Warning Passages (Part 3)

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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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

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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.�

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

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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

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Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and last show I recorded, because I�m here, see, on Friday night at like 8 at night, the dog was barking.

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And so I�m here in the church building by myself, it�s dark out, and she started barking because the guys came in to set up the chairs.

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Good dog. Good dog. Okay. What are we doing here?

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Well, we�re trying to do a radio show, is what we�re doing. Well, we�re talking about the book of Hebrews and warning passages.

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Last week, or a couple weeks ago, I did a few shows on this, how to interpret warning passages.

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And one of the things when you get to Hebrews 3, that second warning passage, and this helps you when you�re thinking about Old Testament and New Testament, it helps you especially when you�re thinking about Hebrews, is the salvation paradigm.

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When you�re reading the book of Hebrews, you should be thinking, okay, this is written to Jews, and they are thinking to themselves,

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Israel was saved out of Egypt, and it was a temporal salvation, right?

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God saved them. I�m not talking about some of the people were born again and some weren�t, some redeemed, some not.

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But the paradigm in the Bible, in the Old Testament, it�s a temporal salvation. Israel saved out of Egypt by God.

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And that serves as the template for the spiritual salvation. As Israel was saved out of Egypt by God, and they were slaves, and then now they�re free, we too are saved out of spiritual slavery.

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And we�re not saved out of Egypt, we are saved from ourselves, from our sin, from hell, from God�s wrath, from God Himself.

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And therefore, when you�re reading a lot about rest, even though rest is used different ways in Hebrews, the main way it�s used is rest not in the land of Canaan, but in your salvation, eternal salvation, not having to work as a slave to sin, you are resting in Christ�s work for you.

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You�re not thinking about, I�m entering in the promised land, real land, you�re thinking about eternal things.

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So when Paul, if Paul wrote it, or Barnabas, if Barnabas wrote it, or the author of Hebrews, since he wrote it, he is not talking about the promised land being land, he�s talking about, if he does talk about promised land, you could be thinking about heaven.

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So we�re going from temporal thinking to spiritual thinking, eternal thinking.

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Derek Kidner said about Hebrews that it, quote, �forbids us to confine the psalm�s thrust,

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Psalm 95, �to Israel, the today of which it speaks is this very moment.

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The you is none other than ourselves, and the promised rest is not Canaan, but salvation.�

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That�s right, that�s right. When it comes to Hebrews 3, 7, �therefore, as the

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Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear his voice, that�s the way you should think about it.� Now, another interpretive key, when it comes to the book of Hebrews, not just thinking like a

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Hebrew, not just thinking with this paradigm of temporal to now eternal or spiritual, but I want you to remember sola scriptura.

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Now what is sola scriptura? Well, sola scriptura, remember what was happening in the

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Reformation, Rome was saying tradition and magisterium was equal to, and functionally it was over,

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Scripture. And this tradition that contradicted the Bible was to be jettisoned.

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The Bible alone was sufficient. But the Reformers were not getting rid of any kind of tradition.

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The tradition that was a good kind of tradition, biblical, faithful, Nicene Creed, Athanasius Creed, Apostles Creed, whatever had been taught before that was biblical, they just didn�t chuck it out.

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And I want you to remember, when you�re reading the book of Hebrews, if you say to yourself, you know what, now we�ve come to chapter 3, it�s a warning passage, and if it says you can lose your salvation, you can lose your salvation, that�s not sola scriptura, that�s sola scriptura, that�s the

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Bible alone and I�m not going to read anything else. That is a form of biblicism where you say,

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I have to now force myself to have biblical amnesia, and if there�s been anything taught that�s not in the

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Bible but it�s reflective of biblical truth, I can�t think of that either because I�m believing in sola scriptura.

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That�s not what sola scriptura is, that�s sola scriptura, that�s a form of biblicism that you should avoid.

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You know, it�s kind of like the person that says, I have no creed but Christ. That�s a creed.

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Well, you know, I believe this about the Bible, I believe that about Jesus, I believe this about God the

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Father, I believe the other about the Holy Spirit, this is what I believe when it comes to salvation, it�s all found in the

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Bible. And the second you begin to talk about the

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Trinity, you�re talking about theology. You have a theology, you just don�t come to a passage and then all of a sudden say, well,

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I just have to empty my mind now. That�s how cults start, that�s how Mormonism starts, that�s how

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Joseph Smith does things. If you look at 1 Timothy 1, verse 15, the saying, and then interesting, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom

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I am the foremost, the sane. Is that from the intertestamental period?

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No. Is that from the Septuagint? No. Is that from the Hebrew Bible? No. Is that from the

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Old Testament? No. Is that from Aramaic sources? No.

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When you study the George Knight book, you�re going to find this is something that the New Testament Christians believed.

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It was a conclusion, it was a summary, it was a saying. One man said in more contemporary terms, �It is and is to be a confessional statement which all

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Christians commonly agree or confess.� Well, I can�t take that,

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I can�t take that saying. Jesus has the

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Holy Spirit lead the disciples into truth, and you see how God is building His church, and you see how

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He gives pastors and teachers. John Calvin said, �Understood the

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Reformation not as scripture versus tradition, but as scriptural tradition versus unscriptural tradition.�

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They�re not against creeds. You shouldn�t be against systematic theologians and theologies.

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You shouldn�t be against any kind of biblical system. Thoughtful Protestants, Calvin goes on, �then and ever since have understood the

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Reformers as arguing for what we might call a tradition that is normed by scripture.�

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In other words, Protestants know that they use language and conceptual terminology not found explicitly in the

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Bible. But they understand such are useful in understanding what scripture says, and at the point where they are found to be inadequate for this task, or even to contradict scripture, there they must be modified or abandoned, i .e.,

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Roman Catholic tradition. The same is true of the creeds and confessions of the church, which are, one might say, the most concentrated deposits of tradition as affirmed by the church.

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Of course, if the tradition contradicts scripture, then we get rid of it.

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But if the tradition summarizes biblical truth, systematizes biblical truth, confesses biblical truth, then why would you jettison that?

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Why would you do that? We have no other infallible authority, the

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Bible, yes, that's true. We have no more special revelation, that's true.

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But sola scriptura is different than solo scriptura. We have tradition, we have confessions, we have catechisms that have a place in the church, and that's what the

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Reformers meant by sola scriptura. And I think it was

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Van Hooser who said there's tradition 1, that's been normed by the

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Bible as biblical, you can keep that. Tradition 2, that is, you know, stuff about purgatory and Mary being a co -redemptress, you can jettison that and you must jettison that.

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And then tradition 0, we just have no tradition. And that's pretty much the modern evangelical church.

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When we think about Hebrews, maybe here's a good way to think about it. When was Hebrews written?

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Well, you can study this all you'd like, but let's just say 67

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A .D., 68 A .D., 69 A .D. It has to be before Titus smashes

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Jerusalem in 70 A .D. The temple's still up for every, you know, all the scholars would agree.

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Well, all the good ones. What's this Diet Coke doing over here? That's crazy.

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Diet Coke. James was the first New Testament book written in the 40s.

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Galatians, late 40s, maybe 50. Matthew and Mark, 50 to 60

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A .D., somewhere in there. Thessalonians, 51, 52, that's 1st and 2nd

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Thessalonians. Corinthians, both 1 and 2, 55, 56. Romans, 56.

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Luke, 60. All these early 60s. Luke, Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon, Colossians.

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Acts, 1 Timothy. Titus is a little later, 63 -ish, 62.

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1 Peter, 64. 2 Timothy, 66. 2 Peter, 67, 68, etc.

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And then you come up to Hebrews. So the only books that weren't written when

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Hebrews was written was Jude, John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Revelation.

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So the five Johannine writings and Jude. But we have everything else.

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Do you think that these recipients of this sermon, this letter, the epistle of Hebrews, this exhortation, this exposition, do you think they had no other theology?

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Do you think they had been taught nothing else? Do you think that the author of Hebrews said to himself, you know what, they don't know anything about anything, and they don't know, they just don't know.

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And we just have to start from scratch. Or do you think they contra to a blank slate?

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They knew things about theology. They knew about eternal security. They knew how do you stand righteous before God.

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They knew it's faith alone because you're trusting in Christ alone. I think they knew that.

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And so when you come to the book of Hebrews, if you immediately say, you know what, if chapter 3 says you can lose your salvation, then you can lose your salvation.

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If chapter 6 says you can lose your salvation, then you can lose your salvation. Do you think they thought to themselves, well, we saved ourselves, we've got to keep ourselves saved, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

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Do you think they thought, you know what, authentic faith will persevere like we've been taught everywhere else in the

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Bible? And it's going to be true here. And here the writer is exhorting us to believe, to keep believing, and if we're not a believer, to believe.

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Or do you think it's going to be something else? You stand before God on your own.

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You save yourself, you stand before God on your own. Remember what

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Calvin said? To this question I insist we must apply our mind if we would profitably inquire concerning true righteousness.

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How shall we reply to the heavenly judge when he calls us to account? Let us envisage for ourselves that judge not as our minds naturally imagine him, but as he is depicted for us in Scripture.

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By whose brightness the stars are darkened, by whose strength the mountains are melted, and by whose wrath the earth is shaken, whose wisdom catches the wise in their craftiness.

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Beside those purity all things are defiled, whose righteousness not even the angels can bear, who makes not the guilty man innocent, whose vengeance when once kindled penetrates to the depths of hell.

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Let us behold him, I say, sitting in judgment to examine the deeds of men, who will stand confident before his throne, who can dwell with the devouring fire, asks the prophet, who can dwell with the everlasting burnings, he who walks righteously and speaks the truth.

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Isaiah 33. But let such a one, whoever he is, come forward. Nay, that response causes no one to come forward, for on the contrary a terrible voice resounds, if thou,

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O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand? Psalm 130. What's my point?

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Well, my point is this. These people knew. They didn't save themselves.

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They were standing before a holy

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God as recipients of salvation. God saved them. And when

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God saves you, He doesn't lose you. You can't lose what God did.

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You can't change God's mind. And when you come to the book of Hebrews, if you just jettison what you know about theology that's been informed to you, that's formed in you by the

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Bible, then you're going to have all kinds of trouble. All kinds of trouble.

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Mike Abenderoth here. This is No Compromise Radio. Why do we say No Compromise Radio? Well, of course,

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I don't want to compromise, although I do. But we like to talk about Jesus because He didn't compromise.

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We like to talk about the cross because no attributes were compromised at Calvary.

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God's justice was upheld and also His love. I'm not really a

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Diet Coke guy, but I was so thirsty, I had to do it. Did go on a bicycle ride today.

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Thank you for praying for me. I'm starting to put the miles on and starting to count calories. I guess most people, when they have radiation,

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I think they probably lose weight. I think chemo probably makes you lose weight, but I'm just sitting there, not able to do much, except zoom into the bathroom 20 times a day.

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So you might as well eat. Might as well go to Trader Joe's. I had some good fish tacos in California this year.

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What else did I have that was good? Paul's tri -tip skirt steak.

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Okay, we're coming to the book of Hebrews and we're asking ourselves, what about these warning passages? Don't forget, this is the sermon, and when

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I'm preaching the sermon, I'm going to say things like, Christian, you're forgiven.

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I'm going to say, beloved brothers. But does that mean the entire time I think to myself, every single person here

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I consider a believer. Now we don't have a large church. It's not tiny either. Let's just say there's 300 on Sunday, 350, 260, whatever the number is, somewhere in between there, between 250 and probably 325.

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When I say beloved, I'm speaking generally. Just because I say brothers, therefore holy brothers,

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Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1. He does take away the holy down in chapter 3 verse 12, take care, brothers, but he's not meaning every single person, because then you've got a brother who then will undergo the wrath of God, going to strain their hearts.

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The issue is belief. Don't be hardened by the sinfulness, the deceitfulness of sin, and you don't want to have an evil unbelieving heart, leading you to apostasy.

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That's where we get that word, fall away, in chapter 3 verse 12. What he's doing is he's preaching a sermon about how great

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Jesus is, and he knows that people are persecuted, he knows they're going through difficulties, but you can't go back to Judaism.

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You can't go back to the temple. You've got to keep believing, because if you don't keep believing, it'll be a sign, it'll be evidence, it'll be fruit that you never were a

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Christian. Your continuing to believe is not a condition or ground of your salvation, that is only

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Jesus' work. But the evidence of your salvation is that you will continue.

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He who endures till the end shall be saved. Does that mean your endurance causes you to be saved?

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Well, no, for lots of reasons, because Hebrews talks about how sins are forgiven.

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It's by Jesus' blood. But also, we're not biblicists.

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We only go by what the Bible teaches, and we have no external creed, confession, or anything else.

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Now, if your creed or confession doesn't line up to the Bible, or with the Bible, fine, but that's not what we're talking about here.

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We're talking about coming to Hebrews chapter 3, chapter 6, you know, once we get there, that's a wild warning passage.

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And I remember learning, from men that I respect, they would say, and I then had parroted that, sadly, if Hebrews 6 teaches you can lose your salvation, you can lose your salvation.

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Now, I think what they meant was, you know, we just have to let the Bible inform our theology.

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Let's not have a system. But that's not right, because what it's not saying is important.

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We have tradition, and if you like the Westminster Confession of Faith, you like the

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London Baptist 1689, you like Heidelberg Catechism, you like Helvetic Confession, you like Belgic Confession, you like Philadelphia Baptist Confession, you like New Hampshire Confession, you like Savoy Confession, you like, you like, you like, you like, you like.

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Great. Because other people who were in local churches got together and were crafting and reflecting what biblical truth was, so that you can understand all of the

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Bible better. Because it's, for some people, if they don't know much of the

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Bible, when they come to Hebrews chapter 3, they're not going to be informed as much, right?

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You get to chapter 2, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? Chapter 3, take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living

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God. Chapter 6, it's impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance.

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Chapter 10, if we go on sinning deliberately, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

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How much worse punishment? Chapter 12, see that you do not refuse

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Him who is speaking, for if they did not escape, dot, dot, dot, much less will we.

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See? You can lose your salvation. Even looking at chapter 11, though, should teach you that Jesus has taken care of sins once for all.

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Chapter 1, taking care of sins once for all. We've got a great high priest, he's passed through the heavens,

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Jesus the Son of God. He sympathizes with our weaknesses. If you want to make the ground and condition of your salvation your endurance, how are you doing?

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What you're going to do is you're going to say, well, I'm more sincere than I really am, my sins aren't as bad as they really are,

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I am more of a perfectionist, a Keswick, Wesleyan, Methodist, something,

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God's laws, you know, it's almost like the Roman Catholic system where I didn't really keep the law, but I sincerely wanted to, and now my sincerity is counted as my action.

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That's foolish, that's smoking mirrors, that's what that is.

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So you want to be very careful. When you come to a book of the Bible, don't throw away all your theology that you've learned from the rest of the

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Bible, informed by men who have studied the Bible. The trump card, of course, is the

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Bible. It is the sole authority. But sola scriptura does not mean, therefore, toss everything else.

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It means toss all the unbiblical things, but it doesn't mean toss everything else.

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If you like systematic theologies, don't toss them. If you like biblical theologies, don't toss them.

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If you like Council of Trent, toss it. My name is Mike Ebendroth. This is No Compromise Radio.

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I think this is our eighth year of daily radio. It was about a year ago I thought

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I might as well quit. Why bother? I mean, who needs the thousands of dollars that come in every week?

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I mean, we don't need that. Anyway, it would just seem to be,

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I mean, I want to focus on the local church, so how can

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I do that? Well, one of the ways I can do it is I talk a lot about the passages that I'm preaching. And what

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I'm investing in at the local church level is the book of Hebrews. And so now I talk about Hebrews and it helps me with the local church, and it helps you hopefully as you listen to the book of Hebrews.

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And we believe in sola scriptura, not solo scriptura, not a biblicism that forgets everything beforehand and you have to come to the passage with amnesia.

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You don't want to do that. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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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.

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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.

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

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