An open podcast to Paul Washer

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 Ebendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

My name is Mike Ebendroth and I think this is year 12 or so for this daily radio show.

Highly rated show. In my own mind, highly rated. You can go to our

YouTube channel, No Compromise Radio YouTubes and watch some of those. I think the one on Joyce Meyer that really wasn't even a good video, he's got like 50 some thousand views.

That's a mega channel and mega watching for No Compromise Radio. You know, normally they get two views, three views.

Ben and I should be recording sometime soon. I did do a five -part series for American Gospel, and that's on American Gospel TV show, five parts law and gospel, so maybe you could be encouraged by that.

And Israel 2022, that's February 23rd through about March 3rd next year. We'd love to have you go.

You can write me, info at nocompromiseradio .com. Well today, what should we talk about today?

I think for the most part in No Compromise world, the last five or six years have been fairly positive,

K -love, uplifting. I did do a show last week about Kathy Keller's take on the

Great Commission. That was more of a negative critique or discernment ministry type of thing.

But for the most part, I like things, I study things that I like these days, law gospel, sola fide, other things like that.

And so it just tends to be the radio show now an overflow of what I'm studying. But today

I think I'll do something a little bit differently, not trying for ratings or anything like that. You know,

I've seen open letters before and people will write an open letter, a friendly open letter to so -and -so.

And so today I guess it could be kind of technically an open podcast letter to someone that I think the

Lord has used, the Lord is using, certainly a Christian man. But I want to just talk a little bit about Paul Washer today and the ministry of Paul Washer.

I don't know if I've ever met Paul Washer. I was riding my bicycle a while ago and Paul Washer was standing out talking to somebody on his cell phone, so I saw him.

And I've tried to get in touch with Paul Washer and I was told that he would call me back, but maybe

I gave the wrong number. But I think overall, of course, when you look at Paul Washer, I don't think to myself a false teacher.

I don't think to myself ungodly. I don't think to myself any of those kinds of things.

So this is a little more in -house debate. This is fellow Christians, but I do know that lots of people like Paul Washer.

So I guess if the question were asked to me at No Compromise Radio, and who am I, right? I'm a nobody.

But would I recommend the ministry of Paul Washer? And do I listen to Paul Washer? Maybe those are two good questions, separate questions, and both probably informative.

I listen to Paul Washer once in a while just because I want to see what he's saying or how he's saying it, but he's not on my regular listening feed.

I don't think to myself, oh, so -and -so is talking, I should listen. If someone is giving a lecture,

Matthew Barrett, and I think, oh, I'd like to listen to that. What's Richard Barcellos say?

What about, like at Westminster Seminary, they had lectures the other day by Kim Rydelbogger, and what does he say?

So there's people like that that I'd like to listen to on a regular basis, but I only listen to Paul Washer if he's at Master's University Chapel, my kids happen to be there, or something like that.

And so I want to listen. I think people like Paul Washer because he does talk about the

Lord Jesus. He does want to deal with how can sin be forgiven.

He comes across as passionate, believable. He seems sincere, very earnest.

I mean, I guess I have to do this kind of thing before I give any negative critique or something like that. But again, I'm just a nobody, and you can listen to anybody that you'd like.

Obviously, the Lord has used Paul Washer in terms of quantity of ministry more than I'll ever be used, and I'm not jealous.

If you think somehow it's jealousy, I may have bad motives in my life, but I don't think that's one of the motives.

But if I were to ask the question, do I listen to Paul, and the answer is no. And then if they said, well, why don't you listen to Paul Washer, or why don't you recommend

Paul Washer, what would I say? Well, I think there's a few things that if Paul Washer did a little bit differently, his ministry would even explode all the more.

Paul Washer isn't asking me. This is unsolicited advice, but maybe it'll help you listen to Paul Washer in a way that could help you.

So that's really what I'm after. I'm after today the no -compromise radio listener who says, oh, I love Paul Washer because I regularly hear that, and in our circles, he speaks a lot, and people say, oh, you've got to listen to Paul Washer, or Paul Washer said this, or Paul Washer said that.

I think one of the things that I would first encourage Paul Washer to do is

I'd like to have him be more a verse -by -verse Bible teacher, an expositor, a preacher of a passage.

Obviously, there are passages he's preached through. This is just a generalization, but in general,

I don't hear, and maybe it's because of the people he's preaching to, but I'll talk about that in a second, I don't hear exposition, exposing people to the argument of Paul in a detailed fashion.

I know he's not a pastor for Sunday morning, Sunday night preaching, but if I get asked to go speak someplace, and lots of places that he has spoken at,

I have also spoken at, he's the A -list and I'm the Z -list, but whenever you teach the

Bible or you listen to people teach the Bible, even if it's a topic of missions, even if the topic is regeneration, the topic is sola fide, the topic is the law of God, the holiness of God, if it's don't complain, whatever the message is in the

Bible, there's a way to teach through it. If I get asked to teach on regeneration, then

I'm going to teach through a passage like John 3 or Titus chapter 3, work through the passage,

I want people to say afterward, oh, I know that passage better now, and that's what it teaches, the doctrine of regeneration or new birth, being born from above.

And they can learn something about the passage and the context and the flow, etc. And then, of course, in the last half hour, let's say it's a conference or something and we're talking about other issues surrounding that, or controversies or errors or who's teaching the right thing, well, obviously,

I don't have to do Sunday morning preaching if I'm at a Friday night youth conference.

But if I'm at a Friday night youth conference, what I want, and I wish Paul Washer would do more often, is be more faithful to a text.

I don't mean he's unfaithful to the Bible, I mean, what's the text saying and meaning and working it through, both in close context, wide context, close context in terms of what this verse says and means, wider context, how it's placed in redemptive historical fashions.

That's the first bit of advice if Paul Washer were to ask me, so this is my friendly podcast to Paul Washer, that he would be more expositional.

And like I said, if he wants to come on the show and talk about it, that'd be great. I don't know why he would, but he's open to do that.

I've tried to get in touch with him before. His handler, his pastor said he would be contacting me, and maybe he just got busy, maybe he forgot, or I don't know what.

That's the first thing, is I would make sure it was a verse -by -verse kind of exposition, even if it's topical, even if it's for an outreach, and even if it's for a bunch of unbelievers.

If I get asked to go speak to a bunch of unbelievers, then I'm still preaching through a passage. So I don't think we can say, well, with his missionary stuff, his evangelism stuff, and who he's talking to, that that would hinder any of this.

You can do verse -by -verse exposition to any particular group in any particular setting, believer, unbeliever, to pastors, to theologians, to laypeople, to high schoolers, et cetera.

That's the first thing. The second thing I would talk about, if I could give Paul Washer some homiletical advice, some friendly advice that I think he could really take to heart, and by the way, these are things that I think

I know well, because not only do I teach homiletics, but I have done the wrong thing for so long that it's easy for me to spot things that I've done, since I've done these things in my own life, and then

I see them in others pretty easily. And so, so much of what I used to be like as a preacher,

I see in Paul Washer, so maybe that's why I am more in tune to this next kind of section.

What I want is I would want to have Paul Washer understand the concept that it was

Rome that took away assurance. It was

Rome that didn't want people to have assurance of salvation. It was Rome that focused on the human side, subjective side, the obedient side of things to rob people of assurance.

It was the Reformation. It was Paul. It was Luther. It was Calvin. It was

Olivianus. It was the time of the Reformation where it came to light again that we as Christians, of course, we can be convicting when we preach.

We can preach the law to people in our congregations. There can be times of,

I feel like the Holy Spirit is talking directly to me. There's no one else in this entire building. It's just me, and I'm laid bare.

There are times for that, but if the sermon ends and the congregation full of Christians say,

I don't even really think I'm saved. I've heard people say that regularly when they hear Paul Washer.

He preached in such a way, and they mean it positively, that I don't even know if I'm a Christian after that message.

That's not a good thing. That's what Rome does. Yes, there's a time for conviction.

I said it before. I'm saying it again, but then the balm of the gospel is given. There is the objective truths.

If you look at even 2 Peter, I'm preaching through it now, the first couple verses, here we have the objective security and assurance of the believer, and then it goes into the subjective side in terms of adding to faith, not adding to faith, but adding to faith virtue and moral excellence all the way to brotherly love and then agape love.

Obviously, we can talk about things that we do, but we need to be talking about the personal work of Christ Jesus, the ground of salvation, more than just the evidence or fruit when it comes to the doctrine of assurance.

And therefore, when people hear the message, they should be saying to themselves, yes,

I am convicted, but I'm not going to be a broken reed. I might be bruised, but I'm not broken.

And here comes the balm of the gospel. It was Luther who said, when I looked at myself, I don't know how

I could be saved. I think that's the focus of Washer of a lot of his preaching. But Luther went on to say, when

I look to the Lord Jesus, I don't know how I can be lost. My guess was, and this is just conjecture, but if I described to you the

Lord's supper, the way Paul Washer preaches, he would lead the

Lord's supper at a communion service by talking about more law than the gospel.

Do this in remembrance of me, Jesus said. Is there a time, excuse me, for reflection, for dealing with our sin, examining ourselves, some sick and dead?

The answer to that is yes, but that's not the priority. The priority is not, and it cannot be only law and self -examination and Lord, please forgive me as I come to the table.

Do this, Jesus said, in remembrance of me. We are to remember who Jesus is. And this is a time where we can embrace by faith all the benefits of the

Lord Jesus and his life and his death, his resurrection, his soon return, and everything about the

Lord Jesus, his perfect person and work. And we then do not want to come to the

Lord's table and say, I don't think I can take this because I didn't live well enough this week. No, no, I'm going to come and take this because salvation is outside of me.

The Lord has asked me to do it, and I want to remember his saving work. And therefore, maybe you find these messages because you listen to Paul Washer more than I do, but I don't hear enough of Paul's messages that talk about assurance of salvation.

If I were ever to have Paul come and teach at a conference that I was leading or something, it would be the assurance of salvation, and I would try to help him think through this very issue.

It possibly could be, if I was his homiletical professor, that he has a message, and it's a 50 -minute message, and the first part is law and the last part's gospel, and he runs out of time, and therefore he doesn't get to the good news of who

Jesus is. If I could teach Paul Washer to manage his time better, that might help.

It also might help if I taught him the duplex gratia that Calvin talks about, the double benefit of Christ for pardon and Christ for power, and how those things go together, both justification and sanctification.

So anyway, my name is Mike Abendroth, this is No Compromise Radio Ministry. This is a friendly, open podcast to Paul Washer and his listeners.

If you think this is tear down somebody so that I could be exalted, you've got the wrong show.

But I want you to think in your own life. What kind of preaching do you like? What kind of preaching do you think is proper?

And I think, first of all, you should think that verse -by -verse Bible teaching, no matter what the setting, is the right way to go.

And secondly, we have to deal with this issue of assurance, and therefore, I think that's something that Paul should work on, how to encourage people.

I would give him a message, how do you encourage Christians? That's how you should preach more regularly, encouraging

Christians. If you listen to a pastor, and they're done, in Jesus' name, amen, and you say, I don't know if I'm saved, well, in general, that's not a good thing.

If it's, well, you know, you're sleeping with your girlfriend, and you're watching porn every night, and you're doing this, that, and the other, and you hear this message about holy living, and you hear this message about regeneration, you hear this message about sanctification, and then you say,

I'm doing that, I'm not saying there's never a time you can't examine yourself. But that's not the thread, or should not be the thread of the theme of your ministry.

I don't know if I'm a Christian after listening to that guy. Thirdly, when it comes to preaching in general, and when

I watch Paul Washer, often, and see the disclaimers, I know, often, and I see this in myself for many, many years, so I'm much more guilty of this than Paul Washer, but I recognize it now, and I've tried to change.

Paul comes across with his preaching demeanor as he's scolding, that he's disappointed in the congregation, mad at the congregation.

My daughters went to a master's university a couple years ago, the first chapel of the, one of the earlier chapels of the fall semester, and she, both she's, both my daughters,

Maddie and Gracie, were like, well, it sounds like he's mad at us, right? He's disappointed in us.

Of course, if you're a pastor, maybe there are certain times for that, but when you know how great the

Lord is, and I'm sure Paul does know that, and when you know from what he saved you out of what he saved you from,

I have sentences that end in prepositions, sorry, you have good news.

And so, one of the things in my preaching class that I need to work on, I have worked on, and I try to work on with every student, is we want to match the genre with our delivery.

So if you're in a lament psalm, you don't need to be all smiley, but there are times when we're talking about the good news, that is about Jesus, where we should smile, that we should have what

Thomas Boston, written by St. Clair Ferguson, noted by St. Clair Ferguson says, the tincture, the gospel tincture, where you're not mad at people, you're not scolding people.

You can herald, there's nothing wrong with heralding, I want heralding. Actually 2

Timothy chapter 4 talks about heralding, right? I have a message, but there's something that gets lost in the translation, in my opinion, because I feel, subjective feeling,

I said that word on purpose, like I'm getting scolded. I didn't live up to all these things that he's telling me about, and that, for that particular message at the

Master's University Chapel, you guys play PlayStation too much, and you're too worldly, and I guess there's a time for that, obviously, but there's also a time to lift up and to encourage, and there's a side of Paul Washer that I don't think would come to the

Master's University Chapel and say, by the way, do you know that in spite of your weaknesses and failings and struggles and sins, the

Lord could use you to change the world? Here you are getting an education at this school, and here's how the

Lord uses weak, sin, frail Christians, and here's what He could do in your life.

And it might not be with a lot of people, it might just be with a family, it might just be you're a mom, it might just be you're a dad who works, whatever it might be, to encourage the gospel tincture.

People need to be verse -by -verse teachers. They need not to take away assurance. That's what Catholics do.

And they also need to have this gospel tincture of good news. Like it or not, every preacher must come to this realization that people in the congregation, this is wrong to do, but this is what they do.

They will look at you and say, the way that guy comes across, that's what God thinks of me.

That's the demeanor of God toward me. And the demeanor of God toward listeners of Paul Washer is often,

God's mad. God's angry. And that, of course, under the Christian, it's not true.

God is not angry with Christians. He may chasten us, like a father with his son or a daughter, but God is not mad at us.

God is not angry with us. The son has fully exhausted the wrath of God. It's called the doctrine of propitiation.

And therefore, when I think of Paul Washer, and I've seen him smile some, and he has a nice smile.

I just wish he'd do it more. I wish he'd do it more often in the message. The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you.

The Lord make his what? Face to shine upon you, to smile. It was

Spurgeon who said, you know what, men, when you're talking about heaven, let your face shine like the sun.

And Paul Washer, when you talk about Jesus and heaven, let your face shine like the sun. And then

Luther said, sorry, Spurgeon said, and when you talk about hell, young preachers, your regular face will do.

And I think it's wrong to talk about heaven and hell with the same facial expressions, and somehow mad and angry, and at least coming across that way, and you say, well, no, he's just intense.

I get it. I get it. The reason why I don't smile more is because this is a very difficult thing.

Conjunctions matter. Prepositions matter. Truth matters. Imputed versus infused in terms of justification.

It matters. Saved through faith or saved because of faith. It matters. These are eternal issues. The God of the universe does not want his word to be played with and trifled with.

But there's a way to encourage people, and there's a way to come across, and this is the last thing

I'll say for our show today that if Paul Washer listened to, I think it would really help him.

He needs to understand better, theologically, the first use of the law and the third use of the law.

And these things are all related, of course, one to another. But the first use of the law, we have the law given by the judge creator, and he says, do this and live.

You have to perfectly obey, do not commit adultery, perfectly obey, or you're damned. This is what we use for unbelievers, to show them

God's character and nature revealed in the law, to show them that they're sinful and that they shut up to the law,

Romans 3, and that they need a savior who's a law keeper and who bears the sins of lawbreakers confirmed by the resurrection.

And therefore, the first use of the law is for unbelievers. And I don't think Paul has a problem with that side.

I think he uses the law to unbelievers at the Southern Baptist Convention. And shows them their sin.

But I don't think he understands the third use of the law. The law doesn't change.

The law's the same because of the essence and nature of God. He does not change.

But our relationship to the law giver because of Jesus changes. And therefore, thou shall not commit adultery instead of the covenant of works.

If you do it once, you're damned. This is the standard, perfection, perfect, entire, exact obedience.

But now for the third use of the law, God still says do not commit adultery. But it's not from the hand of the judge.

It's from the hand of the Father to guide. The third use of the law is to guide.

And all too often, I think many in our circles, and I have been guilty of this, use the law of God as a first use hammer to Christians.

And therefore, Christians are like, wow, what's going on? And this relates to assurance, yes, what we talked about earlier.

It relates to how we preach to people, what our facial expressions are. Yet the first use for unbelievers and the third use for believers, it's completely different.

And you think, my son, here's how I'd like you to live. And I think sometimes,

I've seen it with other people, they portray a human father on earth that's tainted by sin as more kind and generous and merciful than God the

Father. And I think they do that because they don't understand the first use and the third use of the law.

Anyway, obviously, I'm not trying to question people's salvation or anything else like that.

But I might ask you the question, dear No Compromise radio listeners, why do you like someone who preaches, not verse by verse, who doesn't understand assurance, first and second and third use of the law, and who doesn't encourage very much?

And maybe you'll say because he's fervent, he's zealous, he's passionate, he's prayerful, he cries when he preaches, et cetera.

You could say all those things, and maybe it's to each their own. But my plea for Paul would be,

I think his ministry, I mean this with all due respect, and with all truth, his ministry would revolutionize, be revolutionized, if he just did a few little tweaks like this when it comes to good news and smiling and encouragement and assurance to Christians.

I think everything would change. And I know in my own life, it has for that very reason, and for these very reasons.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible -teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.