Luke Abendroth Interview 2019 (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.

Interview With Luke Abendroth and the Joy of Christmas at Home

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My favorite shows on No Compromise Radio are usually the interviews, and my favorite of the favorites, when my son comes to town in the Christmas season, the Feliz Navidad time, and so we got Luke Abendroth, round two, 2018.

Luke, welcome to the station. Feliz Navidad.

I don�t know why you said that. I�m over here trying to adjust my headphones from the Tuesday guy. Yeah, well, yeah, what is wrong?

I don�t know. I think, you know, Steve�s been kind of aberrant. You�ve got too much 1689 in his head. I know, he�s teaching�yeah, Luke asked me earlier, you know, what�s Steve doing, this, that, and the other, and I said he�s teaching through the 1689, and he told me he couldn�t come to my house on the Sabbath or something.

It was too far. His car would get tired. Yeah, I�ll come over and turn off the lights for him.

I wonder if there�s a Sabbath law, obviously not a biblical Sabbath law, but a Sabbath law that you can�t walk too far on the Sabbath, so if you valet park your car, you go do something, but if you had to park it really far in the parking lot, you couldn�t walk the rest of the way to the restaurant.

I�m sure that that�s been thought of, I guarantee. Yeah. It�s like in Israel, they do have pigs on, like, pig farm type things, but the funny thing is that they have it elevated off the ground by a couple feet.

They have, like, a wood platform built, and so it�s technically, I guess, not on the soil of Israel, so it�s elevated off the ground, and you�ve got the pig farm. It�s a nice way to recognize, really, what the Lord is trying to say, you know, heart of the law.

It�s awesome. How about Yom Kippur? Did you guys go lay in the highway? We ran around the highway. You know, I wanted to skate. I wanted to skate on the highway. Oh, that would be so great, a longboard.

Yeah, it was, but I didn�t have a longboard. They only had some kind of dopey Israeli ripstick. They got the two wheels, and it�s kind of wobbly, so we were bombing, me and a friend of mine, or a friend of mine and I, friend of mine and I, we were bombing the hills on the ripstick on Yom Kippur because everybody else is inside, and then I think Yom Kippur was also my birthday.

They were all actually very sad. Some of the people decided that they weren�t going to eat. They were also going to fast to experience that.

Oh, yeah, Jesus was still on the ground, I guess, or something.

Yeah, I think, yeah, a couple years ago. No, and so I had to resist against that in the Eben Droth way, and had to go find some food to eat in celebration of the fulfillment of all the types and antitypes.

Types, Antitypes, and Thinking More About Jesus

Yeah, I like that. Luke, over the years, have you noticed more types, antitypes, shadows, echoes, Old Testament and New Testament, or less? Definitely more. Okay, and are you scared? Are you afraid of that whole thing?

Am I afraid of it? Yeah, yeah, you�re going to just like spiritualizing the text.

It has been really discouraging to just think about Jesus more and more, you know? It�s been kind of making my life just a lot harder to just go through hard times and things like that.

Teaching the Gospel of Mark and Explaining John 1

Okay, that�s interesting. You�ve been teaching through the Gospel of Mark. Tell me about the ministry there at Grace. You�re not the high school teacher, right? No, definitely not. No. So are you like an under-teacher, or a� I think, can you go lower?

What is it? Are there a few guys on Wednesday nights? Is it a bigger group? I mean, I don�t care about the numbers, I�m just curious. How many, when do you teach and to whom do you teach?

Sometimes I get to teach on Wednesday nights and there will be about, I don�t know, we�ve had up to 60 kids before, but it�s like usually between 40 and 60 kids at our regional Bible study. So it�s a lot of fun.

We�ll have some guys bring unbelievers, and so I got to do a little John 1 Christmas little talk the other day, the 5 -10 minute thing, just about seeing, you know, where do we go to know God? Yes, we obviously, we know we go to the Scriptures and to the Bible, but even more specifically we go to the person of Jesus Christ.

He�s as the Word, that idea that the Word is what we express our thoughts and ideas through, and God is known through Jesus, the Word, and that�s his title. So just talking about that and how, yes, not only do we know God through Jesus, but what do we know about God through Jesus?

And we see just such a gracious Heavenly Father, and so anyways, it�s been fun.

What a Christ-Centered Sermon Would Sound Like

Okay, and do you ever want to preach? Like what if you had to get up on a Sunday morning and preach, what would go through your mind?

Well, I think I want to just really think about the culture and the church and just think about what does this church need to hear from my own mind, not necessarily from like what God�s message to the church would be, just from what I thought that they would need to hear, and then probably come to some text with already the idea of what they thought they needed to hear, and then turn that into like ten nice little tips for practical living throughout the week.

Oh, yeah. That�d be my plan, you know. And then you just got to get really specific with that, like, hey, make sure you write down your sins in the next three days and throw them in the fire to symbolize burning, you know, just some stuff like that, very, very specific, kind of like man-made laws.

Kind of like elevating my own traditions, you know. Just kidding. No, what would I do? I think I wouldn�t just talk about Jesus. What would be a great passage to talk about that? Or you know, I think you�ve also told me Ephesians 2, you kind of already have the outline set up for you.

You can just read it and talk, or maybe go to, I don�t know, there�s, I don�t know. I think I want to have more than five minutes to think about it, but, yeah. Right.

John 1, 18, �No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father�s side. He, Jesus, has made Him the Father known. And I�m just, for curiosity�s sake, going to read the ESV study notes for that.

That is, �In a full and complete way, but some people did see partial revelations of God in the Old Testament. To see God in Christ would be far better. Let�s see. John refers to two different persons here as God, as he did in verse 1.

John concludes the prologue by emphasizing what he taught, �Jesus, as the Word is God, and He has revealed and explained God to humanity. What do you think so far? Sound good?

It sounds great, and I think it�s cool because, you know, I like the, I was just listening to a little Sinclair Ferguson message, and I�ve heard him say this before, but, you know, in the first part of John, �And in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.

This idea of being with God is kind of like the idea of being face-to-face with God. He�s face-to-face with God. The Word� Intimate. It�s an intimate relationship, and I like the analogy that I heard in this sermon of just like, even in our culture today, there is a special, looking into someone�s eyes is reserved for a certain kind of commitment.

You don�t just go around and, I mean, some people do, but they should stop. If you do that, just stop it. They should stop. Stop it. You�re going around just looking. Stop it. That�s what Luther�s, I think you stole that joke from the kids.

You said, �Stop it. Luther said, �Stop it. You had to say, �Stop it�s to Luther. Stop looking at yourself, and then you stole that and said it on the radio show. So I�m just going to claim our, I think Maddie and I came up with that.

Oh, you did? Mm-hmm. Well, you know what? If it makes good radio. You�re the federal head, so. That�s right. You get to take credit for it. I am the federal head. No, but, yeah, but it�s just that the idea of there�s, the idea of looking into someone�s eyes is reserved for an intimate and special relationship, and that�s not just given anywhere.

That�s not just given to other people. That would be only for you and mom or our mom, Kim. And so there�s this idea of just the intimacy of the relationship between the father and the son since before time began.

In the beginning, the Jewish person reading this, they immediately go to Genesis, and they go, �In the beginning and they know God created the heavens and the earth, but it immediately mentions the Word, that there is distinct persons and still one God, and just how important that is, and there�s this unique relationship, and because of that, who is better equipped to explain who God is to us than the one God, the Son, who also is truly God and has been with the Father since before, and there�s no before, since time began, since forever, and He can explain Him to us, and I think it�s cool because not only are we told, �Hey, Jesus does explain God, the Father, to us, or He does explain who God is to us, or we can know who God is in Jesus but we know specifically, you know, we might have known a little taste of grace and truth through Moses.

We might have known a little taste of the coming of the Messiah, but ultimately we see in Jesus that there is grace and truth, that the attributes of God are grace and truth, and that Jesus comes to fulfill that mission of the real true type, that He�s really going to obey and fulfill these ceremonial sacrifices, and He�s going to give us grace based on His perfect obedience to the law.

That is exactly right, and Luke, in two chapters later, 313, �No one Jesus said, �has ascended into heaven except he who descends from heaven, the Son of Man. And so, we are thankful that He has come down to earth to tell us and reveal the particulars about who God is, and if anybody would know exactly who God is, it would be the Lord Jesus, because He was face to face, �pros tantheon�, He was face to face with God the Father.

So, I�m looking forward to having you preach the Christmas Eve service here at BBC. This show is recorded on the 21st, I believe, of December, but on the 24th, you�ll give that message. And I�ve been asked, you know, would I play that on the radio or on NOCO or on the website, and I said, �Well, I will put up the recording if it�s any good.

If it�s good. Ten tips for a living. Ten timeless tips, yeah. I know. Well, tonight, we have the Christmas concert with a big band, and they�re a secular band, but it�s, you know, Tommy Dorsey kind of stuff.

Two Kingdom. Two Kingdom. That�s right. And I�m not going to get up and preach a 15-minute sermon, but just in probably one or two minutes, I�m going to introduce the band and then say why we�re here and why we�re celebrating and why we can enjoy everything, even things like this with fellowship and good music and fun and food and some dancing and stuff like that, because we stand before God as children, as adopted, and there�s only one way to get to heaven, and that�s perfect obedience.

And so today, we�re celebrating the one� Perpetual.

What is it? It�s P-E-E-T. Perfect, perpetual, entire obedience.

I see. Perfect, entire, exact. And what�s the last one? Personal. Personal, perpetual, entire, exact. P-E-E-T. P-E-E-T. Perfect, entire, exact, perpetual. Pete�s.

That�s why you love Pete�s Coffee so much. Perfect, entire, exact. No, it�s Peeps. Peep. That�s not as good. What if they start eating those Easter bunnies all year? Oh, yeah. Mind you. You know, we can redeem those.

Oh, redeem the culture. That�s what I�m all about. I know you are. How many Christ in Culture references can we make in two minutes? Q Kingdom. What was it? Was it a Nibor book? Redeeming, transforming.

What? Christ in Kingdom.

Christ or Kingdom. Oh, no. That�s Christ in Culture. I hope that�s not the one. Christ in Kingdom. So you�re teaching for Christmas Eve, and what else are you doing here while you�re home for five days?

You�ve got the radio shows out of the way. I�m looking at the solar pulp right here, sitting by the radio show. I don�t know. I think I�m just going to hang out with the family and swing dance and just have fun, try to see some friends that I haven�t seen in a while, and it�s just good to be home and to relax and be able to just kind of step outside normal routines and think about life and remember what�s important in the Christmas season and stuff like that.

So I think it�s going to be fun. I�m excited. I don�t think we�re going to go surf this year, but I think we�ll snowboard, and there�s a few people we have to meet.

You were just telling me about some waves you were catching in Malibu. What were they, 15-foot waves, 20-foot? Yeah.

We just keep going up, 30. While we�re already lying, we might as well just go big, you know what I mean? No, it was supposedly 8 -12. It was pretty big. It was really fun. So I went out with my landlord�s son, Wyatt Bates.

If you ever listen to this, Wyatt. Okay, I bet you he�s going to listen.

I bet he is. Luke, you saw the solar pope here. Somebody sent me this thing, and it was called the mini Jesus pocket figure.

Man, people are just trying to get you to do the Second Commandment thing all the time. I know.

So here�s what I did, because somebody didn�t like it when I posted it online, and they said, �Please take that down. It�s a Second Commandment issue and all that. But I just want you to listen to this.

Look at this, actually, and say, �You know what? That�s not Jesus. That�s Mary, because it�s so effeminate looking. It would never be Jesus.

That�s Mary. Yeah. You know, I think people go overboard with the whole actually, �Wild at Heart� is pretty girly anyways, but people go overboard with the whole, �Well, Jesus, He would have been wearing� Oh, tough guy.

Carpenter, biceps. Yeah. But at the same time, sometimes I just think about being a man. A lot of being a man, just learning in the last couple of years is just knowing you got to do something hard, and you just do it, and you just got to do it, whether it�s, you know, you talk to a girl or whatever, or you try to get a job, go to an interview, all kinds of stuff like that.

And then I just think of the ultimate, is it Isaiah chapter 50, that Jesus sets His face like flint. I love that line, that Jesus, for us, thinking of us and our salvation, knowing that if He doesn�t fulfill the work that the Father has given Him to do, that we�re going to be lost, we�re going to be damned to hell, that He sets His face like flint, and He is resolved, no, He will not turn back, He�ll never forsake us, and He�s going to complete the work no matter what it costs, and go to the cross, even though He understands how painful and how terrible it will be to be separated from the Father.

And I just always think, man, there�s nothing more manly than that. Nothing more manly than to go, I�m going to go bear the weight of the sins of anyone who would believe, eternal wrath and hell poured out on the cross, and I�m going to do it for those people.

I was like, man, that is the ultimate. Luke, that�s such a great point, because when we think of manliness and masculinity, and I think it�s in our faces now, because we�re pushing against the femininity of men in culture and how they dress and act, and whether it�s styles and fashion and all that stuff.

What is true masculinity? And if the answer isn�t found in the Lord Jesus and how He acted, then I don�t know where it�s found. Right? Is it found in Marlboro men? Is it found in, you know?

A little bit. I�m just kidding. Marlboro men, people from Marlboro, Massachusetts is what I�ve heard. Oh, okay.

That�s right. You know, I think they move from Westboro, but not Westboro Baptist. No, definitely not. That�s what�s called not manly. I�ve always said to the people at Westboro Baptist regarding their, you know, sign ministry, whatever they call it, we�d love to have them come to Bethlehem Bible Church and they have an invitation to come here.

What they don�t know is there�s no sidewalk and there�s no public place and they can�t be on our property and they can�t stand in the highway, so it�d be hard to picket the place.

Yeah. And I think if we picketed the place, we�d have more unbelievers coming in to visit because they�d probably want to like our message. Yeah. They�d go, �Oh, they�re protesting. It must be something we�d like.

And then they�ll come in and hear the gospel and still be offended. Oh, see. But with the real gospel. I know.

I know. So, let�s see. What else is happening in your life, Luke? When I talk to you on the phone, we FaceTime and everything, I�d say 65 of the time we talk about Jesus and the Word, the Word and the Word, and then 5 of the time we talk about, what are we up to right now, 65 that we talk about work, the 5 like surfing, and then the other 20 we talk about girls.

Yeah, I don�t know how much we want to get into that right now.

But you�re single. So if there�s anybody listening and they have a daughter, they have a. Is that your real number? Yes, but we have a few parameters. Don�t call unless you have a daughter who�s anywhere between, what, 18 and 25?

You could move it up to 40. That�s so weird. 18 to 25, Calvinistic, right, law gospel, three covenants. 1689. She�s got to be pretty. Right? Yeah. Good dowry. Good dowry, yeah. Yeah, okay. I already know what you�re thinking, don�t say it.

No, I wasn�t thinking about it until you said it, but now I know what you think I�m. Okay, now you know. Okay.

Christology, Creeds, and Guarding Against Heresy

Let�s see. You�ve been reading Christ the Lord book by Horton and some others. That�s an interesting reading, because what do you do with the Lordship salvation controversy, so that�s a good book to try to see a Reformed perspective on that.

What else are you reading? Have you read, what, I�m trying to think what have you and I been talking about that you�ve been reading?

Well, I�ve just been reading, since I�ve been doing the John one thing, I�ve been just trying to read stuff on Jesus and some of the, like, two natures of Christ and one reasonable soul and truly God and truly man and Jesus being, you know, he�s experiencing real struggle as it touches his man, his humanity, and then his, you know, flashes of omniscience as it touches his deity, just little things like that, just trying to understand and make sure I don�t, it�s a pretty quick jump into heresy when you�re talking about Jesus and his relationship to the Father, and sadly, you know, it�s been going on a lot recently.

I�ve been hearing about people that I even know who are saying things that are heretical. Yeah, I think it�s interesting, �whosoever will be saved�, what is it, Athanasian Creed? Wait, what is it? Yeah.

Yeah. �Whosoever will be saved must hold�, it�s like something undoubtedly or perish in everlasting fire to these things.

Right. And it�s like, wow. Well, earlier today you mentioned the Chalcedonian Creed, and it says right in here, and in these latter days for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the manhood, one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably, the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the unity, but rather the property of each nature being preserved and concurring in one person and one subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, semi-colon, we�re still in one sentence, as the prophets from the beginning have declared concerning Him, comma, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, comma, and the creed of the Holy Fathers has handed down to us, period.

Wow. I know. I don�t know if I�ve ever used the word �inconfusedly.

I think we need to start using that, bring that back. I think I just want a shirt that just says �inconfusably. What�s the Prince�s Bride thing? Indutably. Inconceivable. I can picture him, too, as he says it with Wesley.

As you wish.

As you wish. So that you can tell that they were really parsing those words out to protect of any Socinian error, to protect from any Arian error, it�s pretty easy. Uh-huh. That�s right. Any other? All kinds of errors.

Ha ha ha! Mountainous errors. Mountainous. Sibyllian errors. Sibyllian. Gnostic. Ha ha ha! Nice. Throw that in there. Ha ha ha! I just throw in �gnostic� any time. Nice! Any time. It�s just negative. So did you look and find the Athanasius Creed in what it says at the very beginning?

Yeah. It says, �Whosoever will be saved, before all things, it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith, which faith, except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the Catholic faith is this, and then it continues to go on. But I think it�s interesting because we don�t want to think that way. We don�t want to think, �Well, you have this one thing wrong about Jesus Christ, you can�t be saved.

But just like I always think the analogy, you know, if I have, if I say, you know, �Oh, Mike Abendroth, such a sweet older lady at our church, she�s just so great, such an encouragement. And, you know, I love just all the sweaters that she knits together and all those, you know, classic dubstep songs that she listens to and, you know, just all these great things, figure skating.

I just love Mike. She�s so great. It doesn�t matter. I can use your name. I can say Mike Abendroth, but if I don�t know you, if I describe everything about you or even some things about you that are totally different than from who you actually are and the core things about you, it�s not you.

And so people, just because they claim the name of Jesus, that�s why, you know, even John talks about that many false Jesuses have come and they will come and they�re going to deceive people. And so we can�t just hear the name Jesus Christ and go, �Oh, automatically, well, they claim the name of Jesus.

It�s like, well, a lot of people claim the name of Jesus and we have to have the right Jesus because He�s the real Jesus and the one that can actually save us from our sins. I always think that�s pretty interesting and, you know, kind of too soft.

I think you�ve told me before I�ve stolen certain ideas that you�ve had and made them my own on Twitter and other things, so I�m stealing this one too.

I kind of think it�s funny because then you can kind of change the analogy every time and you make fun of the person at the same time, like, �Mike, she likes to sew, she likes dubstep. You know, just make it as outrageous as possible.

I wish I could sew because when I need a button sewed on and I�m in some foreign country,.

Right, by myself. Yeah, when you need those buttons in a foreign country, it�s a big deal. That happens to me all the time too.

Suffering, Bikes, Sharks, and the Manliness of Jesus

Speaking of foreign countries, one of my all-time memories, and of course it wasn�t a good one for you.

Oh, South Africa, I already know, with the bike from the pit.

So we needed bicycles in South Africa. They gave me, since I was the speaker and the dad, the better bicycle and Luke got the one with the broken pedal.

Oh, the broken pedal, but it was a chain and then I would be pedaling and it would slip and then the chain, we�re biking through like the savannas of Africa, which was pretty cool actually. But, you know, I was unregenerate so I don�t think I appreciated it as much.

But you still have a good memory. I still have a great memory. Unbelievers can have good memories. No, it�s a great memory, but I think part of the, when I was unregenerate with bikes, I think I did a lot of throwing bikes down on the ground, I don�t know if you remember that.

When I�d fall, I�d kind of be mad at the bike so I�d have to hit the inanimate object. But yeah, the bike would slip. In Santa Cruz you did that once. Yeah, I did that once too. I still got scars on my hands.

But, the chain would slip and it would come flying backwards and smash me in the shin and it�s like, man, just a classic. We had to keep going. It�s like a movie. Well, no, we didn�t have to keep going.

It�s called, �You were on your ride and had to keep going.

No, no, Luke had to keep going because the lions would come and get Luke.

Yeah, then they were chasing us, yeah. That part�s not true. No, I think what was, yeah, I think what was happening was you knew I wasn�t a believer in your life. I was driving you. This pedal is like the law.

The law is just going to keep smashing into my self-righteous shin. My shin is my self-righteousness. Just smash it to pieces until I�m going to go.

I need some shin guards. And then I took you to that ocean to surf, right, and that really, and it had the shark. Yeah, Musenberg. You could see the shark rock. Yeah, that was cool. And they put the flag up and there were no observers that day for the sharks because it was too windy.

I can use that as a sermon illustration because, remember, you told me, you always want to be the hero of your own sermon illustrations. So, not only are you talking about Jesus, but then you�re kind of elevating your status as well, you know?

You�re kind of like, �Oh, it�s one time I was surfing with sharks. Next day, I was riding bikes around the lions. I killed a lion. You know, it�s pretty cool. It�s good preaching.

That�s why you teach preaching. I leave you with a John Penry and a quote from a Puritan, �No men can know the Father any farther than it pleaseth the Son to reveal Him. That�s pretty good. I know. John Penry, the 8th IM.

Luke, I love you. I�m proud of you. Thanks for being on the show today. I love you, too. 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 bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.