Church Destroyers (Part 2)

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No Compromise Radio Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author,

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Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the

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Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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

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In Romans chapter 16, Paul is just kind of preaching like preachers do and it seems like he's kind of ending it on a high note and commending people.

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Chapter 16, verse 1, our sister Phoebe, he's doing things that no good Jewish man would ever do, commend women for ministry.

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Eight women he picks out that have just served the Lord with wholeheartedness, who have built the church, who have not destroyed the church, and he commends them by name.

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Paul, don't you know that there are women? Yes, he does because these women are equal in Christ Jesus, equal to the

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Apostle Paul, salvificly. And he's greeting people, look at just all the first words of all the verses.

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Verse 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, see a pattern, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and then out of nowhere, some people think

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Paul couldn't even have written this because why would he say this after all these lovely greetings? Happily ever after, be warm and be filled.

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Most likely Paul picked up the pen himself and wrote these words. I appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.

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Avoid them. This is not some time for in love we debate and we have a get together and we have a book club thing and we sit and talk.

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Avoid them. Watch them. Microscope, telescope, Greek word here for watch, scope.

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Scope them out. Check them out. Keep your eyes on them. There's danger.

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I don't know if you've ever walked near an animal that's not in a cage but somehow you just think to yourself,

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I probably should pay attention. I'll never forget it. I'm at Plantsburg Park, a national park in South Africa and I'm seeing the animals and you wanted to see the big five, the five big kind of famous animals.

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It tells you when you drive in, obvious warning, do not get out of your car. Lions. And so you're looking and a few places you can get out and they've got these big kind of open walkways where the animals would put their feet through and have a hard time getting through and we pulled up to the corner, this kind of T and I mean it's just thousands of acres and tons of land and we came up to this little intersection and the pastor,

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Martin Holt said, dear Lord, I just pray that you'd give Pastor Abendroth, I was the guest speaker, just a great trip and show him some of your handiwork and I need to know which way to turn and basically do

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I turn left or right because I want to show Abendroth some lions. So he said, okay, I'm just going to turn right.

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So we turned right, went down to this little water in Holt and there laid this male tawny lion right out there.

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And I'm trying to take pictures and I'm looking and we're stopped in the middle of Africa and I'm looking and thinking and then

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I had this dreadful, most dreadful thought as I'm leaning over and looking, who's behind me because I've got my window open.

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Here I am thinking about that and I've got to watch my back because some kind of lion could just come in this way as I'm watching over here.

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It's all a set up. That male lion's sleeping so the female can come and just devour me. Start looking around all the time.

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There's lions around here. Paul says to the church at Rome and says to the church of Corinth, there's a danger lurking.

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If God tries to build, Satan tries to what? Destroy. We've got to watch out.

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I don't want to be factious. On judgment day, I don't want to say, you know, my job was to get people to follow me and to create parties and factions and dissensions, obstacles.

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That's what it means there in chapter 16 of Romans verse 17, create obstacles, literally scandalous traps, put bait out and people fall into them.

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What's the text say? Avoid them. Present imperative, keep on turning from them.

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These are going to be the people that want to talk, that want to debate, that want to get together and Paul says, run.

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No countenance for them. And Paul describes them a little bit. Here's the heart. Would you like to take a magnifying glass and see in the heart of a factious person?

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Here's what you'll see. If you thought the new airport scanners could see everything, look at this.

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For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ. Why? Because if they did, they'd build, they'd encourage, they'd be part of.

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They don't serve the Lord. They're not Lord. They're acting like Lord, but there is a Lord Christ, but their own appetites are some translations, their own bellies.

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They worship themselves in their own belly and by smooth talk, they're articulate.

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They're powerful. They know what to say and flattery. They deceive the hearts of the naive.

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You hear the contempt in Paul? Verse 18, for such persons, for those kind of people, those sorts, they're after their own private interests because if they were after God's interests, they would help build and they've got praise.

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They've got flattery. They've got eulogies. That's a Greek word. They speak well. People, listen to Adam Clark.

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The church of God has ever been troubled with such pretended pastors, men who feed themselves, not the flock, men who are too proud to beg and too lazy to work, who have neither grace nor gifts to plant the standard of the cross on the devil's territories and by the power of Christ make inroads upon his kingdom and spoil him of his subjects.

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On the contrary, by sowing seeds of dissension, by means of doubtful disputations and the propagation of scandals, by glaring speeches and insinuation, they affect elegance and good breeding.

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They wrench Christian congregations, form a party for themselves, and thus live on the spoils of the church of God.

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We're not to strive against one another. We're to strive together for the faith of the gospel,

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Philippians 1. Passage number two, I read it during scripture reading, Titus 2 please, Titus 3 rather, Titus 3.

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Jesus is building the church. If you're a Christian, you should help build the church as well. And if you're going to attack the church,

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God will attack you. So I don't want to be attacked by God. And Paul says, I don't know about you, but it's either a hot passage or I'm hot.

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Titus chapter 3, these are obvious warnings. Paul gives the Corinthians obvious warnings and we're just showing how this is true any place including

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Crete. At the end of Titus 3, you know the context, I read the entire book, as for a person who stirs up dissension, you can just imagine somebody churning up butter, can't you?

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If you just keep churning long enough, that cream, what does it turn into? Turns into something. Turns into butter and you can just,

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I can almost, in my mind I almost think of some kind of witch in a cauldron putting in some kind of frogs, you know, and snake heads or something just kind of boiling, it's trouble from the get go.

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You go to the washing machine, you say, son, this is how you wash, and you put all the whites in, you turn it to cold and put this in, and then see this right here?

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This is the agitator. Same kind of thing. For a person who agitates and stirs up division, this is

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Jesus' church. You don't even give them four steps of church discipline. It's bypassed, it's shortened, it's truncated because it's such a grievous sin.

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You say, well, you know, sexual immorality is bad, yes, but there are four steps to those who are stuck in sexual sins.

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But there's a faster route for getting kicked out of a church, and that's this.

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After warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him. No thing more to do with him.

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Knowing that such a person is warped. You've got to reject these kind of people because these people are warped, literally perverted, and that word perverted means somebody else is on the outside perverting them.

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It's a passive word. It's like Satan is taking them and twisting them and torquing them and perverting them.

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These people are sinning, present tense. They're always sinning. They're always missing the mark because the mark is unity, and he's self -condemned because he knows he's wrong.

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You say, you know what? That's way too harsh. It's not loving. If you say that or if you think that, then may

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I remind you, you don't know your sin until you realize how holy God is.

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And you don't know how bad your actions are until you realize what the converse actions are, the opposite actions are.

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Jesus is building the church. We want to keep building. So I ask you the question, are you a person who contributes to the unity of the church or are you a church destroyer?

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By the way, if you're a destroyer, today can be the last day. You can repent and say,

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God, forgive me, and I want to be a unifier. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians, warning number two. Warning number two.

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The first warning is make sure you don't forget that this is the apple of God's eye, and when you attack a church, you're attacking the bride of Christ.

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Of course, that doesn't mean everything the leaders do is right, but submission is you go along even if you disagree anyway.

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Submission to the word is God builds a church through leaders who are frail and fallible and finite and sinful.

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Second warning. If the first warning is God loves his church and jealously guards it and pays back those in kind who destroy it, warning number two, as a

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Christian, you have a wealth of heritage, a wealthy heritage of Christian teachers, so enjoy them all.

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Since you're a Christian and God has given you every teacher who's gifted, why do you isolate one at the expense of everyone else?

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In other words, if God has given the church Paul, Apollos, maybe

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Cephas, why would the church go, no, God, we don't want all your gifts. I only want Paul. No, I don't want all your gifts either.

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I only want Apollos. I don't want to have anything to do with this other pastor. I'm behind this pastor.

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We're going to learn from this passage is God has given you all the Christian teachers throughout all the centuries. Enjoy them.

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Don't focus on one and be factious. Now, this is amazing. Let's read verses 18 through 23, and I want you to just listen as I read them and see if you can hear this all things are yours refrain.

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He's talking about teachers. He's talking about the leaders. Let no one deceive himself, verse 18 of 1 Corinthians, if anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise, for the wisdom of this world is folly with God.

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For it is written, he catches the wise in their craftiness, and again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile.

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So let no one boast in men for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all our are yours.

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And you are Christ and Christ is God. He says, Church of Corinth, you're boasting. I don't listen to Apollos.

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I follow Paul. And Paul says, they're all yours. Well, I don't listen to John MacArthur.

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I only listen to James Boyce. Fine, you can have your preferences, but both are for you.

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Well, I never listened to Chuck Swindoll. I listened to Sinclair Ferguson.

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You can have your favorite preachers that you like their style or you think are more biblical, but they're all for you.

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I only show up when Mike preaches. I don't show up when, what's his name,

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Jeffreys preaches. We're both for you. We're all for you.

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And what they thought was, you know, we're going to pick the ones we like the best. It started to split the church and Paul says, they're all yours.

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Enjoy the rich heritage that God has given you. It's like going to a five -star restaurant. Remember when

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I used to be in medical sales early on, we would just do crazy things and we'd say, we're going to walk into this restaurant and we don't care about our appetites, whatever's the most expensive thing on the menu, that's just what we get.

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So what's the most expensive thing, sir? They tell us that's what we're getting. That was in the old days.

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I wasn't a Christian at the time, although that might still be fun to do today, wouldn't it?

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I took the Schaffers out for lunch the other day and said, oh, you know, they've been ministering and the church would be glad to buy. And I walked in, it was

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Panera, and they had these lobster rolls for $16 .99, but I didn't see $16 .99. I just said lobster roll and I thought,

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I'm having me one of those. And then I looked and I go, so Lenita and Mark, Mark actually, he ordered three and I had to pay for it.

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You had to pay for it. Just kidding. No, we didn't order them. But you've got a five -course meal and you go, no,

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I only want this little bit. It's all for you. Enjoy. It's been made for you, given to you.

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You've got a wealth of heritage for you. That's why we've got a library full of only

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John MacArthur's books and a book table full of only John MacArthur's books and study

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Bibles that are only John MacArthur study Bibles. Well, that may be true, but we sold out of the other ones. No, I am affected by that man because I studied under him and as he imitates

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Christ, I want to imitate him. I don't even really listen to him preach anymore. It's not that I'm against him.

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I'm just listening to other people to be more well -rounded. But what we do as leaders, we want you to do, enjoy the banquet of the gift of God.

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How about even on the internet where you can pull up almost anybody, alive or dead, and listen to them?

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Now what you shouldn't do is say, you know what, I only listen to J. Vernon McGee. By the way, note to self, he's dead. It took me a long time to realize he had died even though he's still on the air.

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I only listen to him. You meet somebody else in the church, I listen to John Piper. How could you? J. Vernon McGee's better.

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J. Vernon McGee really was the Presbyterian in Baptist clothes and when he got the hole in one, he threw up his iron and he said,

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I even love Baptist today. You got to follow J. Vernon McGee. No, if somebody says,

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I've been really listening to John Piper through Romans 9 and my life has changed. God's sovereign.

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So what do you say? Good. Way to go. Way to listen.

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Well did you know according to John Piper, you've got this problem, that problem, the other thing, and you know he believes this and he doesn't believe that and da da da da.

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People tell me they're listening to somebody and I think, okay, maybe the good, better, best, I listen to somebody else, but I'm glad.

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The church is learning and growing. You type in oneplace .com, I think I'd like to listen to Donald Gray Barnhouse.

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Okay, listen, James Boyce, listen, Sinclair Ferguson, S. Lewis Johnson, the wealth is all yours.

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Why do you want to focus on one and then everybody else who doesn't study the guy you like, well, you've got a problem with them.

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Paul said, don't do that. It's all yours. And if you look at verse 18, he basically says this, the wisdom of the world focuses on a leader.

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I follow him. God's wisdom is I've given you a bountiful crop, enjoy them all.

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And if you're not careful, yes, you can be tricked. Let no one deceive himself.

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We can be self -deceived and we try to justify our thoughts.

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By the way, the smartest people that I've ever met in this life are the ones that can make the poorest decisions.

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The higher your IQ, the worst decisions you can make because you're good at self -justification.

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You ever ask yourself the question, how can people with 200 IQs make such a stupid decision?

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Because they're smart in justifying. They're smart at self -rationalization. Paul says with the present imperative, what's that mean?

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Don't ever stop thinking about it with a command form. Don't be deceived. We can hoodwink ourself.

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We can trick ourselves. This is just what we do. We like to follow. Now, it's good to say as they imitate

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Christ, I want to follow them, but not at the exclusion of everyone else. That just splits up a church. Of course, if somebody's coming up to you and they're like,

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I've been listening to a lot of sermons by this person who doesn't believe that Jesus is

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God and I'm learning so much and I'm becoming a better husband, even though this person denies the Bible is true.

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Well, we don't just say, oh good, way to go. I tell them,

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I'm glad you're listening. But let me help you replace the bad for the good. Paul says, reject the wisdom that's worldly that says line up underneath finite creatures.

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And then he quotes from the Bible. How do you prove a point? Thus saith the

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Lord. He quotes from Job 5 and he quotes from Psalm 94. Job 5 is in verse 19.

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For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. He catches the wise in there.

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He catches the wives. Well, that verse is for the wives.

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The next ones, we'll get the husbands. He catches the wise in their craftiness.

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And if you've got a study Bible, it probably tells you Job 5. He catches the wise in their craftiness.

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The people that are so clever, they devise their own schemes to catch other people.

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They fall into the trap themselves. It's like a hunter who sets up a trap for a wolf and then forgets where the trap was and walks over it and then got himself.

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And God takes that kind of worldly wisdom and he just creates a straitjacket for the people who think that way, catches them.

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It's like Bishop Tonstall who bought Tyndale's translations of the

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Bible and burned them. But then Tyndale took all the money that was gathered for the purchase of the

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Bibles to burn and then he could actually, since he knew how to make them better, made more and more and more and more.

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He gives another verse in Psalm 94 verse 20, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.

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God's wisdom is hidden from unbelievers, but God knows unbelievers' thoughts. Let's not get caught up in following people.

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It's not smart. It's not wise. It's not biblical. And so what does he say instead? So then, verse 21, let no one boast in men, for all things are yours.

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It's like earlier he didn't even call the men, the Apollos, people, they were things.

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And so all these things, all these people are yours. How do I know that they're things and they're people?

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Verse 22, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas are the world, are life or death, are the present things, are the future, are all yours.

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Don't boast in humans. Everything's yours. By the way, this is very fascinating.

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For all things are yours is a Stoic slogan that promoted self -sufficiency.

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And Paul uses it and he turns it on its head and says, instead of self -sufficiency, all things are yours, meaning self -sufficiency, no dependency upon God.

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So boast in the Lord, praise him. And then he uses something in verse 22 for you

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English students. He uses amerism. What's amerism? M -E -R -I -S -M.

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Here's your new word for the day, amerism. Mer just means to divide. And it's a figure of speech that says, let's put a few things in a sentence and they're poles apart, they're far apart from each other so that everything is included in between.

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So he says, Paul, Apollos, Cephas, world, life, death, present and future, it's all yours. It's a figure of speech that just says, you've got it all.

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If you're a Christian, you have everything, the word, the spirit, the Bible, teachers, everything in the world.

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You own it all. So why follow a person? It's okay to have a favorite preacher, but not at the exclusion of not learning from other people or dividing over that favorite person.

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Paul just is kind of a lyrical. It's song like, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world, et cetera, it's all yours.

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And they're all under the Lordship of Christ, aren't they? Verse 23, and you are

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Christ and Christ is God's. So what about you?

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For the most part, I think we're good as a church in this particular regard. We hold the church with kid gloves because Jesus bought the church and then we say we're going to just enjoy all the leaders, all the teachers.

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And when I think of Jesus and his death, that makes me line up under him a lot more.

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And with words that only Spurgeon could come up with, it seems. He says this, imagine for a moment that you're living in the age of the

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Roman emperor. You have been captured by Roman soldiers and dragged from your native country. You have been sold for a slave, stripped, whipped, branded, imprisoned, and treated with shameful cruelty.

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At last you're appointed to die in the amphitheater to make holiday for the tyrant. The populace assembled with delight.

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There they are, tens of thousands of them gazing down from the living sides of the Colosseum.

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You stand there alone, naked, armed only with a single dagger, a poor defense against gigantic beasts.

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A ponderous door is drawn up by machinery and there rushes forth the monarch of the forest, a huge lion.

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You must slay him or be torn to pieces. You're absolutely certain that the conflict is too severe for you and that the sure result must and will be that those terrible teeth will grind your bones and drip with your blood.

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You tremble. Your joints are loosed. You're paralyzed with fear like a timid deer when the lion has dashed it to the ground.

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But what is this? Oh, wonder of mercy, a deliverer appears. A great unknown leaps from among the gazing multitude and confronts the savage monster.

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He shrinks not at the roaring of the devourer, but dashes upon him with terrible fury until like a whipped curve, the lion slinks toward the den, dragging himself along in pain and fear.

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The hero lifts you up, smiles into your bloodless face, whispers comforts in your ear and bids you be of good courage for you are free.

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You've done that for me, but I'll destroy what you're building. Or, you've done that for me and I want to help build what you're building.

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The choice is easy and the choice is yours. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

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

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