Is Christianity the Greatest Religion? (Part 1)

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 ministry, Mike Abendroth here. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

What day is it? December 20th, real time. This is probably going to be played, I guess, maybe after Christmas.

So hopefully you got a lot of no -co books in the mail from Santa. I had two filling repairs today on my teeth, and so I�ve got one gum

Novocaine shot right above my top two front teeth and the other one down on my lower jaw.

So I thought I�d try to do a show with Novocaine mouth and how that works. I don�t really know.

I�m not drooling, but it feels like my face is pretty, I don�t know, large. I saw online the other day that a lady said, �No matter what you do, don�t drink.�

No, she said, �I listened to over 100 podcasts.� I can�t remember her name. �I listened to over 100 podcasts, and my advice to you is to just general people, not just to no -co.

Never eat or drink or chew gum or something like that while doing a podcast.� And so I wanted to know if it�s okay to do a show with Novocaine.

I was looking online the other day at Der Spiegel, and they had the Atlas of World�s Great Religions.

And I thought, �Hmm, this is interesting. What are the great religions? Who considers them great?

What are the characteristics of them? What characteristics do they have in order to be great?

That is, quality of people? You know, do they elicit followers who are educated, etc.?

Or quantity, you know, how many billions of people follow this particular religion? It said here one of the great world religions is

Islam, over a billion people. It grows faster than any other religion except Christianity, and it�s spreading to lots of places in Africa and Central Asian countries.

It means complete submission to God�s will, and you�ve got the strict folks, the Shiites and the more liberal ones, the

Sunnis, and they call that a great religion. They also call Judaism a great religion, even though there�s only about 13 million

Jews, and about 5 million of those Jews live in Israel. Why is it great?

They talk about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the chosen people of God, Mount Sinai, Ten Commandments, and that is considered by Der Spiegel great religion.

They�ve also got Hinduism listed, and how Hinduism came to be, and how they have different caste systems, the priests, the warriors, the artisans, the peasants, and then outside those categories, the untouchables.

And you would have a moksha, that would be complete liberation through cycles of reincarnation, and there are about 1 billion followers worldwide.

Buddhism is considered by Der Spiegel a great religion, founded by Zartharta Gautama, and that is 563

B .C., and he is called by his supporters Buddha, the enlightened one, and you�ve got different truths in Buddhism.

Life means suffering, that�s tenet number one.

Is that law or gospel? Cessation of suffering, eightfold path leading to cessation of desire and suffering, and you�ve got nirvana as a desire after you�ve got cycles of reincarnation, 450 million folks or so who are following the tenets of Buddhism.

And then the last great religion that�s listed by this magazine is Christianity, and my question for you today on No Compromise Radio is, why is

Christianity great? What makes it great? Is it even greater than other religions?

Is it different than other religions? Is it better because of the number of followers, the number of denominations, how many hospitals, it�s built, charities that have been established in the name of Christianity?

Why is Christianity great? And as I ponder that question,

I think the answer can be found in lots of places in Scripture, but one particular book, the book of Galatians.

And so today on No Compromise Radio, we�re going to look at the book of Galatians to answer the question, why is

Christianity great? Paul, the apostle, wrote the book of Galatians, and it�s written in the late 40s or early 50s

AD, depending on what scholar you want to look at. But it�s a very early book, and it is discussing the person and work of the

Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel. Remember, when you think of gospel, you ought not to think of a thing, right, a noun is a name of a person, place, or thing.

I want you to think of the gospel of God, like Mark chapter 1 talks about it, and the gospel of God is about God, it�s good news about God and what

God has done for sinful humans in the person and work of His Son, the

Lord Jesus. Why is Christianity great? I wonder what you would say if I asked you, why do you think

Christianity is great? I guess you could have lots of different answers. My mouth is getting better,

I think. I was trying to drink coffee earlier today before the show because I remember what that one lady said, and it just had an odd sensation.

Ever try to talk when you�re getting a shot, and you�re like, �Oh, oh, oh, ah.�

That was what I was doing today, trying to tell people, �That hurts, ouch.�

It�s like a tingly thing. The Tingler, remember that movie? The Tingler. Why is

Christianity great? Number one, in Galatians chapter 1, verses 1 to 5, because Christianity alone deals with the greatest need of mankind, and that is forgiveness of sin, sin to be dealt with.

The greatest need of mankind is not a cancer cure, although I wish there would be a cure. Side note, just back from New York City to see my oncologist, and so far, so good.

It's been 18 months since treatment, two years since diagnosis, and I have a biopsy in about nine months or 12 months, and hopefully after that, done, kaput.

I don't mean me, but the cancer. No sense worrying about the biopsy because the

Lord could come back or I could die or lots of other things could happen. People are sinful, and this great gospel found in this religion called

Christianity deals with sin. Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the

Father who raised him from the dead, and all the brothers who are with me, grace to you and peace from God our

Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins.

There you have it. To deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of God our

Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever, amen.

That deals with the topic of substitutionary atonement and Jesus, the sinless one, giving himself for our sins.

That is the language of sacrifice, that he, according to the will of God our

Father, sacrifices himself for us. The wages of sin is death, and then

Jesus experiences that at Calvary to rescue us from this present evil age.

How can you be delivered from your sins? It has to do with the personal work of Jesus Christ, his life, death, burial, and resurrection.

And this gives God great glory when the Lord Jesus accomplishes this great fact.

It's one thing to say, I'm a sinner. It's another thing to say, I sin against God my

Creator, and I deserve judgment. God would be just if he punished me.

That's the language of David, even. Lots of times you meet people, you ever sin, yes.

You know, I do things, and white lies and boo -boos and other things. But to think that you've sinned against a thrice holy

God and deserve judgment, that's different. We even try to redefine sin with syndrome and disease and addiction and everything else.

But let's just call it for what it is, and it's sin. It's lawlessness. It's unbelief.

It's lawlessness. It leads to all kinds of things. Matthew 121, talking about Christmastime, and she,

Mary, will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who will save his people from their dysfunctions.

That's not what it says. From their sins. Sin is any lack of conformity to the law of God, or transgression of it, as one of the confessions would say.

Augustine said, O man, consider the greatness of thy sin by the greatness of the price paid for sin.

Jesus delivers himself so that we might be delivered. He did not die for accidents or defects or trifles or mistakes or boo -boos.

He died for sin, for sinners. And if he could just come and educate us to be better, or if he could just give us some technology or give us some gold, then that's what he would have done.

But the problem was so deep, it took death. It took crucifixion. Jesus was sent as Savior.

Matthew 122, now all this took place that what was written or was spoken by the

Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name

Emmanuel, which translated means God with us. Jesus is the

Savior, Yahweh saves, Joshua, Yeshua, Jesus saves.

And it was he and he alone that can save his people from their sins.

Remember that old story with R .C. Sproul walking around Temple University in Philadelphia?

And he described it this way when he was on his way to the School of Theology faculty lounge and someone said to him,

Are you saved? And the guy was pretty abrupt, stood right in front of R .C., and R .C.

said, I wasn't quite sure how to respond to this intrusion, and the first words that came into my mouth were,

Saved from what? What I was thinking, but what was given the grace to refrain from saying was that I'm certainly not saved from strangers coming up to me and asking me questions like this.

When I said, Saved from what? I think my friend was as surprised by my question as I had been by his, and he kind of lost it.

He stammered and stuttered and wasn't quite sure how to respond to the question, Saved from what? Well, you know what

I mean, he replied. Do you know Jesus? That brief encounter, R .C. said, left an impression on me, left an expression on me.

On the other hand, of course, I was delighted in my soul that somebody cared. Saved from whom?

Saved from what? Saved from the penalty of your own sin? Saved from the guilt of your sin?

Saved from the wrath of God? Saved by the

Lord Jesus from God's wrath? Saved from God?

Saved from whom? Saved from God. Of course, when you think of the Old Testament word saved, it could be deliverance from physical danger or deliverance from death, and here it's the ultimate salvation, eternal salvation.

Eternal damnation is what you're saved from. And when we think about it soteriologically, that is, in the context of salvation, hell is the place you're saved from, sin is what you're saved from, the wrath of God is what you're saved from.

He saves, He alone, no other Savior. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved,

Acts 4, 12. And you, Christian, when you trust in the

Lord Jesus, you're saved from your sins, from the penalty of your sins, from the power of your sins, and one day from the presence of your sin.

Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood.

This is the greatest thing that we need to think through.

Can we be forgiven? And I think Christianity is the greatest because, unlike the other religions, this religion,

Christianity, and remember, you can call Christianity a religion. James does in chapter 1. You know, it's a relationship, not a religion.

That's fine and dandy as far as that little slogan goes, but the slogan is defective.

It doesn't tell every aspect of the truth. Christianity alone deals with sin, and of course, if you're listening, you're a sinner.

If I'm talking, which I am, I'm a sinner, and we have to get all those sins paid for before we're going to stand before God, and Jesus, in fact, does that very thing.

Why is Christianity great? Why is it greatest? Why is it greater than those other world religions that are called great by Der Spiegel?

Before I answer that, if you'd like to write me, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

If you would like to go to the YouTube channel, No Compromise Radio, I think there's about 140 YouTubes there that you can just watch at your own leisure, watch at your own pleasure, and you can also find an archive of all the shows.

Christianity is great because it deals with the greatest need of mankind, but it also is great because it warns against the greatest theological error you can make.

What's the greatest theological error someone could make? And that is also found in the book of Galatians, and that is adding to the work of Jesus Christ, to say, in effect, that what

Jesus Christ did wasn't adequate enough, wasn't good enough, wasn't complete enough, wasn't sufficient enough.

And Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia. Is it churches?

I have to go back up here for a second to make sure I speak perfectly clearly.

And here it says, and all the brothers who are with me, hehehehehehehehehehehehehe

I know Galatia is not a city. To the church at, in the

Galatian area? Heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh. I'm laughing for lots of reasons, and it has nothing to do with Novocain.

There's an argument, is this church in the northern part? Is it in the southern part?

Where are these people? And so I'm biting my tongue, but I can't, because it's so full of Novocain, I can't do it.

Back to 1 6, I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

I am very, very surprised that you are so quickly deserting, that you're transferring your allegiance.

This is the language of a soldier who turns his back on his own army and goes renegade and becomes a turncoat.

Spiritual deserting. You knew what the gospel was, and now you go a different way.

You're like spiritual Benedict Arnold. I don't know if you know much about Benedict Arnold, but he was a military officer in the

American military, and he was a general during the

American Revolutionary War, and he fought against the British Continental Army, and then he defected to be loyal to the

British. And Washington, George Washington, had trusted him and had given him leadership at West Point in New York, and he was going to surrender that fort to the

British, but was discovered and ran to the British Army. Benjamin Franklin said that Judas sold only one man,

Arnold sold three million. Alexander Scramble described

Benedict Arnold's actions as black as hell, and in his hometown of which someone scrawled the word traitor next to the record of his birth at City Hall.

The gravestones were destroyed of all but his mother. Yikes.

But there's something worse than that, spiritually deserting the gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Remember, gospel means good news. But you are turning to a gospel that's not good news.

It's got works involved, it's got your own activity involved, and therefore it's tainted by sin, and that's not good news.

And you don't understand that there are problems when you add something to the gospel or you subtract something from the gospel.

Paul said, but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

This is not to be trifled with. The gospel cannot be changed, it must not be altered.

And if it is altered, changed, supplemented, it's not the real gospel, and then doesn't save.

And final judgment is coming for people that believe in something that's less than the gospel, or something that's more than the gospel.

As we have said before, verse 9, so I now say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Let him be damned. This is God's judgment. This is not getting kicked out of the church, this is the judgment of God.

Indignation toward anyone who eclipses the perfect work of the

Lord Jesus. And for Paul to talk like this, you can imagine it's ruffling some feathers, for I am now seeking the approval of man or of God.

Which one am I seeking, is what Paul is saying, or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man,

I would not be a servant of Christ. You've got to choose your master, and you can't please men who want to hear things about their involvement in saving themselves and of God, who won't have any of that.

And he is having to say no. Christianity is great because it prevents you from having this error that somehow your good works contribute to anything except your damnation, and Paul is going to say no.

There are a lot of yes men in the world, but some people need to love you enough to tell you no, don't do that.

This is the true gospel, and then you define things by exclusion. This is what the gospel is not.

Say, well, that's controversial when you say no, and that's not right. Well, Machen would say, you need to learn how to say no.

And Paul knew how to say no, Jesus knew how to say no, John the Baptist knew how to say no, where are the men, where are the men in the pulpits and women behind the scenes who can say no?

We are not going to do that. And that's pretty much even the key of the entire book of Galatians, no.

Because if you say yes to these additions to the gospel, then you're gonna have an imaginary Jesus, your own personal

Jesus, to quote the Depeche Mode song. Although I like the Johnny Cash version of that, and sometimes the

Nina Huggins version. What was happening here at this region?

Well, you've got to have the work of Christ and trust in Him and also be circumcised.

And Paul said, absolutely not. You can think rightly about the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus in his life, and you think you receive the benefits that he has earned by faith plus works, then that's damnation.

And of course, we have the Roman Catholic Church today that's very similar to this, along with other so -called

Christian denominations, where they would believe in the eternal nature of God, triune

God, deity of Jesus, literal resurrection, supernatural miracles, virgin birth, soon return, and they believe those things.

But they believe that you also have to have faith in Jesus plus the sacraments.

There is no difference, there's no functional difference between what was going on in the book of Galatians with faith plus circumcision as with faith plus sacraments in the

Roman Catholic Church. It's the same thing, because it doesn't help, it hinders. And Paul says, no, we're not going to do that, no.

And Paul, thankfully, in love, of course inspired by the Spirit of God, won't let you make that theological error.

And if you're going to make that error, he wants you to know the consequences of that error. So today on No Compromise Radio, we've just quickly talked about how important it is to believe the right

Jesus so you avoid that error of works, and how you believe that in fact you're a sinner and Jesus Christ comes to bear sins.

That's why he came. So we have a big problem, and that is estrangement from God because of our sins, but now because of what

Christ has done, now we have communion. We have union with Christ, and therefore communion with the

Father and the Holy Spirit. If you want to write me, Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com,

or info at NoCompromiseRadio .com. You can go to the website, NoCompromiseRadio .com,

if you want to order one of the books there. If you order one of the books in the next week, Sexual Fidelity, I'll send you things to go bump in the church for free.

You don't have to mark it down. If you just order Sexual Fidelity, I'll send you the other one for free. 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.