The Scandal of Grace

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 Host, Steve Cooley, and a Request for Prayer

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. Steve Cooley, it is good to see you face-to-face after all these years. Yeah, long time no see. And you know, you got a new haircut today, the mohawk, I think it does wonders for you.

Well, like Dave Jeffrey says, it's coming back in style.

Yes, and as Doug Wilson would say, this is the Doug Wilson quote that I like, show me a young man with purple hair and I'll show you a rebel.

I think that's hard to dispute, isn't it? I mean, I don't care where you are in life. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of young men with those sorts of things.

That's right. Well, sometimes I talk about some personal issues and my health is much better. I have my ears still ring some days more than others. At least they're not pierced. That's right. The piercing has grown back or something from my younger days.

And so my health is much better, thank you. I still have some headaches once in a while, but nothing like before. It was basically incapacitating before. So thank you listeners for praying for me. Many of you have written to me and said, we're praying for you, we pray for you regularly.

And so we have this relationship where we get to know each other over the airwaves. And so Steve, I know you didn't know I was gonna ask this. Tell us what's going on with your father so people in no-compromise land can pray for your father, because I know the more prayers we have, the better.

And so give us the scoop.

Well, my dad has cancer of the esophagus. We found that out a couple of weeks ago. And in fact, the way he notified me, my dad is an unbeliever, and he called. We were out, he called and left a message and said, hey, how's it going back there?

He goes, just found out I got cancer, no big deal. And then he hung up.

Now he's a policeman or an ex-cop too, isn't he?

Yes, yep, he was on the department for 30 years. And I used to say that the only reason I joined the department was to solely the family name, because my dad was a cop's cop. I mean, SWAT team, all that kind of stuff.

So that's just kind of a little background on him, just a really tough guy. And, but absolutely refuses to really even listen to the gospel. He's very, very opposed to it. Steve, what's your middle name?

Reference. No, it's Stephen. What?

B. Reference. Now, why did I think your middle name was Dean?

Because all my, it just started with my nephews and everybody named their kids something Dean. That's my dad's first name is Dean. And, you know, I, so I eventually asked my youngest daughter, Megan, if she would be willing to change her middle name to Dean, you know, to just kind of, she, so that, cause I somehow missed the boat.

I didn't know that we were all supposed to name our kids something Dean. So is that your middle name, Dean?

No. No, okay. Well, for some reason I thought it was. Here's our request from No Compromise Radio Ministry.

Now my dad's middle name is actually Dean. And, you know, I used to know that people didn't know my dad when they would call the house and they'd say, may I speak to Harold? That's his given name. Oh, okay.

And so, you know, I'm just like, right away, I go, dad, it's somebody on the phone who doesn't know you.

So if you can think about praying for Dean, that would be great. Harold would be great as well. The Lord knows the difference between the two because they're the one and the same man. Indeed. And we know that God works through all kinds of circumstances.

And Steve, we both know that he many times makes proud men humble through circumstances like cancer. And that's exactly what we would want is a God to humble Dean and then humble, Dean would humble himself before the Lord.

And call out to the Lord for salvation. Well, it's certainly gotten his attention, you know, and I think initially he just kind of laughed about it. But I think when he thought about leaving, leaving his grandkids, and now he has one and almost another great grandchild here and he wants to see them.

And he's never seen his great granddaughter and we're gonna send her out to California to visit. And I think he's excited about those kinds of things. And so we're hoping the Lord will save him long or keep him around long enough to be saved, however long that takes.

Why Grace Is a Scandal

Amen. Well, today on No Compromise Radio Ministry, let's talk about the scandal of grace. Why is grace even considered to be a scandal, especially here in New England with the local population believing in a different gospel?

Well, I think it's scandalous. I mean, when we even think about Jesus, you know, in the parable of the laborers and how they were out in the vineyard and, you know, as it got towards the end of the day, when those people came in and they were paid the same as the people that started early in the morning, the people who started early in the morning, like, hey, what's up with that?

How can you do that? That's not fair. That would have been their reaction. And in a lot of ways, I think that's analogous to where we are today. We think that some people are just so bad, so bad that they're irredeemable.

We're good compared to some of these irredeemable people.

Steve, when you mentioned that statement or that word fair, I think that's what clouds the issue when we think about God's unmerited favor, as Sinclair Ferguson calls it, God's demerited favor, grace.

How do grace and fair go together? Is that kind of like oil and water?

I used to tell my kids all the time, I'd go, you know what? You don't want fair. You know, if you want fair, go to Pomona. That's a Los Angeles joke.

Yeah, I get it. Didn't they have, it used to be a good state fair,.

Wasn't it? That's the Los Angeles County Fair is in Pomona, you know? So if you want fair, go to Pomona, but people don't want fair. You know, fair is we get what we deserve, right? Humanly speaking, we would say that fairness demands that everybody gets what they deserve.

Well, if we think in theological terms, what do we all deserve? Hell. So I don't want fair, I want grace.

And for God to give grace to people that don't deserve it, I think it's quite scandalous. Let's talk about a murderer who received grace and his name was Saul, and then he was given a new name, Paul. How could that happen?

What would have been fair to Paul the apostle?

Well, what would have been fair, of course, is for him to be forced to forfeit his own life. I mean, you know, an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for life,.

That would have been fair. And then how about eternally fair for Paul? Eternally fair would be hell. And when Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, that he's the chief of sinners, he knew what it was like to be the recipient of God's amazing grace.

I guess we could put the show this way, Steve. Let's put the amazing back into grace and understand. Sounds like a nice name for a book. Yeah. Well, how many unbelievers sing amazing grace and they have no idea what they're singing about?

A ton, you know, I mean, that is the number one funeral song, you know, and the guy could have been pagan, everybody else at the funeral could be a pagan and they love amazing grace.

The difference between what we have earned and what we have received as Christians, I think the difference, Steve, yields itself in praise. Absolutely.

I mean, if you understand, I mean, I am just constantly reminded of what I deserve. When I wake up in the morning and I just think of all that I have, and I think about, you know, where would I be apart from Christ?

I just think I'm amazed at the grace of God. I don't think, boy, I've really done well by myself.

Children of wrath, even as the rest, Ephesians 2 describes mankind, who have Satan for their father. And Steve and I were both children of the devil before God saved us. And Steve, how insidiously blinding is Satan and the world system and sin?

I'll give you an example. I'm at the Palladium in Hollywood seeing some punk rock band and some girl outside the Palladium is OD 'ing on cocaine. And so she's having some kind of epileptic like fit because of a cocaine overdose.

And we all stood there and said, boy, isn't that sad? And then weeks later, I'm down in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, laying on the beach, trying to snort a bunch of cocaine up my nose, but my nose is so, you know, cocafied, I can't get any more up there.

And I can't see what sin does in my own life. I could only see the effects in somebody else's life. You were really a bad guy.

I mean, you know, compared to me, I never even, I never did any of that stuff. That's right. I mean, wow, I can't believe you're the senior pastor. What kind of deal is that?

I'm even older than you. I think it's a scandal in your life and a scandal in my life, Steve. And this is not, you know, I guess this is skeletons out of the closet today.

On No Compromise Radio. Every skeleton, every day. Always in that order.

I remember going on a mission trip with my Lutheran church at 16 years old, going down to Galeana, Mexico, to tell people they should believe in Jesus so they could have forgiveness of sins. And then on the way back from the mission trip, we stopped off at Six Flags in Texas.

And we got a good idea as a couple of the young men in the youth group that we would go steal some of the pastor's wine that he brought for communion for the group. Excellente. What? What was going on?

The hard-hearted, blind, self-willed sin. I know what I deserved. I am quite confident that if you ask me what I deserved, I know what I deserved. Muy malo, senor.

What do you mean? Well, I'm just thinking, you know, you were somewhere in south, you know, central where they speak Spanish. And so I'm just chastising you. In Texas? I'm just chastising you.

Yeah. Okay. Lo siento. En español. Claro que sí. Claro que sí. So we're talking about the scandal of grace, and here's what grace does. Grace can rescue. When I say grace, it's a theological shorthand for the grace of the triune God, the Father in eternity past, choosing the Son, dying for those chosen ones in time at Calvary, and then the Spirit of God making alive, making born again those exact same ones throughout the course of history, pre-cross and post-cross.

And it is amazing to me, Steve, when I think about the grace of God, the grace of God incarnate, the grace of God in our triune God. There's a lot of ways we could look at it. It is a scandal to think that grace can save wretched sinners.

And so that's what I want to talk about today. The worst person listening today is not beyond the gracious arms of a saving Savior.

Goodness, Human Merit, and the Rich Young Ruler

I'll go for that. Well, I mean, I just think, you know, and again, to get back to the root of the problem, so many people think that they are good, that they are better than someone else. You know, that's our standard for good, right?

Well, I'm not as bad as someone else. And, you know, the rich young ruler, and a ruler asked him in Luke 18, verse 18, he says, and the ruler asked him, "'Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?'.

And Jesus said to him, "'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.'". And we forget that. We just put that on the shelf and we think, you know what? This was a good person. That was a good person.

I'm a good person. And then there are the really bad ones. You know, before I got saved, you know what I used to think? I thought that there had to be a God, only for this reason alone, because I wanted to make sure that the people that I saw that were really bad, the child molesters, you know, the people who beat their wives and stuff like that, I wanted to make sure that they got what they had coming.

Isn't it interesting, at least in the unbelieving. Steve, you knew from the common grace of God that justice must be served. And there was no justice in this earth.

I mean, when you see, when you daily see the injustice in this world and the things that don't get punished, that you, you know, that just outrage you, and you go, somehow there has to be someone to bring order and justice to all this because the really bad people, they need to be punished.

Justification by Faith Alone and the Problem of Human Merit

On No Compromise Radio today, we're talking about the scandal of grace. And so here's what people think in our merit society, work society, wage society, they punch in their spiritual clock and then they get what they have earned.

Here's the problem. Everybody has earned death. Everyone has Adam as their spiritual father and they have Adam's unrighteousness credited to their account. And Steve, here's what I think happens in the mind of an unbeliever.

You mean to tell me this person lived their entire life as a wicked, rotten, scurrilous, scandalous man, and then he believed in Jesus on his deathbed and now he's going to heaven? You mean to tell me that's true?

Yeah, and that's exactly right. Because why? Again, because our standard is goodness in this life. You know, somebody that gives to the poor, that helps their neighbor, you know, that gives stuff to the Boy Scouts or whatever, you know, buys tickets from the high school team when they come around.

And by the way, I do those things. And I think it's fine to do those things, but none of those things in and of themselves make you good before God. What happens when you get before God and he says, and he won't do this, by the way, why should I let you into heaven?

You say, because I bought Girl Scout cookies, because I supported the local sports teams, because I gave to the, you know, the state troopers. And state troopers are your best friends. You know, I mean.

I only give to state troopers so I could put that decal on my bumper so nobody pulls me over.

Just kidding. I mean, it's all ultimately rubbish. We're gonna stand before God and say, I have, you know, this rubbish I would like to offer you in exchange for eternity with you.

See, faith is so opposite to works because faith looks away from self and says, I have nothing to contribute and I'm looking to my contribution from Christ Jesus. And so we live in this work society. What did one man say?

We are all born Pelagians. That is to say we contribute to our salvation because we earn our salvation. And then, Steve, I look at Luke chapter 23, the scandal of grace. Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with Jesus.

And when they had come to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and one on the left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.

And they cast lots to divide his garments and the people stood by watching. But the ruler scoffed at him saying, he saved others, let him save himself. If he's a Christ of God, his chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him saying, et cetera, et cetera.

One of the criminals who was, one of the criminals who were, this ESV messes me up is basically what happens. Translation. One of the criminals who were hanged, railed at him saying, are you not the Christ?

Save yourself and us. But the other rebuked him saying, do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds.

But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. That's a scandal. His whole life sinning and a sinner knowing he's justly condemned and God at the last minute rescues him.

But didn't he get baptized and receive the last rites right before he died? Oh, now that would be a scandal. And it's so true. I mean, I just, you know what really bugs me is to go to a funeral and I've been to a Roman Catholic funeral where I learned that the reason that somebody gone into heaven was because they were baptized and they did many good works, including belonging to a knitting club.

I've heard people, you know, who were extolled after their death basically and guaranteed entrance into heaven. Why? Because they died. All manner of things to make us feel better about ourselves. And the Bible never says, feel good about yourself.

Look at all the good you're doing.

It never says that. If you could get to heaven by being good, how horrible was it for the father to pour out wrath on the son? He didn't have to. He could have just said, you know, Jesus go down, remind them again to be good and to do good.

And we'll just make Jesus ascend to heaven on a chariot of fire like Elijah. But why would he have to pour out his wrath and have his son propitiate the wrath of God?

That would make God really, that would be abominable. I mean, to sacrifice his son for nothing. When we all have the ability, you know, via sola bootstrapsa, to pull up our own bootstraps, to make ourselves better and to be perfect on our own, why would Christ ever have to die for us?

Or to even, you know, here's the thing. We all admit that we're not perfect, or most of us will admit that, but we just think we're good enough that God has a, you know, hey, 69 hell, 70 and above.

You know, if you're above average, you're in. That's right.

And that's why I think, Steve, we like as a culture to watch Jerry Springer. We like as a culture to read national, I was gonna say Lampoon. National Enquirer, to see the people who are worse off than we think we're better.

And then it becomes an issue of spiritual pride. If you'd ever like to hear people being extolled for their goodness and their wonderfulness, just go to a funeral, especially when there is some lame clergy member, so-called person of God standing up there saying, this person's in heaven because of the good things they did, including baptism, and because they were a good person.

The only reason anybody is in heaven is because one good person, Jesus Christ. Why do you call, you know, why do you, there's no one good but God, Jesus said to that rich young ruler. The goodness of Christ Jesus has earned heaven for all those that would say no to self and then yes to God and his promises by faith alone.

It's just amazing what happens at a funeral because all of a sudden, you know, someone that the Bible would say was an enemy of God is instantly transformed into his best friend. He was such a good person and I'm sure God will love to have him.

A great addition to heaven.

For by grace you have been saved or by death you have been saved. Salvation by death alone.

That's sola morta. Morta. Yeah, or, you know, humor alone. I mean, there are a number of ways you get to heaven where, you know, God needs somebody to tell him jokes. And so that's why our good friend is going to heaven.

Oh, that is so bad. Well, I mean, you hear all those kinds of things at funerals. And you just go, I honestly, I mean, no compromise, listeners will know what I mean. I hope I never have to go to another unbeliever's funeral because it's so, it's so sad.

You know, and even when I've done funerals for unbelievers, you know, people get mad at me because I don't assure them. I don't say, you know, I'm not really sure if this person's in heaven or not, or, you know, I really doubt this person's in heaven.

I don't say anything like that. I'll say nice things about them in their life, but then I want to give the gospel. But you know how many times, I mean, I actually had somebody leave a funeral because they were sure that I hadn't said enough nice things about the person who died.

And I hadn't said that they were in heaven because I had no reason to believe that.

It is a great joy, on the other hand, to do a service for someone who has died in the Lord. And precious is the death of one of God's godly ones or his children or his saints, as Psalm 16 says. Those are good funerals to do, aren't they, Steve?

Grace Alone, the Death of the Lord, and the Call to Repent and Believe

Yeah, I mean, I just think, you know, back here last year and just thinking about Tom and Blake Shepard and difficult, you know, Tom, I mean, I just think about how much he loved Christ and how much he loved the church.

I mean, he just loved being around other Christians. If there was anything to do where he could have fellowship with other Christians, Tom wanted to be there. And sad from a human perspective, because we miss Tom.

But when we think of all the things that he's missing now, the pain and the suffering and everything else and knowing that he's in the presence of Christ, what can we do but rejoice?

And we know, to make sure we state this clearly, with grace alone, it was grace alone that saved Tom. And Tom's response was to serve and to be around saints and to love his neighbor as himself. Steve, when I think of funerals and goodness of people, it reminds me of that story where the mafia man lost his brother, John, at some hit.

And then the mafia, the remaining brother, went up to his clergy member and said, you know, I'll give you a million dollars if you say something good about my brother, John. And so the clergy member, he didn't know what to do.

And so he said, John, the mobster, was an evil man. He was a wicked man. He was a murderer. He extorted people for money. He took advantage of women's estates, but compared to his older brother, John, I mean, older brother, Jim, he was a good man.

Now can I have the million dollars? Listen to the scandal of grace found in Romans chapter six as Paul has laid out justification by faith alone. The righteousness of God credited to the account of human beings based on Christ's perfect work.

Romans chapter 321 through five, a lot of the effects of justification in chapter five. Then he says in chapter six, what shall we say then in light of all this? What should we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means?

Steve, don't you think that's a scandalous part of grace? People say, well, then you've been born again. You accepted Jesus in your heart. You'd prayed the sinner's prayer. And then now I guess basically if Jesus has died for all your future sins too, you can live like hell today.

That's scandalous. Oh, and trust me, I mean, this was part of the point of the Mormonism that I grew up in, you know, born again Christians. Well, they could just, they think they can just do whatever they want, but we Mormons are training ourselves to be gods.

We have to learn how not to sin. Wow. I mean, they would never wear that. You know, it's not, they didn't wear t-shirts in training to become a god, you know, but that was underlying their thought structure.

Yeah.

Reminds me of going to a restaurant and then you've got the main waitress and then you've got the waitress in training, training to be gods in training. Sure, yeah. Well, no compromise radio today. We want you to know that we believe that God is gracious and God is kind and merciful.

And if you'd like to know just how gracious he is, look at Calvary and look at the effects of Christ's life and death and resurrection. And it doesn't matter how badly you have sinned in your life, there's forgiveness for you.

Steve, tell our listeners in the last 30 seconds about forgiveness found in Christ alone, no matter how bad they are.

And, you know, that's so powerful, you know, even just to get back to my dad and to put it in personal terms, when I think about him, sometimes I think because of his Mormon background, he probably doesn't think he can be forgiven.

And the truth is that one sin is enough to send you to hell and that God would be thoroughly righteous to do so. But he sent his son, always God, to take on a human body and to live a perfect life, to die a sacrificial death.

And he raised him on the third day that all who believe in him, that is thoroughly invest themselves, stop trusting in their own goodness to get to heaven, but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be saved.

Anyone can be saved if God is willing, not us, him.

And so it is your duty to repent and believe in this gospel. Take God's word for it, that if anyone looks to the son with faith, that they will be saved from all their sins, past, present and future.

Now that's scandalous. 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.