1 Corinthians 1 - 1-4-10

No Compromise Radio. Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

Salt and Light in a Decaying Culture

All goes on to say, you have been bought with a price, now obey God, honor Him with your body. Glorify God with your body. And so I say, okay Lord, Worcester is rotting. When I say Worcester, I mean the city, this area.

If you live in Framingham or you live in Connecticut or Rhode Island, you live in Haverhill, some people drive up from Taunton, wherever you live, this area here is rotting. It is corpse-like and it is spiritually, may I say it, putrid.

Why are we here? Why are you here? Because you by the grace of God, not your own ingenuity, not because you have a higher spiritual IQ, you have been given from an outside source, that source being God, you've been given the truth.

You know the truth. We had eight guys here yesterday in preaching discipleship and I thought, these eight guys individually probably know more than most pastors in New England do. 80 of New England is Roman Catholic.

The other 19 is a non-saving kind of evangelicalism, some kind of liberalism. And if you see some meat that's rotting, you don't go up and put honey on it, now do you? There's this idea that we see the culture around us and the way we influence a culture is we make it sweet.

We say things like, you know what, you can be a Christian and you can really be cool too. You can come to Christ and nothing in your life has to change and you can go to heaven. You can come to Christ and you know what, you can still excel at work, you can still have all your friends, everybody in the neighborhood is really going to still like you.

When friends, Jesus in Matthew 5 says, the gospel through the people isn't a honey issue, it isn't a sugar issue, it is a what? Salt. Take a look at that in chapter 5 verse 13 when Jesus says in Matthew 5, you are the honey of the earth.

No, you're the salt of the earth. As Corinth is rotting and it needs salt of the gospel and gospel people, so too Worcester. This world needs to be preserved, it is decaying, it is rotting. You can just, you ever open up some meat in your refrigerator and you go, I went on vacation and open the refrigerator and you're like, whoa vacation, and you smell that.

That's a spiritual condition here. How do they preserve meat in the old days? They'd take some salt and they'd rub that salt into it. That's how they preserve some meat now. Let's see what G. Campbell Morgan said, he was the predecessor to Lloyd-Jones.

Jesus, looking out over the multitudes of his day, saw the corruption, the disintegration of life at every point. It's breakup, it's spoilation, and because of his love of the multitudes, he knew the thing they needed most was salt in order that the corruption should be arrested.

He saw them also wrapped in gloom, sitting in darkness, groping amidst mists and fogs. He knew what they needed above everything else. What's the very next verse in verse 14 talk about? Not just salt, not just something that's maybe from the inside, but on the outside, light.

Light That Exposes and Reveals

Friends, you are salt and light to Worcester. What other salt and light do they have? I drive by almost every single church here in New England, and I look at it and I go, you know, how to be a green Christian, how to be a Christian and don't believe in hell, how to be a Christian and do all these other things, and I just think, how to believe a Christian without believing in the literal resurrection, and I just drive by.

You want to know what I do when I drive by churches? Here's what I say often. First, I say, kids, what's a universalist, and they tell me. I say, you know, Lord, would you give me that church building, me meaning the royal me, elder board, would you give me that building, and by your grace, we'll preach the gospel from that church.

The text says in verse 14, you are the light of the world, and we are no different. Corinth was no different as the church at Corinth. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket.

Even your kids will tell you that. Put it under, you know, this little light of mine, put it under a bushel, and no. But on the lampstand, that's where you put the light, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

The secret salt working, this external visible working of light. Light, unlike salt, salt preserves, light exposes. Light is known for in the New Testament and old for truth, for purity, for knowledge, for divine revelation.

Isaiah chapter 42, a light to the nations, that was Israel's job. Light shines openly. You can be, you can be a brand new Christian or a 30-year-old Christian, and you can say, you know, I have that same light, I'm going to let that shine.

You are in New England for a reason, so therefore, let your light shine. I thought about it the other day, remember the dark ages? We're in the dark ages. We're like in the capital of the dark ages. If you look, if you include Boston with all their ideas of knowledge, and wisdom, and education, and what they sell coming out of the universities, and Harvard, and other places, this is the spiritual dark ages.

People think about it, don't blush at Jerry Springer anymore. Is there anything for which our society today blushes? So what are we supposed to do? The Church of Corinth was supposed to do it. Jesus said to his disciples to do it, and I say, through them to you.

Evangelism as Glorifying God

You are to reflect the mind, and nature, and person of God in your lives, but more importantly, through your message. We've bought in the lie that friendship evangelism is the way to go. If you mean by friendship evangelism, be friends with people and then evangelize them.

Hip, hip, hooray. Three cheers. But if you mean, they're going to see my life, and you know what, 10 years later, maybe they'll ask me, why are you so different? I'll give you a hearty har-har for that one.

I don't want that one. Of course, it's difficult to evangelize friends, but why do you make friends? Why do you have neighbors? Bethlehem Bible Church, I'll try to live by this example as God has graced me, and I want you to do the same thing.

And by the way, if you're doing it, carry on. Keep going. Every person you meet, you should think, bullseye. Somebody comes to your door, hi, would you like to buy some high-fat mint cookies? You go, this is a soul.

Supposed to love my neighbor. Who's my neighbor? Hello. When you go get your haircut, and you're sitting there, and you have a captive audience the whole time, you think, I have an opportunity. By the way, if you think you're paid to preach at work, you're not paid to preach at work, but when you're on a lunch break, fine.

We are here to tell people the gospel, and they don't need good lives for their example. They need good lives that proclaim the truth. Romans 10, verse 17, without a message about Christ, no salvation.

I'll never forget when I saw on YouTube, there's the magician team, unbelievers Penn and Teller. And basically, Penn said, if you really think that hell is real, and you don't tell people about it, you are the most unloving group of people I've ever heard about in my life, and we're to tell the truth.

And that truth will change people on the inside. That truth, even though people might not believe it, will still restrain society. We're to glorify the Lord. We're to glorify the Lord, according to Matthew chapter 5.

I want you to be conspicuous as a Christian, not just a bumper sticker, not just, well, you know, everything about me is kind of Christian. I'll never forget the pastor who said, I need to go join a gym to go work out at because I have no unbelieving friends.

Everybody I know is a Christian. We need to be purposely thinking, how do I meet people who aren't Christians? Because this is a rotting place. When you go to the store to stop and shop, or you go work out, you think, I'm out here for a reason, I'm salt and I'm light.

That's why, and I said this a couple of weeks ago, that's why it's an error to run to Montana, to run to monasticism, to run to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to run away. Did Paul say any of that in 1 Corinthians?

By the way, you're too influenced by the world, and the world's got into your system, so now you run to Crete. Now you run someplace else. You run to Ephesus. No, you don't get away from the filth of the world.

You rub salt on it and show it light. Jesus prayed in John 17, I do not ask thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

As thou dost send me into the world, I've also sent them into the world. This is not a cultural, moral, political deal. By the way, do we have a lot more Christians in the world now because Ronald Reagan was the president for eight years?

You think from his administration, there was one extra Christian? Well, what's the flip side? If you like President Reagan, you probably, his policies, you probably don't like President Obama's policies.

Can the policies of a country determine the gospel? Can they affect the gospel? Can they squash the gospel? The answer is no, so let your light shine. I don't want to call it friendship evangelism anymore.

I want to call it glorification evangelism. If God is glorified no matter what I do and say, it falls underneath that rubric, then I'm happy. If no one repents, no one believes, no one likes me, then they don't like me.

The Cost of Christian Distinctiveness

Sinclair Ferguson said it well. Cease to be different and we cease to be Christians. How slow we often are to learn this lesson. At times, we fall into the trap of being blackmailed by a world that says, unless I find your life attractive, Christian, on my own terms, I will not respond to the message of the gospel.

Ferguson says, but if we yield at that point, we become prisoners of perpetual blackmail. I've heard sometimes Christians witness to people in these terms. You mustn't think that being a Christian takes away your fun.

I can enjoy doing the same things you do. Being a Christian isn't a series of don'ts. Much of this may be true, but why should the church be so concerned to tell the world that it is not really very different from the world?

The church then becomes both powerless and pointless. If you have forgiveness, but lose everything else, don't you think that's a fair trade? Until the unbelievers see that their biggest problem is not marriages, work, health, communication issues between spouses and other people.

Until they see the biggest need is, there's a wrathful God. A God who is more than wrath, but he is angry with the wicked every day. And he has created them, and he has given them his image and his likeness.

And he said, you were born for a reason, and that is to worship me. Every person ever born was born to do Psalm 145 from their heart and soul. I extol you, O King. And then when it is, I hate you, O King, and I will try to kill you if my arm's long enough, that's what every unbeliever does.

Unless there's an exchange where the wrath of God is poured out on Christ Jesus instead of believers, there's a big problem. But when you realize forgiveness is at the top of my priority, then everything else about mother, father, spouse, work, you'll go, you know what, it doesn't matter because I'm going to face God one day.

The neighbors on your left, the neighbors on your right, the neighbors across the street, the person in your cubicle with you, all your friends, all your relatives, all your kids, your spouse, everybody will stand before God one day, and then it won't be, well, I had a good portfolio, that really helped me in life.

My wife and I were very romantic, and we loved each other, and all these kind of things. It might be all fine, I'm not saying there's something wrong with that, but the issue is, how can I have forgiveness?

That is the question. That's why it's wrong for us, for Christians to say, well, come along and follow us. You can just keep everything the way you want. And Jesus said, it might cost you everything, but if you have forgiveness, you have everything.

Confronting Roman Catholicism and the Need for Forgiveness

I'm thankful we're here at Worcester. I sometimes complain that I'm in Worcester. I think, that wasn't meant to be funny. By the sovereign hand of God, he placed you here. And if you're a visitor where you are, and where your church is, you're there.

And we live in a culture here that doesn't worship Aphrodite, but they might as well be. You have next door neighbors, 80 of them, and their doctrine says this. If you believe you're justified by faith alone and no works, you're going to hell.

That's what these people's churches believe. They believe that Jesus' death on the cross was not sufficient. And every single day, and every single week, and every single Sunday, he has to be slain again when the Bible says, it is finished.

80 of your neighbors are told this lie. You cannot know for sure if you're going to heaven. Assurance, if you are granted, this church believes, the Roman Catholic Church believes, that if you believe you can know that you're going to heaven, 1 John chapter 5 verse 13, you are damned.

And friends, what we do, unfortunately, is this. Well, you know, I have a friend, and they go to that other church, but they're really Christians. Well, then, friends, if they're really Christians, why don't you love them enough to tell them to hightail it out of there?

We're too, I mean, there are Baptists, there are people here today, I'm sure, who aren't Christians. But once you know the truth, and once you tell people the truth, and by the way, what better message could you have?

Jesus saves sinners, follow him. The God of the universe has condescended in his love and has given you his son. What more could he give you? The creator God who made you, who could damn you because of what you've earned, now has forgiven you.

Follow Christ Jesus. Who wouldn't want to talk about that? Bought a new car, and the guy said to me, well, thank you. I just want to thank you, pastor. Most pastors I meet, they don't like to talk about the Bible.

I needed to go in and sign five minutes of paperwork, and I was there for an hour, because he was asking me all these questions. And I said, I love to talk about Jesus. He's a friend of sinners. This is not my off hours.

There aren't off hours. I love to talk about it. Don't you love to talk about how God forgives sins? If you have friends who go to some church that doesn't believe that, oughtn't you not to tell them?

When you tell me with enthusiasm and with vigor and with sureness, they're really Christians. I know they don't believe in all that other stuff, but they're really Christians. You've got to believe it.

You mean to tell me with that kind of enthusiasm? Why don't you tell them to get out of that cesspool? How about that? You go, well, how could you call it a cesspool? With great sadness. I went to my grandmother and said, Grandma, I love you.

And I love you enough to tell you the truth. And it's going to be like me knocking you down a 90-year-old lady with a big shoulder pad, football player kind of shoulder pad. I will put it into your chest, knock you down, and knock the wind out of you, because if you die in your sins, Grandma, you're going to go to hell.

And you've got to have a Jesus who's not just Jesus by name, but a Jesus who saves because he has absorbed the wrath of God on Calvary, and he has died in the place of sinners. And you can't get grace through baptism.

You can't get grace through the sacraments. You can't get grace through the Eucharist. And Grandma, if you don't believe, you're going to go to hell. And then to have her say something, not with her arm like this, but with her voice, I've always been a Catholic, and I'm going to die a Catholic.

That's our culture. Let me ask you this. If we were in Salt Lake City, and I never told you to be loving towards your Mormon neighbors to preach the gospel of them, what kind of church would this be? What kind of pastor would I be?

If you're in India and you never tell the people, listen, it's one God and one God alone. You can't just say you believe in Vishnu and Ganesh and Saraswati. Okay, you've got to believe in Jesus only. And I didn't say we live in the culture of Hinduism, preach the good news.

You'd think we were crazy. And I get it all the time. Well, you know, that's just Catholic bashing. You know what? Let's just settle the score today. I will gladly receive anyone here who says you're a Catholic basher, because it's not true.

And if I tell you the truth, it doesn't mean I'm bashing anyone. It means that I love you to tell you the truth. And if I have to knock the wind out of you, then I have to knock the wind out of you. What people say about me is irrelevant.

I like to be liked. It's good to be good, and it's good to be liked. But that's not the issue. Friends, I'll seal it right now. Church of Corinth, I know you've got problems. Chloe's talked to me. You've got a bunch of issues and questions and answers.

But here's what you do. The people that practice fornication and adultery and homosexuality, and idolatry and greed, and the list in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, they're good. They say they believe in Jesus.

They say they believe in the gospel. They say they believe in the resurrection. And they still go on living like that. Just let them be. Is that Pauline? Has nothing to do with Paul. Paul said, you are a light.

You are salt. I'm not saying when it's Thanksgiving time, you go in and just bust everybody's chops. Although that might be good for some of you. You didn't come up with the gospel. You didn't open your own eyes for the gospel.

You didn't save yourself. You're not better than anyone else. You are a sinner who probably is more of a sinner than your friends who are religious. But God has saved you. And you aren't your own. And it is your job.

It is your responsibility and friend's privilege to bring glory to God. People go, well, you know, that was too long of a sermon. I remember they said that to Don Kistler, his first sermon. Pastor, you preach too long.

He said, well, how long was it? 45 minutes. And he says, too long for whom? He said, too long for me. That's who? And he said, see, that's the problem. He said, I don't preach for you. I preach for the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I'm quite positive that he still loves to hear his name extolled after 45 minutes. Now, I don't want to be callous, but I agree with Don Kistler. Blessed subtraction. You either change your mind or go find a Sheolism church.

It's the same for us. How do we glorify God when we're afraid of the gospel? Friends, if the church of Corinth was meant to be salt and light, you are too. And the great news of all is what? Jesus said in the Great Commission, and lo, I am with you always.

Why would he say that? Because it gives us strength. You know what? I'm just going to do this. This will be interesting. How many people were saved out of a Roman Catholic life? Now, what if I were to tell all you?

And by the way, we're being too mean to your family. We're not going to proselytize them anymore. We just assume they're all going to heaven. There would be an uproar at this church. And who would give the uproar?

Lutherans? We don't have to make Jesus attractive. We don't have to make the Bible relevant. We have to say, God, I'm scared to death. God, I'm weak. I'm frail. I'm sinful myself. And I want people to like me.

And I want people to not be mad at me. I don't want to cause family fights. But your glory is at stake. And their destiny is at stake. And so give me the words to say. Because something is better than nothing.

And I need to preach the gospel of them. Because when they die, there's judgment. By the way, down the street, if the Roman Catholics are saying all that about me because that's what they believe, at least they preach what they believe.

At least they preach what they believe. Well, I have bad news and good news. The bad news is we only got one encouragement today. I don't know if it felt like an encouragement or not. The sovereign God has said, you're here in Worcester, maybe for a month, maybe for a week, maybe for 10 years.

And do you think the sovereign God who places you here doesn't also prepare good works for you to walk into? How about that? They're just waiting for you to walk into. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8, 9, and 10.

He's prepared these good works and you just walk in. And sometimes I walk to the store and I go to the store and I think, you know, I need to get things. I need to get things like, I don't know, some Diet Coke and some kind of, you know, Cheetos and some nine millimeter ammo, you know.

So I gotta figure out where my priorities are. And then you meet someone and you think, wait a second. Like Jesus, the end isn't the goal for me. Just get the stuff. I meet people. I talk with people.

I used to make people say, well, you know, what do you do for a living? I'd make them drag it out of me. Then I just say, I'm a Bible teaching pastor. Oh, that cuts them down to size right there. I don't mean cut them, but that cuts the conversation down to size.

How about you say this? When MacArthur's on the plane, he's got a lot to do and either people are interested or they aren't. Oh, are you studying the Bible? Are you a pastor or something? Yes. I go all around the world and tell people how they can have full forgiveness and sins, no matter what they've done in their life, full forgiveness in Christ Jesus, the risen King.

Are you interested? And if the answer is no, back to study. But if the answer is yes, forget your study and preach the gospel. Let me tell you the glories of Christ Jesus. Who else would you want to talk about?

Remember when I first, I started dating Kim and then I asked her to marry me. If you would bump into me in the middle of the night, I would start saying, you got to talk. You got to see this girl. You got to meet this girl.

That's all I would want to talk about. I'm sure it bordered on idolatry. I'm sure it was, but I was focused. I mean, you were meant to worship. So why don't you just begin to talk about the one who you love?

It's one thing to talk about doctrine. It's another thing to talk about election. It's another thing to talk about, you know, some kind of, you know, infralapsarianism and all that stuff. It's another to say, I know Jesus because he has made himself known to me.

And let me tell you, you can have forgiveness. The risen Savior died for sinners just like you. And if he died for sinners in Corinth, remember Paul said, and some were like you. So I am glad I'm here in Worcester.

And I'm glad the worst thing that can happen when you preach the gospel to a friend is that they kill you when you go to heaven. Let's pray. Our heavenly father, we acknowledge that just like with Corinth, you have placed us here in West Boylston.

Lord, I pray that you'd encourage us. For some are here for work and there's no family. I pray that you would give them a greater sense that this church is their family. Lord, for all of us, I pray that you'd help us to be bolder.

Help us to make sure we preach the gospel in season, out of season, that we would be better salt and light. Lord, without your spirit, we can't do it. And then Lord, for those who are here today, maybe visitors, maybe regular attenders who are offended, who maybe are Roman Catholic.

I pray, Lord, that they would be so mad they'd have to get their Bibles open and study on their own to see if these things were true. And Lord, I pray that you'd grant them. Eyes to see the truth. And Lord, we finally acknowledge that in and of ourselves, we are worthless.

We are weak. We aren't better than anyone, but we are the recipients of divine grace and mercy. We thank you for that in Jesus' name. Amen.

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.

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