Devils and Aliens

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. My name is Mike Abendroth and I am back from Ransom, Ransom, Missouri, and I know this is a tape -delayed show, so it�s been quite some time since I�ve been back in Ransom.

But I had never been, and so I had a great time with World View Weekend and Brannon and his wife and family, lots of other speakers,

Mike Gendron, his wife, and Jesse Johnson, who was there by himself,

Justin Peters and his wife. It was a great opportunity to give testimony to the

Lord�s goodness, different speakers talking about different things, and we did that in the Oak Ridge Boys Theater.

And so, I was backstage at the Oak Ridge Boys. The day before, I said to Brannon, �Let�s go.�

And so, since we were speaking and renting out the auditorium, we got in free, but I had to leave to go to dinner before they played

Elvira. I heard it brought down the house. Anyway, they were better live than I thought they would be.

I appreciated the hospitality of the folks there. And Branson, I would describe as a �moral

Las Vegas.� Everybody�s a Christian, all kinds of shows, and theater, and putt -putt golf courses, and go -karts, and more places to eat, and more shows.

I was not going to see Jonah at the sight and sound, but after talking to Mike and Jane Gendron, then they talked me into it.

And you know what? I was impressed. I did not know, though, and by the way, for the most part, it had biblical fidelity.

And they said at the beginning, there are a few characters that are ad -libbed and they aren�t part of the story, but to get your money�s worth and have a two -and -a -half -hour show, we had to add stuff in.

Ex -Cathedra. So, I understand all that. And for the most part,

I thought it was good. There was a tie -in to who Jesus is. And as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days, and they had

Jesus come out and talk at the end, and it was good enough that I just didn�t want to hear Jesus at the end.

I actually wanted to get up and preach, but it would have been not good with a costume on, with the

Jesus costume. But I liked Jonah�s sight and sound, and I loved the conference. More about Worldview Weekend Conference later at Branson.

The next year, I think, is April 24th, 5th, and 6th, or something like that. You should put it on your schedules.

I have been invited back, and so that�s exciting. But with Jonah, here�s the one part that�this was the dopiest part.

I mean, you know, they break out into song and stuff like that, but I mean, with the cables and hooked up to Jonah, and when the fish vomited him out, he went flying across the stage.

And it was really, I mean, if you�ve seen sight and sound stuff, it was great. This was Broadway production value and cost.

I tried to get in free at Jonah, too, with the Oak Ridge Boys� shtick. Didn�t work.

I tried singing Bobby Sue to them. They weren�t quite sure. I couldn�t find a Pete�s Coffee there, though, so I�m drinking my

Pete�s Coffee out of my DoNotBeSurprised .com mug. Everyone has an

Innova. There�s some place you just don�t want to go. Everyone�s got one.

Now, how did that work out? I�m not exactly sure, but I will say this. After the production of Jonah, I wanted to go read

Jonah. And I was thinking, you know, isn�t it amazing that God got his prophet right where he wanted to be to proclaim mercy to the

Ninevites. Compassionate, slow to anger, gracious God we serve. Don�t we? Aren�t you glad he was that way with you?

Everybody�s got an Innova. Speaking of going to Nineveh, it�s not far from Nineveh.

We�re going to Israel. I finally have the brochures and the registration forms. February 17th through 25th to Israel with No Compromise Radio.

25th through the 28th of February 2015 is our extension to Jordan, Petra, Moab.

Everybody�s got a Moab. Mount Nebo. And you can write me at info at NoCompromiseRadio .com.

And if you go to NoCompromiseRadio .com, our website got hacked into it again, but it�s okay now.

Up and running. If you go to the far right -hand side, it says Israel 2015, and you can see our daily itinerary.

This will be, I think, my fourth time there. The third time I�m leading a tour with my brother, of course, this time,

Omaha Bible Church. First come, first serve. I want to get your $400 in, $400 reservation.

We actually have the price now, $31 .99, and the Jordan extension is $8 .64.

If we get a bunch of people, price goes down, and when price goes down, I refund.

Not the whole thing, of course, but whatever I can. Dabney, Robert L.

Dabney, was a Southern theologian, and of course, we all have our blind spots, and he had some major blind spots.

I was thinking about Dabney the other day, because when I was at a restaurant, I was at Landry�s, maybe

Landry�s, no, that�s a fish place, well, there�s another place, in Branson.

It was the first time I had fried green tomatoes, and I was the

Yankee, I was the New Englander there, and I actually liked the fried green tomatoes, except I don�t really eat a lot of fried food, so there�s a whole stack of them, and I could only eat a couple.

I only wanted to eat a couple, I knew I should only eat a couple, and there was a big

Confederate flag right there in the center of the restaurant. We sat underneath it and ate, and I thought of Robert L.

Dabney. Stonewall Jackson was listening to Dabney, and he wrote these things down that Dabney said when

Dabney was talking about the death of an individual, and it wasn�t too many hours after we finally got our flight that was delayed out of Springfield, Missouri, then delayed out of O�Hare.

We got home, and some people in the Midwest, of course, with those tornadoes didn�t make it home.

So, I went to read what Dabney said, Robert Dabney. I love his systematic theology book, it�s maybe one of my favorite systematic theologies.

I�ve read, of course, Burkhoff and Millard Erickson, I really love

Robert Raymond�s systematic theology, that was excellent. Grudem�s, you know, it�s okay. I don�t dislike it, per se, but, you know,

I�ve read better, like Dabney, and right now I�m reading Bovink.

That could be my favorite, you know, whatever you�re reading at the time seems to be your favorite. And so,

Dabney said this, �But in the hour of death especially, the Christian needs a Savior who is no less than God.

An angel could not sympathize with our trial, for they cannot feel the pangs of desolation.

A human friend cannot travel with us the path through the dark valley, for the creature who yields to the stroke of death is overwhelmed, and returns no more to guide his fellow.

The God -man�there�s a dash there�alone can sustain us.

He has felt the mortal blow, for he is man, he has survived it, and returns triumphing to succor us, for he is

God. Unless the divine God be with us, we must fight the battle with the last enemy alone and unaided.

Just when the struggle becomes most fearful to the soul, the veil of approaching desolation and descending between it and all this world shuts it off in the outer darkness.

And then, in vast solidarity night, must the King of Terrors be met, with no human arm to succor and no ear to hear the cry of despair that is lost in the infinite silence.

So must you die, my friend and I.� Robert Dabney, who ministered alongside of Stonewall Jackson, I think he was his chaplain or something,

I�m not exactly sure, so don�t quote me on that. Here on No Compromise Radio, always biblical, always provocative, always in that order.

Speaking of Worldview Weekend, I think we�re on their TV show, so if you�d like to see the Ruth sermons, they are on the video through Worldview Weekend.

The Bible says in Hebrews 2, speaking of Christ and his humanity and why it�s just so important for us to have a

Savior who can represent us. We need a divine Savior, of course, because he has righteousness that we need, but we need a human

Savior as well. Of course, not only human, but human nonetheless, because he can then identify with us.

Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere.

What is man that you are mindful of him, this is Hebrews 2, or the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little while lower than the angels, you have crowned him with glory and honor and putting everything in subjection under his feet.

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present we do not see everything in subjection to him, but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely

Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

For it was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers.

Skipping down to verse 14, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook also of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

For surely it is not the angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Aren't you glad that Jesus is the God -man? Fully God, yes, and fully man, yes.

And I am glad he did his work, and it says that he might destroy the one who has power of death, that is the devil.

My name is Mike Ebenroth, this is No Compromise Radio. I was reading through a Darren Aldridge book the other day, a little

Oxford Companion kind of book, smaller, and it was at the Public Library, of all places, in Lancaster, Massachusetts.

It was small, it has an interesting title, The Devil, it wasn't about a movie with elevators.

Anybody see that movie, Devil, the elevator deal? I can't tell you if I saw it or not, because the fundamentalist and the legalist out there, they probably wouldn't like it, they'd say we have to listen to a different show.

And the libertines, you probably would really like it because you're saying, well, I'm loose with my morals like the radio host, so I'm fine.

And Darren says in the book, The Devil, there's a picture of people getting thrown into hell,

Hans Memling's depiction of the Last Judgment, 1467 -71, people who are dragged into hell, while there's other people up in heaven, there's kind of music up there, here's people screaming as they're dragged into hell, the damned.

It is a frightening picture. And Darren writes, the emphasis on punishment in hell is illustrated by the concept of contrapasso, and that's italicized, contrapasso, by which the damned were believed to suffer tortures corresponding to their sins on earth.

So now you're learning a new word, contrapasso. It sounds like it's Spanish to me, que horas, but I'm sure it's not.

I'm sure it's Latin. In the 15th century,

Last Judgment painted by the workshop of Fra Angelico, that's what

In the most intricate literary presentation of this theme,

Dante's Inferno catalogs the tortures reserved for particular categories of sinners.

Thus, the spirits of those who are overpowered by anger are condemned to bite, butt, and beat one another in a fetid swamp.

Dante says they struck each other, and not only with their hands, but with their heads and chests, and with their feet, biting each other to pieces, bit by bit.

Deron goes on, the savage ingenuity of Dante's vision extends to intellectual crimes as well.

Chillingly, those who deny the resurrection of the body are laid in open coffins that will be sealed on the

Day of Judgment, leaving them to contemplate an eternity of live burial. Such torments display the fearful devices of justice.

How did the contemplation of these otherworldly punishments affect the living? Ask Oldridge.

The contemporary philosopher John Cayce has argued that an intense belief in personal immortality is normally accompanied by a terror of judgment after death, and uses the

Christian concept of hell as an illustration. In this context, many scholars have quoted the 15th century poet

François Villon. My daughter's like, why is your lipstick into your tongue,

Dad? Fix that. Who described the experience of his illiterate mother confronting images of the afterlife in her parish.

Francis says, I'm just a poor old woman on the earth. I don't know anything, can't read or spell.

In church I see paradise painted, mirth where harps and lutes are, then a hell.

Where all the damned are boiling, where they fell. One gives me fear, one joy and bliss to face.

Scary. Speaking of the God -man, he's the only one who could rescue us from the devil.

Now, I'm not saying I agree with every little bit of information that I just quoted, but hell is scary.

And however God's justice is poured out in hell, and given in hell, it's not going to be good.

Now here's the weird part. This Villon man, he led a violent and criminal life, and he was expelled from Paris in 1463.

You can know all about hell, maybe it's true for you. When I was an unbeliever, I still believed in hell and I didn't want to go there.

There are lots of people who aren't going to heaven, but they believe in hell. They're not born again, their sins aren't forgiven, they're not trusting only in Christ Jesus.

They haven't turned from their sins. But they believe in hell, and they know it to be real.

But they just play around, and I don't know if it's just too busy to think about it, too media -saturated.

I mean, when do people sit and think? When is there a time to muse, a time to reflect, a time to, in a good way, meditate?

When do you just walk around? One of the reasons I love to bike and I love to walk is because I can think,

I get away from everything, except semi -trucks, and I'm just able to think. George Orwell recalled his belief in the afterlife as an adolescent, and here is what he says.

I'm reading again from the book. Almost certainly hell existed, and there were occasions when a vivid sermon could scare you into fits, but somehow it never lasted.

The fire that waited for you was real fire. It would hurt in the same way as when you burnt your finger, and forever.

But most of the time, you could contemplate it without, it's just frightening.

I've told people before, I probably said it on this radio show, if it were not for the scriptures, how could

I believe in such an awful place? For those who say, man wrote the

Bible, God didn't have anything to do with writing the Bible, I could answer a lot of different ways, but maybe an answer would be, no one could paint the picture of hell like the scriptures do, especially

Jesus. Especially Jesus Christ.

Well, my name's Mike Havendroth, aren't you happy now? Some kind of Dr. Faustus.

Oh, crazy. All right, what else do I have here? Maybe we can cheer you up a little bit. B .B.

Warfield. Again, you know, in my dreams, I want to be known as M .L. Abendroth, because theologians are known by their initials.

B .B. Warfield. I mean, Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield.

Now he was from the South, remember he used to make fun of how he would say Warfield. And he beat him up.

Pre -salvation, of course. Here's what Warfield says in his article, and I love the article.

The alien righteousness. B .B. Warfield from Philippians 3 .9,

and be found in him not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

And so alien righteousness. This is something that's different than us. Other, and here is what

Warfield says about Christ's righteousness. And this is what you're going to need. If you're a

Christian, this is what you have. So you don't have to worry about hell ever. Remember the double imputation, that is to say two imputations,

Jesus, perfect righteousness credited to your account, and your sins credited to Jesus account.

The other imputation is Adam's sin credited to your account. But here we have Warfield saying, it is the righteousness provided by God in Christ.

It's the sole ground of our acceptance in God the Father's sight. According to his express statements, at least, we, he's talking about Paul's statements, are saved entirely on the ground of an alien righteousness.

Not the righteousness of an alien, but of an alien righteousness, different, and not at all on the ground of anything we are,

A -R -E, or have done, or can do. And then here's the interesting part.

Be it even so small a matter as believing. You, if you're a

Christian, are not a Christian, because your belief in God, unlock

God's salvation, and then made you a savable person, potentially savable, now saved.

If you mean that faith is mandatory as received by people as a gift, if you mean that faith is a non -meritorious instrument of salvation,

I'm with you all the way, all the way. Of course, God doesn't believe for you.

Of course, you have the responsibility to believe. Of course, you need to take God at his word and have faith and belief and trust, the kind of faith that is best described by knowledge, assent, and trust.

You know, you affirm, and you put your will, full trust in the object of Christ Jesus.

It's not faith in faith. It's not faith in law. It's not faith in society. It's not faith in the church.

It's not faith in the Pope. It's not faith in Mary. It's not faith in the Apostle Paul. It's faith in Jesus Christ, Jesus, the

God -man who was not ashamed to call us brothers. And there's a great transaction that happens.

And that alien righteousness of Jesus that he earned, that he merited, that he did do this and live,

Jesus did this and lived. He obeyed the legal system that he was under, and we got credit for it.

That is his alien righteousness. His right doing gets put into our spiritual bank account, and our wrongdoing gets put on him as he bears our sin at Calvary, and God so affirmed and confirmed the transaction that the

Father raised him from the dead, the Spirit raised him from the dead. And of course, we know Jesus raised himself from the dead, but here thinking about justification,

God the Father raises the Son from the dead, because Jesus isn't paying for his own sin.

He pays for the bride's sins. So my name is Mike Abendroth.

This is No Compromise Radio. If you want to know about the Israel trip, nocompromiseradio .com, far right -hand side,

Israel 2015, first come, first serve. And you can write me just generally at info at nocompromiseradio .com.

I try to answer every question, or once in a while maybe I'll have someone else answer it for you, one of the crack staff here.

But I like to hear from you and hear what you're learning. God bless you. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. 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.

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