Preach Good News With Joy

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.

We just recorded a show, Pastor Steve and myself, Mike Abendroth, and then I said, should we just do another one?

And Steve goes, yeah. You're letting out all our trade secrets, though. I mean, you know, do people have to pay extra to listen to the behind -the -scenes chatter?

Do you know there are several shows that they have, like the regular show, and then if you're a member, i .e.

you help support them financially, you get the extra stuff afterwards. Yeah. Or like the ditto cam.

Do we have a ditto cam in here? No, but the thing about it, Steve, is why would we charge people money to listen to the spicy stuff when the entire show is spicy?

This is already it, and you get it for free. Wow. Give, give, give, never take. That's our motto.

For years, I said, you know, we're not asking for money at No Compromise Radio. We're only asking you to tell other people about the show, especially millionaires, because if I find a millionaire,

I would ask him probably for money. But so far, no millionaire money coming in. So we're not going to do some kind of emergency plea, keep us on the air.

We need money today. Remember how we used to just dog that? It's that time of year again. The leaves are changing fall foliage.

That means we're getting close to December. Radio is expensive. Da, da, da, da, da, da. But No Compromise Radio is cheap.

It's really cheap. It's really cheap. I thought, you know, do we keep doing daily shows or do we just go like once a week and then you can really build the hype around that one show?

The problem, if it's no good, then what do you do? We have time to make up for it. Yeah. But with our scriptwriters, are you kidding?

If you give them a week, man, oh man. So many people I asked to be interviewed on the show and they say yes and they say, what's the show about?

You know, what are the talking points and, you know, where somebody might say to you, do you guys ever go off script? Literally we sat down 30 minutes ago and I said,

Lord, help us. And I hit record. Welcome to No Compromise Radio. I must really fool people because I'm sure they think, well, you know,

Mike has guffaw in the script right here. So insert smoker's cough.

Uh -huh. All right. I was listening to a podcast and this particular quote was given.

And Steve, I'm fascinated by this quote. The quote comes from Zach Eswine's Spurgeon's Sorrows, and it's a book written by Spurgeon's Depression, you might call it today, melancholic.

I don't know how close depression is related to melancholic behavior.

Some have said that, you know, we change these words throughout generations. And so what is now called depression used to be called melancholic behavior.

And then it was earlier called laziness. You know, things like that, that they talk about and whether those things are true or not,

I don't know. But the show is saying Spurgeon had it rough, right? You've got gout, you've got the weight of the world, you know, you're essentially a worldwide celebrity and it's difficult.

Would you grant me that? I would grant you that. I wouldn't grant me that. Zach writes, in Charles' Generation, the manual of psychological medicine identified what it termed religious melancholia.

Maybe we just call it RM for short. Okay. So you haven't read this.

This isn't on the script. You didn't get debriefed last night. What do you think religious melancholia would be?

It's okay if you don't get it right. Well, a depression about religion.

Okay. Good. Almost, excuse me, associated mostly with insanity.

This form of depression afflicts persons at every moment with conscious and unstoppable terrors of God's displeasure.

So they're realizing the weight of the law, they're realizing God's holiness, and they're depressed.

Right? I can't stop thinking about it. Okay. It's interesting. Or those who suffer this kind of depression used extreme acts of religious devotion in ways that harm themselves or others.

That is to say, we realize the weight of God's law, we realize that we're sinful, and then now we've got to do something about it.

So put myself on a cross, flagellate myself, that kind of stuff.

Right. You know what I was just thinking, Steve, as you were saying that, it just popped into my mind, Colossians chapter two, where it says, elemental spirits of the world, and then it says, submitting to regulations, verse 21, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used according to precepts, human precepts and teachings.

These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self -made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

So God's mad at you, so you're going to try to do something about it. Because I'd rather do it myself than, you know, force

God to punish me. So I'm going to show him that I get it. Right. Or maybe you don't know the gospel because nobody ever told you, and so you're just trying to appease the

God. Right? Or you're going up the Scala Sanctus, holy steps in Rome, step by step on your knees or, you know, scratching.

Throwing a virgin into a volcano. Yeah. You know, whatever, whatever it is, whatever you believe is going to appease

God. William Cowper, the songwriter, often experienced the former enduring the hellish thought that the

God whom he loved had grace for others, but not for him. Now Zach gives the manual and how the manual talks about how what he calls, quote, errant preachers contribute to the spiritual agony of depression.

So there's a Magi, they got together, they wrote a manual about a manual, depression.

I've got to do all these things to make God please me. We'd be pleased with me. And how do preachers contribute?

What do you think he's going to say? Or the manual is going to say, well, I think preachers can contribute to that by just flagellate in the congregation, right?

Just beating them about the head and shoulders, telling them how they fall short and never turning their eyes to Christ, but just constantly berating them and shouting them down and telling them how they're not worthy.

And those kinds of things are true, right? But if we don't take the focus off of our sinfulness and towards our

Savior, then we're just leaving, you know, here, I'm going to get you guys ready for the week.

You think you're bad? Oh, you're much worse than you think you are. And let me demonstrate that and now leave.

Just don't even open the doors, please, ushers, congregation, just go under the doors on your way out.

You know, Steve, this is why I hired you because see, you get this. Can you imagine all week long, truth be told, we realize how we fall short, right?

It's a present tense in Romans chapter three, verse 23, we all have sinned. Most likely that's Adam's sin and fall short, continually fall short of the glory of God.

And we realize we've sinned this week. So now come to church. Let me give you five more things to do so you can fail at additional things this week.

What we are not saying, we're not saying that preachers shouldn't preach imperatives and the law and the commands of God.

Those are in scripture and those must be preached. But what we're saying is if you only preach those things, and maybe you're not a preacher, but you teach your kids

Sunday school, maybe you are a mom at home for homeschool. It's if it's only rules and people are honest,

I think it can lead to what this calls depression. I think we should travel all over the place, you know, and just add burdens to people.

And you know, like Matthew 11, Jesus has come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you

John Bunyan's burden times two. Don't look at me like that.

Don't talk to me like that. So the manual of psychological medicine during Charles Spurgeon's day, quote, it is hardly necessary to say that Christianity undistorted and preached in its just proportions is calculated to prevent not cause insanity.

Okay, so they're recognizing, of course, back in those days, they'd be very more, they'd be much more apt to talk about Christianity as legit.

Right today, it's just some kind of psychosis or something. If you preach it properly, they could be saying law and gospel, talking about sin and the

Savior. It's not supposed to make you insane or depressed. That's what they're saying in the manual.

So far, so good. Okay, last sentence from the manual of psychological medicine, page 179.

The exciting cause of religious melancholia is sometimes to be traced to fiery denunciations of a well -meaning, but injudicious preacher.

End quote. Well, I think, you know, what I try to do when I'm preaching is this is kind of my motto.

I like to tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear and lay them on people's shoulders. Isn't that right?

Or maybe that's what Jesus warned or said the Pharisees did to other people. Oh, it's so wrong.

Of course, we preach the law. Of course, we want people to be predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus, Romans 8.

Of course, we want sanctification. Of course, we want holy living. But if you think that you're going to get to holy living by simply whacking people with more law,

I think no wonder people become depressed and discouraged. Hey, Pastor, could you give me the good law of the news today or good news of the law?

I need some more law in my life. Good law for modern men. Wasn't that a translation? Yeah.

Therefore, if you are listening today and you're struggling with depression and melancholy, melancholic behavior and thoughts and all that stuff,

I still think you should go back to the good news and remember, what does Paul say that's of first importance?

He's talking to the Corinthians, and he could have just said, and did say, but he didn't only say, stop being sexually immoral.

He said that. Flee immorality. But he said more than that, and he even called them in chapter 1, verse 7 to 9, sanctified and that God is faithful even though they're sinful.

Anyway, I just was fascinated by injudicious preachers who I don't think preach the full counsel of God.

I think, Steve, wouldn't it be easy to be injudicious if you're going to be topical?

And it's a lot harder to be injudicious if you're just going to teach through the text because you're going to get the perfect blend of indicative and imperative law gospel.

Pete Yeah. And I think it's easy. I mean, the easiest things, what are the easiest? Let's just do a little preacher talk.

What are the easiest passages to preach? Easiest ones. Don't complain. Right?

I mean, the easiest ones are when you have a command. Right? Because you just, then you just turn around to the congregation and you can be, you know, treat them like they're really stupid.

Do you see what it says there? Pray. I mean, they're like, we pay you for this?

Pete I know. And I think since we're law -based at core, and I don't even mind that we're law -based because Adam in the garden, obey.

I mean, he's supposed to be responding to law. Deep inside of Adam, he knew with his conscience and then the external command of God, you need to obey.

And so he's got an obedience mindset, kind of a legal mindset to obey. It just was torqued with the fall.

Right? And now you think that's how you please God is by obeying kind of partially versus perfectly, which then drives you to the life of Christ.

To paraphrase some of that, I don't like to paraphrase, you know, on judgment day or, you know, walk up and just go with our hands open, you know, our hands cupped together and just go, look at my works.

See what I did? Isn't this good? My seashells. Therefore, dear

Christian, even when you're preaching, teaching, talking to people about the good news,

I think you want to do it in a way that reflects and echoes good news.

Here's what I'm after, Steve. It's not enough to say you need to preach good news, not just law.

You must preach both law and gospel. It's not enough to just say that. I think in our day and age, in this legal mindset, we have to tell people preach law and gospel.

And when you're preaching law, of course you can be stern and firm and commensurate with a law.

God is giving this law. But when you're talking about the good news and you're talking about who Jesus is,

I think you should say it in a good news kind of fashion. Does that make sense? Petey You mean like in an optimistic kind of fashion?

Jared Not happy fashion. Petey You mean not beating them about the head and shoulders? Jared Joyful. Petey What?

I think Scott Clark has that article about the attraction of legal preaching. And sometimes pastors, even when they're talking about Jesus, grace incarnate, do it in kind of a whacking way.

Petey If you don't believe in the grace of God incarnate. Jared I watched a preacher a while ago, and I thought, you know, scolding verse by verse is what

I was thinking. You know, preaching... Petey That's a good motto for your church, right? We scold you week by week with verse by verse preaching.

And I'm thinking, wait a second. I know deep down you've got problems in life just like I do.

And so don't you want to have some good news? What about the smoldering wicks? What about the bruised reeds?

How do we talk about those people? Pete Break them, break them. Jared It was the Lord Jesus who was so kind to those who recognized, even when they're unbelievers and they recognize they have no righteousness, the kindness and gentleness of the lowly shepherd was evident.

How much more, as a Christian, when we realize we're sinful and we confess that to the

Lord, isn't our older brother, isn't our friend, the Lord Savior, our advocate, kind to us, generous, loving?

Pete So shouldn't we be that way to other people? Jared I know! Pete And it's almost like in, you know, Matthew 18, in light of all we've been forgiven, right?

Not only should we be forgivers, but we ought to present forgiveness in an optimistic, forgiving way, right?

I mean, it just seems reasonable. Jared Steve, I know this is wrong, but I believe that when people watch a preacher, they wrongly begin to identify

God through the personality and the demeanor and the style of preaching and things like that with the

Lord himself. In other words, if a guy's up there mad all the time, people begin to say, you know what?

I think God's mad at me. Does that make sense? Pete I don't know, but it scares me. I mean, I'm just thinking about me and I'm like, oh man.

Jared Well, I know. So when we're talking about things that are important and we need to, you know, strive for unity and you have to do that, you're playing around with the bride of Christ.

There's nothing wrong with the Lord Jesus with earnestness preaching about those things.

And I think they should look at us and say, God's concerned about that. But I also don't want people to look at me and say, you know,

I think God's mad at me. A Christian thinking this. I think God's mad at me based on the way

Mike's looking at me. Mike seems super disappointed in me and mad and angry.

And we're not living up to those things that we're supposed to be doing. And Clark touches on that in that article.

And therefore, since I'm that way and I'm teaching God's word, right? I'm telling you what he says in a mad way.

They're thinking, yeah, God's mad at me. Pete Now we're really going behind the curtains because it's like you're talking about me, you know,

Mike's looking at me like he's mad at me and all these other things. Jared Yeah, if somebody walked past the office and they saw me getting after Steve, I'm like, oh no,

I'm just describing something. I, it's wrong to look at the pastor and say, oh, he's like God.

I don't mean that or anything else. I'm just saying, dear preacher, homeschool mom, evangelist,

Sunday school teacher, when you're talking about good news, like Spurgeon said, let your face shine like the sun.

Pete I can think of a lot of times when I've, you know, obviously I can't think of a lot of times when I preach the gospel, but I can think of a lot of times when

I heard somebody preaching to me and I guess I never really thought about it, but I should be thinking, is that dude mad or, or what?

You know, because if he's mad, then why is he trying to give me good news? Or is it really good news if he's that angry about it, you know?

Jared Right. And, you know, let's just say street preachers, for instance, I'm glad that they're up there giving people the law so that in fact,

Romans 319 would be true and that every mouth would be stopped and shut. And they would say, you know what, if that's true,

I deserve to go to hell. That's when they're preaching the law. I have no problem with people having a look of serious, deadly serious, even stern look, but they better turn the hinge.

And when they get to the therefore, and when they get to 321 of Romans or wherever they're going to go,

I think they better start smiling and they better start saying how much God demonstrates his love for sinners, love sinners, loves ungodly, justifies ungodly people like Abraham.

And I think they ought to smile and have joy. Because I want that joy to have touched their heart as the preacher, and then they can have compassion on the hearts of those other people that need it.

Pete Yeah, you know, it's so funny the way that you're saying that, because I just think, you know, even where I am in John, and I'm not currently preaching through it, but I will be soon.

And just the way that John is presenting

Jesus, you can't help but be affected by the emotion of the passage, right?

And knowing that Jesus himself is moved with emotion and compassion for the disciples in the upper room.

And I think if the Holy Spirit intends there to be good news, and you recognize that as you're reading the passage, then how can your, you know, your face or your voice and your affect not be,

I want to give you good news, positive news, helpful news. You know, we're past the bad news part.

I want to tell you how all these things can be removed from you and how you can be right in the sight of God and, you know, be his son or daughter and, you know.

So, what you can't see, dear listeners, is Steve's face began to open up, right? You can squeeze your face, kind of enclose it in a scowling, kind of, you know, make the wrinkles show up, or you can open up your face and your eyebrows go up.

And that's what was happening with Steve there, this open face of acceptance. And you think about the Lord Jesus and what he's done.

It has caused the Aaronic blessing of numbers. I say it all the time because I mean it. And it's important for me because I know how much

I sin. The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you.

And if we're supposed to preach passages that reflect the genre, right, preach a psalm that reflects poetry, then we ought to preach the good news that reflects the actual good news, that we have a good announcement.

If in fact, dear friend, you were a Keroux, a herald back in the old days, and you had to go announce the birth of a son of the emperor, and you did it with a scowl on the face that most of you have when you preach, you'd get killed.

That's even more mercy of God. Petey I have good news for you today. There's been a son born to the king.

Uh -huh. And the king's going to give everybody a banquet. Get there or else. That is so wrong.

Pete It's on you. I don't care if you Uber, crawl, I don't care how you get there. Pete And Steve, furthermore, even when we give people the law as Christians, even when we give people the law as our children, right, there needs to be law.

I think we ought to do it as kindly as, and we're trying to recognize, you know what, the law that God gives you,

He loves you, and this is good for you. And I tried to talk about that a couple of weeks ago when I was preaching in Hebrews 13. This is not from a judge, do this and liver your dead, mess up one time in your smoke.

This is, it's still my law because it reflects my nature. And I know this is good for you.

Dear Christian, when it comes to sexuality, let the marriage bed be held in honor among all, and let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled.

And sexual purity will help you. It's good for you. And God knows better because He's made you and He knows what happens with people that have sexual sin and this, that, and the other.

And so we have to recognize the law and the lawgiver, even when we preach, don't separate the two.

And I think that lawgiver is a kind, I think Jesus taught us to pray, our Father. And again, to the preachers, recognizing the fact that you have to present the law, all these things, but ultimately, what do we say?

We say, we know that you won't keep the law. And the good news is there's one who did, perfectly kept the law, right?

And who came voluntarily, subjected himself to his own creation, lived a perfect life, died a substitutionary death, was raised on the third day.

And we ought to go to that often. Why? Because it is the good news, and it's good for everybody to hear it.

It's good for the unsaved people to hear it, because it's another opportunity for them to believe. And it's good for saved people here to just be reminded and to be encouraged and be refreshed and to think, yes,

I fail in many ways. But the Lord Jesus died for all my failures, died for all the ways that I fall short, and died for all my sins, that I could be right with my

Father who is in heaven and be accepted. Pete Just think, Steve, because of the work of Christ for every

Christian, that means God's not going to condemn you for any sin, and God's not mad at you.

Right? You might receive discipline. In fact, you will receive discipline when you sin, but it's not coming from some kind of irate father going over the top.

No, this is even for your own good, Hebrews 12. Steve So we're not going to get into heaven with God going, I don't want to let him in, but I guess

I have to. Peter at the gates just talked me into it. Come on. He did more good than bad.

I don't know what makes anybody think Peter's at the gate anyway, but you know, I think he's got the keys.

Yeah, it's a Roman Catholic thing. But you know, Peter doesn't have any say in it. In fact, Peter's enjoying heaven, not letting people in into heaven.

He is. And Mary's enjoying heaven, not having to mediate for people. She's probably enjoying that a lot more than I am.

I know. Can you imagine what a weight on Mary? Anyway, on No Compromise Radio today, we want to just make sure that you preach law and gospel.

And when you preach law and gospel, as we like to say, maybe you should tell your face that you've got some good news and send a missionary there and smile a little bit.

Open up your face. You have good news. Good news with a scowl. No, don't do that.

And by the way, we're thankful that even though we don't present the good news the right way, God's word is still powerful.

So we thank him for his patience with us. Amen. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth 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 bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.