Truths I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me (Part 3)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

The Need for a Dead Faith and the Exclusivity of Christ

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. This is Mike Abendroth, and today is part three in the series of what I wish someone would have told me when I was an unbeliever. We live in a culture today that people are at least superficially exposed to Christianity.

I don't think they know the deep things. I think they know that the root for Christianity is Christ. There was a man named Jesus. Excuse me, he died on a cross and was raised from the dead. I think a lot of folks know that.

Maybe I am under some kind of false perception, but they generally know who Jesus is, but they don't know particulars. They don't know his claims. They don't know what he came to do, why he came to do it, et cetera.

It's just this generic kind of Jesus. And so I wish somebody would have come along to me and said, hey, you say you have faith, but there can be a dead faith. You say that your religious religiosity can't save you.

And number three, you say you believe in Jesus. Well, this is the Jesus of the Bible who comes and gives an ultimatum, follow me or else. And I wish people would have said those three things. I think about that last one about Jesus, the ultimatum and the exclusivity of Christ.

How about this in Mark chapter 10? He was sitting out on a journey, setting out on a journey. A man ran up to Jesus and knelt before him and began asking him, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

He was not walking up to Jesus, skipping up to Jesus, but he dashed up to Jesus. He was sprinting, he was running. Maybe lots of people were around. Maybe there were a bunch of kids around. Not too many would run in such a hot, sunny climate, but here he shows with respect and humiliation and deference for teachers.

Quite humbly, he falls on his knees before Jesus and addresses him as good teacher. He went to Jesus, knowing that Jesus could solve the problem. What shall I do to inherit eternal life? And isn't that the question?

If you're listening today, that is the question of the ages. More important than anything else, your health, your family, your security, your education, your job, your wife, your kids, your house, your car, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Because you will live forever. You are an eternal being. You live forever, and you will live and live and live and live. And lots of rabbis were asked this question. According to tradition, people would go up and say, Rabbi, teach us the paths that we may inherit the life of the world to come.

A regular thing that they would say. What shall I do? I'm insecure about my destiny. I'd like to know for sure where I am going to go when I die. And if somebody did that to you, what would you say? What would you expect Jesus to say?

Somebody comes running up to you, and they know you're religious. You listen to WVNE 760 AM here in the Central Mass area, and they know, oh, here's a religious guy, and they run up to you. Would you try to close the deal?

Would you say, let's pray the sinner's prayer, repeat after me? I realize I'm a sinner. I realize I'm a sinner. Would you start giving them the four spiritual laws, some kind of accept Jesus in your heart, make a decision?

Now, let's go get baptized. Well, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what you would do because the situation is for Jesus to do. And here is a prime candidate to help the ministry. This man is rich and influential, and he's easy pickings.

Now, he's running up to Jesus begging. And I think that your response is going to be quite different than Jesus's response. And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

Friend, you have no idea what you're talking about. You really don't know what you're saying, and you don't really know who you are addressing. Good absolutely is for the use of God alone. And I am God.

You try to give me this little epithet good, you forget who you're talking to. Why do you call me good? There are implications to that truth. If you ascribe to that truth that I am good, then you ought to carry that out all the way.

This is not some superficial goodness. Jesus is the standard of goodness. He is goodness incarnate. And therefore, when you call me good, you are calling me God. Only God is truly good. Only God is absolutely good.

Only God is perfectly good. And your response, knowing that I'm good and that I'm God, should be like Peter when he fell on his face. Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Luke chapter five. John Calvin said, as if he had said, thou falsely call me a good master, unless thou acknowledge that I have come from God.

That's right. Unless you hear these words, I am God, coming from that, then you're gonna not know yourself and your sin and your need and your lack of perfection and your lack of not meeting the standards of this God.

God's good and you're not. That's basically what's going on here. Mark 10, verse 19. You know the commandments. Do not murder, do not, I think I need to get a cough button around here. At the studio, there is a cough button.

And I'm looking, I have all kinds of buttons here. Power, ring off, AGC, ducking, call, drop, auto answer, send, receive, mix monitor, but I don't have a cough button. I don't have a cough drop either.

Matthew 10, verse 19. You know the commandments. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. Matthew 19, I can't believe I'm about ready to yawn.

Matthew 19, verse 17. If you wish to enter the life, keep the commandments. Matthew 19, 19. Honor your father and mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That's basically what he's saying.

And he said to the teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up. Notice what he forgot there. He's not calling him good anymore. He just called him teacher. No good teacher anymore. Forget that.

Just teacher. I think I've done all these things. And I think he really believed that he did. He was blinded. He was callous to what he did. He didn't think through the motives and how he went about doing these things and what reason.

He thought he was probably really good. He sounds like Paul before Paul got saved. Paul says, when it comes to the righteousness which is in the law, I was found what? Blameless. And here, the spiritually blind person, just like people today, maybe even you who are listening, hard to admit that you're a sinner.

Rotten, dirty, scoundrel, wretch. That's very difficult for people to admit, especially in our self-esteem day and age where we are so myopic, we cannot see past our own quote-unquote goodness to see the real goodness of God.

And if we saw God in his goodness, his holiness, his perfection, his just character, we would certainly realize we have fallen short of his glory. And he says, from my youth up, since I was a boy, since I was 12, I think I've been doing all these things.

He doesn't even blink an eye. And so that's the problem with people today. They think they're good. They're grandpas, they live moral lives. Here, this man, a son of wealthy parents, maybe, and maybe his family's a pillar in the synagogue.

Probably there are people walking around who wish their daughters would marry this exact kind of guy. But he doesn't really realize how heinous a sin is. I remember a man who was 18 years old that I met in Los Angeles, and he came over to our Bible study in North Hollywood, and he told me, I have never sinned.

Of course, we thought that somehow he was joking, but he really meant it. He never sinned. And so this man, here in Mark chapter 10, is praising himself, and Jesus says, one thing you lack, go and sell all your possessions and give them to the poor.

He knew something was missing. In the Matthew account, this man said, all these things I have kept, what am I lacking? Something's not completing me. And he knew what Jesus said, sadly, would require everything.

Go, sell, give, and follow me. It's like Jesus puts his finger on the most sensitive spot that he had. That's how the expositors' commentary talks about it. Here's this Achilles' heel, the most vulnerable spot where Jesus knows, here is where his idolatry and covetousness come from.

And this man needs to have treasure in heaven and follow Christ Jesus. Come and follow me. That's the problem. That is the problem. If you look at Mark 10 .22, but at these words, his face fell and he went away grieved, for he was one who owned much property.

His face fell into somber gloominess. Disappointed, he loved his wealth. He was committed with his heart, soul, mind, and strength to his wealth. His face fell, sour. He realized he did not have total commitment to follow Christ Jesus.

The land, the real estate, the servants. Scroggies said he wanted God, but not at the cost of his gold. And maybe that's you today. You want God. You don't want hell. You want heaven. You want forgiveness.

You don't want the conscience that's doing what it's doing and just drug it and drink it and sex it to somehow wash it clean, even though you know that doesn't work. You want God, but not at the cost of your selfishness, your pride, your self-righteousness.

Scroggies said he wanted life, but not at the expense of luxury. He was willing to serve, but not to sacrifice. I wonder whatever became of that man. I'm not really told. There's lots of speculation, but we're not told.

Jesus, looking around, said to his disciples, how hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. Looks around and sees the disciples and sees what kind of impression this kind of encounter has made upon the disciples to see if they got the point.

How hard it is. It's impossible. It's impossible how hard it is, children, to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God.

And they were even more astonished and said, then who can be saved? Looking upon them, Jesus said, with men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God. You want salvation?

Well, then you need to know it's Jesus alone. And there's not enough room in the boat of salvation for your self-righteousness, your religiosity, and your other gods. It's God alone. Jesus is the ultimatum, and you must be born again.

Universal Guilt and the Demand for Perfection

Well, what else do we have here? Well, what else we have here is the fourth thing that I wish everybody would have told me. Everybody believes in God. Everybody believes in God. Romans 1 talks about that.

There are no atheists, there are no agnostics at the end of the day. Oh, they might try to suppress the truth and unrighteousness. They might try to say, no, I don't. They might formulate some kind of mental argument.

They might be able to say things very well, very eruditely, very kind of William Buckley-esque. But at the end of the day, they realize, according to Romans 1, that there is a God, that there is a God.

And so I wish somebody would have told me that, that they do believe that. And so I would have spent a lot less time as a young Christian trying to convince people that I believed, that they believed in a God.

And then lastly, let's see what else we have here. Lastly, I wish, lastly, I don't think that's lastly. I'm only 13 minutes in. That's no good. Jesus requires perfection to get to heaven. Now see, a lot of these things overlap.

Jesus requires perfection, sinless perfection for entrance into heaven. I wish somebody would have told me that. Go to my father's funeral, grandfather's funeral. I never knew perfection to get into heaven.

Why didn't I know that? My own sin, probably. Satan blinded me, probably. But a lot of people I knew never taught me. Therefore, you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. Now how can I yawn?

I'm taping this show now. It's about 5 .10 in the afternoon. It's pouring rain. I've had coffee this morning. I've had probably a whole liter of Diet Mountain Dew. I'm talking about my favorite subject, the God of the Bible.

And how could I yawn? I think maybe somebody, one of the producers here maybe slipped me a Mickey or something. I'm not sure exactly. Perfection for heaven. My name's Mike Ebendroth, this is No Compromise Radio Ministry.

And I like to talk about biblical topics. And since I don't have the skills of John MacArthur or Alistair Begg or R .C. Sproul, the format of my show is a little different. Some people say, well, we don't like the format of your show.

Well, I don't know what to do. I hope you'll pray for me. But this is trying to be not like every other show. My countenance is not like a David Jeremiah. And therefore, it's just a little different. And if you don't like this style, a little rougher, a little edgier, a little pushing the envelope, we already said at the preface of the show, then it's okay.

You don't have to listen. This show isn't for you. And you can listen to Jay Sekulow at three o 'clock and then at four o 'clock, you can listen to R .C. Sproul. And you could just say that poor man, from 30 to four, he's just not my cup of tea.

That's okay. I know not everyone likes me in this world. And I think it took me to be 40 years old to realize that. That was from my mother. She said, it took me to be 40 years old to understand that not everybody in this world liked me.

And so I guess that could be true for me as well. The good news is I don't really know who you are. The bad news is if you like me, I don't really know who you are either. I just talk and talk and talk and talk and hope that it gets through some of our thick skulls, mine and yours.

And so if you keep repeating things over and over and over enough, you try to speak to people directly, bluntly, I guess I could put it this way. I teach and preach the way I like to be taught and the way I like to be preached to.

And so that's what I do. I want somebody to just give it to me straight. If the bedside manner's nice, great. If not, I just want the facts. It's kind of dragnet, just the facts, ma 'am. And I want those facts to be given enthusiastically with determination, with doctrinal fortitude in a manly fashion.

And I want Christ Jesus extolled through biblical exposition. And so I don't talk a lot about sports. I don't talk a lot about, I guess I throw in some pop culture things once in a while just because I'm so affected by pop culture, even though we haven't had TV in our house for a long time.

I mean, we watch things because we have a monitor. I think maybe we get ABC, I'm not sure, but not very well. That whole digital deal really messed us up. And so here I am talking about what? I'm just saying that if you don't like the show, keep listening, maybe I'll grow on you.

And if you like the show, keep listening. Hopefully I won't bore you. I mean, every day, day in and day out, five days a week, I wonder if I'm gonna start running out of shows so far. I'm about 22 shows ahead, but yikes.

So this is the fourth show I've taped today. Maybe that's why I am so tired. And the subject at hand today is what? I wish somebody would have told me before I got saved. And I'm up to number five. God requires sinless perfection for entrance into heaven.

You must be perfect. And therefore, how could anyone make it? Well, no one can make it unless God is gracious. And God is gracious because he has his son live a perfect life, and then he has his son die for those who are less than perfect.

And so if God just forgives us our sins based on Christ's sacrifice at Calvary, confirmed by the resurrection, well, we're back to neutral. But if he gives us his perfect life, his perfect obedience, then we have that perfection that we need.

And so it starts with looking to another for your sins to be forgiven. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the son of man must be lifted up, that whoever believes may in him have eternal life.

And so that is what is your responsibility, to believe. And you've got to believe in Christ Jesus, the Christ Jesus of the Bible. That's your only cure. You can't get saved any other way. Jesus here is lifted up on the cross.

I think of John 12, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men to myself. And if you believe in Christ Jesus, you have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

How can you be perfect? Well, Christ's perfect sinless life of perfect obedience is credited to our account. Our life of sin and all its high handedness is credited to Christ's account as he died in our place.

Galatians 3 .13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us. And so we get Christ's righteousness, Christ gets our sins that is credited, gets, and by the resurrection God demonstrates he accepted the obedience and death of Christ.

Romans 4 .25, he who was delivered up because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification. And so this God, Jesus Christ, was the sin bearer and God the Father displayed him publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith.

And God's holy wrath was assuaged to spare man from eternal destruction, to all those who would look upon this great transaction with the eyes and ears of faith. In pagan religions, the worshiper is the one, not the God who's responsible to appease the wrath of the deity that is offended, right?

You say, well, how can I appease the wrath of the deity if I am the worshiper? That's what all these pagan gods did. Oh, here's some fruit, here's some animal sacrifice, here's a virgin slain, here's a baby killed.

But here we have the wrath of God, holy and just, due wrath to men, and God is the one who appeases. God is the one who is more than the God of love. So much of evangelism today is trying to make the sinner realize that God loves them.

I don't think that's the best way to go about it. I think evangelism needs to start with the holiness of God and God's perfections. I think people know that God is somehow a God of love. I think it's a sentimental kind of love and a love that says, you know, like a grandpa, do what you want and I won't hurt you.

So we need to watch out. We need to watch out that in our evangelism, and by the way, when I teach kids or go to chapel or meet young people, I'll say, how many people here think you have to be perfect to go to heaven?

And hardly anyone raises their hand. And then you read Matthew 5 .48 and say, well, Jesus said, or you could read John 10, excuse me, John 10, James 2 .10, where if you break one law, you're accountable for all the laws.

How many sins does it take for you to commit to keep you out of heaven? And the answer is one. And to think that we have thousands and millions of sins if we live long enough. How many sins we commit in a day?

I don't know, because it's not necessarily what we have done, commit murder, have hatred in your heart, but all the things that you don't do, not with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, will, emotions, loving God, full blast, full throttle, all the way.

And so we have a merciful God, a gracious God who saves sinners in spite of themselves, who saves sinners based on Christ's work. So some of these things I wish somebody would have told me. I wish somebody would have told me free will was a myth.

We're not the captain of our own ships and God controls the destiny of people. And so therefore you need to go to the great God of the Bible, flee from the world, flee from your own sin, flee from Satan, throw yourself upon the mercy of the court to say, if you are the one that makes the final decision, I beseech you to make the decision to send me to heaven.

Please forgive me. And if you're listening today and you're trusting in your baptism as an infant, well, you ought not to trust that baptism. You ought not to trust anything and anyone except Christ Jesus.

And you ought to say something like this. If I trust in Jesus alone for salvation and still go to hell, then Jesus was a liar. I'm hoping, I'm trusting, I'm banking, I'm investing that everything that Jesus said on the other hand is true.

And therefore I rest my soul in Christ's finished work. And I'm going to trust his promises. I'm going to believe his word. I'm going to believe that he affirmed the Old Testament and all its canonicity.

And I'm going to trust in what Jesus says and I'm going to walk by faith and I'm going to amen God. Amen is where we get the Hebrew word for believe. And Abraham believed God. He said amen to God as it were.

And it was accounted to him or reckoned to him as righteousness, God's own righteousness given to Abraham. Not because Abraham deserved it, but because God is merciful and gracious and that's how he saves people.

That's how he remains loving and just and gracious and holy all at the same time. So if you're listening today and you're born again, hallelujah, praise be to the Lord and you can thank him for that. And if you're not, then you ought to consider the exclusive claims of Christ, the only sin bearer to be raised from the dead to show that it wasn't his sins that he died for, it was somebody else's.

All those people who believe, all the elect. And so this is Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio. You can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com. Go to the website, we've got some new t-shirts and I'd love to see t-shirts on people in exotic places across the world meeting people.

My all time one is gonna be, I want you to stand next to Alice Cooper with a No Compromise Radio t-shirt and then you're gonna get a special gift.

God bless you. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE its staff or management.