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Did God save people before time began? Is God free to choose His children? Pastor Mike continues the series of things Jesus said in eternity past.
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, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. If you look at my last name, it looks like Abendroth. It�s actually German, Abend, like evening, good evening, guten Abend. And then rot is red, and so when you see the sun going down, it looks like it�s kind of a red evening.
So that�s what the name means, but we had a family fight in our history. Several generations ago, my great-grandfather was cutting a tree down, and the tree fell on him and killed him. Part of the family, the other side of the family, forgot, I think accidentally on purpose, forgot to include my great-grandmother and my grandfather in the obituary, and that was pretty much the end of it all because the family split.
One side said we�re no longer the Abendroths, the Abendroths. We are now the Abendroths, and so of course my side was right, and so we�ve got the hard A. If you say Abendroth, I probably won�t correct you.
If you say Haferhorf, I get junk mail, Haferhorf, I�d probably say something about that. I�d probably look over if you said Mike Affenhorf, Mike Abernath, somebody calls me. So anyway, that�s the scoop.
What�s in a name? I�m reading through the Old Testament now, and you see all these places, you know, the house of God and house of bread, and they all meant something, so I don�t know what red evening means, pronounced incorrectly.
What we�ll do today is we�ll do part two on what Jesus said before he was born. Last time we looked at this a little bit, and we were talking about what is coined the covenant of redemption. Now, if you�re not a covenant theologian, I think you can still believe in the covenant of redemption.
John MacArthur would not consider himself a covenant theologian. I think the last time I heard he said he was a leaky dispensationalist, still seeing a future for Israel, but in his Titus chapter 1 sermon, he called this very thing the covenant of redemption.
This blood-bought agreement, sovereignly administrated. Opal Mel Robertson called covenants a bond in blood, sovereignly administrated. And so, if you�d like to call this an agreement before time, I�d try you an agreement.
If you�d like to call it a Trinitarian arrangement, if you would like to call it a father, son, and spirit promise, a guarantee, you can call it whatever you�d like. But before time began, before Jesus was alive on earth, before he cloaked himself with humanity, there was an arrangement in the Trinity, a covenant.
And that covenant was inclusive of, of course, all of our redemption. And there are different members of the Trinity, the father, son, and the spirit, and today in the show, we�ll talk about what each one of those did.
It�s important for you to look at salvation from a covenantal or federal perspective. You say, �Well, again, I�m a dispensationalist and I don�t like those words. Well, dispensationalists should like the word covenant.
There�s the Abrahamic covenant, there�s the Davidic covenant, there�s the new covenant, and so we�re not afraid of the word covenant. And certainly in Luke 22, verse 20, likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, �This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
So when you have Jesus say that, there�s some kind of way to conceive of salvation covenantally. Hebrews 13, 20, �By the blood of the eternal covenant. 1 Corinthians 11, 25, Paul quoting Jesus, he first says, �In the same way he also took the cup after supper, saying, �This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So before time began, can you get your arms around this? It�s hard to get your arms around it, but it�s wonderful and it�s beautiful and it�s mind-blowing that before time began, before Genesis 1 -1, in what we call eternity past, the Father, Son, and the Spirit, of course they were alive, one God, no beginning, no end, eternal, immutable, one God manifesting Himself in three persons, Father, Son, Spirit, the Father, the Son, the Spirit.
And remember when it comes to Trinitarian theology, we have one God, but those three persons in the Godhead are not the same. So the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father.
So you have one God, three persons, and that�s the best way to think about the Trinity. So what happened before time began? You�ve got eons of eons and forevers and forevers, and I know there�s no time with God per se.
He works in time, yes, but before eternity past, there was God, and God was always there. God has always been. So what kind of conversations were going on within the members of the Trinity? We don�t know everything, but we do know some.
And today on No Compromise Radio Ministry, always biblical, always provocative, always in that order, I want to provoke you to think that we are not the center of the universe. We are not the focus of everything.
We�ve got a book out there, bestseller, Crazy Love, and it seems like with that kind of theology, we are the center of it all. And as I�ll talk about today, or maybe next time, I�m very glad God loves us, but we should see the love that God has for humans and for people through this lens, through this God-exalting, God-centered lens, that it is more about God�s glory than it is about our redemption.
It is God�s great grace, and we are, as MacArthur would say, incidental recipients. We�re glad to be forgiven, we�re glad to be saved. That certainly gives God�s glory, but the focus needs to be on God and His glory.
So today, we�re going to be looking on No Compromise Radio Ministry, what happened before Jesus was born in the Trinity. Now we have a few scriptures to talk about. One that I said we would look at last time, and I don�t know if we did or not, I�ve been sick enough, I don�t know what I�ve said.
Here we have Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, where the writer of Hebrews is quoting Psalm 40 and quoting Jesus. �Therefore, when he comes into the world speaking of Christ, he says, �sacrifice an offering you have not desired.
So Jesus is talking to someone before He came into the world. �But a body you have prepared for me, and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, �Behold, I have come in the scroll of the book it is written of me to do your will, O God.
So we have this perfect sacrifice, and this perfect sacrifice is Jesus, and to be a sacrifice unto God for sins, there had to be a body. You couldn�t have the invisible God die on an altar, die on a cross, die for sinners in some kind of invisible place, so He had to have a body.
This body Jesus had was prepared for Him by the Father, and He with great obedience laid His life down, and God the Father was well pleased with that sacrifice. After all, obedience is better than sacrifice, and Jesus was the great obedient one who Himself was a sacrifice.
He was more than a sacrifice. He was a high priest, yes, but He was a high priest and the sacrifice. So what was going on before time began? Hebrews chapter 10 tells us a little bit, and so Spurgeon, in what he calls the mysterious council chamber, talked about the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and what they said before time began.
Now, of course, we know this isn�t exactly right, but you�ll hear as I read this all kinds of scripture, all kinds of scriptural themes, all kinds of scriptural language laced through here, because we can infer the gist of what was going on.
So here is Spurgeon in a sermon called The Blood of the Everlasting Covenant, and he is going to speak for the Trinity themselves. And you�ll get the idea. Don�t turn off the radio yet. If you�d like to have the latest diet plan and the latest Daniel fast and the latest low-down, slim-down, way-down, no-Trinity-down, I don�t have anything really to offer you except don�t do that.
So here we�re going to have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, as Spurgeon uses scriptural language to describe what was going on before time began in the eternal covenant. Here�s what the Father said, according to Spurgeon, �I, the Most High Jehovah, do hereby give unto my Only Begotten and Well-Beloved Son a people, countless beyond the number of the stars, who shall be by Him washed from sin, by Him preserved, kept in lead, and by Him at least presented before my throne without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
See how scriptural that is? �I covenant by oath, and I swear by myself, because I can swear by no greater. I can swear by no greater that those or these whom I now give to Christ shall be forever the objects of my eternal love.
Them will I forgive through the merit of the blood. To these will I give a perfect righteousness. These will I adopt and make my sons and daughters, and these shall reign with me through Christ eternally.
What a beautiful picture of the Father�s part in this eternal covenant, the covenant of redemption, this promise, this guarantee. Now the Holy Spirit, according to Spurgeon, �I hereby covenant, saith he, that all whom the Father giveth to the Son I will in due time quicken.
I will show them their need of redemption. I will cut off from them all groundless hope and destroy their refuge of lies. I will bring them to the blood of sprinkling. I will give them faith whereby this blood is to be applied to them.
I will work in them every grace. I will keep their faith alive. I will cleanse them and drive out all depravity from them, and they shall be presented at last spotless and faultless. Now that is beautiful as well.
Aren�t the Bible verses churning through your mind? This is Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry, WVNE 760 here in Worcester, and we�re looking at the eternal promise before time began. Spurgeon says this is what the Father likely said, something to this effect.
This is what the Spirit said, and now the Son. Maybe this is the most beautiful. �My Father, on my part I covenant that in the fullness of time I will become man. I will take upon myself the form and nature of the fallen race.
I will live in their wretched world, and for my people will I keep the law perfectly. I will work out a spotless righteousness, which will be acceptable to the demands of thy just and holy law. In due time I will bear the sins of all my people.
Thou shalt exact their debts on me. The chastisement of their peace I will endure, and by my stripes they shall be healed. My Father, I covenant and promise that I will be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
I will magnify thy law and make it honorable. I will suffer all they ought to have suffered. I will endure the curse of the law, and all the vials of thy wrath shall be emptied and spit upon my head. And will then rise again.
I will ascend into heaven. I will intercede for them at the right hand, and I will make myself responsible for every one of them. Surety that not one of those whom thou hast given me shall ever be lost.
That I will bring all my sheep by whom thy eternal blood has constituted me the shepherd. I will bring everyone safe to thee at last. Now that's a masterpiece, isn't it? That is a masterpiece. Not necessarily Spurgeon's words.
He took those words right from the scriptures. His own blood was bibling, as some had said. And he says, look at how great the Spirit of God is. Look at how great the Son is. Look at how great the Father is.
Look at by their will how they were going to redeem a people. James 1, verse 18, by his own will, speaking of God. He brought us forth by the word of truth. He's the one who chose us. He's the one having purpose to do something with his own deliberate choice, decides to make us born again.
Jesus, the creator of the universe physically, by his will he creates that universe. And by the will of the triune God, does God will to make people his children. We had a father to start, and that father to start was Satan.
Satan was our father until God rescued us. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on his name, who were born not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God.
It was God's will. And what I'm trying to tell you is if you need to go back to God's will in eternity past to find out the greatness of your salvation, and in eternity past, you won't see your good works there.
In eternity past, you won't see your free will there. In eternity past, you won't see your faith there. In eternity past you won't see your repentance there. In eternity past, you won't see you versus your friend and you decided to exercise your free will and your friend didn't.
And you did, therefore you're in heaven. Nobody's there. This whole idea that God looks down the quarters of time, of course He could look any way He wants. He knows time. He's created it. He's in and He's out of time.
But that He would look down the quarter of time in the triune council of the Godhead. Well, you know, Mike, he was sad over his sins and he repented. And Mike's best friend growing up named Scott, he didn't.
And so we won't pick him. That is ludicrous. That is blasphemous. That is defaming God. God saves by grace. And friends, grace is grace. And if you add work to it, if works to it, if you add works righteousness to it, Romans chapter 11 says it's no longer grace.
It does not depend, therefore, it does not depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. That's Romans chapter 9. And you say, here you go back again to this whole kind of Calvinism thing. Friends, I don't care about John Calvin.
I don't even, you know, the kingdom could have done well without John Calvin. God would have just raised up somebody else. Here's what I'm talking about. What happened in eternity past? Forget John Calvin.
Forget Martin Luther. Forget Arminius. Forget Wesley. What happened in eternity past? And what happened in eternity past was the Father gave to the Son. Some people. His people. Not each and every person.
We believe there's a hell. We believe people are going there. We believe people are in there and eventually into the lake of fire. So God gave some to the Son and Jesus died for those some. And only those some.
And then the Spirit of God is in the process of, through time, taking those some and making them born again. I mean, it's this instant belief, but over time, He saves people in 1989, 1990, 1991. Our sacrifice can't be good enough.
Our faith can't be good enough. Our belief can't be good enough. Our repentance can't be good enough. Nothing contributes to your salvation, including your faith. You are saved by grace and by grace alone.
You're saved by the wise counsel of the Trinity in eternity past. Therefore, salvation is from the Lord. Don't rob God's glory by saying, you know, here's the Trinity in eternity past, just biting their fingernails, as it were, hoping that I would believe.
And then when I did, Jesus, the gentleman, would be able to save me. I don't know who's Jesus gentleman you're talking about, but that's not the Jesus of the scripture. It's a made up Jesus. That Jesus won't do anything unless you'll let him.
Behold, behold, I stand at the door and knock, knock, knock. If anyone hears my voice, I shall open it. And they will open and I will come in. I'm trying to think of the kids song, but I don't want to sing it for you.
That has nothing to do with salvation. Reread Revelation chapter 2 and 3 and you'll see what's going on there. That's not some salvation verse. We just yank it out of context, play it in VBS and somehow hope everything's fine.
God elects on the basis of faith? No. God elects on the basis of repentance? No. God elects based on your handsomeness? No. God elects by his own pleasure, for his own pleasure, through his own pleasure in eternity past.
God doesn't save us and choose us and elect us based on anything we have done. No one is good. No, not one. Therefore, how could God choose us based on something good we did? No. Election is unconditional.
If you believe in the covenant of redemption, you believe the Father, Son, and the Spirit, had he packed before time, you are going to be a Calvinist. You are going to say, you know what? It was all about God.
I'm glad that he saved me. I'm glad that he stooped to me. But it's all about God and his promise and how the Father says to the Son, here's a group of people that are sinful. Go redeem them and conform them to your image and then hand them back to me.
That's what love does. It expresses itself. And what a great expression of love. And we are not the ultimate expression. We are the people that God has redeemed, conformed to his image, and gave back to the Son as an expression of the Son's love for the Father energized by the Spirit of God.
Friends, you need to have a motto. You need to have a slogan. You need to have some kind of catchphrase. And that is, not of yourselves. Not of yourselves. Where were you in eternity past? Where were you in the council, in the arrangement, in the promise, in the guarantee, the covenant of redemption?
Where were you? You weren't there. So if you've got a brain about you, you're going to say, I wasn't there. It's all about God. And if you say it's all about God, you're going to be saying it's all of grace.
And if you say it's all of grace, from the start to the finish, you're going to find yourself in Ephesians 1 praising God for election, praising God for definite atonement, and praising God for making people born again.
You say, well, what about these other verses? What about this? What about that? I decided. I repented. I believed. I've said this over and over and over again. I am not saying God believes for you. But I am saying the cause of your salvation is not your belief.
It's the result. It's what God saves you and you believe. You are responding to what God has done. Salvation, saving faith by definition says I don't trust in myself anymore. I'm putting my faith in the work of another.
You, if you're saved, it is because God in eternity past chose you. God the Son at Calvary died for you. And God the Spirit in time, whether you got saved yesterday or 40 years ago, he by himself, for himself, to please only himself, consulting with only himself, answerable only to himself, saved you.
And you should be saying to God alone be the glory. God is not a deist when it comes to salvation. He doesn't wind everything up in hope. Cross his fingers, cross my heart, hope to die, stick 10 needles in my eye.
He doesn't have some kind of wish or desire or kind of coaxing, conjoling, like I said before the gentleman, Jesus, no, he saves. You say, well, you know what? I don't like this kind of language. Well, Spurgeon would say, I never thought you would because it attacks our pride.
Doesn't it? Could it be that if you're listening today and you are saying, I don't go for any of this. It's because you're prideful. It's because you're arrogant. You think somehow the arrangement of salvation was with you.
You were part of the Trinity before time began and you were in arrangement. No, if you would have been there, you would have been saying, I hate you. I vote no. I want to run from you. You know, you've, you've done this to me.
That's what you would be saying. And so God has to do it alone. I say, well, no, you would understand. God just kind of permits these things to happen. Well, to quote R .C. Sproul, God chooses to permit it.
So now we're back to predestination. If he permits something, he allows it. He chooses to allow it. He chooses to permit it. And so you don't just say, well, I'm just going to let it go. No, God says, I choose to allow that.
I choose to permit that. So your language of permittance and your language of allowance will not let you hide for very long from this inescapable fact. God is sovereign over who goes to heaven. God is sovereign over who doesn't go to heaven.
God is the prime mover on who goes to heaven. God is the actor, the initiator, the author. Friends, we are the objects of salvation. Happily, yes. We are the recipients of salvation. Joyfully, yes. But we do not cause our salvation.
And if you cause your salvation, your Thanksgiving isn't what it ought to be. Oh, we saved ourselves. We did it. We helped ourselves. Instead of God, we deserved hell and we got heaven and eternity past.
You planned this whole thing. You planned it all. You chose for yourself, by yourself. You predestined. You redeemed. You regenerated by your own free will. Our will isn't free. Our will is bound, slave to sin.
And here, God, as Kittel's Dictionary says, compels by irresistible superiority. Can you imagine? God saves us, chooses us by irresistible superiority. And it's a compulsion. We must respond. We gladly respond.
You say, I don't like that. Well, I don't like it that you don't like it. I don't like it that you judge God and His Word. You need to come to the Word of God like Charles Simeon did. And Charles Simeon would say, I'm here to learn from you.
I don't want to put any agenda. I come to this book as a child comes to the parent. And you teach me. I don't want to impose anything on here. I want to learn. I am needy. I am poor. I am weak. You are great.
You are mighty. You, God, teach me. And that's if you come to the Scriptures with that attitude. Not of arrogance. Not of, you know, I've got this to offer. God doesn't make some kind of robots. He's kind of making some puppets and all kinds of other things that you just need to tuck away and say, God, you willed people to be saved because you willed the sun to take on a body in time.
And you will that that sun would perfectly die for all those who are in that eternal covenant. Well, my name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. We know this covenant was great because God raised Jesus from the dead and He lives.
And we are going to look at this again. When did this covenant happen? What did this covenant tell us? It tells us a lot. It tells us that God is God.
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.
The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.