Ignorance Is Thy Name

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. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

My name is Mike Abendroth, and it is May 9th,

I believe, and that is, it's Saturday. I have a coat on today. I got this, it's kind of like a bicycle jacket that I got in Germany, Gonzo, I think that's the name, and kind of their version of Marshall's, TJ Maxx.

It was in downtown Berlin. We have Berlin down the street, but downtown Berlin, and it's cold enough here in May that I have to have a jacket.

It says bad wireless, but I guess that's what happens with Facebook Live. All that to say, you can email me,

Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com, and we are still planning to go to Israel. Someone just emailed me this coming

February, February 24th. So if you'd like to email me and get on the list, it's going to cost you $300 to reserve a spot.

I believe we have 11 spots open. If something happens and we cancel, it's totally refundable up through,

I think, October 15th. Anyway, details if you want to write me, Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com.

This happens to be also a Facebook Live show, so we'll do what we do, and that is occasionally look up at the camera.

I don't know if anybody watches. There's one person watching, so we'll call that a win.

A fairly distraught, I shouldn't say distraught, it's just a sad day. Darren Patrick committed suicide yesterday.

He was in Acts 29, megachurch. Then he was disqualified and then restored by his church,

Seacoast, and I think he went to the gun range, and it's there that it happened.

So 49 years old, wife and children, so sad, and I just saw that Ravi Zacharias has completed his cancer treatment at MD Anderson in Houston and now is on his way back home with his wife.

They can do nothing more for him, and at 74 years old, he'll just try to probably be in hospice care and then will die.

So that's sad, but it's a reminder, the frailty of life.

It's a reminder that there's something other than this life, the transcendent realities of heaven, and therefore, that's why

I don't feel as chipper today. My dad would always say that, feeling as chipper as normal. Maybe it's because it's cold, maybe because of that kind of news comes along in this last week.

Also, Orlando is a man here at our church, and his father died 95 years old, 96

I believe, and our dear friend Larry McLaughlin also died this week after his long battle with brain cancer, and those things weigh on you.

Those things are difficult, and it's even harder now because what do you do?

Do you go to somebody's house? You can't. You can't have a funeral with more than 10 people. I mean, some of these families, Orlando was one of,

I think, 10 children, so I think they're all living. You have 10 children of a father who just dies, and then how do they all make it to a funeral?

And so, those funerals, and even like weddings, you can't have a big deal, so you have a small service, and then there's a party,

I guess, later. Well, before I get into a little bit of Hebrews 12, I have something from Pilgrim's Progress that I'd like to read.

We at the church have a men's discipleship group. We're starting to read through that together, and then we Zoom on Sunday mornings before service, because I would typically meet with the men on Sundays here in this room, this study.

I know it's technically a study, but I sometimes call it office. Anyway, I'm glad for this office, by the way, in this study, because otherwise

I'd have to be home all the time with all this virus stuff that's going on. Although I think pretty much people are done with the virus deal.

I think they've seen a lot of government overreach. My son Luke in Los Angeles said the freeways are packed, everybody's running around.

Did somebody tell me that the main beaches are closed all summer? If so, I think that's one of the most idiotic things

I've ever heard, to close a beach for the entire summer. But, you know, Long Sands Beach, it's like a quarter of a mile out.

That's crazy. Well, John Bunyan writes this book called

The Pilgrim's Progress, and before the main character, a Christian, becomes a

Christian, he runs into different characters, a worldly wise man, and he's told to go basically back to the law, to Sinai, and morality and civility in those places.

But there's a discourse in section nine between Christian and ignorance. And just even to give somebody the name ignorance,

I mean, you can understand if the guy's named worldly wise man, or civility, or legality, or obstinate, right, pliable.

Those kind of names, I mean, I wouldn't want to be called obstinate, although I certainly probably am, but as a name.

But what if you had the name ignorance? And so Bunyan gives this man the name ignorance. Christian is trusting in Christ Jesus.

And these two come together, Christian and ignorance. And it brings up a very important point, and I don't think

I may be the greatest reader in the world, and so my point isn't to read every page of Pilgrim's Progress.

You can find that someplace else. But I will come to this later section of chapter, or section nine of The Pilgrim's Progress.

And Christian asks ignorance, how dost thou believe? Now, of course, if you're listening and you go, well,

I don't really like old English and King James English and all that stuff, can I just give you a couple hints about reading?

Number one, never read the abridged sections. Never read something that's been abridged.

The other day I found something, I go, oh, it's abridged. I don't want the abridgment. I don't want to have someone else cut out the things that they don't think are important when

I don't know their theology, I don't know their background, I don't know anything else. So I don't want abridgments.

I'll do the abridging, thank you. Number two, if something's written in old

English, I just soon read that, right? Why would you read Shakespeare for modern

English? You could, and if you wanted to read alongside of, but sometimes it's even fun to look up words like wotted,

W -O -T -T -E -D, or wheel, right? Wheel and woe. And you look those up and you go, oh, that's kind of interesting to find that out.

So I just, you're going to have to bear along with me as I read old King James English or English back in the 1600s.

Ignorance responds to the question, how does thou believe? Here's what he said. Now listen very, very carefully here.

This is modern evangelical. This is stuff that's been in the news lately. Things just like this. I believe that Christ died for sinners.

Okay. So far so good. Do you like that? I believe Christ died for sinners. What's that sound like to you?

That sounds like to me, the right response to the Messiah, Messiah dying, not for his sins, but for the sins of others.

That sounds like substitutionary atonement. That sounds like first Corinthians chapter 15, verse three.

If memory serves, all right. If there's a, but if there's a yet, if there's an end, if there's some type of conjunction, you better watch out.

Ignorance is talking. I believe that Christ died for sinners, semi -colon, the dreaded semi -colon.

This is the worst coffee I've maybe I've ever had. You know what? I've got this new thing. If you're drinking coffee and it's good, well, maybe, maybe you don't put it.

Maybe you put something in it. Maybe just something a little bit to make it nice, a little cream or something. I, lots of times

I just put cream in to make it not as hot, but now if there's a bad coffee, I want it black.

Just let me taste the bad sludge. Sludge are us. I believe that Christ died for sinners, semi -colon, and that I shall be justified before God from the curse, comma, through his gracious acceptance.

And now here's where it goes downhill. Here's the ignorance part. Through his gracious acceptance of my obedience to his law, how does

God accept me? I trust that Jesus died on my behalf and I'm going to be justified from the curse of God's law by him accepting me through my obedience to the law.

What's that tell you? Or thus, ignorance says, Christ makes my duties that are religious acceptable to his father by virtues of his merits.

And so shall I be justified. In other words, God will accept me and God will accept my works based on the merits of the father for a legal standing.

Friends, God accepts our works as Christians because he accepts us in Christ Jesus.

And therefore you can offer up to God things that are less than perfect as a work, as an evidence, as a fruit, as a testifying witness, because they are also blood bought gifts, right?

Covered with the blood. But once you start saying, I believe Jesus died and I'll be justified through his gracious acceptance of my obedience.

That's another religion that that can't be. It is Christ's work alone because only perfect righteousness can get you into the presence of God, the joyous presence of God.

You can be in the presence of God in hell too. I understand that. Now here's what Christian said, fascinating. Let me give an answer to this confession of thy faith.

Here comes Christian ready. Thou believe us with a fantastical faith for this faith is nowhere described in the word.

It's a fantasy because it's not found in the Bible too. Thou believe us with a false faith because it taketh justification from the personal righteousness of Christ and applies it to thy own.

In other words, instead of resting in Christ, perfect law keeping and resting in Christ payment for our law breaking confirmed by the resurrection.

It's all about our faith, our trusting, our, no, he says it's all about our, our obedience.

It's about us. So the focus comes on us and we're going to be required to perfectly obey or trust in the one who does.

Three, Christian said to ignorance, this faith makes not Christ a justifier of thy person, but of thy actions.

Interesting. And of thy person for thy actions sake, which is false for, therefore this faith is deceitful.

Even such as will leave the under wrath in the day of God almighty for true justifying faith puts the soul upon flying for refuge under Christ righteousness.

Real faith says, I don't have anything in myself except sin. Therefore I have outside of myself, the object of my faith is the

Lord Jesus. Now, I skipped one little section there, and here's what ignorance says, what?

Would you have us trust to what Christ in his own person has done without us? And what's the answer?

Dear listener, dear watcher, Roy just said, try burning cream for your triad whip.

Wow. Oh, well, you can, you can tell that I'm a different person because, uh, in the old days when

I lived in Los Angeles and it was the eighties, sadly, uh, if you put some cocaine in your coffee and then got on the four

Oh five, you could drive faster. But I don't know if that's true or not, but I've heard, I don't suggest you doing that at all.

What ignorant said, would you have us trust to what Christ in his own person has done without us? And the answer is yes, of course.

This conceit would loosen the reins of our lust and tolerate us to live as we list for what matter, how we live, if we may be justified by Christ's personal righteousness from all when we believe it, friends, did you get that?

If you simply trust in the work of Christ Jesus, relying on none of your own works and you're sat and you're, and, and, and therefore

God is satisfied and therefore you're justified. And therefore you can't lose your salvation. And therefore you can stand before God and your final standing before God has already been declared because of initial justification that will make you live a licentious life.

That's what many say in Christianity today. When you preach the grace of God, the free grace of God, people start saying this.

You mean to tell me that if I simply believe in Christ, uh, that's enough because what will restrain me from my sin?

What will restrain me from being crazy people, licentiously doing wild things?

That is Romans 6, 1 Paul knew people would ask that question because of the grace of God was so free because of the work of Christ was so perfect.

It's not Jesus plus. I talked to somebody the other day and they said, salvation is essentially 90 % of what

Jesus did and 10 % of what I do because my prayer must count for something. And we walk through that.

And the person understood in Titus chapter three, he saved us. Jesus said on the cross, it is finished.

Therefore ignorance doesn't understand that a love that would justify so freely is a love that motivates

Christians to want to obey and to live righteous and holy lives. There's a twofold benefit to the work of Christ Jesus as Calvin said in the duplex gratia and that is justification and sanctification.

That is to say that his, the legal standing is based on Christ's work and he begins to then transform sanctification, friends, justification and sanctification are inseparable, but they are different.

And once there's a blending of sanctification into justification, once there's any kind of addition of our works into our legal standing, the whole thing crumbles because God requires perfect, exact, entire obedience.

And therefore we can't just, I was going to say, we can't just jab anything into justification.

We can't allow any of our works into justification because it would taint it. So we simply believe the just shall live by faith.

It's the Lord Jesus's life for positive keeping of the law, his death for our law breaking, right?

It didn't just come down on Friday to die and then go up to heaven. He needs to obey the law and he didn't have to obey it for himself.

He already was inherently righteous. To whom did he obey it for? Other people, his bride.

He obeyed and earned righteousness, merited righteousness by law keeping. What is the word righteousness derived from?

The word right. You do right. You get righteousness. Jesus did the right thing. He obeyed the law so that he might earn righteousness to be given freely through the doctrine of imputation, crediting, reckoning, a forensic declaration in the court of God's law.

And immediately sanctification will follow. Of course there's a transformed life, but don't jam the transformed life into justification because then here's what will happen.

How transformed must my life be in order to come to Christ? How much do I have to surrender in order to come to Christ?

How sincere must my faith be in order to come to Christ? How much do I have to make Jesus Lord in order to come to Christ?

That's all focus on self. And the answer to that would be if you want to come to Christ, if there's an in order that if there's a condition, if there's an antecedent condition to faith, then it better be perfect submission, perfect sincerity, perfect surrender, perfectly making him

Lord in order to come to Christ. But friends, there are no antecedent conditions to coming to Christ.

We are believers in sola fide. What's the sola mean? Alone. Faith alone justifies.

That's why a weak faith in a strong savior is enough. And by the way, then that savior will transform your life.

Regeneration, conversion, fruit of the spirit. You walk in a life worthy of your calling, your, your call to do that in the spirit of God is in you and allows you to do that.

Ignorance knew that free grace was scary. Ignorance knew that people might take advantage of it.

And could you take advantage of it? Yes, but you shouldn't. If anybody loved you like this, like the savior does, don't you want to live a life honoring him?

Yes. Now, here's the classic part. Christian and ignorance are going back and forth and ignorance says, you want me to just trust in Jesus alone?

Then the reins of our lust tolerate to live how we want. And we're going to be off the deep end.

Here is what Christian responds with. And by the way, I like this about Christian. We live,

I think, in a very effeminate age. I love femininity in women, but what

I see in the world is not only should women act femininely, and they should, but men should act like women too.

Actually, they already do a lot of them. They dress like them. They have mannerisms like them.

And like I said, I have a wife and three daughters and a mother that I loved, and there's nothing wrong with women.

They are image bearers. They're justified just as much as men. They are redeemed just as much as men.

They are, you know, God, the son died for them just as much. And the list goes on and on and on. We're equal in Christ, Galatians chapter three.

I don't want men acting like women. And on the flip side, I don't want women acting like men.

I mean, which one's worse, do you think? Is it a tie? Neither of them are kind of fit, but here's my point.

What does Christian say to ignorance? I'm sorry, that's the way you feel. Maybe we should ask the

Gospel Coalition blog if they'd like to talk about it a little bit. Did I just say that?

I could probably get this out of the tape here, but it's on Facebook Live for good now. Christian, here's how he responds.

Ignorance is thy name. Ignorance is thy name.

Now, John Bunyan's a pretty friendly fellow. He doesn't strike me as the Luther type, but here, ignorance is thy name.

And it's, by the way, all capitals. I'm not kidding. You think

I'm joking? Right there. Right up there. Christian goes on, and as thy name is, so art thou.

If you're going to talk about justifying faith, being so free, so kind, so wonderful, the grace of God and the love of God in Christ Jesus, so amazing.

That if we tell people that, they're going to live unholy, licentious lives. So essentially, make sure you give them faith plus works.

If you're going to talk that way, your name is ignorant. And as thy name is, so art thou.

It's not even your name that you are. Now, I know, I know. This is Pastor Mike for a minute here before it's radio

Mike. There are many people that don't understand this, and we need to walk them through. And as we begin to talk about what

Jesus did, we realize He did it all, and we just trust in Him. When I asked a question last night to this man,

I said, when you pray for your loved ones to get saved, how do you pray? God save them. Do you pray

God save them and have them do some things so God graciously accepts their obedience in their civil deals and their religious deeds?

No. You say God save them. That's Titus. Even this thy answer,

Christians said to ignorance, demonstrateth what I say. Ignorant thou art of what justifying righteousness is, and as ignorant how to secure thy soul through the faith of it from the heavy wrath of God.

Yea, thou also art ignorant of the true effects of saving faith in this righteousness of Christ, which is to bow and to win over the heart to God in Christ, to love

His name, His word, ways, and people, and not as thou ignorantly imaginest.

In other words, ignorance, you don't understand that it is Christ's work alone that is the condition of salvation and that there'll always be fruits and evidences and testifying witnesses of works in the category of sanctification.

So, ignorant on both fashions. Ignorance on blending justification and sanctification, and then ignorant by saying, you know what?

If we do believe in saving faith, sola fide, we're going to be antinomian?

No, that's a false charge. I think people that believe in justification by faith alone, they don't say bad things about the law.

I don't know how many people are out there that are. Maybe there are some, but not the people in my circles.

My people circles, my people circles, the circles that I run in, they say, well, you know what?

There's a use of the law, and that is to condemn and to push toward Christ Jesus, to show people they're lawbreakers.

And since God is holy and He's immutable, God's laws still exist. But the relationship to you and the lawgiver is different.

It used to be judge, and now it's father. So now you still obey God. You have a desire to obey God. While before, if you looked at woman with a lust, it'd be called adultery.

Now it's called adultery as well. What's the difference? Well, the first one, we'll keep you out of heaven because you stand before God needing perfect obedience in that.

The second one, if you ever do commit lust in your heart, you ought to repent and you ought to say, you know what? How could

I sin against such love that bought me? And repent and doesn't affect your standing, right?

So anyway, my name is Mike Abendroth. Hope chimes in. Ask him if he ever had

Christ revealed to him from heaven. Well, Hope, why don't you ask him?

That is classic. That's what you should ask him. Ignorance. What? You're a man for revelations.

I do believe that what both you and all the rest of you say about this manner is but the fruit of distracted brains.

At least ignorance while stupid, he's going to put up a little fight. Hope, why man?

Christ is so hidden God from the natural apprehensions of the flesh that he cannot by any man be savingly known unless God the

Father reveals him to them. Hey, ignorance. We don't even think God has revealed himself to you because if he did, you would know this fact.

Well, my name is Mike Abendroth. There's no compromise radio. I thought today I was going to talk about Hebrews chapter 12, but we didn't make it.

So we'll do that another time. I'm going to preach Hebrews 12, 18 through 24 tomorrow, how to approach

God. Is it through law or through the law keeper? My name is Mike Abendroth. God bless you.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth 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 1015 and in the evening at six. 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.