Top Ten Books Christianity and Liberalism (Part 2)

No Compromise Radio

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:01

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

00:07

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

00:16

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."

00:24

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

00:30

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

00:40

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

00:47

Mike Abendroth here. Somebody was telling me the other day that my microphone is so good with my little mixing board here and recorder that they could hear the noises

00:57

I was making when I was swallowing, eating. I don't usually eat.

01:02

Sometimes I yawn when I do the show, but I don't eat. I might have a drink of coffee.

01:11

Um, that's not that good. That coffee's not that good. I think I would rather have the Pete's Coffee.

01:18

One time I was at a Pete's Coffee, and I was trying to extract more from the person, and oh, no, no, that's not—it wasn't in person.

01:30

I was thinking of a different case. I was at the Pete's Coffee in San Francisco Airport, and I ordered a double shot of espresso.

01:35

That's pretty much what I'd rather drink. Just give me a Dopio espresso Campana. Just a double espresso. That's all

01:41

I need. And I asked for a double. She gave me six shots. Now, the real question is, did

01:48

I drink them? Actually, you know what I think I did is I put some half and half in there to make it a brevet, and then

01:56

I gave it to my kids. They needed to stay awake to study.

02:03

Oh, no, I was talking to Pete's Coffee online because they shipped me pounds of coffee, you know, a couple pounds a month type of deal.

02:11

And I told them I should probably get some free stuff because I promote them on my radio show.

02:17

She wanted to know what kind of radio show it was, and then after I told her, then I actually got less. No Compromise Radio, Ministering Mike Abendroth.

02:27

You'd think with the laughing today that I would be in studio with Pastor Steve. Hi, Steve.

02:34

How are you today? Oh, hi, Mike. How are you? That Steve isn't here today. So he was going to come in, but he decided not to.

02:41

So I thought I'd do one of the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday shows. And today is part two,

02:47

Machen's book, Christianity and Liberalism. I'm going through this book a second time with the men at Bethlehem Bible Church, the men who are in my study, my discipleship during Sunday school.

02:58

How would you like to be in that class? About 15 men sitting around talking about the exclusivity of Christ, the historical gospel, literal resurrection, what a man

03:10

Machen was. And then we all hold hands and give each other Holy Ghost back rubs. Oh, I almost snorted.

03:22

Did you get that on this microphone, the little snort action? Well, we don't do the

03:28

Holy Ghost back rubs, but we do hold hands. And so if you are local and you're going to a country bumpkin church, moralistic, therapeutic, deistic church, you ought to get a move on.

03:42

Why don't you come over here? Send me your money. Of course, or if you're at a good church,

03:53

I want you to stay. Of course I do. You've got to have good people at other churches. They can't all come here.

03:59

Matter of fact, if you don't get here early now, you cannot get a seat. You cannot really get a seat packed.

04:05

That's what we like, packed like sardines. I've got to start increasing the preaching because too many people are coming here.

04:12

We've got to free up some seats. If you're far away and you can't be in the class, then that's just life, isn't it?

04:22

So No Compromise Radio, part two, Machen, books that have changed my life, especially as I was a newer

04:27

Christian. And I'm glad, how thankful I am to the Lord that I could read books like this, that these are the kind of books that were put in my hands, whether it was because of MacArthur saying to go buy that book, it was because the seminary professor said, you must read this book, it was because I didn't buy the typical, you go to the

04:49

Christian bookstore and based on the cover, you buy the Deion Sanders is a Christian book from one of those to the next, to the next, probably the latest will be the, you know,

04:58

Thiebaud story or something. I probably should weigh in on Thiebaud, but that's okay.

05:06

His pastor said some dopey things and I just wish he would go to a church pastor by a master seminary grad, but that's another story.

05:13

So Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen, you can get it for free if you search Amazon Kindle. I think that's there for free.

05:20

It's someplace for free, I know that. Christianity and Liberalism. And this book is excellent because it exposes liberal

05:28

Christianity, which means it's not Christianity at all. It exposes the anti -supernaturalist that is in many people, that is in the

05:38

Methodist religion, Episcopalian, et cetera. Now, certainly there are some free

05:44

Methodists that are evangelistic, but modern line, mainstream, mainline churches that are deader than a proverbial doornail.

05:57

I could go off another story, but I won't do that right now. Paul was not interested merely in ethical principles of Jesus.

06:05

He was not interested merely in general principles of religion or ethics. On the contrary, he was interested in the redeeming work of Christ and its effect upon us.

06:15

His primary interest was in Christian doctrine, and the Christian doctrine not merely in its presuppositions but at its center.

06:23

So this book was really effective and affecting me because it showed me that doctrine was crucial.

06:29

At the center of doctrine, you have Christ Jesus the Lord and His redeeming work.

06:35

What is it that forms the content of that primitive teaching, New Testament teaching he's talking about?

06:42

Is it the general principle of the fatherliness of God or the brotherliness of man? That's the liberal mantra.

06:50

Is it a vague admiration for the character of Jesus, such as that which prevails in the modern church?

06:57

Nothing could be further from the fact. See, he's a no -compromise writer. Christ died for our sins, said the primitive disciples, according to the

07:04

Scriptures. He was buried. He has been raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures. From the beginning, the Christian gospel, as indeed the name gospel, our good news implies, consisted in an account of something that happened.

07:19

Christ died. That is history. Christ died for our sins. That is doctrine. Without these two elements joined in an absolutely indissolvable union, there is no

07:29

Christianity. So when it comes to you saying, well,

07:35

Christianity is true—I heard Eric Loody say this the other day about how Christianity is true when we accept it—that's completely wrong.

07:45

Christianity is true. It is historical. Whether we're alive, whether we're dead, whether we never were born, or whether we experienced it or not,

07:54

Jesus' life and death and resurrection are historical facts. They happened.

08:01

And everything's tied to this historical fact. Some other religions, you can get rid of a historical fact—did

08:07

Buddha really exist or not ?—and Buddhism would go merrily along its way. But with Christianity, it all crumbles.

08:14

It's all or nothing. The first missionaries, Machen said, did not simply come forward with an exhortation.

08:19

They did not say, Jesus of Nazareth lived a wonderful life of piety, and we call upon our hearers to yield themselves, as we have done, to the spell of that life.

08:29

It is a historical event, it is a theological event, therefore it is a doctrinal event.

08:37

The great weapon with which the disciples of Christ set out to conquer the world was not a mere comprehension of eternal principles.

08:44

It was a historical message, an account of something that had recently happened. It was the message,

08:50

He is risen. That is what Christianity is.

08:57

That is at the essence of Christianity, or what Machen calls the essence of the primitive church.

09:04

This is what we need today, is back to the historical gospel. Confusing law and gospel, confusing imperative and indicative, saying that the gospels repent and believe, when the gospel is

09:16

Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture and He was buried and He was raised according to the Scriptures. The response to that historical event, the good news, is repentance and faith.

09:27

By the way, news like this has to be proclaimed, exclaimed, excited.

09:33

When I was experiencing what it was like to be a dad for the first time, second, third and fourth,

09:40

I wanted to tell people, it's a boy, it's a girl. And you exclaim that news in such a way that it's a proclamation of good news.

09:52

Same with the gospel. Jesus did not content Himself with enunciating general principles of religion and ethics, the picture of Jesus as sage, similar to Confucius.

10:02

Uttering wise maxims about conduct may satisfy H .G. Wells as he trips along lightly over the problems of history, but it disappears as soon as one engages seriously in historical research.

10:15

Repent, said Jesus, for the kingdom of God is at hand. He didn't come to say this is the way to live.

10:23

He came to say He was the only way you could live, must live, and therefore to look away from yourself and see

10:30

Him as the representative and the substitute. Of course

10:35

He lived a moral life, but He did not come to preach morals. When people say, you know, the

10:40

Sermon on the Mount, oh, it's so wonderful. I don't think they've ever really read it, at least not all the way through.

10:46

They get to the Beatitudes and then they stop, you know, chapter 5, verse 12 or so, 5, 13 or 14.

10:54

Machen said, it is the fashion now to place the Sermon on the Mount in contrast with the rest of the New Testament. We all have nothing to do with theology, men say, in effect.

11:01

We have nothing to do with miracles, with atonement, or with heaven, or with hell. For us, the golden rule is a sufficient guide of life.

11:09

In the sample principles of the Sermon on the Mount, we discover the solution of all the problems of society.

11:17

And then Machen goes on to B -L -A -S -T it, to blast it.

11:23

But I say to you, yeah, the prophet said, thus saith the

11:28

Lord, but Jesus says, but I say to you. So the first chapter, introduction, the first real chapter, what they call chapter 2 is called doctrine.

11:39

Words matter. Theology matters. He says in a very practical, hands -on way, this is just a great book, you've got to read this book.

11:50

If you give us $400, we'll give you a copy of this book, tax -free, that you could use, it's gold -embossed.

12:00

It's not true. Let us not deceive ourselves. A Jewish teacher of the first century can never satisfy the longings of our souls.

12:09

Clothe him with all the art of modern research, throw upon him the warm, deceptive, calcium light of modern sentimentality, and despite it all, common sense will come to its rights again.

12:23

And for our brief hour of self -deception, as though we had just been with Jesus, will wreck havoc upon us.

12:31

The revenge of hopeless disillusionment. But the modern preacher says, are we not, in being satisfied with historical

12:39

Jesus, the great teacher who proclaimed the kingdom of God, merely restoring the simplicity of the primitive gospel?

12:45

No, Machen said. We answer, you are not, but temporarily at least, you are not so very far wrong.

12:53

You are returning to a very primitive stage in the life of the church, only that stage is not the

12:59

Galilean springtime. For in Galilee men had a living Savior. Boy, don't you like writing like that?

13:07

Where are the men these days? Where are the men who will write like men instead of the

13:13

Lucado kind of writing today that you see so often? What was it that had, within a few days, transformed a band of mourners into a spiritual conquerors of the world?

13:24

It was not the memory of Jesus' life. It was not the inspiration which came from past contact with him, but it was the message, he is risen.

13:33

So Machen says in his first chapter, doctrine matters, and you need to understand doctrine.

13:40

And then he begins to do something that I harp on now all the time, but forgot Machen talked about it.

13:47

And he said liberalism comes down to this, besides being anti -supernatural. Liberalism is the gospel, which is no gospel at all, but is the declaration, be good, do good, imperatives.

14:00

How to? It's just a bunch of do, do, do, do, do. That's what you tell people.

14:06

If you're not going to base things upon a historical event that you deny, well, you wouldn't do that. There's no reason for the indicative.

14:15

It's not since Jesus died in your place and was raised from the dead confirming the acceptance of God the

14:23

Father, then in light of that, out of gratitude, love one another. If you don't believe the first and what you give the people is love one another, the golden rule, it's all imperative.

14:35

No indicative statement of fact, but just commands. Liberalism, Machen said, page 47, is altogether in the imperative mood, while Christianity begins with a triumphant indicative, oh, that's good, begins with a triumphant indicative.

14:54

Liberalism appeals to man's will, while Christianity announces first a gracious act of God. So today on No Compromise Radio Ministries, part two of Machen's book,

15:03

Christianity, Liberalism and How You Ought to Read This Book. If it was Christmas time, you ought to get this book for your loved one for Christmas, especially if you're a wife, get this for your husband.

15:12

But I guess Christmas is gone now until next year. So you can wait till, when do they start putting up Christmas decorations now?

15:20

July 5th, maybe you can wait. Sadly, there are many churches, and I could even go through my

15:27

Rolodex right now, of churches in this area, probably your area too if you're listening, unless you're in Afghanistan.

15:34

If you go through the list of churches in your area, the church's doctrinal statement and certainly the pastoral staff will affirm the substance of atonement, the literal resurrection, the soon return of Christ, etc.

15:46

They will affirm those triumphant indicatives. But interestingly, let's be honest, sadly, what comes out of the pulpit week in, week out?

16:02

The triumphant indicatives? No, because you've got to give people something to do.

16:08

You've got to give some how -to's, motivations, how to live up in a down world.

16:18

So what happens is this. Churches today have just assumed the gospel.

16:24

They've assumed the gospel. They think the gospel is to get you into heaven, and they think the gospel is good for altar call times, but they regularly—I can just pull up the two bigger churches here in the area, and it is do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

16:46

So while they say they're not liberal, while in fact their view of Scripture is not liberal, their view of Christ is not liberal, their view of sin is probably not liberal.

17:01

The way they preach, the triumphant indicatives of who we are in Christ are gonzo.

17:09

They're gone. How to. Now if you want to give a how -to message on how

17:14

Christians ought to be men and women who love their neighbor, I have zero,

17:21

Zed, empty set problems with that stemming from the indicative. But if it's just one more message, how to love your wife, how to placate your husband, how to raise kids in a wild world,

17:38

Wild, Wild West. Artemus Gordon, remember him? I used to watch that show with my father.

17:45

Jim West, I think, was a guy's name, right? And then I sold Duracell batteries in Southern California, and everybody thought that it was the

17:52

Duracell battery on his shoulder. The actor, I don't know the actor, Jim West, what was his name,

17:58

Robert Conrad. But it was not Duracell, it was Energizer. So the triumphant imperative, there's nothing triumphant about it, it's just do.

18:09

So if you're a pastor here locally, and you're in one of these churches that you know I'm talking about, why don't you start preaching the triumphant indicatives?

18:18

Because otherwise, what comes out of the pulpit is in fact a form of liberalism.

18:26

Could anything be more impractical than the attempt to influence conduct by rehearsing events concerning the death of a religious teacher?

18:34

See, it's interesting. That's part of the foolishness of the cross. How do we motivate people?

18:42

How do we motivate people to do things? You've got a volunteer group.

18:48

You've got 100 people at your church, 50 people, 500 people, 1 ,000 people.

18:53

You've got to rile them up. You've got to motivate them. You've got to stoke the coals of their hearts with a bunch of do's.

18:59

You've got to rally them. Rally, rally, rally. Machen says, listen, that's what liberals do.

19:09

They only do the rally. Could anything be more impractical than the attempt to influence conduct by rehearsing events concerning the death of a religious teacher?

19:20

No, unless Christianity is true. And then if Christianity is true, the way

19:26

Paul motivates the church at Ephesus, with one exception, I think in chapter 2, verse 11 or 12, no imperatives.

19:34

The indicatives come first. Same thing in Romans, 16 chapters, 11 chapters, full of imperatives.

19:41

Indicatives, triumphant indicatives. Oh, you'll see a little sprinkling of commands.

19:48

You'll see one in Romans 6, for instance. Colossians chapter 1,

19:54

I don't think there's an imperative. Chapter 2, I don't think there's an imperative.

20:01

Maybe not to be fooled by these things. The imperative, at least the bulk of the imperatives, don't come until chapter 3, verse 5.

20:11

One of the reasons why you should have a pastor who teaches verse by verse, there's the right mix of indicatives and the right mix of imperatives.

20:19

And in fact, with Christianity, you do have someone who is preaching the

20:25

Bible, who is rehearsing a historical event of a religious leader that was 2 ,000 years ago, and it does motivate.

20:35

It engenders gratitude. It stimulates praise.

20:44

It makes you think, wow, I deserved hell. Before eternity,

20:50

God chose me. And all those times I should have died, I'm thinking about times of car accidents that I was in, choking on food, doing stupid, you know, things and drugs.

21:05

God kept me alive as an unregenerate person. He kept me alive until He granted me faith, because I was the object of His love before time.

21:17

God knew about all the other nations back in the Old Testament, but He said, I only knew you,

21:22

Israel. What do you mean He only knew Israel? He knew about all of them. Because the concept of know in the

21:29

Hebrew mind, and then translated into the biblical mind of Romans chapter 8, those He foreknew.

21:35

The concept is of intimacy and to love. God loved Israel ahead of time, set

21:42

His affections on her. He loved us ahead of time and set His affections on us. And in light of that rehearsal of what the second person of the

21:51

Trinity, the Son, did as He was fulfilling the Great Commission, the

21:58

Great Commission meaning God the Father and the Son with the

22:03

Spirit, covenant of redemption, planning out our salvation.

22:09

And then the Son sent by the Father to go rescue the elect, and then the Son going to do that.

22:16

And now the Spirit of God applying the work of Christ and the plan of God to us.

22:25

See, that motivates me. If you just tell me to go love my wife, I pretty much, I don't like that message, really.

22:32

I don't like it for lots of reasons. Number one, I fall short. Number two, it's hard to stay motivated.

22:41

It's hard to stay motivated. Well, what if she loves me first, then I'll love her. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.

22:48

And then you begin to think about how Christ loved you, how Christ loved the church, how Christ loves the church, and off you go.

22:56

You need to buy this book, J. Gresham Machen. The Lion of Princeton, then left and went to Westminster, and he wrote this book called

23:05

Christianity and Liberalism. And the thing about it is, it's not some scholastic book that's not warm at all.

23:11

To Machen, a man who testified in front of Congress, or at least tried to get out of it, you know, he,

23:18

I think he did testify. There was another time, I think it was a Scopes trial, he said no to, but for Congress he did go.

23:25

For Machen, Christianity was relevant. Christianity was warm.

23:31

Christianity was applicational, but as a secondary deal it was.

23:38

Primarily, Christianity was a historical event, a real person, yes,

23:45

God, the God -man dying on Calvary. It was theological. It was doctrinal.

23:51

But just because something is historical, theological, and doctrinal doesn't mean it's boring.

23:58

It doesn't mean it's boring at all. I can read good history and not be bored. I can read good theology and not be bored.

24:03

I can read good doctrine and not be bored. But then to think when you read about the personal work of Christ, it's fascinating.

24:10

Doctrine matters. Jesus matters. And when you say it doesn't matter, all

24:16

I need is, you know, I have no creed but Jesus, then

24:21

A, it's pretty dumb. It's foolish. That's ignorant of history and just life in general.

24:29

But B, the second you start saying the word Jesus, there has to be a meaning to that. The God -man, virgin born, substantial atonement, literal resurrection, soon return, and the list goes on.

24:41

If it's a vacuous word that you use as a mantra, okay for your yoga classes.

24:49

But anything short of that, you're a doctrinal person the second you think of life, creation, death.

24:56

Death is doctrinal. Hell is doctrinal. So today on No Compromise Radio, Christianity and Liberalism by J.

25:02

Gresham Machen. You want to go pick up this book, go to Amazon, I think you can get it on Kindle for free, or you can pick it up at your local

25:09

Christian bookstore. God bless you. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

25:18

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.

25:28

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.

25:35

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

25:43

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