2024 Summer of Interviews: Sufficiency of Christ with No Compromise Radio’s Mike Abendroth (Part 2)

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.

Interview Introduction and the Problem with List-Based Preaching

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. Today we�re glad to play part two of an interview that I was on with Daryl Updike, and he has a podcast called �What Are We Even Doing Here and we talked about Christ and His sufficiency, a variety of different questions, and today we�ll play part two here on No Compromise Radio.

You want to check out Daryl�s ministry, �What Are We Even Doing Here My name is Mike Abendroth. Listen to part two. Enjoy.

Yeah, and I was just thinking of this today, that like certain churches or certain pastors, they�ll preach and they�ll say, �Well, here�s three things you can do to be a better, you know, father, a better husband.

You know, there�s a list, and I can�t remember anywhere in the scriptures where any of the apostles, whether it�s Paul or Peter, that write down, �Well, here�s a list of things for you to do to be a better this or that or even in the Gospels, the four Gospels, Jesus is never giving like a list of things to do.

Maybe it�s there. I haven�t seen it, but sometimes these pastors will, and with good intentions, and yes, there�s practical steps to do things, but when it�s a list of like a how-to, like you said before, like a TED Talk, a motivational speech to be better this, and then it just gets confusing, and it does.

It�s this new law that you�re putting on people where it�s like this check marks, check box. I remember going home from sermon saying, �Okay, well, I have to make sure this list is complete so I can do this better and it doesn�t work.

Yeah, so true. I mean, if people are listening and they think, �Well, isn�t there like some laws?

Would that be a list.

And I�m thinking, �Oh, how do I preach that with my wife in the front row Well, if the focus is on husbands, ultimately, what you have to do is you have to go through the then it would be even more difficult.

But what if I said, now let me give you three things that I want you to do to show that you love your wife. I want you to go buy a teddy bear and I want you to put it in the back of the freezer when she's not looking.

And then one day she's cleaning out the freezer in six months and she'll say, oh, look, there's that teddy bear that my husband gave me. And I mean, that might be something your wife likes, but I'm not gonna give it as some kind of list.

I could say, we're to cherish and nourish our wives because that's what the Lord Jesus does with his church and church is ecclesia, it's feminine. I mean, that's just what the Lord does. And so husbands, you are responsible because of what God has done earlier in the chapters and how he's made you unite with Christ and he's chosen you, the son's died for you and all these things that you rehearse your position.

And therefore you have to cherish her and nourish her and make sure she's at a good church. And that's not the list we're talking about.

If you're listening,.

We're talking about frozen teddy bear lists, right?

Right, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, somebody said to me that they use that as an illustration and this particular pastor said, yeah, and when the wife finds it taking too much room, she takes the frozen teddy bear out.

And starts hitting you with it, right?

Yes.

Christ as the Motivation for Preaching and Obedience

So we already kind of hit on one of my questions. How does knowing Christ is sufficient help guide the way you preach? And you hit on that. We hit on this one a little bit as well, but let's ask it again.

How does knowing Christ is sufficient guide the way we live?

Yeah, sure. Well, I'll add on the preaching side too. One of the things I try to do with the men I teach to preach here and in other schools and elsewhere, I say, you know what, even if it's a proverb, even if it's a section where there's a lot of commands and imperatives, I want you to talk about Jesus for 10 minutes.

So let's say they preach 30, 40 minutes, something like that. I want 10 minutes. And they say, well, he's not in my text atomistically, A-T-O-M. And I said, well, he's in the sweep of redemption. He's in the drama of redemption.

You might just have to set back a little bit to see where you find him. I mean, he's not in a particular verse. I mean, a dog returns to its own vomit. I mean, Jesus isn't in the verse, but I'll tell you what, I can easily talk about Jesus from that verse.

If that's my verse I have to preach, they say, this is your only passage that you preach from. You can't go verses before, verses after. It's not that hard to talk about our pitiful state without Jesus, right?

I mean, I had a dog for years. We loved that dog. She died a couple of years ago. Her name was Jetty. And when Jetty threw up, I did not let the kids wipe up the throw up. I said, we're gonna have a little lesson here in Proverbs and in Peter.

And that dog would look, and first the dog thinks you're mad at them because it's like going to the bathroom in the house. They know that's a no-no. Then it's the throw up. No, I'm not mad at you. And then slowly they start inching closer to that throw up.

They start smelling it. They do a little lap or two, and then they just wolf it back down again. And you know what? When you think about sin, how crazy it is, how deceitful it is, how enslaving from Satan it is, that's exactly how we dealt with things, right?

We might wear a suit and a nice dress, and we might be upstanding citizens helping our next door neighbor, but that's what sin does. And you think, oh, that is awful. And then you think, well, there's a remedy for that so we can easily talk about the Lord.

When it comes to preaching, by the way, that's just my ADD radio where I just have to tell like a little story. When it comes to preaching, it's incumbent upon us as pastors to make sure we hold forth Christ, not just with the Lord's Supper, but from the pulpit because he's the one that in our life and in our preaching, that is the lives of the people, motivates us to obey.

So the big picture here, Darrell, as you know, is what's the motivation for Christian obedience? Now, all of us for a day can put our bootstraps on and buckle up and force ourselves to obey, but long-term sustained obedience is not found in law.

And if it's not found in law, it's not found in practical tips or TED Talks or how-tos. The law can only guide. As Michael Horton says, the law cannot animate. It gives us no power. It shows us, right?

Fonville says it's like the GPS. It tells you to stay on target, you're off course, turn around, but it doesn't get you anywhere. You need an engine, right? You're in a boat and the rudder doesn't do anything except guide you.

You need the sails unfurled full of wind to take you. That's why when we think how important is Christ when it comes to preaching and is he sufficient in preaching and then in the lives of the people and in my life or the listener's life today, why should I be motivated, right?

And you think guilt, grace, gratitude, my great guilt, great grace incarnate Christ Jesus, and then gratitude. And I respond out of gratitude. I respond because I'm able to. The spirit of God dwells in me.

He gives me strength in the inner man, Ephesians 3. I'm motivated out of gratitude because it's no longer fear. I'm not gonna be cut out of the family's inheritance and have my last name taken away because I've done something really stupid or sinful.

I'm secure and I can trust the Father. And therefore I'm motivated to obey because it's not for my position. It's not to keep me out of hell. It's because the Lord Jesus has done this for me at his cost.

And you just think about, you think about the week leading up to Calvary and what the Lord went through. It's for us, right? It's for the glory of the Father. That's certainly true, but it's for us. And therefore the direct answer to your question is we need to make sure to show Christ to people because he, the Lord and Savior, he's our only motivation.

He's our only, we only have ability to obey because of that.

Amen.

And yeah, that's a beautiful, it's that gratitude that we show because we have been forgiven of, and we were all sinners and we all know what we do. We all know what we think. Even as Christians, as redeemed sinners, we still fight the flesh off, fight temptation off, but we know we are saved.

So through looking at Christ and what he's done for us should drive us to obedience, knowing that we won't perfectly obey, but Christ has perfectly obeyed.

Absolutely. Over here to my left, I have a bunch of drawings of me preaching, five-year-olds and six-year-olds, and eight-year-olds, and they're really awful. I mean, you can't see them because this is radio, but they're stick figures.

I don't look anything like that. I mean, they're juvenile is what they are. Why do I put them up there? Well, because since I accept the little child who attends a church and she or he is listening, I accept what they do.

That is a key thing in Bible teaching, in reformational thinking. We are accepted, and therefore our works, although tainted by sin, not one of us has ever done anything with perfect intentions. Therefore, our works are accepted.

We're not Rome, where we think, you know what? If we're sincere about it, then he'll accept us. No, no, and we're not Richard Baxter, where we'll, you know, in the new covenant, we'll just have kind of lesser laws, not as demanding and strict.

No, no, we're Christians, and we're in Christ. We are accepted, and therefore accepted, and the beloved people have their works. Although they fall short, they are accepted as well. And that's what's so key, because otherwise, what happens?

Well, we're self-righteous like me. We lie to ourselves and say, I might not have a good attitude, but at least I did it. Or if we're honest with ourselves, we become depressed because we realize the Lord has saved us, and then how can we ever live up to these things?

And we know we have bad motives, and it's like me going to Burbank, California a couple of years ago, driving with my wife to teach a marriage conference, and we get in a big fight in the car. I mean, just verbal altercation, not yelling or raising voices, but just an argument.

I have to ask my wife to forgive me before I go in and teach the marriage conference. Therefore, we have to continually point people back to who they are, what their relationship is, and why should they obey.

If you, I mean, I know people that have done me favors, and just a small favor. I mean, a while ago, somebody gave me some ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. And if they ever asked me for a favor, guess what I would do for them?

I'd say, no problem. You need me to come pick you up at the airport? It's something simple as that. I needed something, they gave it to me. It was a gift, and I want to respond. I don't even need to be told, oh, I should do something.

Now, of course, we are told how to respond to the Lord's gracious kindness in Christ, but we don't even really have to be told. I don't even think husbands need to be told, love their wives. It's like a universal principle.

What we have to be told though, is husbands love your wives like Christ loved the church. That's what needs to be told. Hindus, Muslims, Mormons, and everybody else, they know we should love our wives.

So anyway, I just think when people do something nice to us and for us, like I know somebody that paid for one of my relatives' college.

That's a lot.

If they called that particular person up, that relative up and said, I need a favor. Could you come mow my lawn? It's not drudgery. You're like, that's the least I could do. I'm not trying to say it's equal in $80 ,000 and mowing lawn.

I'm just saying it's a small token of my gratitude. So therefore, Lord, we could never understand what it's like for you, the son, to experience the wrath of God, like when Pink said the tears of hell condensed into three hours and poured out on Jesus.

How would we ever understand that? We couldn't, but we understand at least by revelation, the immensity of God's love. And then we say, I would love to do that. I would love to respond that way. You tell me to evangelize and I would be glad to do it.

Amen. Amen.

So I got, this has been great. And I don't wanna keep you much longer. I got a couple more questions for you or things. The last one's gonna be a fun question and I hope you did some study on that. But before we get there

I know what that question is, but I didn't study.

Okay. But before we get there, I have sent you, I want you to encourage our listeners, but let's do this. Let's remind our listeners, cause I have believers listening and I'm sure there might be some unbelievers listening.

So would you be so kind as to remind us, what is the gospel? What is the good news of Jesus Christ?

Sure. I love the question. Strictly speaking, the good news of Jesus Christ is that he, the eternal son, assumes human nature, right? He, I don't even like to say adds human nature, but he took on, that's a better word.

He took on human nature to live the life that God required of everybody. And then he died on the cross for sinners. He really died because the text says he was buried and he was raised from the dead. When I say gospel, that's good news.

So by definition, strictly speaking, it's all about the Lord Jesus, this eternal son, who took on human nature so that he might be our representative and our substitute to obey for us and to die for our sins.

And how do we know it worked? I mean, maybe he sinned. Well, he was risen, he rose from the grave. So that proves that it wasn't his sin because he never sinned. It was for someone else's sin. And God accepted that payment and said amen by raising him from the dead.

So that's the gospel. But then that begs other questions. What's the need for the gospel? This isn't the gospel, but the need for the gospel is every one of your listeners and me included and you, we were born sinful people.

Adam's sin was credited to our account and we consequently were born with sin natures. And instead of love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength, we hated God. We were called enemies of God. And if you go to mass or you're baptized and you're catechized and you're a good person and you pay your taxes, you still are an enemy of God.

Self-righteous people who think they're right in God's eyes based on what they do, they're enemies of God. Prostitutes and terrorists and pedophiles, they have no righteousness. They do the opposite, they're unrighteous.

They too need to be right in God's eyes. And while the gospel is strictly speaking what Jesus did, there's a need for it. Why would Jesus come if everything was okay, right? Why, that's Galatians two.

Why would he come and die on the cross if everybody could get to heaven by being good? So there's a need for the gospel because every one of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We're rebels, we're dead in trespasses and sins, we're dominated by our flesh and the world system and we're deceived people.

And left to ourselves like the fallen angels, we all rightly deserve to be damned. If anyone's listening and you're not a Christian, you deserve by your own actions to go to hell. You deserve to bust hell wide open because you've spit in the face of a triune creator many, many times.

And so have all of us, but you in particular, unbeliever, you need to hear that. And God is merciful and God is kind. And so he's given a solution to that need. You say, well, I understand the gospel now and I understand the need for the gospel.

How might I receive the gospel? And receiving the gospel isn't the gospel, but it's how do we get those benefits? And it's something very simple and it's called faith. While the need for the gospel is we're sinful, the gospel is Jesus rectified that problem by dying for sinners and living for righteousness and was resurrected.

The reception of the gospel is by faith alone. And so you know something about God, if you listen today, you know. And you say, I give assent to that. I agree to that, it's true. And then you trust in your heart.

You say, I believe that. I believe that I'm going to die one day, stand before God.

And then it's judgment.

It's either gonna be Jesus judged or I'm judged. And I would like to have Jesus who said he's a kind advocate to be my defense lawyer. And he says, if I believe in him, he will do that. And so I will, by simple faith, take him at his word, trusting, assenting, and knowing this Jesus.

And you say, well, don't I have to be baptized? Don't I have to be catechized or something else? No, because anything we do is tainted by sin. And therefore faith has an object, the Lord Jesus, and it can be a weak faith, a simple faith, but it's the right object because Jesus is the strong one.

And he's the advocate who redeems sinners and forgives them of all their sins. And if you're listening today and you're not a Christian, wouldn't you like to have all your sins forgiven? I offer that to you freely.

You come and buy water without price.

That's the offer of the gospel.

You can freely come. And if you're like me, dear listener, my wife's bugged at me because I've done something wrong toward her. What kind of feeling do I have when I say to my wife finally out of all my pride and I suppress my selfishness and I say, honey, I've sinned against you.

Would you please forgive me? And then my wife being merciful and kind says, of course I forgive you, honey. And we're restored. I mean, the whole day is wrecked when we're unreconciled. And now when we're reconciled, the whole day is made.

She accepts me, she receives me, even though she knows all about me. And if my wife is kind and merciful and loves to reconcile and to forgive, how much more the triune God who made you, dear listener, loves to forgive sinners.

He loves to forgive sinners so much, he sent his son out of love to die for sinners just like you. And I offer you him freely, simply trusting. Lord, I don't believe, but help my unbelief. That even is a good prayer.

And so the gospel is what Jesus does. The need for the gospel is shown to us by the law and it shows we're sinners and don't love God and don't love neighbor. And the remedy for the gospel is received by faith and faith alone.

Amen.

Nicholas Cage Movies and the Closing Remarks

Thank you so much for sharing that. And even as believers, we need to hear that and be reminded constantly. And that just helps us so much to live a life of gratitude. So I got one more question for you.

This is the fun one. This is what I've been asking. Most of my, I think all my guests have been getting this question. The question is about Nicholas Kim Coppola. First off, do you know who Nicholas Kim Coppola is?

I didn't do any research except I figured out who Nicholas Cage was.

Okay. Very good, Nicholas Cage. So this is the question about Nicholas Cage. And I'm assuming you've seen a few Nicholas Cage movies. I'm not recommending, once again, for my listeners, not recommending all Nicholas Cage movies.

There are some fun ones and fairly clean ones that you can see. But Nicholas Cage, very good actor. So here's the question. If a Nicholas Cage movie was real life, what character would you want to be?

And you can't be anybody that Nicholas Cage is playing.

Oh, now see, I'm looking up Wiki right now, Nicholas Cage trying to find a good thing to say. And so I'll say this at least before I answer your question. Nic Cage is not to be confused with Nick Cave.

And I used to be a punk rocker and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were a pretty intense band. And I don't recommend them either. So I have to pick someone in a Nicholas Cage movie but not played by Nicholas Cage?

Yeah, so it can't be the character that he's playing. So like a supporting role, like somebody that's in the movie with him, a character in the movie, and you could be that person.

Well, you know what? This guy is so creepy. I probably shouldn't say this, but just for fun for the sake of all things podcast wise, I think I'd like to be the guy in Con Air, John Makovic.

Ooh, yes, yeah. Oh, what was his name?

I don't know.

I can't think of it, but it was, oh man, it's on the tip of my tongue. I'll think of it later.

Cyrus the virus.

That's it, yes. I think it was something like that, yes. Cyrus the virus, yes.

Excuse me.

How's that to rescue it via internet?

Yeah, that's a good choice too. I haven't had that one yet. You know, in the short time I've been asking that question, I've gotten, somebody wanted to be the Harvey Keitel character from National Treasure.

Somebody wanted to be, what's his name? His sidekick in National Treasure. When I asked Pat Abendroth.

He probably said Sean Connery in The Rock or something.

He said this, he said, was Nicholas Cage in Snakes on the Plane? Snakes on the Plane? Because I want to be one of the snakes. And I was like, what? I was like, first, I don't think he was, and what?

Yeah, well, that's better than the virus thing. I think there was some kind of crazy snake show that he was in, but maybe that was something else. I'm just looking at it now, Leaving Las Vegas, Frumble Fish, Wild at Heart.

Yeah, for a period of time, he was just taking every role that was offered to him. He was just, he was just doing it.

I scrolled down the other day, probably two days ago, and it said Nicholas Cage's next movie is one of his best ever. And I don't even know what that is.

And he's actually playing himself in the movie. It's like a parody of him. So it looks very interesting. So he's playing Nicholas Cage as Nicholas Cage.

So.

Well, the only other bit of information I have before we should probably wrap this secular talk up is if you go to California and you go to the winery, the Coppola Winery, you have the uncle of Nicholas Cage, Francis Ford Coppola.

And when you go to the winery, they've got the desk there from the godfather.

Wow.

You can see the cool desk. And so I didn't even have any wine when I went. I just wanted to see the desk.

Where's the desk? It's like at the end of the tour, you have to go through all this boring stuff first, and then, oh, here's the desk. And it's just like.

Yeah, yeah. And then you say, well, where's the horse's head is the next part.

It's in the drawer of the desk. But anyway, Pastor Mike, thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate your time. Do you want to tell the listeners where they can listen to your podcast or whatever else you have?

Sure, it's thepactum .org.

No, I'm just kidding.

I was, if I wasn't coming from work, I would have had my Pactum hat. I would have been wearing it right now.

Oh, nice. Well, I'm going to put a hat on that lookers can't see,.

But I have a hat.

Oh.

That's a little slogan that I have.

Henno.

Yeah.

Sure.

Nocompromisedradio .com. Super simple. You can get us on Spotify or iTunes or anything like that. Twitter is atnocoradio. And we also have a channel that you can watch videos. And some of the videos, I don't think are but two minutes, 90 seconds.

And that's the YouTube channel, No Compromised Radio. And then the church that I pastor. And two weeks, it'll be 25 years, 25 year anniversary. BBCchurch .org, Bethlehembiblechurch .org.

Amen.

Thanks once again. Thanks for sharing and teaching about the sufficiency of Christ, for sharing the gospel. So listeners out there, you can just keep checking out this podcast at christianpodcastcommunity .org or wherever podcasts are found.

So until next time, I pray you continue to seek the kingdom of God and find out what we are even doing here. Grace and peace. Drive safe, Grady.

Don't look anything like that.

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 six. 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.