The Gospel of God (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

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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.

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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 Ebendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. Michael E.

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Ebendroth here. You can go to our YouTube page, No Compromise Radio. We've got a bunch of videos there.

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Hopefully in the fall we'll do some more videos. I haven't recorded many these days because I did the American Gospel five -part series,

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Law Gospel. I think they were all between like 30 minutes and 40 minutes. It took a lot of work.

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My back was killing me. We filmed it anyway. Ben Mercedes is a great filmer, and Brandon Kimber at American Gospel is a wonderful editor and filmer as well.

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He just didn't come up for that because Ben did an adequate job. More than adequate. Who is adequate for these things?

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True confession, or maybe I could put it in the form of a question. Have you ever received some food from a friend? Maybe you were sick or they're trying to do you a favor or your wife's out of town so they give you some food or something like that and they'll hand you,

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I don't know, some little Tupperware thing full of food. And somehow it's in the freezer or it's in the fridge for a couple days and you're just busy because you're doing other things.

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It's all hypothetical, of course. And you then say, well, I'll just put it in the freezer because I don't really have time to eat it now.

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And then you're like, oh, a person gave me the food, I probably should write them a thank you card.

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I just usually write postcards for thanks. When I'm in the Vatican or something like that, I get 10 postcards for a euro and I use those for my thank you card.

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Mother Mary comes to me speaking words of wisdom. Let it be. Make sure you get postcard stamps too.

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Those are a little less expensive, but anyway. And then you're like, oh, it's old.

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It's got freezer burn, a bunch of ice all over it. And I'm not going to eat that.

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That's old. I mean, who wants to eat old frozen food? And then you think, well, maybe

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I'm the only one that thinks this. They're going to like ask me if I liked it or if they do that. So then you just like take a tiny bite of it or you lick it to say you tasted it.

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Say it would add good flavor. Is that sin? I mean, it's not a faith.

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Anyway, we have some reruns coming up soon while I'm on vacation for a little bit, and then we'll be back at it sometime in August for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, brand new shows and Monday, brand new sermons.

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I think the Mondays will still be new sermons. They just might not be mine. They'll be Pastor Steve's. I know he's in the book of John, the gospel of Jesus, according to John.

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Last time we talked about Romans 1 .16, setting everything up about how important this book is,

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Romans, why it's important these days, especially when you've got people talking about how do you redeem the city and cultural mandates and social justice and everything else, critical race theory and how do we have a cultural mandate if we do have a cultural mandate?

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What is it? Why it always eclipses the gospel, et cetera.

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Let me give you a series of questions regarding the gospel. When I say gospel, I'm talking about the good news about Jesus.

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We're talking about, you know, the news is about the person. A bunch of motorcycle people just drove by.

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And I want you to make sure you understand it because if you just take it for granted, the next generation is going to lose it.

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I think it was D .A. Carson who said it, basically, the one generation assumes the gospel, the next will forget it.

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And I think this is important too in our day because if you ask your friends, what do you think we do at church, you know, maybe you sing, certainly give, you know, churches are always after your money.

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Probably eat some food, some potlucks or something, green bean casserole, tater tot casserole, jello with some pretzels on the bottom, floating, sinking.

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What's the weirdest food you ever ate at a church potluck? And it looks so bad you think, I'm not eating it,

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I'm eating what my wife brought or my mom. That was me when I was a kid. I always would eat only what my mom brought because I was too afraid of these other crazy church people.

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And sometimes it's that way. Although on the flip side, there's a lady at our church, Maxine, and she makes great pies.

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I mean, the pie crust is so good. And when we have like a pie social or something, I'll just say, which one's yours?

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Because I'm having a slice of that. I don't even care what it is short of mincemeat. I'm going to make mincemeat adios.

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What am I talking about? Question number one.

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Oh yeah, I know what I was talking about. So people at the church, you know, what do you do at church? I think the majority of people in the world, and this is because I don't, this is what people do by default is think of works and it's also our fault as a church because we're not telling them what really we should focus on.

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But I think the unbeliever thinks we come here to hear TED talks, uplifting, moralistic, therapeutic, pietistic exhortations to get through another week.

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I think that's what they think. I don't think they would say, I don't think they would hardly ever say.

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There's a lot of proclamation about Jesus. We come to listen and to be enamored with and overflowing with joy, being reminded about who

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Jesus is as our great Savior who loved me and gave his life for me. I don't think they think that.

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And half of it is shame on pastors because it ends up being, even with a gospel account, I know there's a pastor.

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And he takes every sermon and it's like, well, it's about Jesus in the passage and then it turns into what you need to do.

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It's crazy. We'll talk, we talked about this for a long time, but anyway, we need to be reminded about who

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Jesus is and how important the gospel is. And that's why it's of first importance.

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Remember 1 Corinthians chapter 15? So today, Romans chapter 1 verses 16 and 17 is our passage.

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I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God and salvation for all who believe, to the Jew first and also the

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Gentiles. And then it says, from the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

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To be reminded about Jesus. Don't you need today to be reminded about Jesus? You're standing in the DMV line, the

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RMV line. You're changing diapers again. You're discouraged. Your car broke down.

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I mean, my battery's bad. Fender thing just was falling off of the truck when I was driving down the street. I wanted to get to church early on Sunday, but it didn't work out that way.

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And I needed, if I ever have to drive the truck, we have this old truck. You know, people are like, hey, can I borrow your truck?

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Sure. Cause it's just a piece of junk, but it passed again, the emissions. And so we're good till next

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February. It's a Dodge Dakota, just a junker, a couple hundred thousand miles on it, all rusted out.

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You know, if it snows and it's got snow on the rust, that's when I take it in to get checked for safety because it's too much rust.

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They'll never let me. And so then they just, okay. And I'm like, all right, fine. And I get stuck behind the train and the truck because my car battery from my car,

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I have an old Volvo with a couple hundred thousand miles on it. I got super cheap and the batteries did.

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So I had to take the truck and I'm running late. And then because of that, and then there's a train right there.

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I'm just sitting there going, oh, great. And the reason why I wanted to get here early, not to turn the lights on or anything, but I, you know,

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I have to get my stuff ready and I sit down and I pray and I do this, that and the other. And, you know, people are asking questions and I also want to get here early.

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Here's the main reason. Cause I didn't want anybody to see me pull up in that truck. I think it's a

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V8 too. Gets bad enough gas mileage to be a V8.

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So we're going to talk today about the gospel. Question number one, what's the theme of the book of Romans?

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What's the theme of the book of Romans? And the answer is found, wow, this is amazing.

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In verse 16 and 17, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the

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Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written, the righteous or the just shall live by faith.

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That is the theme of the book. Maybe more simply, you could say the theme of the book is the gospel of God.

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Chapter one, verse one and following. This is a great summary.

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This is a summary of the entire book. Gospel, good news. The gospel of God, the gospel about the triune

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God. C .K. Barrett said, most commentators recognize in them the text of the epistle.

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That is in the words of these verses. It is not wrong to see in them a summary of Paul's theology as a whole.

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So not only is it a theme of the book of Romans, if you had a seminary question given to you, a quiz or a test or an exam or a

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Bible school exam or something, what's Paul's theology summarized? It's Jesus Christ and what he's done.

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Salvation in Christ, salvation by faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.

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This is the theme of the book of Romans. The righteousness of God is also the righteousness from God.

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God is righteous and he requires right living, perfect righteousness, but we're thankful because even though we could never do that, the thankfulness comes in that God gives us his righteousness and that is earned by Jesus Christ.

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And this is the theme of the book of Romans. Question number two.

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Okay, we're just kind of building on this. I do Q &A for lots of reasons. One is because it helps people pay attention.

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Q &A format when preaching helps. And then every time I ask a question, the application is you're trying to think of the answer.

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Question number two. I know this isn't a church service, but this is a podcast.

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Question two on podcast land. What should your attitude be regarding the gospel? Boring. Heard it all.

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Don't we move past the gospel? Come on, can't we do something better then in addition to change it up a little bit?

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I mean, I got a lot of diverse problems. Can you give me some diverse answers besides the two -string guitar that you've got

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Jesus and him crucified? I mean, like a little spice in my life, if you know what

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I mean. What was Paul's attitude to the gospel? He said,

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I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Isn't that interesting? I'm not ashamed of the good news of the gospel.

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The world, if you don't know this, hates the exclusivity of the gospel.

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Salvation is found in no other. There's no other way to get to heaven. Every other religion is a lie and it's false.

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Every other religion is a lie or false. And maybe you say this is post -modern world, it's a post -Christian world, it's a my -truth world.

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And to hear about the good news that God saves sinners and rescues them from what they've earned, bad news, hell, sin, judgment, it doesn't mean

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I'm a sinner. My life deserves judgment? I mean,

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Rolling Stones songs go through my mind, hey, you get off my cloud. I'd like to know what's the background for that.

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Maybe it's something bad, I don't know. But hey, hey, you, you get off my cloud. How can that be a hit?

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Get off of my cloud. But who said rock and roll's ever meant to make sense?

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My wife always jokes and she says, Mike, you have one common theme, a thread that's similar in all the music you like listening to.

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I said, oh, that'll be good. This is going to be good. What is it? And she said, all the bands that you like, the lead singer can't sing.

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Well, she might be right, but I just told her to get off my cloud. Hey, this gospel message,

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Paul says, that'll get you stoned, that'll get you imprisoned, that'll get you beat up, they're going to make you, yeah, it's going to get you scorned, ridiculed, they're going to laugh at you, they're going to shun you.

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They're going to make you run as a fugitive. B .B.

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Warfield, a dozen ignorant peasants, proclaiming a crucified Jew as the founder of a new faith, bearing as the symbol of their worship an instrument which was the sign of ignominy, slavery, and crime, preaching what must have seemed an absurd doctrine of humility, patient suffering and to love enemies, graces undreamed of before, demanding what must have seemed an absurd worship for one who had died like a malfactor and a slave, and making what must have seemed an absurd promise of everlasting life through one who had himself died and that between two thieves.

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And Paul said, and you should say, I'm not ashamed. I'm not going to have shame for that.

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This is a great message. This is not going to be something that makes me bite my tongue, somehow

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I don't want to talk about it, somehow I'm like, yeah, it's going to ruin the whole party, I'm reluctant, I don't really have as much courage as I want.

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That's not Paul. That's not what Paul did. Paul said, do you know what?

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I'm not ashamed. And this is a figure of speech. Did you know that? What figure of speech is this?

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Well, this is called a litotes, L -I -T -O -T -E -S, litotes.

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That's how you pronounce it according to the dictionary. When I click on my little pronouncer, it looks like litotes.

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I don't know why that's funny to me. Litotes. Yeah, yeah, that's the podcast where the guy sounds like he's sitting in a room by himself laughing at his own jokes.

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Hey, welcome to No Compromise Radio. That would be us. How do we keep getting back on these stations year after year?

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I think we're on Alaska station, a Wyoming station, and then that's it. But glad to be.

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Wyoming, I tip my hat to you. Alaska, I tip my parka to you.

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What are some kind of hat? What are those hats that they wear in Russia, in Siberia?

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I don't know. That's one place I'd probably never make it. Never make it to Russia. You ever think about that when you get older, like, you know, when you're younger, you think

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I'm going to go to every country, every place, you know, probably never make it there. Probably wouldn't make it out alive.

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A litotes. What's a litotes? What's a figure of speech? Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

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That's an example of a litotes. And so I'm trying to show you that I'm positive about something by using negative terminology.

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I'm not ashamed of the gospel. That's the negative. And he's trying to stress the positive.

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So if you were going to try to stress the positive and not use a figure of speech, the litotes.

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And you weren't going to say, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, what would you say? Well, let's use

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California language. I'm stoked about the gospel. I'm excited about the gospel. I'm proud of the gospel.

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I can't wait to talk about the gospel. I'm excited about the gospel because it's all about who Jesus is.

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I mean, remember before you were saved and remember what the doom was for you. I remember when you first were saved and you realized you went from death to life and you realized you went from condemnation to justification.

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You went from hell to heaven. You went from eternal life in the presence of God as judge to eternal life in the presence of God with a mediator.

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And you realized every single sin you ever had committed and are committing and will commit, done, paid for, debt paid in full, it is finished, and you get to go to heaven, not because you deserve it, but on the basis of the works of another, the

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Lord and Savior who loves sinners. No, I don't know if I really want to talk.

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Paul says with a light of tease, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm bold.

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I'm proud. I'm excited. I'm confident. This is exciting.

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I've got good news in a world of bad news. I'm excited. I'm going to stand up for something.

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I'm going to stand up for this great truth. I don't care what the world says. I don't care if the world says, be inclusive, don't be so narrow -minded, you know, religion has killed more people than every other single war, this is too narrow, you're a bigot.

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And I know you, No Compromise radio listeners. You're excited about it. I'm glad.

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I'm glad that that's the kind of listeners we want. Spurgeon, when we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer or stutter or hesitate or apologize.

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There's nothing in the gospel of which we have any cause to be ashamed. Whew. Awesome.

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Mike Abendroth, No Compromise radio. Questions about the gospel, particularly the book of Romans.

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Question one, what is the theme of Romans found in verses 16 and 17? Or one to four is fine.

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What should your attitude be regarding the gospel? Not ashamed, proud, excited.

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Question three, what is the gospel? This is fun. I'm having a good time.

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I was going to go home today because I'm at the church building and I was going to get some other things done. And then

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I was going to come back tomorrow, but I thought, you know what, it's on your list to do today. So get the list done today and then tomorrow

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I don't have to come back. I'll study some tomorrow for the sermon, but I don't have to come back to the building.

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What is the gospel? He says in verse 16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And so I think it's best if we, and what

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I've done before is to try to explain what the gospel is not. I have to move this chair, sorry for that noise.

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What the gospel is not. I guess I have a mute button. I think in all the years I've done the show, 12 years, 13 years,

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I've never used the mute button. So I'm going to use it right now. Let's just pretend I'm going to do it right now. That was a mute button on, mute button off.

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So now I can say I've used it. I should use it for Pastor Steve more often. Where is Pastor Steve? I don't know where he is.

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Well, the microphone is busted. That's why on this music stand. So that's why.

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The gospel is not. God helps those who help themselves. That was

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Benjamin Franklin, remember? 82 % of Americans think that that's the gospel, think that's a biblical truth.

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Back in the medieval days, it was not better. And basically Franklin stole the medieval days slogan and it's an ongoing slogan because we all have hearts corrupted by sin and therefore we are works righteousness people.

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Medieval times, God will not deny his grace to those who do what lies within their power.

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That's the good news. By the way, lots of times when a cult leader, not cult leader, but a cult follower, somebody in a cult, a theological cult, will knock on my door and ask me about stuff.

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I tell them I'm excited about spiritual things and I'm sinful and I've got a bad conscience about it and I wish

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I could love my wife better and be a better dad and every other thing and I'd just like to know, do you have any good news?

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How can I get to heaven? And then they tell me works and I'm like, well, that's not good news. I do all those,

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I don't do anything that you're telling me with a pure heart. I'm worse than that. And then pretty soon

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I tell them, well, I have some good news. That's the days I'm nice to them. Is the gospel, do what lies within your power?

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Is it be like Jesus? Is that the gospel? Is it have purpose in your life, have a relationship with God, have your best life now, be baptized, feed the poor, get baptized with the

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Holy Ghost, get speaking in tongues, put Jesus on the throne of your heart, say the sinner's prayer, there's the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.

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You decide for Jesus, let go and let God, WWJD, make

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Jesus your Lord, is any of that the gospel? No, no, most of those are law.

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I mean, even love the Lord your God and love your neighbor, which are fine laws, the two best laws, the highest laws, the greatest laws, greatest command.

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It's not the gospel, that's not good news. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, love your neighbor.

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When a church has a sign, we're known for loving God and loving neighbor. That's what we do here.

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I'm like, oh, law, I'm never gonna make it there, I don't do that. You got any good news?

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Don't you want to be known for something about good news? What are you known for? Law. Hey, come to our church.

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By the way, that's a good question. When you're inviting your friends to your church for a Sunday morning worship service, how do you describe it?

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You say, cool kids programs, cool parking lot, rockin' music, blue orb lights, smoke, ice, dry ice smoke,

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Holy Spirit, you can feel him in your heart. That's the base, but it's turned up loud. What do you say?

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I hope you say, because I hope it's true from your pastor's perspective. Come hear about Jesus.

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It's like the woman at the well. She goes to all the men and she's like, he told me everything I've ever done. I need to tell you about Jesus.

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Come and follow Jesus. And it's like, hey, I need to know more about Jesus. Hey, come and hear about Jesus.

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Shouldn't that be the local church? Come and hear about Jesus? I mean, if it's law, law's not good news unless you can perfectly keep the law, then maybe it's got a good effect.

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That Jesus kept the law, that's good news, and we'll talk more about that next time on No Compromise Radio Ministry.

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You can write me, Mike, at NoCompromiseRadio or Spencer, info, at NoCompromiseRadio .com.

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Tell your friends, hey, go give us a good rating. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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

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

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