They Call Me The Seeker (Part 1)

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.

Why This Show Is Called No Compromise Radio

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, ministry. Mike Abendroth here at the helm and gauge. Why are we called No Compromise Radio? Well, when this started 12 years ago, we've just finished our 12th year, coming into our 13th year.

I needed a radio show name. I had filled in for someone here locally in the Worcester, Massachusetts area, and I did, I think, two weeks of live radio for two hours a day. Then the station manager said, you know what, we'd like to offer you a slot that you have to pay for.

And I said to my wife, I've got like a week to figure this out, and what's the name of the show? She said, oh, call it No Compromise Radio. And in the old days, I said No Compromise Radio because I just thought there were so many people compromising, and that's true even today, so many people compromising.

And I didn't wanna compromise. I mean, who does, right? I'd like to be faithful, gospel fidelity. And then as time went on, and the Lord was working on me, and I think you've probably noticed there's been a big shift at No Compromise Radio from criticizing Beth Moore and Ann Voskamp and others, which, you know, they deserve their criticisms.

But I'll leave that to other people. The show's ratings have tanked since now I focus on the Lord Jesus and his work and key issues with sanctification, the law gospel, preaching, how great Jesus is. And that's kind of an interesting tell, isn't it?

What's the tell? Well, a tell is in Israel, of course. It's a little mound or hill, but the tell, T-E-L-L, like the poker tell or the sleight of hand tell. We're gonna talk about Jesus who, guess I don't need those sunglasses, the Jesus who never compromised.

He always obeyed his father. And even on his, not his deathbed, but of course up on the cross as he was dying, he's still fulfilling the law in our place as he's honoring his mother, right? As he has John take care of his mother.

And therefore, I'm trying to make sure we talk about the Lord Jesus regularly, no compromise when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. So anyway, my name is Mike Eamondroth. That's what we're kind of doing around here at the show.

I do talk about certain subjects, have people on for interviews, and I really have been blessed to have you listen. Quite a few listeners throughout the years. Very thankful that if I can get you to think about the Lord Jesus in a biblical way, in a worshipful way, that the spirit of God might increase Christ's fame in your heart through a weak preacher like me, then we have accomplished what we set out to accomplish.

I don't know what I set out to accomplish. Get rich and famous? Oh, I have a pen right here. Saddleback .com, Saddleback Church. How did I get that? I used to have a variety of pens, who knows where they're from, but now it's just chaos.

You can always write me, Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com. I will say this one last thing before we get into the topic for the day. I've met a lot of people through this show that I never would have met, and I praise the Lord for that.

Most people are kind. There's some that I met that I didn't want to meet, and I'm sure they could say the same thing in reverse, but I've met a lot of people, and some good friends have come from this show.

Not come from the show, but we met via the show, and so that's neat, and if you like podcasts like I do, the Lord used radio preaching for probably my salvation, certainly used it to sanctify me and learning and growing, and we have a lot of time in the car and other places, and I love to ride a bicycle, and I just listen to the podcast over and over and over, one after another after another.

I think the only podcast that I listen to, one of the only ones that's not Christian, it's Victor Davis Hanson, because I think he's smart, and I can understand what's going on in the world through his mind.

There we go. All right, what are we talking about here on No Compromise Radio? We're talking about practice. We're talking about practice. I've been preaching through different passages that speak of the Lord Jesus, and I think last show, we were talking about Zacchaeus and what was going on with Zacchaeus, and of course, that says Luke chapter 19, and Luke is a book that is, it's laying out the person and work of Christ Jesus as, of course, he's truly God, shown in the book, but truly man, and we were studying a little bit about Zacchaeus, this man whose name means righteous or pure or innocent, and yet he's the chief tax collector.

I mean, you're in Jericho, and it's a busy place, lots of through traffic, as we might say, and there's a lot of rich people going through that area, and therefore, the taxes, not just a tax collector, but the chief tax collector, arch tax collector, balsam trees, palm trees, rich city, and this guy, Zacchaeus, turns his back on his fellow countrymen, and he begins to extract money from them to give to the Romans, most of it, and then he takes some off the top, so he's robbing his own people two different ways, and therefore, tax collectors, let alone arch tax collectors, chief tax collectors, El Jefe tax collectors, they have to be hated, hated by the people who can like somebody that cheats you and steals you and works for the bad guys.

They work for the people that have taken over your country. One person said the Jericho office was important because it was at the heart of a very important trade route from Egypt to Damascus, and because its region abounded with balsam balm.

The taxes on this balm and the goods which traversed this route generated much income for the Roman government. Zacchaeus was the head of the tax office which collected this revenue. He, therefore, had a very high rank, but high rank, high office, does not commend one to God.

Zacchaeus was, therefore, as much a sinner as the lowest-ranking person. And he was not just odious in the eyes of the Jews, of course, he was odious in the eyes of the Lord. We have a thrice holy God, and we have committed sins.

We got credit for Adam's sin, so did Zacchaeus, and then, as a consequence, we have sinful natures, and we are enemies of God. We have personal relationship with God as unbelievers. Every unbeliever has a personal relationship with God as enemy, and you do not want God to be your enemy.

Thankfully, God is not just holy, but he also loves, and he's also gracious. He doesn't have grace, he doesn't have love, he doesn't have holiness, he is. All that is in God is God, we've learned that, not just from Aquinas, but Matthew Barrett and others, and James Dozole, reminding us about the nature of God and his simplicity, and who he is, and he's from himself, aseity.

And, like it or not, Zacchaeus is not just hated by the people, but God is his enemy. Yet, the Lord Jesus loves sinners. That's an amazing thing. The Father loves sinners, the Holy Spirit loves sinners.

And we're going to see a rescue mission. There are extreme rescues. You can even watch the show, Extreme Rescues, and you see how people are extracted from difficult situations. I mean, we've seen how not to do it in the news, right?

We have Afghanistan situation, as you're all very familiar with by now, and the way that every single military strategist would say, this is how we evacuate and we leave a place. You let the people out who can't fight first.

Translators, helpers, people that have assisted you in some way, shape, or form, medics, all these different kinds of people that can't fight. You have a perimeter of your military people, your fighters, you get all the folks out that need help, who aren't the fighters, they get out first, then you extract the military.

And of course, what America did, what our administration did, is the exact opposite. No one teaches what they just did last week. And we've seen that bad form of extreme rescue, where people aren't rescued.

But Zacchaeus needs rescuing, and Jesus isn't going to evacuate first. He's going to stay to the very end. It'll cost him his life, and we know that. And in eternity past, Zacchaeus was one given to the Son to go rescue, and that's exactly what the Lord Jesus is doing it.

This rich man was not rich before God, he was rich before men. And if you remember Luke 18, here's the cool tie-in, no compromise radio. How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And when you read the original language, I'm no Greek scholar, I just try to read the passage that I'm going to preach on Sunday, I try to read it the week prior every day in the original language, in this case, Greek.

And it says, he was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. It didn't say, he was a chief tax collector and was rich, here we have chief tax collector, and he was rich. And if you're rich, I thought Jesus just said in Luke 18, 24, and 25, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

I mean, if anybody could not be saved, from our perspective, it would be Zacchaeus. He's rich, he's hated, he's a cheat, he's a scoundrel, he's a scallywag, he's a criminal, he's a crook, he, I mean, he's lost.

I think we could probably pick a word for Zacchaeus, sinner. He's just always missing the mark. Who can be saved then? That's what the disciples asked Jesus in Luke 18. Well, then who can be saved? Remember, Jesus said in verse 27 of Luke 18, the things impossible with men are what?

Are possible with God. When it comes to getting saved, could Zacchaeus get saved? I mean, we know the end of the story, but is it possible for someone like that to get saved? Humanly, impossible. Divinely, nothing's too hard for the Lord.

This is what he came to do. And remember what happened was he, Zacchaeus, wanted to see Jesus, seeking to see Jesus, and he was too small and could not see him because he was micron, he was small. That's where we get the word micron.

I would imagine if he tried to get through the crowd, right, I've been to concerts before. I remember once I saw David Bowie in 1983, and I just buffaloed, I think I was by myself, my buddy had to back out, and so I just wanted to go see Bowie.

And I buffaloed my way to the very front, front center stage, and you just force yourself up there. This summer, my wife and kids and I went and saw a man named Charlie Crockett, direct descendant of Davy, he said.

I don't know if it's true or not, but it makes a good story. And we just got right up to the front, front center. They already reserved the spot and I came up later, but with Bowie, I just buffaloed my way to the front.

Do you think Zacchaeus could have buffaloed his way to the front to see Jesus? I don't think so. Small stature, number one, so it's hard to buffalo if you're small. It can be done, but it's harder. And why would they let him up front?

They would rather elbow the guy in the ribs. They would rather punch him in the face. They would rather spit on him than let him up front. And you've got this kind of wall of people, and so what are you gonna do?

And you say, well, there's a tree that I could climb up and it's hard to climb balsam trees, I guess. It's hard to try and climb palm trees, although I've seen some natives do palm tree climbing, but just for a regular guy, probably in the dress of a tax collector, chief tax collector, it's hard to climb up those type of trees.

And here by divine providence, we have a sycamore tree perfectly placed, perfectly situated, so, excuse me, Zacchaeus can see it. Wonder why he was going to go see Jesus. Could it be that he heard about another tax collector, Levi, back in Luke 5?

Remember Luke 5, what happened? Wasn't there another hated person given attention by the Lord Jesus and actually, actually, sorry, actually, actually, actually asked by Jesus to follow him? Luke 5, 27 and following, after this, he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth and he said to him, follow me.

And leaving everything, he rose and followed him and Levi made him a great feast in his house and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with him. The Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

And Jesus answered them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, people that think they're righteous, but sinners to repentance. I wonder if Zacchaeus was thinking, hey, my conscience is killing me, I know I'm a lawbreaker, I see natural revelation, I understand the law because I grew up as a Jew and I understand a little bit about who God is and maybe this Jesus can forgive my sins.

I don't know what went through the heart and mind and conscience of Zacchaeus, but he wanted to go see Jesus. And of course, as I look at this picture theologically, it's not ultimately Zacchaeus seeking Jesus.

The way we describe this is if we see someone who tends to act like a seeker and then they get saved, we say what? We say John 6. Oh, it's not ultimately his seeking because no one seeks. Romans 3, Psalms teach that as well.

It's the Father drawing him, drawing him. That's what's happening. That's what we have happening here. You say, well, he was seeking. Well, because he's being drawn, that's why. Anyway, Mike Abendroth here, No Compromise Radio.

We're talking about Luke's gospel, chapter 19, with Zacchaeus. One man said this sycamore tree was about to bear fruit. That's good, isn't it? That's really good. I like that. Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, he knows his name.

You say, well, he heard his name somewhere else. I think we're talking about truly God, truly man, are we not? He's upholding the universe right now. He's upholding the universe when he's walking in Jericho.

He's upholding the universe when he's on the cross. Yes, that's true. That's Colossians 1, 15 to 18, and that is Hebrews chapter one, one to three. Zacchaeus, hey, you pure man, named pure, named righteous, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.

So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. Jesus, crowd, lots of people, hot, dusty, thoroughfare, the wall of people, and this is why Jesus came, for the elect, and one of those elect people was named Zacchaeus, and he looks up, Zacchaeus.

Edersheim described it this way. Those eyes out of which heaven seemed to look upon earth were upturned, and that face of infinite grace, never to be forgotten, beamed upon him the welcome of recognition, and he uttered the invitation in which the invited was the real inviter, the guest, the true host.

This is Jesus. I mean, I think it's cool. If you're ever gonna say something's cool, that would be, if you say to yourself, you know what? I came to faith on my own. I sized things up about sin and the Savior.

I'm the one that thought, you know what? This is true when it comes to salvation. You're mistaken. God did not believe for you, but it was Jesus who came and rescued you, and by the way, that's what heaven will sing forever.

That's how heaven will be resounding with the praises of Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Here we have the master being masterful, and he uses language, I must stay at your house today. There's this word must in Greek.

D-E-I is the way we would transliterate it, and it kind of means to bind. It means something that has to happen. It's not maybe, come see, come saw. It's optional. I might wanna do it. When you hear things like divine appointment, that's what this is.

It's must. It is a divine mandate. I must. Of course, Jesus is coming to save sinners, and this sinner can't save himself because he's rich. You can't do it on your own. It's impossible. You're going to need God who can do the impossible.

Have they ever met before? I don't think so, but I think Jesus knows who he is because Jesus was sent for this reason, and he knows where he lives, and he knows that he's up in a tree, and he knows his name, and he said, ah, you know, can you invite me over?

It might be nice if we could sit down and talk a little bit. You seem like a seeker. That's not how it came to pass at all. I must stay at your house, and kind of like Levi. You know what? Let me count the costs.

I don't know. I'm not too sure. What do you think? Pros and cons, a little tea list. What do you think I should do? He just does, and I don't know exactly what happened here, but when commentaries are trying to figure out, well, he couldn't get through the wall of people, Zacchaeus, how's now he going to get to Jesus?

But of course, Jesus, the God-man, authority, power, strength, majesty, King, Lord. The seas are parted, as it were. The seas of people opened up, and here comes Zacchaeus, and he's hurrying the divine summons.

Isn't that interesting? How merciful, how kind. This is how God saves people. It's a divine necessity. It had to be done. And you even get the urgent nature of this today. Today, I must stay. It's part of the plan.

It's part of the triune counsel of God. It's part of the decree. It's part of the purpose. It's part of the plan. Calvin said it was far more valuable gift to dwell in his heart than to enter his house.

I just keep thinking of my salvation. And Zacchaeus, what does he do? He receives him joyfully. He receives him gladly. He received him, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who are born not of blood, nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but God.

He received him rejoicing, ongoing rejoicing, so happy. D .L. Moody said, did you ever hear of anyone receiving Christ in any other way? He received him joyfully. Christ brings joy with him. Sin, gloom, and darkness flee away.

Light, peace, and joy burst into the soul. Remember, dear listener, when you got saved? Drudgery, awful, terrible, downer, depressed, frustrated, anxious, discombobulated. No, no, no, no, no, and no. You were so happy.

The chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose and followed thee, right? It's just like, wow, I get to go to heaven. I know what I've done. I know what I haven't done, and I get to go to heaven. This is great rejoicing.

This is the term used when the magi saw the star. They rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. This is 1 Peter 1, 8 of us, even though we've not seen Jesus. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.

Remember when you got saved? Remember now that you are saved? The joy, yes, life is difficult. There are trials, there are troubles, there are tribulations, there are distresses, there's persecution, there's all kinds of issues, and you think, but the God of the universe loved me, and the Son came to die for me, and now the Son has been raised, and he's given me the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and the Father is praised, the Son is praised, the Spirit is praised.

One essence, God, singular God, singular by meaning one God, three persons. Amazing, unity in Trinity, Trinity in unity. It's amazing that he's saved to be a physician of the soul. He was happy. What do you think the Pharisees were doing?

Joyful Reception of Christ and the Gift of Salvation

Well, that's gonna be for next time on No Compromise Radio. My name's Mike Ebendroth, you can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. You can go to the website and find 12 full years of daily radio shows.

Thanks again to Spencer and the folks that have helped with the show, Jonathan Newton doing website stuff. Really, really thankful for the people that have served over the years, and we're glad to serve you at No Compromise Radio.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth 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.