Is That Your Final Answer? (Part 2)

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

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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

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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.

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

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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

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

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My name is Mike Abendroth and I don't feel sick, but I sound, I don't know, nasally.

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Is that a word? Nasally? Lazily? Nasally. We here at No Compromise Radio have a little slogan, always biblical, always provocative, always in that order.

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That's what I'm working for the other day on YouTube channel. Somebody called us

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No Comprehension Radio. We have no comprehension. Sometimes the

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YouTube comments, you know, people can be pretty brave behind their keyboards. I usually let them ride, but once in a while people get too nasty and I have to delete them.

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But I didn't delete that one because it had some class. No Comprehension Radio. No co -radio still applies.

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Remember when I talk about no compromise, I almost said no comprehension. There is one who never compromised and I would like to follow in his footsteps.

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Do I compromise? Yes. Should I compromise? No. Don't I know enough so that I should never compromise?

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Well, that's obvious. Not that it's obvious that I know a lot, but I just, I know enough to think, do not compromise.

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I'm gonna move this Pope here. The Pope is up here on my desk, this solar Pope. I'm sure,

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I don't know, I'm sure it's Aaron who gave me the gift. If there's any crazy gifts here, they're from Aaron or Jill.

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Okay. All things. All things. Remember last week sometime,

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I don't know when these shows air. What do I care? We just talk, talk, talk, talk.

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I think they have those studies. Well, they do have those studies about how many words men talk per day and how many words women talk per day.

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But what if you have a radio show? Can't we factor that in somehow? How does that all work?

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Info at nocompromiseradio .com. I'm looking at the book of Hebrews, and Hebrews is extolling the person work of Jesus Christ.

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He is the superior high priest. If you'd like a summary verse of the book of Hebrews, it's kind of neat.

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You could go to chapter eight, verse one, where the writer says, now the point in what we are saying is this.

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Hey, how do I summarize chapters one through seven? Well, the point in what

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I've been trying to say is this. We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places in the true tent that the

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Lord set up, not man. That's the point. We have a high priest seated at the right hand of God, the father, majesty on high.

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And we should be listening to him. He is the final revelation from God, the full revelation from God, the supreme revelation from God.

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He's a son. He's not a prophet. He's a son. He's not an angel. He's a son. He's not Moses. He's a son.

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He's not Aaron. Don't you want to listen to God's son? Well, how do

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I know he's such a great son? And Hebrews then says in chapter one, one to three, well, he's the heir of all things.

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He created the ages. He is the radiance of God's glory, an ontological statement about essence and being.

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He is exact representation of his nature. And he upholds all things.

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Well, he purges sins. There's a purgatory for you. And he's seated at the right hand of the father, majesty on high, or to use the words, the exact words of the

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ESV in Hebrews one, three, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

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Why listen to Jesus? Because he upholds all things, panta, all things.

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Now, the ESV says universe. I'd rather have it put all things. He upholds all things, everything.

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And we were looking last time a little bit about the minutia, the smaller details, because that would lead us into the discussion that people love to talk about.

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How can God be sovereign over evil? How can he be ordaining, permitting evil, sin,

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Satan to do things? As Martin Luther might say of Satan, that he is

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God, he, Satan, is God's hardest working servant.

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How can that be? Well, with a little bit of mental extrapolation and thinking, how could that be?

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Well, it's because Satan can only do what God would have him do. You can imagine reading the book of Job.

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Job did not know what we knew about revelation from God and how this was a test.

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I mean, as far as Job knew, he was just sick. He had boils. As far as Job knew, there were just calamities that were occurring all around him.

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He didn't know it was Satan going after him. We are looking at how can

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God, is God, to what degree is God sovereign over sin?

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Sovereign over evil? Ruling over calamity?

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God is sovereign over everything. And as we work through these passages, you say to yourself, wait a second, it is an intellectual exercise.

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Yes, it's an academic pursuit. Yes, but it's very practical because if God's sovereign over everything in my life,

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I should trust in him. Now, the writer of Hebrews would say, you should listen to him, that's true.

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And you should also trust in him. If you have not read the book by Jerry Bridges, Trusting God, I think the subtitle is

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Even When Life Hurts, you ought to read that book because it extols this particular idea that the son upholds all things.

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And that word, remember we looked at last time? Upholds, not bearing like a burden, but upholding and going somewhere, driving it to its consummation.

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There's an end, there's a destination. He's driving the world, all things in the world, all things in the universe, he's driving it to the ordained conclusion.

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There's a start and there's an end, driving it. Don't you love it that this language of upholding is contra to evolving, devolving?

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No, he is upholding and driving it somewhere. How, when, why, with whom?

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Well, the one thing we do know is he's doing it and it's a hands -on operation and it's providence.

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It is the sovereign providential hand of God. I made up a new word when I was preaching the other day, sovereignly, both sovereignly and providentially,

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God upholds all things. Every act committed by man, by woman, mankind.

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You see that lady the other day, I'm sure Friel talked about it, that self -identifies as a cat, true or false?

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Isaiah underneath the inspiration of the spirit of God and the Lord of heaven calls

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Cyrus my shepherd. True or false? Isaiah underneath the inspiration of the

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Holy Spirit calls Cyrus his anointed. Can you imagine

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Isaiah 44, eight? It is I who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd.

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Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, his anointed, Isaiah 45 verse one. I mean, most of it, most of us rather, we don't have much argument that God's king over the righteous behavior of men and women throughout the ages.

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You know, it's kind of easy to digest, but when you're confronted by the

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Bible, as it talks about sinful deeds, unrighteous acts of humans, that they are also under the auspices of God's sovereign control, you kind of get the squirmies like the five -year -old boy the first day of kindergarten.

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Why is that? Could it possibly be that those who struggle have not bowed their mind to the clear teaching of scripture?

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Maybe some haven't read through the Bible. Could it be that teachers place a false theology over these verses to blunt the trauma that they perceive might happen as the jackhammer?

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You ever see a guy with a jackhammer? Seems like everything's shaking. Genesis 45, eight, now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God.

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Remember, this is Joseph talking regarding Egypt. And he made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

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Five chapters later, Genesis 50, 20, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring out about this present result to preserve many people alive.

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The sovereignty of God. Did I just whistle? Ever hear people whistle when they talk?

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I think this is 2016, isn't it? You whistle while you work and you whistle while you do radio.

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All right, back to topic here. Hey, did you get the new book for your friend?

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Sexual Fidelity? You know, the problem with that book is you might not want to order it because what if somebody sees you read it?

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Maybe they think you got problems. Maybe you're kind of some kind of pervert or something. Maybe that's what you think they might perceive, sexual fidelity.

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Well, truth be told, we've all got issues, right? We're all broken.

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One of my friends still says that. I don't know why, I still like him. He's my friend, but we're all broke.

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That writes right up there if you talk about journey. Of course, that's the band or a church name or I'm on my spiritual journey.

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I don't know, what's the etymology for journey? I don't know, adjourn? I'm not sure,

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I never thought about it, but I should because it's probably dopey. It's probably no good. Broken and wounded.

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But the book, if you are perverted sexually or have ever thought any of those thoughts or done any of those things or any kind of sexual sin, you're gonna like this book because it's set up as I would teach my son about this topic.

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No potty mouth language and lots of gospel, lots of forgiveness, lots of union with Christ, lots of God sees you wearing white, not just on your wedding day, but every other day, if you're a believer in Christ Jesus, cloaked with the robes of Christ righteousness.

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Isn't that great? That's great. God is sovereign over sin. Let's think about Absalom for a minute.

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He has a sin that happens, but is God sovereign over this, his heinous sin, his heinous sin?

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So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof and Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all

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Israel, 2 Samuel 16 .22. I'm the king. Who sleeps with the concubines?

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King does. I'm sleeping with the concubine. Who's king now? See, that's the point. How horrible.

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How sinful, how preposterous. Maybe that is so wicked, so awful, that it falls outside the pale of God's rule.

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I mean, if there's any behavior known to mankind that is aberrant, immoral, this is it.

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This is sick enough that it makes Jerry Springer blush, probably, yet the

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Bible says this is part of God's plan. Does it shock you? 2 Samuel 12, 11 to 12.

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Thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household. I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight.

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Indeed, you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and under the sun.

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Make no theological mistake. The human agents were responsible. Absalom was responsible.

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He had a duty to obey God, yet God's sovereign rule is seen hand in hand with human responsibility.

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They're both taught in the Bible. They are compatible, certainly in the mind of God, and they should be in your mind as well.

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As you grow in the Christian faith, you will find something out very quickly, that if you force mental closure, you're gonna kind of go wild and crazy.

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But if you just allow things to just be biblical in your mind, without trying to tighten things up, tuck in the sheets of your mind's bed, your bed's mind.

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How's that work? That's a sign of growth. Two truths.

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Hey, I'm infinite. No, I'm finite. Hey, I'm righteous. Well, forensically, yes, but I'm sinful still, and I'm finite.

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And is there any other reason why it might not dawn on me how to figure out all the

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Bible and these eternal truths and these transcendent ideas?

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Of course, I'm finite and sinful. Of course, there are gonna be things in the Bible that blow my mind and I can't figure out.

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Oh, the depths and the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God. I don't give God counsel.

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Can you imagine? I'm a pastor and I have to do some counseling with people and they come in for counsel. I really wanna tell them what the

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Bible says about what they're doing, what the Bible says about what they should do, what the Bible says about what

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Jesus has done in light of their sin, and give them some practical things that they could get plugged in.

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Someone wrote me a while ago and said they were struggling with sexual sin, homosexual sin, and I told them that they said they might be a

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Christian. They don't know. And I said, well, here's what I want you to do. Are you going to church? No. I want you to find a church.

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No, I don't really want to. What city do you live in? They told me. Within 30 seconds,

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I found a Bible teaching church expositing the Bible verse by verse, master seminary grad. And I said,

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I want you to go to this church. And that's the first step.

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Then get in touch with me and tell me how it is. No, I don't really want to. Well, then I can't help you. I can't help you.

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But now imagine if I'm trying to counsel God. First of all, he doesn't ever sin. And then I'm going to give him some kind of advice, like maybe like change the axis of the earth's rotation a little bit.

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Or maybe can you like, got a basketball game to play, son of flubber kind of deal.

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And can you help with the gravitation? Oh, then that would help with everybody else. Gravitation. I just make up words as we go.

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How about God ordaining Ahab's deception? Through Satan himself.

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The passage I'm reading now is from 1 Kings 22, 20. And following, the Lord said, who will entice

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Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth, Gilead? One said this while another said that.

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Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him. And the Lord said to him, how?

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And he said, I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. Then he said, you are to entice him and also prevail.

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Go, this is God speaking, and do so. True. It's right there in the

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Bible. In addition, Nebuchadnezzar is heralded as God's servant in Jeremiah 25.

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Chaldean's actions toward the cities of Judah were orchestrated by God, Jeremiah 1 and 50.

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The Lord tampered with both Pharaoh's hearts, Pharaoh's heart and the Egyptians' hearts.

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Exodus 9, Psalm 105. Can anything, listener, be done in the world that is done without God's will?

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If you remain convinced, I have another question for you. What was the worst sin ever committed by mankind?

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I regularly say this and I often say it because it's helpful to me and I want it to be helpful to you.

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As they say in preaching parlance, I trust that it'll be helpful to you. The response of what's the worst sin ever committed by mankind must be the crucifixion of the innocent man,

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Jesus Christ. No one deserved execution less than the Messiah, yet observe carefully as I read these words.

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Listen carefully. When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priest and elders had said to them.

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And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, oh Lord, it is you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the

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Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant said, why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples devise futile things?

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The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his

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Christ. For truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant,

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Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel.

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Now listen to what Acts 4, 23 through 28 says at the end. To do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur.

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What's your option if God's not sovereign over the crucifixion of his son? Jesus gets caught up in machinations and he goes a little wild, took it too far, illusions of grandeur.

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No, this is all part of the plan of God, including the sin of crucifying

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Jesus. What else could be a sin if crucifying Jesus isn't a sin?

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Is anything else a sin? The death of Christ Jesus at Golgotha was sovereignly planned by God, even though sinful men will give an account for their sinful actions.

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That's compatibilism. Derek Thomas, God reigns through the stumbling, hobbling service of his people and the rage and malice of his foes to establish his eternal purpose for this world.

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I mean, what's the other option? The alternative option is scary.

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God sovereignly, powerfully, wisely rules. That's exactly what he does.

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Now, I wanna talk more about evil as I've been reading some J .I. Packer's comments on this and Francis Turretin.

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I've got some comments I'd like to make about it. Hey, it's my show, you can do whatever I want.

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Problem is I'm 21 minutes into the show and at 2430, gotta stop.

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Let me see here what Hebrews says in the

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Message Bible just for fun. Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries.

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Recently, he spoke to us directly through his son. By his son,

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God created the world in the beginning and it will all along be, by his son,

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God created the world in the beginning and it will all belong to the son at the end. This son perfectly mirrors

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God and is stamped with God's nature. He holds everything together by what he says, powerful words.

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After he finished the sacrifice for sins, the son took his honored place high in the heavens right alongside

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God, far higher than any angel in rank and rule. Well, it's not a translation, but it could have been a lot worse.

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Okay, this is true confessions.

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I wanted it to be worse. Who would say that? Like I want ratings,

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I want interesting things to be said, I want my point to be made about how awful the message is. As the one young man told me in Memphis, any

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Bible that's abbreviated MSG, it's got some problems. But there,

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I guess if you had only the Message Bible, is it that or nothing? I still wouldn't call it a

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Bible. I don't think I've ever sneezed on No Compromise Radio, but there's one brewing in the background. Ever have those feelings where you think, you know what,

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I am close to sneezing. You can write Steve if you want, Tuesday guy.

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I think in the fall sometime, I might be having to take a sabbatical, who knows on the details there. So Fred, you're smoke basically.

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If that's true, there are gonna be so many reruns. I'm gonna have to play the oldies but goodies.

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And then I'll have to maybe change in every time I would say 2010, we could switch it to 2016.

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I think this is coming up on the end of six years. So if you do 250 shows a year, how many does that give you total?

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I don't know, but it seems like it's a lot. Why don't you write me, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

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If you'd like to do that, that would be great. Hey, you could do me a favor. Since we don't ask for money, let me ask you for this favor.

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If you've read the book, Sexual Fidelity, and you liked it, why don't you post on Amazon?

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I know the hard copy picture's not there, but you could still do the Kindle one, and you could say you've read the book.

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You wouldn't be lying. And if you're gonna give me one, two, three, or four stars, then don't do what

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I just asked you to do. You can put on there whatever you want.

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Just say No Comprehension Radio. That would be perfect. You could say, I live in one of America's least -minded

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Bible cities. No Comprehension Radio. Anyway, you can do me a favor.

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Tell your friends also. Worldview Weekend's got the Romans No Compromise television shows, and they could learn from Romans verse by verse.

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It took me eight shows to get through chapter one, so we'll see you soon. 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 six. 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.