Faith or Faithfulness

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Should the Christian’s focus be on the object of the faith, or in their faithfulness? If the later, how are you doing?

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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 Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth.
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And I feel like I have more of a baritone. Who's the singer?
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Barry White? I meant a nice baritone voice. Is he still alive? I wonder what happened to him.
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What we do here at the show is we talk about biblical things, hopefully in a provocative way, to poke, to prod, to jab.
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When I was, I think, 17 years old, I went to Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines, and I learned how to climb telephone poles for Northwestern Bell, Ma Bell, Mar Bell.
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And, scary, you don't clip in and put the protective strap around your waist, then around the pole climbing up, nor do you do that when you're climbing down.
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You only put that on when you're at the top. And I don't know exactly the rules. I know the rules, but I don't know the rationale.
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But anyway, I did what I was told. And with the gaffs, the little pointy things that are essentially inside spurs, you lace them around your calf and your ankle and your foot, and then there's this little spur that comes out on the inside where your insole would be.
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Those little gaffs, you don't wanna be too close to the pole because then it doesn't really chunk in, it doesn't really bite into the pole, so you have to lean back a little bit.
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But that was scary. So I'm trying to use a gaff, a prod, a poker, to get you to think biblically because one of the biggest problems with evangelicals is they don't think.
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And if you don't think, it's hard to navigate the world and it's hard to walk by faith.
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Now, what's the connection? It's hard to walk by faith if you're not thinking because you're supposed to be focused on the object of your said faith.
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That is the Lord Jesus Christ. We live in a world where we want to do things and probably instead of thinking, we want to do.
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But I would suggest to you, that's a vestige of Roman Catholicism, a vestige of the fall,
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Pelagianism, semi -Pelagianism et al, because it wants to do.
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Yeah, and I have nothing against doing if we could do it perfectly, but because of the fall,
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I've got a problem with doing because we can never do it well enough. Right, is that true?
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If you think about what we have to do to enter into heaven, what are the qualifications?
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Just how much righteousness do you need to have to enter into heaven? And I would submit to you that the
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Bible teaches you need to have 100 % righteousness. Romans 2 .6,
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he will render to each one. Remember Romans 1, 2, and 3 is showing the sinfulness of man and why he needs or she needs the righteousness of Christ.
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He will render to each one according to his works. To those who by patience and well -doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
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So if you perfectly obey God's law, and if you do these things, he'll give you eternal life.
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He'll render to each one according to his work. So my question to you right now is how are you doing? How did you do?
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Just one slip -up, one faux pas, one boo -boo, one oops -a -daisy in the past, that is sin.
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Doesn't matter how much good you do now, one sin is enough. How many times do you have to spit in the face of a king before you're judged?
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It says in Romans 2, verse eight, but for those who are self -seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
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That's me, that's you, that's the Gentiles and pagans in Romans 1. That's the moralistic, that's the
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Jewish, Jewish moralizers in chapter two and three. Wrath and fury.
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There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the
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Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the
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Greek, for God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law, for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, listen, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
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Was it not Haldane the commentator, the Scottish commentator who in Romans two commented something like this, when you come to Romans two, the verses
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I've just read, you'll either come out of Romans two as a Catholic or a Protestant. Now I just gave you the
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Protestant view, but we live in such a works righteousness age, we live in such an age where now even good evangelical men,
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I guess it's hard to talk about good men when you're in Romans two and three, isn't it? But do you know what I mean? Respectable godly men in evangelicalism, talking about this with a hangover of works as future justification and stuff like that, it's just crazy.
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So what I'm trying to do here at the show is I'm trying to poke and to prod and to get you to think biblically.
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And when you think, here's how we put it all together, I almost forgot where I was going. That's the problem with radio, is for you to think about the object of your faith.
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And this Jesus to whom we're to fix our hope, fix our eyes to think about, is going to just make you enjoy your
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Christian walk. It's going to make you increase in the trust that you have because you understand the object of your faith.
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J. Gresham Machen said, the more we know God, the more unreservedly we will trust him. The more you know of God, the more unreservedly you'll trust him.
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So you need to know the object of your faith. I'm not saying there are no imperatives in the
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Bible. I'm not saying there's no law in the Bible. I'm not saying Christians can run around antinomially.
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How do you like that word? If R. Scott Clark is listening, sorry. When you know, you know,
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James White is listening. At least when James listens, he listens at 1 .5 speed. So it doesn't seem quite as bad.
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At 1 .5 speed, how long does the show last? It's a 24 and a half minute show without bumper. The more we know of God, the more unreservedly we'll trust him.
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And what I'm trying to do at No Compromise Radio is I'm trying to get you to think properly about the object of your faith.
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I want you to think. So I'm prodding you to think. This whole long intro is a prod these diphthongs.
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Something's wrong with this microphone. These diphthongs. I want you to think about the object of your faith.
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And I think as you do that, your assurance will increase. How is that?
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Well, let's flip on the other side. The flip side of the whole issue is instead of faith that is in the object,
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Jesus Christ, thinking about Jesus. When I think about faith, I'm not talking about your strong faith, or your weak faith.
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I'm just talking about the object of your faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, the risen King. King of all those kinging, and Lord of all those lording.
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The other option is for you to think about faithfulness.
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Your faithfulness. How you doing with your faithfulness this week?
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How'd you do last week? How do you think you're gonna do next week? And we would recognize that our faithfulness wanes.
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Our faithfulness flickers. Our faithfulness falters.
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Our faithfulness fails. Our faithfulness, did I say it's fickle? I think
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I did. I can't remember. Our faithfulness is like a Southern Baptist alliterationist.
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Always alliterate. I actually think when it comes to preaching, sometimes preachers should alliterate, but I don't think they always should alliterate.
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I think if you preach at the same place for long enough, you ought to be a little more creative, and spruce things up, change things up.
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I'm trying to get people to listen. I could just like a bully say, this is God's word, open wide.
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You've gotta listen, it's your duty. But I could also go about it a different way, and to be kind and gracious, and then be interesting.
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I like to hear interesting people talk about interesting subjects. And of course,
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I like to hear about the Bible and the Lord the most, but I will listen to people if they're just interesting.
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Remember the dig on Paul, you can't talk and you don't look good. I mean, if the guy looks good, but he can't talk, well, at least you got something to look at.
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And if the guy's ugly, and he still speaks well, you can listen, right?
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You can close your eyes. I had a lady at the church one time, a godly lady. She said, my eyes are always dry and they hurt.
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It feels like there's sandpaper on them, and in them, and around them, through them. So when you preach,
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I want you to know I'm listening, but my eyes are closed. Dear lady, wife of an elder, they're not here any longer, they moved.
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Dallas, if you're listening, I love you. She was believable.
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She was credible. What we're doing is we're trying to get you to think about who Jesus is.
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And we're slowly trying to change the paradigm of faithfulness as the focus.
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Did you do your devotions today? I like devotions. I got up and read my Bible today and was glad I did. I could have read it better though.
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I could have read it more. I could have read more verses in the Greek. I usually read some of the
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Nestle -Aland Greek text in the morning. I'm preaching through Hebrew, so I try to read the
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Hebrew section, so I familiarize myself with the original language. Some of you
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I know are 1611 or so. That's the original I know for you. But I could have read more in Greek.
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I could have read more in, I didn't read any of the Old Testament today. I know it's the 22nd of the month in real time, but I didn't read
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Proverbs 22, although I probably should have. See where this all leads? There are exhortations to those who are in Christ and who have union with Christ.
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And Christo, that's true. I'm all for that. What am I gonna do? Get rid of Hebrews 13.
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What am I gonna do? Get rid of Ephesians 4 and 5 and 6. What am I gonna do?
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Get rid of Colossians 3, 5 and following. I'm not, but we're doers.
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I talked to someone recently and they invite people to attend worship services here at the church.
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And I'm in Hebrews now and Hebrews 1 especially. Hebrews, you persecuted
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Hebrews, you listeners of this letter, readers of this letter.
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Some of you are Christians. Some of you are on the edge. Some of you wanna flee it, go back.
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Let's talk about the object of your faith. Let's talk about the one who should be the object of your faith. Let's talk about the greatness of Jesus.
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So you'll think, you know what? Compared to anything else, it's enough. If we compare everything to your faithfulness, it's never going to be enough.
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But if we compare everything to Jesus, right? If I only had a husband, one woman might say,
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I'd be happy. If a single person said, if I only had a wife, I'd be happy.
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I could only enjoy all the intimacies of marriage, including physical,
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I'd be happy. If I only had a different boss, I'd be happy. If I only didn't have this chronic back injury,
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I'd be happy. Some days when my back really hurts, I think at least I don't have to live another 940 years.
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Can you imagine Methuselah 969? What if he hurt his back at 18? That'd be bad.
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If I only had more money, then I'd be happy. That's kind of what we say in American evangelicalism in the
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West. I know we have lots of listeners in Canada, so we have to say the West and even in Germany.
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Australia, is that the West? Yes, it's a penitentiary, the Western penitentiary.
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For the listeners of the book of Hebrews, and I call it listeners because Hebrews 13 talks about exhortation.
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And the readers, if I only wasn't persecuted, I'd be happy.
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If I only could be at my own home and not have to run around and hide in this cave, I'd be happy.
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If only they weren't taking all my possessions, I'd be happy. We don't think the
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Hebrews' audience, epistle to Hebrews' audience, that they were killed yet, but it was probably coming.
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They hadn't striven unto blood yet. I only had
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Jesus, I could be happy. See, the more we talk about this
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Lord and Christ, the eternal son, who at his coronation, that is his resurrection, this is my beloved son in whom
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I am well pleased. Today you are my son, right? You are my son, today
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I begotten you. Machen, the more we know of God, the more unreservedly we will trust him.
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So no compromise radio exists under the banner when we think of no compromise. Three, I don't wanna compromise, and there's lots of it.
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Two, at the cross there's been no compromise with law and love, as Horatius Bonar would say.
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You can get that book, Everlasting Righteousness, for free. Type in the PDF, free, online, Google, click.
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You're not a Christian if you haven't read it. Faithfulness. And number one,
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Jesus never compromises. So see, for the days we do compromise, what days might those be?
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Like every day, for those days, you have a representative who never compromised, and you have a substitute who's paid for all your compromises when it comes to sin.
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Isn't that good? Isn't that what we're after? So the person that invited someone to the church and heard the
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Hebrew sermon, see, I almost forgot, but I did not forget. He said, well, you know what?
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Didn't get much out of that sermon. Now, does that tell me more about me, or does that tell me more about the listener?
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Now, I have pride, and I'm arrogant, and I think I'm a good preacher, but it was from the text, and it was about this
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Jesus who is more excellent, to use the language of Hebrews, more superior, greater than the prophets.
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And this Jesus is not only greater than the prophets, but the mediators that God used to deliver
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Mosaic law, that is, angels. See Galatians 3, Acts 7,
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Deuteronomy 33, and Hebrews 2. He's even greater than the angels.
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I don't think the Hebrews were worshiping angels, but tied into the Old Testament, that is the prophets.
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Jesus is greater than the prophets, but He's also greater than the mediator of the law. He's greater than the mediator of the old covenant, the mediators, angels.
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Angels are pretty spectacular, don't you think? I can think of the angels swirling around the throne room in Revelation 4 and 5, and in Isaiah 6, holy, holy, holy is the
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Lord God Almighty, and the whole earth is a launching pad for His glory. In Cape Canaveral, Jesus is greater than angels.
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I mean, angels, some pretty spectacular things that happened with angels in the Old Testament.
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So let me just tell you about the object of your faith for quite some time, 50 minutes maybe, 55 minutes if I'm on a roll.
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I try not to preach more than 55 minutes. Unless I'm at somebody else's church. Then they have to clean up the mess.
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50 minutes of Jesus is greater. Yes, but I didn't get anything out of it. Well, it doesn't really take me very long to fill up a thimble,
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I'll tell you that. And if you go to church because you want to get a fix on what to do, and if you don't get told what to do.
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Now, if you're in Ephesians 4, the pastor explains what it means to be in Christ Jesus, and he explains everything, and then says, don't lie, tell the truth,
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Ephesians 4. I'm there, I'm with you.
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All systems, G -O, no problem. Why do you think seeker -sensitive churches are so big?
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Well, I would report, I would offer as my rationale, in my opinion, they don't want to think.
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Oh, you know, just to think about the object of my faith again, I got the whole Jesus thing down. That's what
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I love about Hebrews. I think, okay, Jesus tells me this, I know for the Bible tells me so. Okay, born in a manger, virgin birth, genealogy, did some miracles.
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Okay, I think I got that one down. But the writer of Hebrews is gonna say, listen, let's take it from a completely different angle.
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Oh, I could rehearse many of the things done in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I could rehearse many of the things done by the
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Lord Christ Spirit, the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. But we're gonna just take it from a completely different angle.
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This is going to be so different. This is going to be so extraordinary. We're gonna talk about things that would never come into your mind.
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We're gonna talk about things that are impossible to develop in the human mind.
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They're going to be extraordinary. They're going to be discussing supernatural things.
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You could never think of this. There's not enough peyote you could eat before you could just imagine these things.
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It's no possible way. They have to be revealed to you. And this writer writing to suffering
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Christians is going to give them a big dose of Jesus.
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There's gonna be an exhortation at the end, but I can imagine the modern non -thinking evangelical hearing the book of Hebrews and saying,
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I didn't get much out of that. He wants this non -thinker to talk about faithfulness and just tell me these things to do.
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I just need a list. The just shall live by faith.
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Hm, faith, isn't that what the book of Hebrews is all about? The error and warning against unbelief and then faith in this
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Jesus. And of course we fall at the deep end when we get to Hebrews chapter 11 and we turn everything wrong side up.
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That it's all about Abraham. It's all about Moses. It's all about Sarah and their faith.
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Friends, when you hear the word faith, you ought to be thinking object, object, object, object.
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You shouldn't be thinking my subjective faith, weak, strong, confident, wavering, small, mature.
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We're fluctuating between all those things. So when we think faith, you need to think object. It's not faith in faith.
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It's not ephemeral faith. It's not ethereal faith. It's not evaporating faith, is that an
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E? It's faith in an object. Now our response to the gospel requires faithfulness.
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I know, I know, you've got to have both. But I'm just saying today we just focus on faithfulness, faithfulness, faithfulness, faithfulness.
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Oh yeah, by the way, Jesus died for you. Faithfulness, faithfulness, faithfulness. When you think of faith,
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I want you to think object, faith, object, faith, object, faith Jesus, faith in Jesus. Faith focused on Jesus.
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Believe under the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, Acts 16. Faith in the object,
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Jesus. And then when you read passages like Matthew 25, it's like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.
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To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to another, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
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He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them and he made five more talents.
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And so he had two talents, made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
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Now after a long time, the master of those who came and settled the accounts with them. And he had received the five talents, was brought forward, bringing five talents more, saying, master, you delivered to me five talents.
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Here I have made five more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant.
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You've been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.
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One day you're gonna die and stand before God. Will he say to you, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.
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How are you doing with your talents? How are you doing with your faithfulness? How are you doing along the lines of Romans two or Ephesians four, however we wanna parse it.
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How are you doing? Friends, I fail. Okay, let's just use no co -language.
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I'm a chump. Remember people used to say chump change. But the father speaking of the son, did he not say to the son, well done, good and faithful servant?
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I think he did. And it's already been said of Jesus. And since we're in Christ, it will be said of us.
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Faith and object, faith and object. Versus faithfulness. See on that day, you're not gonna wanna be thinking about your faithfulness.
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You're gonna be wanting to think about faith and the object. All this future justification stuff and everything else.
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Bad, mal, muy, mal. Is that a turkey running across the parking lot?
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My name's Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. Info at nocompromiseradio .com. 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.