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Creation Evangelism
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 is Mike Abendroth and we are talking today about the book of Hebrews. I�m so tired though, I need like a double shot of caffeine or something. Yikes, this is a tough one.
I think I yawned twice on the last show. I�m trying to do one more. What am I doing? We�re talking about facts of salvation and when you have to enter rest or work for it. Right, that�s option one. Option two is, you have to enter the rest of God, or else what?
Enter the rest of God by faith, right? That�s the idea. What is wrong with me? Well, here�s what�s happening, here�s the truth. I�m tired, but the phone�s ringing in the background and the secretary�s gone and so I can just hear it�s made a mockery of me.
Let�s think about this for a second. Not this, meaning Nereids, antecedent for this demonstrative pronoun, but let�s think about the Bible for a second. That would probably be good for the radio and the message and how you have to link the message and the Bible, right?
It didn�t do any good for Israel to say, �We know about the promised land. We can actually see it. You had to believe it to get in, and so Israel should serve as a reminder of what not to do. They heard the message.
It was a good message and they didn�t want to believe it. It was a message from God. It was a message of deliverance and kindness and goodness. They didn�t want to believe it. And so when it comes to you, now you hear the message from God, you should believe it.
And I�m thinking about the message itself of Christ dying for sinners and being raised from the dead. That even elicits a response, I mean, because no response is the wrong response. So when Peter is preaching, �Men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know.
This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
And then he quotes David, verse 32,. �This Jesus God raised up and of that we all are witnesses, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
And then he quotes David again. And then verse 36 of Acts 2,. �Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now, this is the most curious part.
Peter doesn't say, �Repent, therefore. He does not implore them to believe. He does not say you should trust. He does not say rest. He does not say circumcise your hearts. He doesn't say anything. He says no response.
My point is that the gospel pulls a response out of you. I mean, there has to be a response to the gospel. It's fine to say, �Repent and believe. But here, Peter didn't say it. That's fascinating. I've said fascinating too many times today.
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, �Brothers, what shall we do What do we do? Bigger point in Hebrews 4, 2, the message has to be united with faith for it to do you any good.
You can't just know about Jesus. You really have to believe in Him and trust in Him. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. You enter work. No, you enter rest or you work, verse 1.
Hebrews 4, 2, you either enter rest or you must enter rest by believing. And then now verses 3 to 5, here's a fascinating thing. Fascinating, fascinating, fascinating, fascinating. Oh man, I'm so tight.
I have other notes sitting up here. I could probably make an end around here. Spurgeon said of sovereignty and human responsibility, �I never try to reconcile friends. See, because sovereignty and human responsibility are complementary, not contradictory.
You see that? Arthur Pink said, �Many have most foolishly said that it is quite impossible to show where divine sovereignty ends and creature accountability begins. Here's where creature responsibility begins in the sovereign ordination of the Creator.
As to His sovereignty, there is not and never will be any end to it. Okay, is that more interesting to you? People have accountability to God, they have an obligation to God, they have an oughtness before God, they have responsibility before God.
Please don't say they have a free will before God. Please, please, please. Enter rest, verse 3, 4, and 5 of Hebrews 4, because it's still available. Okay, here's what's happening. When you read verses 3, 4, and 5 of Hebrews 4, it seems like it's hard to understand, but it's pretty simple, and here's how simple it is.
God is a God who created and then rested, and there hasn't been any end to His rest. Right? It doesn't say evening, morning, at the end of His rest, or He's starting to make things again. So, God is resting, and He wants us to enter into His rest.
Well, Israel didn't rest. Well, God rested and had a promise for people to rest in His rest. Israel didn't. Deduction? It's still available. It's not as if Israel rested and now there's no more opportunity.
They took our spot. The door is not closed. Maybe you could put it this way, Israel didn't enter into rest, can we? Verses 3, 4, and 5, for we who have believed enter that rest, as He has said, as I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter my rest, although His works were finished from the foundation of the world, for He has somewhere spoken on the seventh day in this way.
And God rested on the seventh day from all His works, and again in this passage He said, they shall not enter my rest. God rested and He wanted us to rest. Israel did not rest, therefore, there's still a rest for us.
It's available for us. God's rest has been available ever since creation, although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. That's verse 3. Rest is still in effect. I mean, the oath there, I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest, is that the final word?
Well, it's not the final word, number one, because the Bible teaches something differently. Number two, people are still getting saved, right? People are still getting saved. Here's the thing, the verb enter, present tense, it's going on right now.
What if it was past tense? What if it was future tense? It's right now. Jesus, when He says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, and people were believing. Enter the rest, present tense.
Israel didn't, but there's still availability for you. Ever since creation, since the foundation of the world, there's been rest of God. There's been nothing that's going to start up that terminates God's rest, not even Israel's disobedience.
They didn't believe. You must believe. The rest of God is still available to you, right? Right. Simple faith. The door to the ark isn't shut. And there's biblical support for the contention that God has this rest prepared, verse four.
Somewhere spoken on the seventh day in this way, there's a proof text. God rested on the seventh day from all His works. Now, they didn't have tabs in their Bibles. They didn't have numbers to mark out the verses.
They had scrolls, and it's very difficult to try to find a place. It's not very easy. He doesn't have to go find a scroll. He might not even have a scroll handy. Go find a scroll, open it up, and then find the exact reference.
He says, somewhere spoken on the seventh day. Well, this is God speaking, Scripture speaking. And God rested on the seventh day from all His works. It doesn't say He rested and then started up again. There's a rest prepared.
Every one of the six days of creation, evening and the morning, evening and the morning, evening and the morning, evening and the morning, evening and morning, evening and morning. But on the seventh day, no evening and morning, because then there would have been an eighth day that He would have been creating.
He didn't start creating again on the next day. Creation rest. On the seventh day, Genesis 2 .2, God finished His work that He had done and rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done.
It doesn't mean He stopped doing everything, upholding the universe. But as with most commentaries, they would say there's a completeness, there's an accomplishment, there's a satisfaction, and He rested because everything that He did was good, right?
It was good. And the same thing is true in the spiritual realm. He says, God being the author of all Scripture, there's more to rest than just entering the promised land. There's a creation rest. Rest from the guilt of sin.
Aren't you glad about that? Rest from the guilt of sin. Now lots of times when we go to Genesis chapter 1 and 2, we talk about fossils, dinosaurs. We go to Genesis and we talk about Noah's Ark in chapter 6, 7, and 8, and there's a creation evangelism and creation accounts and answers in Genesis type of mentality.
Lots of good work they do, I'm not complaining. Here's what I am saying. Make sure when you think of creation that you're just not trying to argue over dinosaurs and fossil records, carbon dating. You could even convince people of that and it's not a big deal, right?
People can go to hell still believing in intelligent design. God's a creator. Not trusting in the Son. They must trust in the Son. So I want to remind you that when you're talking about days and what God made, creation narrative, don't forget you talk about, well, the rest of God is available for you.
This is a great opportunity to evangelize. It's a preaching point. Don't be anti-evolution, but talk about the Sabbath rest available for Christians. And we're not talking about you can't read the comics on Sunday.
That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about no working for your salvation, resting, peace for the wicked. There is rest and peace for the wicked. When you read Genesis 1 and 2, please just don't get bogged down into, you know, why do some people have different pigment skins?
Why does...did God make the dinosaurs on a certain day? Day-age theory and all these things. I want you to think big picture. What does the writer of Hebrews say? He says, take a nap, young man. He says, this is salvation rest.
When you think about God resting, He didn't start work again. That means what? Unbeliever that I'm preaching the gospel to, it's available for you. How'd you like to have rest? You should enter that rest.
And the other thing that doesn't really have anything to do with this passage, but it's important when it comes to practical application, and when you're in Genesis 1 and 2 and discussing these things about evolution, don't forget, not just the Sabbath rest for everyone, but don't forget 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and salvation.
One's the call to salvation, the other salvation. 2 Corinthians 4, 1. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful underhand ways, refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word.
But by the open statement of truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Christ's sake. For God, who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Going right back to Genesis chapter 1, this is great. First Paul is saying, we don't preach ourselves, we're preaching someone else. And here, when you see God creates light, ex nihilo, instantaneously, by His power, this is what happens when God saves someone, it's happened in your heart.
God commanded the light to shine out the darkness, let there be light. That's the work of the Spirit of God in the heart of a Christian. God alone working. God spoke. When God spoke a star into existence, did the star's free will cooperate with God?
No. Did our free will cooperate with God when it comes to our salvation? No. I mean, my guess is Paul is thinking about Damascus, a great light shone around us. That's pretty amazing. At midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining around me and them who journeyed with me.
When you're thinking about evolution in Genesis 1 and 2, think about the Sabbath rest, so you call people to salvation, and also think about how God saves. If we believed in the day-age theory, that's how we would be saved, you know, that one moment for a real long time, kind of an evolutionary salvation, that's not right.
The gap theory where you get saved, but you know, you don't get sanctified for a while, that wouldn't work. How do we read Genesis 1 and 2? Well, if salvation is monergistic, then creation has to be, and if creation is, then salvation must be.
Let light shine out of darkness. What God says, like even in 1989, let light shine out of darkness. Wow. God just commands that. He commands the light. He commands the Spirit of God to go and make us alive.
The power of God for creation, the power of God for recreation. God can change. God can soften our hearts. God alone working, the Father, Son, and Spirit. Spurgeon, anyone who believes that man's will is entirely free and that he can be saved by it does not believe in the fall.
Saving people is of God's doing. Not their doing, but God's doing, so you never can boast. Make sure when you're thinking about creation stuff that you've got the Sabbath down and monergistic salvation.
Well, back to Hebrews chapter 2 verse 5, there's another quote, and again in this passage he said, they shall not enter my rest from Psalm 95, 11. The Israelites did not enter because they did not believe.
He's talked about that earlier in chapter 4. The promises are not fulfilled in Israel, so they're open for you. It's not as if Israel believed and then God started working again. The rest was not found by the Israelites.
They didn't believe. So here you've got the creation rest of verse 4 and you've got the salvation rest of verse 5. It's open for you. Sabbath observance, what you should do on Saturdays or Sundays or is Sunday the Christian Sabbath has nothing to do with this passage.
That's not the point here. That's for a different passage, a discussion for that. My name's Mike Abenroth, this is No Compromise Radio. Thank you for listening. Even on these difficult days, you happen to listen.
I've got some books that I'm looking forward to. He gave some as pastors and teachers by Sinclair Ferguson. I don't know, 500 pages or something. It looks great. I just got that. I just got a book on the creeds and confessions and the backgrounds of each of those, so like Trent the background and Constantinople background.
I want to learn more about those. I just got a preaching book by Peter van Maastricht and I would like to read that. I just finished Bavink on preaching. That was... I've read better in my life. I love Bavink, but the preaching book wasn't as good as I wanted it to be.
I'm reading Buchanan Justification right now, finishing that up. I'm reading Calvin on justification. I am reading through the Merrill book, Edward Fisher's book. That's a little rough going sometimes, so it's not like you can just zip through it.
It's not light reading. I was reading a book about Captain Cook because when I was in New Zealand, I went to Cook Bay or Cook Island and wanted to know about Captain Cook. So there. When it comes to Hebrews chapter 4, rest is salvation rest.
Rest is heaven rest. Rest is creation rest. Rest is getting into the promised land. And it is really easy to figure out which one's which. The backdrop is God rests, creation. If you just think about the timeline, starting with God first, he works and then rests.
Israel didn't rest in the promised land physically. Spiritually, you can rest if you believe in the risen Savior, and there'll be ultimate rest in heaven. I think that's what I need. I'm so tired today.
Maybe this is all perfectly planned. I have to take naps. Let's see. Creation rest. I have to take naps in order so I can rest to talk about this. When you hear this, that means the iPad is closing. Twitter is at no compromise, at no co-radio rather.
And one of the things that's been happening on Twitter, and I don't know if you do this or not, but I really find Twitter helpful in that I can get the feed of news and I can see what news I want. I just pick and choose.
Do I want AP? Do I want CNN? Do I want, in the old days, remember, UPI? So I like that. I like it that I can keep up on news that's in the theological circles, evangelical circles. And then I just put postings out with different quotes, or maybe there's articles or sermons or shows, too, so you'll know a new compromise, a new no-compromise show.
A new compromise. It's just time to shut this thing down. A new no-compromise radio show is posted. It's on Twitter or Facebook. I mean, you can go to Facebook if you want, and by the way, make comments if you like on Facebook, but I don't really respond.
If there's something awful, I might delete it, but I just go to Hulu, Hootsuite rather. Sometimes I go to Hulu. I go to Hootsuite and post something on both the Twitter and the Facebook, and then you can time it so you can, you know, do it in the middle of the night or middle of the day or middle of the workday or whatever.
Thank you for all your support in the last year. We appreciate it. I praise God that he's been faithful, even though I haven't in the last year with all the cancer and everything else. There are other people who struggle a lot more than I do.
I think I'm healthy again, and I never felt unhealthy. I did put in half the miles this year on the bike, and that was because I was out of town, out of the country, and then also I couldn't ride in those prime summer months.
I'm looking outside now. It's going to get out to about five below tonight. There's not much bike riding around, not many snow skiers or anything like that either. So anyway, my name is Mike Abendroth, this is No Compromise Radio.
We'll see you next time. 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 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.