Is That Your Final Answer (Part 1)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the apostle Paul said, "'But we did not yield in subjection to them "'for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel "'would remain with you.'".

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Hebrews as the Final Revelation of God

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name's Mike Abendroth, and it seems weird to be in the studio all by my lonesome in the past couple months, contrary to Fred's snarkitude. We haven't hardly had any reruns, bro.

Teddy Roosevelt. I just watched a great PBS show via Netflix on the Roosevelts and Teddy and Franklin. Now I know why it's Delano. That was kind of interesting. Okay, what do we have on set on tap today?

Be non-alcoholic. Beer is what it would be. You can write me, info at nocompromiseradio .com. The new book, Sexual Fidelity, is out. You can get a hard copy, not a hardback, but a hard copy via the website, or you can do Kindle.

Not that long ago, we did the Kindle three-day sale for $2 .99, and I don't know what the third-day sales were, but the first couple days were pretty good. A couple hundred were sold, and that would promote you and propel you, rather, into the Kindle top men's book, Beating Out Wild at Heart, with a bullet.

Why are people still buying Wild at Heart? That's the scary thing. So that means Wild at Heart is selling about 100 copies a day, like Sexual Fidelity. I mean, ours was only up there for two days, right?

And then you lose out, then you're back to nowheresville. I think maybe this is how you get on the New York Times bestseller list. In front of me, I have a variety of different little notes here, there.

And the other, we have, I'm gonna do that today. We have the book of Hebrews, and I am absorbed by the book of Hebrews. Maybe that's not the right way to say it. That's almost sounding like a neo-Orthodox.

I am absorbing the book of Hebrews as much as I can, because it is thrilling. As I look into the person and work of Jesus Christ, I've been a Christian now 26 years, and have read the book of Hebrews many times.

But you know how you've read a book, and then you've read a book? Yeah, you've read a book, and then you've read a book. While I am the same person, hopefully I'm more mature, I have more biblical insight.

I don't know my godliness level, but I do trust in the Lord that he grows Christians and matures them through the word, and I try to be in the word and teach the word. So then when I come to the book of Hebrews, what used to be intimidating to me, it's not so intimidating.

I mean, this morning I was reading, and this is, I'm not trying to brag or anything. That's not my point. I was reading chapter one, verse eight. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. This is the father talking to the son.

The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. And actually, I think in front of me, is that the ESV? I don't remember. That is the ESV, and they did a great job there. Sometimes I think the ESV doesn't do the greatest job.

It says in the earlier verse, chapter one, verse three, upholds the universe by the word of his power. That's upholds all things. What if there's another universe? I mean, uni one, I know, but what if there's an alternative universe?

You know, my Star Trek friends, there's an alternate universe. But here, the ESV does a great job because I looked up the Greek this morning. I was reading chapter one in Greek. I try to do that in the morning, whatever book I'm preaching through.

And it says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness. Now, Ennius is the scepter of righteousness. You have loved righteousness, but two separate words.

And ESV does a great job here. Back to my point though, while there are difficult passages and things to understand in the book of Hebrews, now that I'm a more mature Christian, I can understand them better.

And I decided that this would be a good time to preach through the book of Hebrews on Sunday mornings here at Bethlehem Bible Church. So if you want those sermons, bbcchurch .org. I wanted to go a little faster because I think I went too slow through books of the Bible when I was younger.

True story, I think it took me 70 weeks to go through Daniel. Not kidding. That is so funny. But once I got into the book of Hebrews, the introduction is so great and it is so applicable both to our thinking and what we do.

I've just had to slow down. I think we are in chapter one, verse three, and we're about eight to 10 weeks in. I think we'll go faster. But what's happening in chapter one, God used to speak a certain way.

Remember this, the Hebrews, the Jewish people were persecuted. Some were believers, some weren't, and they were both tempted to go back to Judaism. And the writer of Hebrews tries to tell them, why go back?

Jesus is the final revelation of God and from God, so don't go back. Listen to him. That's the point. Just like at the Mount of Transfiguration, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well-pleased. Listen to him.

That's the Father saying that. And now we have the Holy Spirit using the writer of Hebrews. I don't know who it was. It wasn't Paul and it wasn't Mary. It wasn't Peter. Peter, Paul, and Mary. So stupid.

If you listeners knew how many times a day I said, Mike, that's stupid. Mike, you're so stupid. You would laugh. If I had a dollar, my dad would say for every time Mike said, you are stupid. You meaning yourself.

I am stupid. Mike, you're stupid. That's kind of like Bo Jackson when he talks about Bo, you know, third person. Oh man. The final answer. Remember that back in the, who wants to be a millionaire day?

You had a lifeline and you had, I don't know, a vowel fill in or something. Can't remember the second one, but the other one was maybe call a friend. And then they would give an answer, 2016. And then they would say, is that sure what?

Final answer. Well, the final answer given by God for ultimate revelation, supreme revelation, final revelation, full revelation, is not in the piecemeal way it was done in the old Testament, old covenant system with it many times in many ways.

But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. No definite article making it a quality issue with quality of his son. God speaks through his son, so you should listen. Later on, he talks about, he doesn't say to angels anything about, you know, that he would say to his son.

Today, you're my son. Today, I begotten you rather. You're a son. This Psalm 2, 2 Samuel 7 language is only used for the son, not a servant slash angel. Well, to make sure you understand that you should listen to the final full revelation.

God, the son, is described by seven different actions or attributes. One, whom he appointed heir of all things, that's chapter one, verse two. He's the heir of everything. God only had one son, so he gets it all.

You don't divide it up. This is not Mormonism with Luther, spirit brothers, through whom he also created the world. So he is the heir of all things by God's appointment. He creates the world. Now, it's not cosmos there, as you might think with that English word world.

It's the eons, it's the ages. And rabbis back in those days would think both time and material. So he creates everything, all of history, through whom he also created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God.

So the Shekinah glory, if it's active, he's beaming out glory and Shekinah glory. If it's passive, then he's more of reflection. I take option A. And the exact imprint of his nature, that is to say they're number four.

If you take a ring and put it into some warm wax, it would be an exact representation of your ring on the wax, on the racks. And that is, we have the fullness of God dwelling in bodily form, as Colossians might say.

And then he comes to number five. Well, let me just do all of them. He upholds the universe by the word of his power. We're gonna go back to that. After making purification for sins, that's number six.

He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. That's number seven. Those seven reasons, those affirmations, those glorious truths are why you should listen to him. That's why the son should be listened to as the final and full revelation.

Is that your final answer? Yeah, Jesus is the final answer. So that's how the book of Hebrews starts. And I've just been camping out because to think that Jesus is the heir of all things. Moses isn't the heir.

Aaron isn't the heir. How about the creator? Well, Moses didn't create. Aaron didn't create. Old Testament sacrificial system didn't create. Radiance of the glory of God. Moses had the radiance of God, the Shekinah glory reflected, kind of, well, maybe absorbed would be better onto his face, but it was secondary.

It wasn't from Moses. It was from God himself. And it was still shining on Moses's face. Remember, he had to cover his face because of the Shekinah glory. And as you walk through the book of Hebrews, you begin to think it's all about Jesus.

And that's exactly what I want it to be. I am selfish and stupid and sinful. And I want to think about who the Lord is and contemplate. Wow. Of course, in his humanity, he's the heir of all things. He created all things.

He is the radiance of the glory of God. I mean, he must be God. Jesus the Son is God. He's the exact representation of God and his nature. These ontological comments about radiance and nature, exact representation.

And he upholds all things. That's where we're going to settle in today and maybe next week as well. Upholds ESV, again, wrongly, upholds the universe, but upholds all things. I just wish it would have said all things because it says earlier that he's the heir of all things.

It doesn't say heir of the universe. Well, then why don't we just keep it consistent? And all things is all things. You say, well, maybe you don't believe in universes, uni-one, maybe you don't think that's all-encompassing.

Well, I just like the word all things because then it makes me wonder, okay, God upholds all things. Now, that word uphold, by the way, is present tense, God's hands-on. There's no deism when it comes to God.

He doesn't wind things up and just lets it go. I think this is wonderful because God is personally involved. He's a transcendent creator. He's great above other different alien, if you like. I'm not saying he's an alien.

This is not some X-Files deal. I want X-Files to be good, but it's probably not. He upholds all things personally. He's transcendent, but he's also eminent. Not eminent, although there's the soon return of Christ, eminence, but the eminence, there's the closeness.

It's a relational term. So you have God who is other, and then you have God who is close. And I think by nature, God is transcendent and other and different, but by decision, by will, through the incarnation, God is close.

There's a friend who sticks closer than a brother. And to think that Jesus is called our brother would stress the eminence of God. No Compromise Radio. My name is Mike Cavendroth. We're working through Hebrews, and it says in chapter one, verse three, upholds all things.

Now that's just not a bearing of the weight. You hold it up. Atlas is bearing the weight of the world on his shoulder. An elephant's trunk holds something up. This word upholds means to bring to fruition, to go somewhere.

Ever meet somebody and you say, well, you know, that kid's not going anywhere. The universe is going somewhere. There's a plan for all things as we drive, as God drives rather, as we watch God drive from creation to consummation, which includes, by the way, the drive to redemption that goes on to talk about in chapter one, verse three, about making purification for sins.

So the world's going somewhere, and God is sovereign over all things. He's driving all things. He upholds all things. We're going somewhere. And what happens is people begin to think, okay, he's sovereign over all things.

And then the question, and this is the main point of the whole show today, does that mean he's sovereign over all things like evil, calamity, sin? How can we work through this if God upholds all things and he's driving them someplace?

How does this contribute to our discussion of sin? If God's sovereign over everything, is he sovereign over sin? If God ordains everything, did he ordain sin? If God permits everything, then does God permit sin?

See where we're going? This is where lots of things end up, so we might as well go there as we consider these important words in Hebrews, upholds all things. By the way, before we get into the technical aspects, practically, when I worry, and I was even worrying this week to my shame, Mike, you were so stupid to worry.

Upholds all things, that includes me. That includes you. He upholds all things. He upholds all things. Why am I worrying? He upholds all things. Why am I up trying to uphold all things? He upholds all things.

It's very comforting to me as I would preach to myself. Self, get in line. Self, stop being stupid and foolish. Self, I think the kids are going to love this. The kids here at Bethlehem Bible Church have the freedom to say foolish and stupid, but not to their parents, not about their parents.

I am drinking some Pete's coffee this morning and feeling much better than this Kehrig machine over here is. It does not uphold the coffee beans very well. God is sovereign over all things. He's sovereignly working over all things.

He upholds all things. He's driving them, keeping them, guiding them. And when you think of all things, I want you to think of even minutia. Some may be tempted to think that God upholds just the big things, world events and maybe presidents to be elected.

But all things means all things. The Bible gives many examples of seemingly small details that God oversees, sustains and ordains. From the seemingly fortuitous, I can't even, this is from my own book.

I can't even read it. I can't, when you can't read the word that you wrote, from the seemingly fortuitous to the overtly calamitous. Ooh, man, God is king over everything. Not just the big events, but the small things.

Trifling atoms, frivolous molecules. Do they go their own way? What's that old song? Go your own way. Who sings that? Is that Fleetwood Mac? Maybe. God's word states the opposite. Let's think through this.

Proverbs 16 .33. The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. I know we were gonna talk about God's sovereignty over evil, but I wanna make sure you understand there's not just this big things that God's sovereign over, but even the little things.

Every decision is from the Lord, even the casting of the die. Each man said to his mate, come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us. So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

Luck, fortune, random chance simply don't exist in the vocabulary of the New Testament or Old Testament believer. That's the uneducated pagan that talks that way. When I used to go to Las Vegas to work, there are all kinds of odds in Las Vegas, but in God's mind, they are certainties.

They're part of the plan of God. God upholds all things. God is making things happen in an active way, not random coincidences and things just happen randomly. No, God's making the world happen, upholding all things.

B .B. Warfield, in the infinite wisdom of the Lord of all the earth, each event falls with exact precision into its proper place in this unfolding of his eternal plan. Nothing, however small, however strange occurs without his ordering or without its peculiar fitness for its place in the working out of his purposes.

And the end of all shall be the manifestation of his glory. See, we're going somewhere. And accumulation of his praise. This is the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament philosophy of the universe's worldview, which attains concrete unity in an absolute decree or purpose or plan of which all that comes to pass is the development in time.

That's amazing. He upholds all things. Think about, does that include your spouse, your kids, your parents, your job, your health, your finances, does all things. Find the most minute, insignificant, minuscule, microscopic, infinitesimal event or activity in the history of the world.

And behind it, you'll find God's sovereign rule, making it happen exactly the way God intends. God's rule as king is exhaustive and thorough. All things. Think about it. We're thinking small things. So we're going to get into the discussion of evil.

Are not two sparrows sold for a cent and yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Matthew 10, 29 to 30. Isn't this a reassuring truth, by the way?

What could be more reassuring in a world that's full of tragedy, trouble, and crime? Randomness. Oh, great. Or God is at the helm. Now, when we talk about evil, all things, upholding, you start to say to yourself, calamities, tragic events.

My pushback immediately is, what would it do to your perception of God if he were only sovereign over good and not sovereign over evil or trouble? The Christian's hope is that God is triumphantly sovereign over everything.

There are some verses that might give you the stomach punch, but when you realize God's sovereign over everything and then mash through the implications, it's much better. Ecclesiastes 7 .14. In the day of prosperity, be happy, but in the day of adversity, consider.

God has made the one as well as the other so that man will not discover anything that will be after him. Lamentations 3 .37 and 38. Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass unless the Lord has commanded it?

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth? Isaiah 45 .7. The One, capital O, forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things.

How can this be? In light of these verses, though, Romans 8 .28 can truly be appreciated because God can use sin, Satan, trouble, joys, and everything else, and then cause them to accomplish his eternal purpose.

We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8 .28. Where are the pastors that teach these verses about creating calamity?

Are they afraid, embarrassed, ashamed of, are for God the King? God's sovereign over the good and the bad, and everything that's happened to you, he's sovereign over, including the future. You could think of God's sovereignty over all things.

You could also think of his sovereignty over your past, your present, and your future. And this just should make you think, I have to be totally dependent on the Lord who controls the future. James said it this way.

Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there, and engage in business, and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.

You are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. James 4 .13 -15. Well, my name's Mike Avendroth.

This is No Compromise Radio. You can go to the website, iTunes, Facebook, at NoCoRadio for Twitter. I heard we have an Instagram, but I honestly don't know anything about it. Just, you can check that out if you'd like.

Or you can go to the NoCo channel. Also, Worldview Weekend, thankfully, is hosting No Compromise TV. You can go to Brandon's site there, and see the new series on Romans. If you have questions, you can write us, and we'll try to help you in any way we can.

God is sovereign over all things. That's the point. God, the Son, should be listened to, by the way, because He is upholding the universe by the word of His power. That's amazing truth. He upholds all things.

He upholds all things.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Avendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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