but there's still evidence.
There's just a little bit of fruit, but there's still fruit. I mean, one of the reasons why you should know you're a Christian is you look to the Lord Jesus and you're trusting in him and saying that, I still believe in his death, burial, and resurrection today for me.
I know I'm a sinner and I know he's the way. And I know he's the lamb of God. And I know he died for my sins and he gave me his righteousness and he's coming back. And I believe in the promises of God and trust in his character and in what he said.
And it's true. And the Bible's true. I believe those things. And I wish I had more obedience. I wish I had more love. I wish I had more desire for holiness. I wish I had more faithfulness. And I'm sad when I don't.
That's one of the fruits and evidence of a Christian is the desire for obedience, more obedience, more holiness, more treasuring God, more desiring God. But let's not make those things as any kind of instrument to receive Christ's righteousness and forgiveness.
No, no, no, no, no.
Ground of salvation. Condition of salvation is only Christ. We believe in conditions and consequences for works. The conditions of work has to be Christ's work. Consequences of Christ's work, well, then we are going to work.
So, number seven.
Seventh proposition on faith and salvation by Horton in the book, Reformation and Lordship Salvation called Christ the Lord. We affirm that although no one will be justified by works, no one will be saved without them.
And how long had you been on that medication?
I meant to play, I'm sorry, Michael. I didn't mean to play that one. I meant to play this one.
I see that.
Let's read the next one to see what happens. I don't necessarily mind the statement if I've got the first six and talked about the first six in terms of justification, sanctification, you don't have one without the other.
But in light of these conversations we've had with the whole Piper thing and Federal Vision and Shepherd and Flora and all that stuff, I usually don't talk that way. We affirm, number eight, that it is contempt and presumption, not faith, that produce apathy with regard to the commands of God.
Well, this one's a lot easier and I thought it was going to explain more of seven, but it really didn't. I might go back to seven, I might not.
What do I know?
We affirm that it is contempt and presumption that produce apathy with regard to the commands of God, not faith. So faith says, I want to obey God, right? So if you're saved by the non-meritorious instrument or through the non-meritorious instrument of faith, you're going to want to obey.
You're going to want to desire. You're going to want to be obedient. You're going to want to mortify and live, mortify your sins and live under righteousness. You're going to want to do that. This is counteracting the point that might go something like this.
If it's faith alone and nothing about you, then maybe you're going to be lax and maybe you're going to be sinful. Maybe you're going to be antinomian. And so if we have a Damocles, a sword above you, you're going to work harder.
If part of your salvation, your justification before God is based on your own works and you're going to make sure you work hard. But what Horton is saying is contempt and presumption produce apathy, not faith.
And so if you're presuming on God and you are bugged at God and in contempt with God, yeah, is that the way to say it? I think that's the way to say it. Then that's going to say, I'm not going to obey God.
I don't want to, I don't need to, et cetera. Number nine, he seeks to tear Christ apart who imagines a savior without a Lord. Christ offers no priesthood outside his prophetic ministry and kingly reign.
In other words, we have a whole Christ and that whole Christ, he is prophet, priest, and king. He is savior and Lord. And of course, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, I'm conflating Philippians 2.
And Romans 10. You know what I think it? I think it's the medicine. I think it's the medicine. We used to say medicine. I think that was DeForest Kelly, McCoy. I saw him once in person when I went to some Star Trek convention.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, there you go, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. There's no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans chapter 10, verses nine through 13. Don't know why everything's so funny these days to me. I haven't had any medicine for quite some time.
You receive Jesus, he's the Lord and savior. And when you have Christ for you, justification, you have Christ in you. And you don't have to make Jesus Lord of all the areas of your life in order to be saved.
But when you're saved, you're going to see an increase, or at least a desire for an increase, at least a struggle to increase the Lordship of Jesus over different areas of your life. There's going to be a struggle.
And that struggle might be in what you watch, what you think about, what you do, what you don't watch, what you don't think about, what you don't do. And there's a variety of those things. But I think what Horton is trying to do is to make sure that we don't somehow think that Jesus has to be totally, we have to submit everything to his Lordship in order to come to Christ.
No, no, we believe in Jesus, the Lord, and we come to Christ by faith alone, knowledge, assent, and trust. And then the next category of sanctification we'll begin to see areas of in our life that more and more submit to the Lordship of Jesus.
Jesus is Lord before you're saved or after you're saved. Jesus is King of Kings. Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King before you're saved, after you're saved all the time. And you receive Jesus, the Lord, Prophet, Priest, and King by faith alone.
And when you do, you're going to see a desire, a struggle, an attempt to more and more say, I'd like you to be the Lord of my life and my finances. So maybe you can even think about that in your own life.
I was pretty tight with my money for most of my life. I had to, you know, whatever I got, I earned. I pretty much had nothing handed to me. And therefore, I don't know, I just didn't spend money a lot on things and was pretty frugal.
Maybe I was cheap, I don't know what the difference is between the two, except one makes me feel better than the other. And I got saved in 1989, September, October, somewhere right around there. And immediately, I learned that my ability to make money was from the Lord, my mind and everything else, and my persuasive abilities as a salesman, sales rep, territory manager, and that everything I had was from God.
Whatever I had, the money that I had was God. It was God's money. I needed money to get by, so he lets me have money. And I started giving money right away. This has nothing to do with, I wanna brag about how much I give or anything like that.
My point is, over time, I believed that whatever the Bible says was true, and then I wanted to do that. And it was easy for me at the very beginning, Jesus is Lord of my money. And therefore, I didn't even know where to set my money.
I mean, I sent money to Bob Larson, I sent money to Charles Stanley, I sent money to Chuck Swindoll, and then I got plugged into local church, Grace Church, and then the money that I gave, it was through Grace Church, local church.
But as time went on, then I thought, well, can I be even a better giver? And I thought, you know, as I'm thinking, using terminology that I'd use now, back then, I didn't really wanna use these words, but I would have agreed with him.
I think I'm not gonna give money on my net income, I think I'm gonna give a percentage based on my gross income. I mean, after all the taxes are taken out, I don't want the government to get first dibs, I want the Lord to get the money first, so I'm going to give money a percentage based on gross.
And it started off at 10%, and then I thought, well, you know what, I think I could maybe make it up to 11 or 12 or whatever. And the Lordship of Jesus over my money, it started right away, but then it grew.
And so that's all I think Horton is saying. And number 10, those who are confident that because they have exercised their will or mind in such a way, God is obligated thereby to save them, show contempt for God's holiness in Christ's cross.
In other words, what do you have that you haven't received? And it's not something that you do that saves you. You're not going to get to heaven and say, it's because I exercise my own will, because remember, because of Adam's sin, we are bound in sin and enslaved to sin.
God is obligated to no one, he's no one's debtor, and we don't do something, and God says, well, therefore I have to do that. This unbeliever did this, that, or the other, therefore I'm responsible and morally obligated to do X, Y, and Z.
So we're trying to keep and protect God's free grace, right, that's what we're trying to do. Anyway, Mike Abedroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry, Duplex Gratia Radio, 10 Propositions on Faith and Salvation edited by Michael Horton in a little booklet of compiled articles from Modern Reformation on the Doctrine of Justification.
So I think that was good except for that one thing that essentially, if you understand all this and don't just throw it out of nowhere, if I said this, you can be justified without being sanctified, would you believe that?
There's no one who's ever been justified that hasn't been sanctified, and you're like, yeah, what about the thief on the cross? Well, there was even fruit and evidence in the thief's life as he said, I deserve this, and said to his fellow murdering thief, you know, hey, we got what we deserve, this one's sinless, and then even calling on Jesus with faith, so anyway, could anybody be justified and not sanctified?
The answer is no, so that's what we're after. Mike Abedroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry, you can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.