Settle Out of Court with God

Welcome to NOCO Radio. Always biblical. Always provocative. Always in that order. Maybe less provocative now. You get a lot more listeners and a lot more giving if you're a discernment ministry, I'll tell you that.

But when you talk about Jesus, drops off. Just like this tune right here. Nice. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, we are back on. We're talking about Jesus and his return. Ethical eschatology. What to expect when you're expecting.

And Jesus is talking today. I looked outside and saw something. I got distracted. Jesus says to the crowds, when you see a cloud rising in the west, Luke 12, 54, you say, a shower is coming. So what happens?

I'm looking at the weather right now. I can look at my app. I can look at the clouds. It's rainy. It's 48. It's May 2nd today, I believe. Let's see, May 2nd. Saturday, May 2nd. And you see the clouds and you think rain's coming.

And when you see the south wind blowing, Jesus said, you say, there'll be scorching heat. And it happens. Now Jesus says something that's very direct. You hypocrites. You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Of course, Jesus has talked about being ready. Come back when you don't know. It's gonna be like a thief in the night, so be ready. Lamps lit. Loins girded. Ready for action. I've come to cast fire on earth.

There's gonna be a baptism. There's gonna be a division that cuts right down the line, right down the center of the human race, Riken says. And so what are you gonna do? You need to be ready. And now Jesus rebukes them for being spiritually dumb.

Spiritually blind. They can't figure it out. They're spending more time figuring out weather, and then they know the right deductions when it's weather, clouds, winds, scorching heat, rain. You spend time thinking through that.

You spend time analyzing, discerning, discernment. But you don't spend any time thinking about the second coming? What is the earth going to be like when Jesus returns? Did Jesus say anything about that?

I think we should probably investigate it a little bit. I think we should say, well, I spend so much time doing anything and everything else. Should I think about this a little bit more? Should I study this a little bit more?

Today could be the day of salvation. I should be ready. Am I ready? Hey, cloud rises over there, and hey, brings shower. Come on. I know that. But Jesus said you're a hypocrite when you ignore what He says, when you interpret the signs, but you don't think about spiritual things.

You see the cloud, and you're like, hey, a shower's coming. Elsewhere, Matthew 16, the Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied to them, when it is evening, you say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red.

And in the morning there'll be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening. Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the sign of the times? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign will not be given it except the sign of Jonah.

And He left them and went away. I think what's happening here, these people have made up their mind. I, Jesus, am coming back soon. Be ready. There's going to be a division. There is a division. There's fire that divides.

It's a baptism of judgment, and you have to trust in me, and some won't. And so now Jesus says, you know what? You're hypocritical when it comes to this. You're spending all your time discerning the times, and you don't discern the time, the most important time.

And I can't help but think, who is one of the people listening to all this? Judas! I mean, could this not in fact be called, and some have called it that, an opportunity of a lifetime? And so since you already look at me, and you've got your mind made up, and you're not going to trust in me, the Messiah, Jesus says, there's going to be judgment, lost opportunity.

He's saying to the crowds over and over and over, this is an imperfect tense, he's talking to them a lot. This is Elijah language, Mount Carmel. It came about the seventh time that he said, behold, a cloud as small as a man's hand is coming from the sea.

And he said, go up, say to Ahab, prepare your chariot, and go down, so that the heavy shower does not stop you. In a little while, the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower.

You analyze the weather, and you do something about it. I should bring an umbrella, I should bring a raincoat, I should bring boots, I should bring a car mat. But you don't do anything when you think, okay, Jesus is coming back, he said it, there's nothing else we're waiting for, he could come back any second.

And you shouldn't be looking at like a cloud of rain, that's a blessing, of course, for farmers and the crops, but the cloud of blessing and grace. Hear the Lord Jesus. Don't you think it's obvious? There's a cloud, it's gray, it's gonna rain.

Yeah, yeah, duh. Here's who Jesus is, and all his promises and the predictions of the Old Testament. Types and shadows and temple and priests and lavers. And so Jesus said, you're hypocritical. Jesus, just trust in him.

Believe in him. You know about natural signs, you know better, so plan, be ready. Don't miss the opportunity. Remember, Jesus in Luke 4 said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.

He closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Jesus, and he began to say to them, today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

You do not want to be on the end of Jesus's rebuke, you hypocrite. He said it before, take the log out of your own eye, hypocrite, and then you can see clearly to take the speck out of your brothers. He said, beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

So, to use a colloquialism, there's no time like the present. Strike while the iron is hot. He who hesitates is lost. Jesus is the center of everything, and they're going to miss it? They're going to think that cloud is going to bring sunshine?

No, and half of this is because we don't understand how God is so holy and how we are so sinful. So then it's not that big a deal, right? By the way, if God's not that holy and sin's not that big a deal, then we're going to probably make it at the end, right?

There may be other ways, other paths, other gurus, other Bhagwans. I think Netflix has got that show out now, in the Bhagwan Raj Raj Nish. I believe there was an ashram in Pune. Maybe there still is. I've been to Pune several times, three times.

Pune. The white people call it one thing, and the Indians call it another, but I think it's Pune, Pune. Anyway, P-U-N-E. And they have an ashram there, and I remember walking around in between sessions, so I'd go there to teach the Bible, of course, not through the ashram, but to Pune, and I'd have a break.

And so I remember one time, specifically, I said to the folks, you know, I'm just going to take a walk around the area, do a little exercise. They didn't have any gym at the hotel slash YMCA. And I said, you know, everybody seems to be wearing slacks and everything.

Can I wear shorts and walk around town? I mean, it's hot, sunny. They said, oh, no, you cannot wear shorts. I can't wear shorts? Why? Well, I guess shorts meant underwear. Like, don't wear any short pants on top of your underwear, is what I was asking them.

And they said, no, don't do that. That was true. So, I wore short pants over my short underwear. So, all that to say, I remember walking around, and I probably look German. I've got a German background, European look, and there's a lot of people from Germany and Europe who go to the ashram, just get an AIDS test, sexual disease test, STD test, that's what I was thinking about, and then get a robe and go in, and it's like free love kind of thing.

I felt so weird because I'm walking around with shorts on, just trying to get exercise. I did find a really good coffee shop, the kind of coffee shop that was so good, you could even trust the ice in an iced coffee.

Anyway, everybody looked at me. You know, when you're a kid, you're like, oh, everybody's paying attention to me. They're all looking at me, and nobody is, but you're just too prideful and vain, and you think everybody's thinking about you.

Well, I kept thinking everybody was thinking about me because I was white in the middle of India, and not many white people there, but the white people that were there were on their way to the ashram, and here I am walking around by the ashram.

I was not there for free love, I'll tell you that. The kind of free love I was there for was the kind that was proclaimed in the gospel of Christ Jesus. It had nothing to do with sexual immorality, licentiousness, sensuality, orgies, and such.

1 Thessalonians 5. That's just a little story. That's all. It's just a story. So when I saw the Netflix deal on it, I thought, well, I know about the ashram. Anyway, if you're not a believer, why are you not a believer?

Can't you look around? Can't you see the prophecies of Jesus? Can't you see his claims? Can't you understand your own sin? Can't you understand how holy God is? Why are you still a non-believer? You need to believe.

There's nothing else that needs to be done. This is about Jesus, and you don't want to be called by him a hypocrite. You don't want to be judged by him, do you? No, of course not. There's going to be a judgment day, and Jesus says in Luke 12, why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?

This is verse 57 through 59, as you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer puts you in prison.

I tell you, you will never get out until you've paid the very last penny. So you should be believing, because there's going to be a settling one day. There's going to be a reckoning. So settle with the ultimate accuser, God himself.

Now, some Roman Catholics have used this in the past to talk about purgatory. You're not going to get out until you've paid the last penny. Well, it's just an illustration here. It's just an analogy. Let's not make it walk on all fours where actually you can get out somehow.

Where are you going to get the pennies to get out of the prison when you're in prison? Where do you get the pennies? The point is here, don't delay. Believe. Delay has consequences. The window of opportunity for you, you're alive, you should believe.

So judgment's coming. Jesus is coming back. Believe now. That's the idea. He says, why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right? You don't need signs. You don't need Pharisees. You don't need Sadducees.

You don't need Joe Osteen. Just judge for yourselves. You've got enough sense in that noggin of yours. Why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right? You just believe what everybody else says about Jesus.

Oh, he's just a teacher. He's not real. Can't trust the Bible. Men wrote the Bible. Paul's a patriarchal misogynist. Okay, read the Bible. Look for yourselves. You don't need to have other people judge for you.

Sadducees, Pharisees, Sparisees, and Fadducees. Speaking of children, my daughter-in-law Hannah just had little Evelyn a couple days ago, as I said. And my daughter Maddie, Madeline, she was born here in Worcester, Puna, Worcester.

And she was born at St. Vincent's Hospital, the old one. Pretty gnarly one, although the room was pretty nice, because they always have the labor and delivery rooms the nicest in the hospital, because there's a lot of money to be had there, and of course you want ladies to have a nice place to bear children.

Well, the doctor, my wife's OB, knew about my wife going in, and he went to the wrong hospital to go deliver Madeline. So I was told that he was at the wrong hospital, and that Maddie was on the way out.

No more stopping Maddie. And they had a midwife, they had some nurses there, and then they had another doctor who was on call, and did I want that doctor to deliver Maddie? And I said, well, do you nurses trust him?

Is he a good doctor? If you were me, what would you do? Midwife, doctor, nurse, etc. They said, oh, we love him. He delivers a lot of babies here, and he delivers some of the babies of the nursing staff.

And I always like nurses' recommendations, even over against doctors, because the nurses really know in the nitty-gritty. So I said, sure, let's have the doctor. What's his name? His name is Dr. Pharisee.

So a Pharisee delivered Madeline. Not spelled the same, but see, I conflated Pharisee and Sadducee, and so it turned into Sarahsees and Fadducees. That messes everything up, because who are the Sadducees?

They denied the resurrection, see? They're sad, you see? All right. This courtroom talk. Settle out of court, because what if you go into court and lose? That's why people settle out of court. So, Judge, what is right?

If you're listening today, you're not a Christian, you know better. You know the facts. What are you trying to do? Why are you acting this way? Why aren't you believing? Is Jesus the faithful son or not?

You've got to choose. Not believing is a choice. Delaying is a choice. You need to be reconciled to God. Nothing to do with purgatory. This has to do with settle up. God's got a court case against you, Christian.

False. God's got a court case against unbelievers, and He's going to settle one day, either on the return of Jesus or when they die. And you want to settle now. As you know, sin is called a debt. It's a debt.

We have an obligation as creatures to obey God, love God, love neighbor, and we don't do it. And if we do the opposite of our moral obligation as creatures unto the Creator, then there's going to be a settling.

It's a debt. You could call sin a trespass, you could call it a transgression, you could call it iniquity, you could call it perversion, you could call it a debt. Forgive us our debts, Matthew 6. Luke 11, forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And so you owe God a perfect, entire, exact, perpetual obedience as creatures. And when we fail, it's called sin, and we fall short of God's glory. And so this debt, this obligation to God and His holy law, He, the righteous judge, will make people pay, settle their debts.

There's sins against God, and they'll have to be settled. So don't you want forgiveness? You didn't just make a mistake. You're not just broken, you're not just not flourishing. You've sinned against God.

I have too, but my sins are paid for by Jesus. You're going to go into court, and you don't have that many resources, and you're going to go against really good lawyers, good prosecutors. There's a lot of evidence against you.

Matter of fact, all the evidence is against you. They got the goods, they got the body cam, they got pictures, they've got motive. So settle. Settle. When God is your prosecutor, you've got to settle.

You've got to settle out of court. You've got to do something. The signs, they all point to Jesus. The prophecies, they all point to Jesus. Your sins should point you to Jesus. You're going to appear before the judge of the universe.

You need Jesus. I'm writing these things to you, little children, so that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

Don't you want to be set free? Don't you want to be called not guilty? Don't you want to be forgiven? Don't you want to settle out of court by faith and by faith alone? By the way, if you're a Christian, aren't you glad this is all true?

Whoa, what if you had to wait? Debtor's prisons don't exist here in America anymore. But there's a debtor prison called hell. People are in debt to God because they're creatures, and he's the creator.

They disobeyed, they sinned, they didn't love him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength perfectly 24 -7 since they were born. They didn't love their neighbors as theirself perfectly, entirely, exactly, perpetually.

And God is not to be mocked, and God is going to require that day. And what you reap you sow, so better settle out of his mercy and out of his kindness. Since you're rich in sin, God's rich in mercy. Now, many of the people there didn't do that.

They didn't settle. Judas didn't settle. Jews didn't settle. Did I just say Jews? Judas. Judas did not settle. Jews did not settle. And of course, the day came about, it was called 70 AD, and destroyed.

Or many of them just died before 70 AD, and then they had to settle. So, you settle now while you're alive, because you're not going to get out. It's a double negative. You are not going to get out. It's appointed for man once to die, and after this comes the judgment, the settling, Hebrews chapter 9.

So, I have good news for you. As Calvin said, by Christ's obedience he's wiped off our transgressions. By his sacrifice appeased the divine anger. By his blood washed away our sins. By his cross borne our curse, and by his death made satisfaction for us.

He's alive now. He's coming back. So, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Hell is forever. Torment is forever. Conscious torment is forever. Storm's coming. Get your raincoat.

Clouds are coming. Where's your umbrella? Wind's coming. Get ready. When Jesus comes, there's going to be division, believer, unbeliever. So, be a believer. When Jesus comes back, he's going to rebuke people that are hypocrites.

They should know better. Spend more time on your phone than you do in the Word. I'm convicted, but at least I had enough sense. That's not even right either. You got to autocorrect theologically all the time.

I didn't have enough sense. God gave me the sense to say, I better settle. There's an accounting, a sin-debt settlement, great expectations, and awful, awful payment one day. We have to be very, very careful.

We've got to be careful that we say, Lord, Jesus is coming back, and we need to be ready. How do you become ready? Well, you become ready by trusting in Jesus, sola fide. And that trust is a knowledge of Jesus.

You know about Jesus. An assent, you agree that what Jesus said and did is true, and then you're trusting your eternal soul for that. Into your hands I commit my spirit. I'm trusting you is the only way.

I'm believing that Jesus is the real Messiah. All his claims are true. What he did is true, especially he died for sinners and was raised from the dead. He ascended and he's coming back. I really think Jesus is coming back.

Do you? Well, then you should be ready. Then you should be ready. Be ready. It's frustrating, isn't it? It's sad, isn't it? It's demoralizing, isn't it, when people don't believe loved ones, family members.

But that does not mean that they won't, because just as God was patient with you, and he was patient with me, and I finally believed at 29 years old. 29! What was I thinking? I was thinking I wanted to live my life.

I'm thinking I want to sin. I'm thinking that I wanted to do things the Bible says were not good to do, so I just am going to ignore it. But then, the Lord in his mercy and his kindness opened my eyes, and instead of being on the wrong side of the division, I was on the right side.

I was reconciled to God. I was not a hypocrite in the sense that I could understand the weather but couldn't understand spiritual things. I had my eyes opened, and so did you. And we settled out of court.

So thankful. Settled out of court. That's what you need to do if you're not a believer. Settle, so that the judgment will not brag, so that the person might not drag you before the judge and throw you into prison.

That's all talking about how bad sin is, because God is so holy, and then there's going to be punishment forever. My name's Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. I think, maybe I am No Compromise Radio.

If I left Bethlehem Bible Church, would NOCO Radio continue? It would. Maybe I'll move to California one day. Who knows? But in the meantime, you can visit us in West Boylston, Massachusetts, Central Mass, 307 Lancaster Street, West Boylston, Massachusetts, 01583.

You can write me a regular letter if you want. Sometimes I get real mail. And you can also email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. Some books that are out there, Chosen, a book that's super simple, that if somebody's struggling with unconditional election, you give them this book, The Chosen.

There's a book called King. What does it mean that God is a king? We know He's a prophet and a priest, but what about Jesus the king? Does that affect worship? Does that affect His soon return? Oh, I think that's a chapter, the soon return of Jesus in the book King.

Well, thanks for listening. My name is Mike Abendroth. Thanks again.