Watch Out

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. I don�t know why I sighed. Well, I do. This is take three. I usually don�t do multiple takes on things. I just try to get �er done, get �er done mentality, but this is take three, so I�m just going to continue.

If I make a big mistake or flub up remember Flubber, son of Flubber? If I make those mistakes, then I make those mistakes. I did watch last night with the kids Barabbas, and of course, you know I�m on a Barabbas kit because Matthew chapter 27 and then the three other Gospels also talk about Barabbas, Bar Abba, son of the father.

Maybe the dad was a rabbi, who knows, but the only man Jesus physically died for, I don�t know, as a substitute, and this is a show that it�s pretty fascinating because he has released he doesn�t know Barabbas is released.

He doesn�t know why he�s released. He was in a jail cell with two other criminals, and I think those were the two thieves, of course, that were on the cross on each side of Jesus, but that middle cross was Barabbas�s, but God had different plans, and then Barabbas is released.

Anthony Quinn plays him in the 1961 Dino produced movie, Dino De Laurentiis, I think is his name. I don�t know how to pronounce it. Everything has just only an Anglo-Spanish accent. You�re in Germany and the K-ora Ace kind of thing comes out.

Of course, it�s not that bad, but you know what I mean, and so he is released, and the New Testament doesn�t tell us what happens, but in this account, he stumbles against the scourging pole and gets Jesus� blood on his hands, and then when he�s trying to get out of there, he turns around and bumps into the people carrying the cross over to where Jesus will have to then pick it up, and it�s just a fascinating account of what happens, and he goes back to his girlfriend, and she�s now believing in the weird prophet of love.

Now, they get the love stuff, you know, here�s the only thing God requires of you. You love one another. That�s the great commandment in their mind. They forget that that�s the second great commandment, but anyway, fascinating show, what must have been going through Barabbas� mind.

He�s drinking a bunch of alcohol, partying, and then he looks out the window, and there�s Jesus carrying the cross, so fascinating movie, a lot of biblical things there. They try not to let you see Christ�s face.

He�s just in the background, and so Barabbas, well, see, aren�t you glad you tuned in, that I�m giving you movie reviews? I think so far on No Compromise Radio, I�ve yet to give one movie review, so now there�s my first one, Barabbas.

The first hour was really good, then Barabbas goes to the phosphorous mines or something like that, and the rest really isn�t that good, but I will tell you when his girlfriend, for the sake of the faith, gets stoned in this big stone quarry pit, my girls didn�t really want to watch.

Now there are fake foam, styrofoam, spongy rocks that are thrown on her, but the idea is very, very shocking, and then to think Paul, one of my girls said, �Who could ever live through that And then my other girl said, �Well, Paul was stoned several times and then one man taken out into the gladiator arena as a Christian, and then he�s killed.

So Barabbas, 1961, I give it a B just because I like the idea of Barabbas, because I like the idea of Jesus having this all planned out. It was Pilate�s sinful choice, the scribes and Pharisees� sinful choice, yet people, sinful choice, yet it was God�s choice to have Jesus die on behalf of sinners.

In this particular case, he was Barabbas�s substitute. Now D .L. Moody was an evangelist, and yeah, he�s an Arminian, but I like evangelists anyway, and he would get heckled frequently. That�s why I don�t take collars.

Some of the people got pretty mad at him, and so if you want to get mad at me, you just go to No Compromise 90 YouTube channel, and then you pull up Where�s Beth Moore�s Husband or something. You can make comments on that little chat channel.

In the final service of one campaign, an usher handed Moody, Dwight Moody, a note as he entered the auditorium. Supposing it to be an announcement, Moody quieted the large audience and prepared to read the notice.

He opened it to find a single word, �Fool. But Moody, quick on his feet, said, �This is most unusual. I have just been handed a message which consists of but one word, the word �Fool. I repeat, �This is most unusual.

I have often heard of those who have written letters and forgotten to sign their names, but this is the first time I have ever heard of anyone who signed his name and forgot to write the letter. Don�t you like that?

That�s no-co. That�s no-co. No-co radio. No-co 90. What do we want to talk about today? Well, my mind has been in 1 Corinthians 16 for quite some time now because I just got done preaching 1 Corinthians, and now we�re going chapter by chapter through the book of Romans, kind of a jet tour, 16 weeks through Romans, lots of new people at Bethlehem Bible Church, and I want them to be exposed to this wonderful the gospel according to Paul kind of thing, as some have called it.

But 1 Corinthians chapter 16, remember at the end there, close to the end, those five imperatives. Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

Paul is telling the church at Corinth, if you begin to act this way, these present imperatives, you�ll clean up the mess that your own sins have created. And preventatively, if you�re a church that doesn�t act like Corinth, then if you would do these things, you would not fall into the trap that is a self-imposed trap that the Corinthians find themselves in and are experiencing.

And so Paul says, �Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love, and be on the alert. Now, this would solve the problems of lack of unity in chapter 1 through 4.

It�s solved the problem of sexual sin in chapter 5 in no church discipline. It�s solved the problem of suing one another in chapter 6, and then sexual immorality that�s rampant in the end of chapter 6.

It would solve issues of, what about marriage in chapter 7, Christian liberty chapters 8, 9, and 10. It�s solved worship problems with the head covering issue and Lord�s Supper. It�s solved spiritual gift issues, chapters 12, 13, and 14.

And so, when I was preaching this, and even when I talked about it on NOCO, I didn�t talk much about the Be on the Alert segment just because I ran out of time. So, why prepare all this information and then not give it to you?

Because this is a special edition of No Compromise Radio. For those of you that are listening, you realize that you get this special one-time love gift. Oh, Terry emailed. I think it was a Facebook comment, but I don�t comment back, but I�d like to.

Terry emailed and said that he used to call Bob Larson something like Robert Larson, Robin Larsony, or something like that. Bob Larson. How could I be so naive to fall for Bob Larson? I mean, look into the passage here.

Be on the alert. Watching. Be watchful. Present imperative. Stay awake. Of course, spiritually. Keep your eyes spiritually open. Keep your eyes peeled. Pay attention. Be vigilant. This military metaphor, stationed sentinels guarding camps, observing possible movements by the enemy.

Watch out. I guess I was just naive. I mean, I was a new Christian. I hadn�t even been a Christian for probably six or seven months, and I�m listening to KKLA. What was the station number there in Los Angeles?

99 -5 or something? And so, they had people on like the Bible Answer Man. Walter Martin had recently died, and so Hank Hanegraaff took over. They had Raul Reis, who was my pastor, and then John MacArthur, who became my pastor.

And then they had Lloyd Ogilvie, Stanley Swindoll. Then they had a lot of funky, funky kind of psychologists. This was the day and age in the late, in the middle 90s, early middle 90s, where everything was psychology.

Focus on the family had been around, but then it was Minereth Meyer, John Jolliffe, David Stoop. Who were some of the other psychologists on? And so, they were just pumping this stuff out. That was what people liked, counseling.

And then they had a guy named Bob Larson on, and he didn�t strike me as heretical because he talked about Jesus. He talked about God. He had a Bible. He had a $700 Armani suit. I think I drove to Ventura to see him, and he came out in his nice suit.

I probably was just jealous. I was probably just jealous that it was a cool suit. Maybe it was a $2 ,000 suit. It really looked nice. And so, going there to listen to Bob Larson, I remember saying to Bob Larson, �It�s ministries, and I�d love to help somehow.

How could I help here? I�d like to serve. Send the money. We�ll do the work. Now, they didn�t say that, but basically, I think that�s what they meant. I know we�re not supposed to impute motives, but that was bad.

So then he started talking to these demon-possessed people who were in phone booths, and how could I not just think this guy is loony? Now, I didn�t have a lot of foundation, of course, but anyway, back to the point.

Be on the alert. What are we to watch out for? If we�re to be spiritually awake and spiritually watchful, being on our guard, walking circumspectly, and this is not just a flash in the pan, once in a while, Mondays, Tuesdays, and then maybe Saturday afternoons.

Paul is saying don�t be drowsy as a Christian. You can�t be an ostrich with your head in the sand, spiritually indifferent to these things. What do you watch out for? So let me just give you a few things to look out for when it comes to being on your guard spiritually.

I think I talked about this before, but it�s good to listen to again. It�s good for me, so it must be good for you. Watch for Christ�s return. You are to be looking out for Christ�s return. And of course, if you�re looking for that, then you�re living in light of that.

So we believe, especially in No Compromise Radio, although I think I�m going to do some shows on covenant theology and dispensationalism and what do we believe here? We�re men without a country. What do we believe?

You�re going to have to start some new category or something. You can listen to S .S. Johnson�s Divine Purpose in his topical studies, 33 parts, and then you can probably figure out about where we land.

I�m going to put that stuff and make it into a book if possible. We�re going to start a new movement. It�s a new generation. Watch out for people. Stay on the alert. Be on the alert for people that have new, fangled thoughts.

So watching out for Christ�s return, we believe in ethical eschatology. You know, if you�d like to parse pre-trib, pre-mill, all these other issues, that�s fine. I think it�s a good endeavor. But at the end of the day, I hope it produces holy living.

When you anticipate the Lord�s soon return, you live in light of that and you want to be found in a way that�s pleasing unto the Lord in a sanctifying way, in sanctification. I mean, we�re already pleasing in the Lord�s sight because we�re in Christ, of course, in union with Christ.

This is eschatological. Watch. It will help the way you live. Now, laced throughout 1 Corinthians, there�s this theme, the Day of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1, 8, �Who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians, verse 13,. �Each one�s work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.

And then 1 Corinthians 5, verse 5,. �You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Regularly in the New Testament, even outside of 1 Corinthians, this idea is there.

Watching now, being alert, standing with an observant countenance spiritually. We need to be aware of what�s going on. Now, that doesn�t mean you turn yourself into only a discernment person. Your only verse in the Bible is Jude 3,.

�Contend earnestly for the ones delivered faith. There are other things that we have to do, but we are to contend. We are to, especially as elders, to silence people that teach the wrong thing. I can�t put a literal muzzle on people, so I have to try to silence them with words.

You�ll see this idea of being on the alert for Christ�s soon return, and paying attention, knowing that you�re in the last days in the New Testament. Let�s look at Jesus� words in Matthew 24,. �Therefore be on the alert.

See, now even Jesus is saying that, �For you do not know which day your Lord is coming. Be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

For this reason, you be ready too, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will. Matthew 25,. �And later the other virgins also came, saying, Lord, Lord, open up for us. But he answered and said, Truly I say to you, I do not know you.

Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day or the hour. Mark chapter 13,. �Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, at cock crowing, or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.

And what I say to you, I say to all, be on the alert. That is something that if the Corinthians would have done, they would have not been in the trouble that they were in. Be on the alert. You can imagine the guy who was standing there as a watchman, as a military watchman, our sentinel back in those days, if he was found sleeping on the job, then he could either be killed, or what some people did is they lit them on fire, and you would wake up then.

What does the Bible teach about looking for things? Well, here still for the second coming, let us be alert and sober for Thessalonians talking about peace and safety, �Then destruction will come I just whistled, �will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness. Let us be alert and sober. Well, not only that, I think there's another thing we need to look out for, and that is worldly and or satanic influences.

What should you be watching out for? I think you need to say to yourself, �The world isn't my friend, the world system of course, and Satan is obviously not my friend, and there are corrosive elements to his screw tape letter kind of mischievous strategies.

1 Peter 5, 8, using the same language that's in 1 Corinthians 16, �Be a sober spirit, be on the alert. But now instead of being on the alert for Christ's return, your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

You've got to be watching out. There are false teachers. We are involved in real spiritual warfare. We have to be careful. You turn on Christian radio, even this station, and you're going to get the weird stuff that's at 430 at People to People.

You ought not to listen to that. That show is not good for your health. The Bible answers or whatever, the Seventh-day Adventist on Saturday, this is not good for your soul. You can't just turn on TBN and assume that everything on there is going to be good.

Basically nothing on there is good. But even here on WV &E, you have to watch out. You have to even watch what I say. Listen to what I say. Is this true? Is it not? We have to keep our eyes open to moralism and therapeutic deism and legalism.

You have to be careful. Well, what else should we watch out for? I think you'd need to be watchful for temptation. The same language that's used in 1 Corinthians 16, �Be on the alert is found in Mark 14 regarding temptation.

Jesus said, �Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And exactly what Jesus said to the apostles, I think it's good advice for us as well.

Here, we have to be careful not to be tempted to what? Be prayerless? To judge each other? You think about what happened at Corinth. They were tempted to judge each other. They were tempted to line themselves up under a human leader.

They were tempted to be influenced by bad company and bad theology, not the bands. They were tempted to be involved in the sexual immorality that was found in the city with all those temple prostitutes that would descend from the...it wasn't the Acropolis, but it's a high...not a high city, but it was just a high place.

They had to be careful to watch out for idolatry. They had to be careful to watch out for the temptation to be prideful. Oh, I've got this gift, and I've got that gift, and look at me. There are temptations that Christians need to look out for.

Charles Baudelaire said, �The man who says his prayers in the evening is a captain posting his centuries. After that, he can sleep. So Jesus, when it was coming to temptation, he said, what's the response?

What's the way to not be tempted? Keep watching. That's our word there. It's where we get the word, by the way, Gregory. The man's name, Gregory, is watchful, alert, be watchful. And here he says, be watchful or keep watching and praying so that you may not come into temptation.

If you've experienced much of life, you know the temptations out there are many, and we're to look out for those. I guess the other way to do it is just imagine they never are going to come. Imagine that you're immune.

Imagine that you are beyond that and you can overcome everything. We are easily tempted, so we need to be vigilant. Here's what we need to think of. You need to walk through the world, trusting the Lord, of course, but it's like a minefield.

Now, I've never had to do it, thankful for that, walking through a real minefield. Imagine if you could have a mind sweeper and you would know where these mines were. You would make sure to walk circumspectly.

You would keep on the alert. I mean, these people that were forced to run across minefields just to blow up the stuff, there wouldn't be nothing you could do. You would just pray and then run. But you knew where they were, carefully walking step by step.

Or you can imagine walking on a precipice in a mountain, staying close to the edge. Too often, I think, in temptation, especially with younger people or those who would like to be married and those who would like to have a wife and those who are interested in, of course, a lot of other things, but sex as well, how close can we go?

How close can we go to the mine that's marked by the mind sweepers and still be okay? I don't think anybody would do that. I know personally I wouldn't do it at all. When I was in the Ardenne Forest and looking at some of the Easy Company stuff, Band of Brothers, with my family several years ago, there were so many mines left out there.

I wanted to say it was 110 ,000 mines and 30 people lost their lives as they try to dig them all up after the war. How long that took them? Well, we don't try to see how close we can get to the edge of the cliff without falling.

We don't try to get close to the mine without blowing ourselves up. We are watchful and prayerful and we stay away. We run. I remember in Los Angeles, I first got saved and was going to Jim and it was interesting because who would I see there?

Denzel Washington, Adrian Barbeau, Paul Cook, he was in the Sex Pistols band. There's just all kinds of different people there. The American gladiators, Mariah Carey's brother. I mean, just all these people.

Gary Shandling would use his black sunglasses and still be on the treadmill like we didn't know who they were. And I met a guy and he's a Christian. He said, I've decided not to go back to the gym. Why?

He said, because, you know, what the women wear, I'm too tempted to look. And I said, oh, you know, no big deal. The more I thought about it, the more I thought he was wise. I'm not saying today on No Compromise Radio, you're not allowed to go to the gym.

But maybe that's something that you need to think about. Maybe you just need to hang out in the free weight areas. See, then it's mainly a bunch of guys over there. I don't know. Maybe there's women here that listen to the radio show that like the free weights.

Hoorah. So, and then the last thing, be watchful so you're not lulled into a groggy, lethargic, apathetic indifference. Yeah, just kind of cruise through life. No, we can be alert even positively for opportunities to evangelize, opportunities to serve, opportunities to be involved in the life of the church.

My name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. I almost called it NoCo90, but you can go to our website online, NoCompromise90, and that's on the YouTube channel. And we've got quite a few YouTubes that you can listen to.

And one of these days, you know, we'll branch off into NoCo80 or something, NoCo180. Info at NoCompromiseRadio .com. My name is Mike Abendroth, or you can get us on Facebook or.

NoCompromiseRadio .com. 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.

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