The Christian and Obedience (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. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and I�ve just been in the studio here on Saturday doing a couple shows, and I thought I�d put the Facebook Live deal on.

So, if you�re listening on the radio and you hear me address people in the Facebook Live, whatever deal it is, I�m not really a big Facebooker, honestly, and I know I�m going to offend my Facebook fans now, my friends.

If I tweet something kind of controversial or edgy, nobody really does anything, but if I do that in the Facebook area, I don�t know, people seem to be more offended in the Facebook world than in the Twitter world, therefore I tread lightly.

Sometimes I just tweet something and don�t Facebook it, but anyway. My name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio, a ministry, and today we�re talking about obedience. Now, I�ve done my very, I almost said very best, although you never do your very best, do you, on anything?

But I�ve tried with labor and sweat and toil and enthusiasm, hopefully, and emphasis, to tell the Christian, to tell you, dear Christian, that your legal standing before God is based on the work, there�s Wendy, hi Wendy, is based on the work of another, and therefore, Christian, there�s no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

You�ve been justified. You have been given Christ� perfect righteousness. There�s a law of God, and Jesus obeys the law, and you get credit for his law-keeping. Jesus was already inherently righteous.

He doesn�t need the law to make himself righteous, he is, but he�s obeying the law so he might give by imputation, by forensic alien imputation, crediting his right law-keeping to us, so God sees us as obedient.

Additionally, Jesus takes our law-breaking, where we would be unrighteous, and we get that by accounting, our crediting, our reckoning is the language, and of course, we know that�s true, both the negative and positive, because Jesus was raised from the dead.

So your legal standing has to be perfection, because God is perfect, and you can�t go before God with tainted hands or minds or anything like that. So your approach before God, your legal standing before God and his court, is based on the work of Jesus, and only and always based on the work of Jesus.

By the way, since the Red Sox are officially out of the playoffs, I don�t even know what the Giants record is, but I just thought I�d wear this today in honor of the Red Sox fans. But I will root for Tom Brady tomorrow.

What was I saying? Oh, so, but because we�re stressing on No Compromise Radio, that was some food that just flew out of my mouth. I just had some roasted peanuts over here, and they�re flying out of my mouth.

Insert smoker�s cough. Smoker�s breath. But I want to remind you, dear Christian, that you�re responsible to obey. Since Jesus, think about the book of Hebrews, and that�s what I�m going to talk a little bit about today.

For the first 12 chapters, I know there are some warnings in there, but for the first 12 chapters, essentially you have this demonstration of how great Jesus is, and what a high priest he is, and how he loves the sinners, and how he loves you, and how then that should make you respond, chapter 13.

I don�t want people to think, �Well, you know what? Since my legal standing before God can�t be changed, and it can�t be, then I�ll just sin. Here�s what I want you to think. Here�s the lesson for the day, class.

There�s a law of God, based on his character, and it�s from God. I don�t want you to ever think to yourself, �This is the law of God. Without thinking, this is who�s giving the law. Don�t separate in your mind, don�t separate in your theology, the law and the lawgiver.

Actually, that�s what Eve did, didn�t she? Instead of thinking about this kind, generous, wonderful God, she began to think of just the law and not who it�s from. For the Christian, when you go to Hebrews chapter 13, and I�m going to chapter 13 because it�s going to take me quite a while, I�m still at the end of chapter 9 here at the church, bbcchurch .org, don�t forget Scott Clark is going to be here to talk about things like this October 11th and 12th.

You want to register, bbcchurch .org, or you can just show up. When it comes to the law that God gives in Hebrews 13 for Christians, don�t forget, keep it tied to the lawgiver. So, God knows what�s good for you, does he not?

God understands, �Yes, this is the right thing to do, and this is how it will honor me. As a matter of fact, let me just read a little something from the London Baptist Confession about good works, to make sure you keep the law and the lawgiver together.

This is chapter 16 of the London Baptist Confession, �These good works, done in obedience to God�s commands, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith, and by them believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify the brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God, whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto.

I don�t know what the �thereunto� is �thereunto� for. What�s the �therefore� for? What�s the �therefore, therefore Well, I have another question. What�s the �thereunto, thereunto� for? What�s the point?

The lawgiver, who�s no longer your judge because of Jesus Jesus has been judged in your place, that�s Hebrews 9 since he�s no longer your judge, he�s your Father, he�s your Savior, then here�s this law that God knows what�s best for you, so therefore do it.

He knows what�s best for other people, and therefore do it. As I said in my show last time, to try to rescue this word, because people take it and wreck it, I think, essentially. This is good for your flourishing.

I don�t think I�ve ever said that word on No Compromise Radio until this week. This is good for your flourishing. Well, what we said in last show was, here�s the response out of gratitude guilt, grace, gratitude in obedience to, fruit of, evidence of, because you�re thankful for, because it�ll strengthen your assurance, because it�ll close the mouth of the adversaries, because it will adorn the profession of the gospel, and it�ll be good for your neighbor and edify them.

What�s the first thing he says? He says, �Don�t spit any more peanuts is what I�m saying in my mind. Number one, let brotherly love continue, chapter 13, verse 1. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.

Number three, remember those who are in prison. And so, when it comes to other people this is what we did last time, so this is just a quick review when it comes to other Christians, love them. Show them kindness.

It�s Philadelphia love. Be sacrificial for them. When it comes to it�s true, Wendy just said, �We always get in trouble when we think we know best, rather than our Heavenly Father. I had to edit your message.

It reminds me of this story. Somebody once said to me, �I know you�ve written a few books. If I send you a manuscript, would you critique it for me And so, then I did. And they got offended, because I really critiqued it.

I thought they actually wanted me to critique it. What he wanted was, �Great job. Way to go. You�re the best. So now, when anybody asks me to do something like that, I have to ask them the question, �Are you wanting a backslap, or do you want me really to critique it

Because I know, personally, like with Discovering Romans, S. Lewis Johnson, I had a literary editor, I had a theological editor, and I got killed, figuratively speaking, with red ink. I mean, you�d think that was my blood spilled everywhere.

I mean, every page. I don�t know how many hundreds of corrections I had to make. I mean, hundreds. Anyway, back to the point. The point is simply that because we�re Christians, the law that comes to us now comes from a gracious Heavenly Father.

And as Wendy said, He knows what�s best. And He knows what�s best for us, how to honor Him, what�s best for other people. And therefore, we want to make sure we see this properly. He goes on to say, and this is kind of where I left off last show, �Number four, let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

In other words, Christian, be sexually pure. You can�t just say, �Well, you know what? My legal standing is set, and therefore it�s all about faith in Jesus, and I don�t have to be faithful. You don�t have to be faithful to keep your legal standing.

But because of your legal standing, you ought to be faithful. I did not know you went to Believer�s Chapel. Well, I just talked, by the way, Wendy, to Sam, Lewis�s son, and I�m trying to get this Colossians stuff worked out so we can have a Colossians commentary soon.

But I don�t know. I�ve got�I think I can start in November. I�m trying not to write any more books, but I did make that commitment. So we�re working on Colossians, discovering Colossians 2020. Your sexual purity, Christian, matters.

You can�t just say, �Well, I like to sin. God likes to forgive. Didn�t the lady on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, you know, everybody has to say this. I don�t watch it, but I heard about it. You know, I have sex outside of marriage, and Jesus forgives me.

That�s the wrong view. The view for the Christian is, you have this great high priest, and you can rest in him and believe in him, and he makes intercession for you, and he has died for your sins, and you can eagerly expect his return.

Well, therefore, there�s something that�s going to not be required of you to keep your legal standing, but because your legal standing is set, here�s how I want you to live. So be sexually pure. And therefore, when Christians say, �Well, I can watch porn, and God understands, and I can flirt around with people of the opposite sex.

I can do this, that, or the other. No, your sexual energies and appetite and thoughts and direction and energies have to go into your spouse. That�s it. And you may think, �Well, I lived a licentious life beforehand, and therefore, I don�t want to do anything.

And when it comes to sexual this is hard to talk about sex is dirty, even in marriage, and Paul says, or the author of Hebrews, whoever it is, �No, it�s holy. It�s right. It�s good. Fornicators, adulterers, they�re going to be judged, but Christian, God knows what�s best for you.

He knows what�s best for your spouse. He knows what�s best for society. He knows how he wants to be honored, and therefore, your response is obedience by saying, �I want to be sexually pure, and I want to keep that in high honor.

He goes on. He goes on to say, �Number five, since you�re resting in, believing in this risen high priest, the Savior Jesus Christ, don�t covet. Be content with what you have. By the way, this is super-convicting, verses 5 and 6 of Hebrews 13.

And again, I�m doing this because I�m taking so long to get to Hebrews. I don�t want you to think that the ethical response of Christ�s priestly work is antinomian. I don�t have to do any law. I�m not under law.

And it�s correct. You�re not under law as a covenant of works to keep yourself in God�s right standing. You can�t do that. Adam transgressed the covenant. So did we. But in response, out of gratitude, out of thankfulness, adorning the gospel, he says, �Be content with what you have.

Do you notice verse 5? �Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have. For he himself� if you ever see that, that�s emphatic because it could just say, �For he said.

But he himself, extra emphasis, �I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you, so that we can confidently say, �The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me Now, the context is, these people are getting persecuted and they�re on the run, and I�m sure resources were limited and resources were valuable.

But here, with five negations, by the way, in these verses, �Be content. Be content with what you have. Christians who have been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, who have the high priest for them, who is not only the high priest, but also was the sacrifice, and he gave his ransom for us, and he knows what�s best.

In response, if we love Christ, we�ll keep his commandments. We don�t earn his love by keeping the commandments. We could never do that, because God would expect perfect obedience, perpetual obedience, entire obedience, exact obedience, personal obedience, sincere obedience, all the time, 24 -7.

We could never do that, so we have to rest on someone else. That�s why we call it resting in Jesus, trusting, relying on what he�s done. And therefore, we now have the Spirit of God dwelling in us, and he says, �I want you to be content with what you have.

I mean, for the Christian, I don�t know about you, but this is a hard one, to be content with what you have, and frankly, probably even the poorest person watching today would be rich in the Old Testament view of poor or rich.

How much we have. I regularly just say to myself, when I�m standing in the kitchen, and we have bad water in California, and you have to have a filter, and Lancaster, Massachusetts, Lancaster, we have really good water.

And I just take the water handle like this in the morning, the sink, the faucet, and out comes this pure, sparkling, clean water. That right there, to have pure water, I mean, compared to walking down a mile to the river, bringing the water back, boiling everything, I mean, if I want it hot, hot, it�s just amazing to me.

Clean, fresh water. I�m about ready to sing some song, �Give Me That Water. Or there�s a modest Yahoo song, �If You Ain�t Got No Water, How You Gonna Survive There�s water, and maybe not so romantic in terms of clear, fresh water.

When you�ve got water that�s got things in it you don�t want to talk about, you just flush. Right? Off it goes. You don�t have to take the kids, have the kids take the privy pots out in the morning as part of their duty.

We have everything, not only every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, but almost everything else. Clearwater Valley. What if you lived in Clearwater Valley and the water was dirty? How would that work out?

Crazy. God will never forsake you. Since He�s saved you, since He sent His Son to die for you, since the Son has loved you and given Himself for you, do you think He�s not going to take care of you to the end?

Do you think He�s going to make sure you�re glorified? Romans chapter 8, and you think about when He calls you and foreknows you and justifies you, right? Earlier predestined you. He�s going to glorify you.

You can rely on God. And therefore be content. I could say don�t worry. He�s not saying that here, but it�s a similar thread of what we do in a sinful way. Don�t do that. Don�t do that. There�s nothing antinomian here.

I just don�t want our people, I don�t want you to keep thinking that you�re on this treadmill of works to keep your legal standing. Galatians has a lot to say about it, and Paul�s firm when it comes to that.

Your legal standing is all about Jesus� work. And when I used to tuck my kids into bed, I have four kids, they�re older now, I don�t tuck them into bed anymore. But when I did, I would rub their backs maybe, rub their stomach if they were a little, you know, they had an upset stomach, and I would always sing a Jesus, what would I always sing?

And I never forgot what I sang. I would sing, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. That�s what I would sing. And isn�t that what�s happening here with doctrine and duty, credenda and agenda, creeds and conduct?

We don�t do the agenda. We don�t do the duty. We don�t do the conduct in order to be saved. What we do is we say, since we are saved, this is how God wants us to respond. Here�s another one, number six, in verse seven of Hebrews 13, �Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and consider the result of their conduct.

Imitate their faith. So, really, there�s a remember, and there�s an imitate. I think those are both imperative presence, present imperatives in the Greek. I can�t quite see. By the way, this font is all messed up, too.

It didn�t quite transliterate everything, but at least in the English, those are the two key verbs in that sentence. You�ve had leaders, and here in the book of Hebrews, they had leaders, and I�m sure they were getting persecuted, and you�d watch them.

And you remember people that preached the word of God to you, and you remember how they lived, and you�re to imitate their faith and how they walked by faith and not by sight. And you say, well, didn�t some of those leaders die for the faith?

Yes, remember that. These are good examples. These are to be imitated. Maybe you want to fall back. Remember those leaders? They didn�t fall back. And you say, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, I�ve had some Christian leaders before.

I�ve even had a pastor, you might say, who�s fallen and is out of the ministry. Okay, fair. Verse 8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. What�s the context there? It�s not charismatic gifts.

If a charismatic ever tells you this, they�re not looking at the context. The charismatic wants to say, since Jesus never changes, He�s immutable, same yesterday, today, and forever. Therefore, the gifts that used to exist, exist now.

Well, I don�t think they�re really thinking about eternity future. Do we need the gift of tongues? When he said Mary Edith was a godly woman, I miss her. So, you think, you know what? I�m struggling. I�m tempted to maybe go back or think wrong thoughts.

And you go, oh, Mary Edith. And I know Mary Edith wasn�t perfect, but I do know this. I do know the object of her faith was perfect. And this Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This Jesus never changes.

And while our earthly leaders had good days and bad days, we know the Lord Jesus never had a day where He sinned, never had a day when He didn�t honor God with His heart, soul, mind, and strength, never had a day on earth.

And look at the text. It doesn�t just say Christ. Jesus Christ. This is the human Messiah, right? This is God-man. I�m not taking anything away from His deity, because I endorse the deity of Christ. After all, He received the honor of God, and He had the attributes of God, and has.

And He has the names of God, and He does the deeds of God, forgiving sins, etc. I�m not denying the deity of Christ. I�m just saying the text here is making sure, front-loaded, first word. You don�t forget that the human Jesus, He wasn�t a phantom.

He was a human. And this human Jesus, you think about how His life was perfect, how He always pleased the Father. That�s what we�re after. Does Jesus ever fail? Has Jesus, as Robert Gromacki said, ever disappointed you?

Pastors have. I�m sure I�m disappointing people. I�ve disappointed myself. Like, come on, Abendroth, get going. What are you thinking? How idiotic. How stupid. How sinful. What�s he go on to say? Number seven, since you�re resting in, believing in, the risen high priest Jesus Christ, be strengthened by grace.

This is not in order to. But because you�re a Christian, you just don�t say, well, free from the law. What�s that old poem? Free from the law, something for remission. No, I can�t remember. This is why live radio sometimes is difficult.

Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. I could say a lot about this, but the point here is the Lord Jesus.

And you want to be strengthened? It�s not based on what you eat or what you don�t eat. I started a while ago a diet that has, I really, I have some carbs, much more protein, and more fat than normal. Amen.

Last night, I mean, now I get to eat almonds and peanuts and get to shoot these peanuts out of my mouth while I�m talking. I�m not eating that much fat, but anyway, no carbs really at night. That�s the key.

My main problem is I�m just snacking at night and baked chips and 100 calorie Yoplait, no, not low, Yoplait, Yaso bars. You know what a Yaso bar is? I can eat quite a few of those. Well, you know, here�s what happens.

Ben and Jerry�s, 1 ,500 calories for chubby helpy, and Yaso bars are 100 calories, and they come four in a pack. You can eat four packs. Well, you could eat four. You could literally have four packs, four times four is 16.

You could have four packs of Yaso bars, and that would equal one Ben and Jerry�s. Anyway, it�s the nighttime stuff, so I have some carbs with my meal at night and then no more carbs later, but I�m pretty much getting sick of peanut butter on celery for my snack at night.

What else can you have? Avocado. Oh, maybe avocado ice cream. Anyway, the point of what I�m saying is this, to quote part of Hebrews 8, verse 1, �Dear Christian, since your legal standing is firm, you don�t have to run around anymore trying to keep your salvation, earn your salvation.

Please God in terms of standing. Since that�s already firm, focus elsewhere. Live a godly life. Be holy as God�s holy. Marriage bed is undefiled. Love other Christians. Be hospitable. Remember the prisoners.

Be content with what you have. Be strengthened by not food, but by grace.