Downgrade Controversy (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. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. I usually don't do too many takes on the show.

Once you get about five minutes in, then there's no sense going back. But this is take three, so you don't know that, but this is take three.

Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio, always biblical, always provocative, always in that order, that's what

I'm looking for. I was asked years ago, why don't I just play my sermons on the radio? And I said, well, if I could preach like MacArthur or some of these guys, then

I would, and then people would listen. But if you want the best preaching that the world can offer,

I can't do that. Although I can preach from the best book, right? Nobody preaches the

Bible, a better Bible than I do. So I'm thankful for that. You can write me at info at nocompromiseradio .com.

I'd say most of all, I get encouraging emails. Thank you, could you do a show on this?

Why aren't you on the radio anymore? I get nice letters. Sometimes I get the nasty grams. Who do you think you are?

And I don't know why this is. This says, maybe they just have more time to write.

Maybe they are rubbed the wrong way more often. But usually the ones that I get the nastiest letters from are ladies.

So I don't know, that's just a fact. Downgrade controversy. Today, I'd like to talk about the downgrade controversy.

Now, most of you have been exposed to the downgrade controversy. If you remember, reading

MacArthur's book, Ashamed of the Gospel, and John, probably with Phil's help, did a great job of weaving the downgrade controversy, what historically happened in the late 1800s in England, kind of throughout today, and how it's similar to today.

So I've done the same thing, basically. I've looked at the downgrade controversy and then thought, what kind of lessons could

I learn in light of the downgrade controversy? But I didn't pick up the book. I didn't pick up Ashamed of the Gospel because I didn't want to come to the same conclusion.

So if there are any conclusions that are the same, you know that God told me and told John at the same time, and therefore, wherever two or three are gathered, allegedly, downgrade controversy.

So when you watch church history, when you read church history, when you're living church history, it's good because I don't want to make the same mistakes that some folks have made.

I want to learn from the right decisions people have made. Last night at the

IBS class for hermeneutics, I was teaching the class at New England Institute for Biblical Studies, N -E -I -B -S.

And they said, I said, we said, the royal we, that when you look at the schools of interpretation, allegorical versus literal, in the

Middle Ages and the church fathers, you see how crazy these folks are when it comes to allegorizing scripture and we don't want to act that way.

318 servants of Abraham, what do they represent? So it's just crazy. So we can learn from the downgrade controversy, in other words.

In 1887, there's a variety of articles that Spurgeon is printing in his magazine,

Sword and the Trowel. And so he's saying liberal theology is no good, and that the new theology is basically liberal theology, and that means the church, if it embraces it, and as she embraces it, is going down the tubes.

It's the downgrade. And so Spurgeon uses this word downgraded.

They have downgraded the Bible and the principle of sola scriptura. He didn't like the liberal criticism, biblical higher criticism, not trusting the

Bible. He didn't like it that Darwin's evolution was infiltrating the

Baptist Union. And so he publishes in his monthly magazine an article called

The Downgrade Controversy. It was anonymously published, but his friend

Robert Schindler is the one who wrote it. And they were denying, not

Spurgeon and Schindler, but they were attacking people who deny the deity of the Son and renouncing faith in his atoning death.

And so it started a firestorm. The Baptist Union is after Spurgeon in light of all this.

So if you pull up Earl Hulse's article on The Downgrade Controversy, I think it's an excellent overview that talks about the last five years of the life of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 1887 to 1892.

He was pretty much dominated by this issue. I don't know if it killed him or not, but there was a lot of trouble.

And so he's after new thought. He's after folks that aren't teaching

Calvinism, that aren't teaching biblical theology,

Pauline theology. And here's the thing. They had such theology in their statements of faith, but they didn't want to teach it anymore.

And they wanted to move on to, well, evangelism, missions, social work.

Sound familiar? And if you assume the gospel, then you're going to lose the gospel.

I think it was D .A. Carson, the first generation, believes the gospel, second generation, assumes the gospel, third generation, loses the gospel.

And so you've got decline of the sovereignty of God in salvation. You've got a decline of systematic theology, this well -knit body of truth, as Willis Glover talks about it.

And when theology goes out, the vacuum must be filled.

And so I'm trying to just bite my tongue regarding social work, missions, missional, trying to make sure

I just hold a line here. For instance, congregational pastor,

Edward White, teaching from his pulpit, if you don't believe you're going to be annihilated.

So this is the kind of thing that was going on in England and including the Baptist Union. The Baptist Union, by the way, was founded in the early 1800s when a lot of Baptists who were particular

Baptists, what's a particular Baptist? An odd Baptist, an idiosyncratic Baptist? Well, that might be true.

General Baptists believe that Jesus died for each and every person who was born. Jesus died generally, general atonement.

Particular Baptists believe in limited atonement, particular redemption, definite atonement. Jesus dies for a particular group.

So my point is you've got a Calvinistic background and they are believing in election and particular redemption.

They're believing in imputed righteousness. They're believing in the things that they should believe in when they first were founded.

And like most things, one compromise leads to another. In 1832, the constitution of the

Baptist Union is changed so that they let Arminians in. After all, you can understand this, can't you?

That if you get more folks, more people, more nickels, more noses, you can affect the kingdom more.

Now, can't you? Instead of the confession of faith that they used to have to sign, now they just have to agree that they were essentially evangelical.

As long as you can go for what evangelicalism pretty much teaches, you're okay.

Our job is to, quote, encourage the strong churches to assist weaker ones and help poor pastors in rural areas.

Now, it's not that Spurgeon would think Arminians are unbelievers.

He's not saying if you believe in general atonement that you can't be a

Christian. He's not saying he doesn't believe in planting churches.

He was concerned that this step will lead to another step and the church goes on the downgrade.

In 1873, they dropped the word evangelical.

What you need is, you know what? Believers' baptism by immersion is a stronger basis for doctrine.

And so, the administration of the Baptist Union had 100 elected representatives.

Spurgeon was never a part of that. He was always dealing with the council through his brother, James. And so, he used to speak at the

Baptist Union conferences regularly, at the Baptist Missionary Society regularly, but in 1883, all the way to the end of his life, he didn't teach for them anymore because he could see where the drift was going.

The drift always goes downhill. The water's always running down. So, March, April, two articles printed in The Sword and the

Trowel called The Downgrade. So, Schindler writes them.

Schindler was a student of Spurgeon as he attended Spurgeon's own pastor's college.

And he writes the first article about how people leave

Calvinism. And you have a little, tiny footnote, that is, we think

Spurgeon's, in this article. Earnest attention is requested for this paper. There is need of such warning as this history affords.

We are going downhill at breakneck speed. That's where we're going, downhill breakneck speed.

So, that's article one. Article two, Schindler is attacking Arminianism.

And he is telling people that it is a cold, dry, and lifeless system, and its effects upon the heart have been commonly weak and spiritless.

Now, I found it fascinating because lots of this guy's hymns I've read, and I thought, you know, compared to today, they seem good.

Doddridge writes hymns, and he is a principal of a theology school. And he is compromising, and Schindler is going after him.

So, see, once you start going after people, then there's more trouble.

Spurgeon does more than a footnote in this second article. He has about a half a page of comments.

And he says that Schindler is right. Arminianism is the route that makes people go downward, travel downward to Sosinianism.

Spurgeon said, we care far more for the central evangelical truth than we do for Calvinism as a system.

But we believe that Calvinism has in it a conservative force which helps to hold men to the vital truth.

And therefore, we are sorry to see any quitting it who once accepted it. So, you can see the frothing, fomenting trouble that is brewing.

Spurgeon publishes four -page article in the August 1887 issue of Sword and Trowel, titled,

Another Word Concerning the Downgrade Controversy. So, he really goes after it here.

It probably would have died out, some scholars think, if Spurgeon wouldn't have done this, but he keeps pushing the issue for the sake of God's truth.

From the press of the broad school of dissent, what doctrine remains to be abandoned?

This is Spurgeon writing. What other truth to be the object of contempt? A new religion has been initiated, which is no more

Christianity than chalk to cheese. And this religion, being destitute of moral honesty, palms itself off as the old faith with slight improvements.

And on this plea, usurps pulpits which were erected for gospel preaching. The atonement is scouted.

The inspiration of Scripture is derided. The Holy Spirit is degraded into an influence. The punishment of sin is turned into fiction.

And the resurrection into a myth. And yet, these enemies of our faith expect us to call them brethren and maintain a confederacy with them.

Isn't that amazing? What do you want to say, Spurgeon, you're very unloving?

That's probably what people want to say today. Germany was made unbelieving by her preachers and England is following in her track.

This is Spurgeon continuing. The consequences of preaching another gospel in the form of modern thought was catastrophic.

See how Spurgeon goes back to history? That's exactly what we're doing right here on our No Compromise Radio. In meeting houses holding 1 ,000 or 1 ,200 or 1 ,500 places once packed to the ceiling with ardent hearers, how small are their numbers now?

We would mention instances, but we forbear. The places which the gospel filled, the new nonsense has emptied and will keep empty.

And so Spurgeon is a man who's calling people to stand up and contend earnestly for the once delivered faith,

Jude verse three. Spurgeon says, if for a while evangelicals are doomed to go down, let them go down fighting or let them die fighting and in full assurance that their gospel will have a resurrection when the inventions of the modern thought shall be burned up with fire unquenchable.

Yow! Five page article, our reply to sundry critics and inquirers.

Quote, some of our colleagues are poisoning the churches at the fountains. I very much far that an unconverted ministry, fear is what it should read, is multiplying.

Men continue to pour forth to take charge of our churches who do not believe in any proper sense in the inspiration of the scriptures, who deny the various vicarious sacrifice on the cross and hold that if sinners are not saved on this side of the grave, they may, can, or must be on the other.

And the worst of it is the people love it. So, Spurgeon withdraws his name from the

Baptist Union. He writes a letter, 1887. And he says something to the effect, well,

I'm gonna tell you why I resigned from this in the next issue of the sword and trowel.

He said in that issue, it is lawful for good and benevolent and necessary purposes to unite with others.

Pagan, Papist and Protestant may each one hand on a bucket in lighting a fire, fighting a fire, but in preaching

Christ, it is not possible to unite with those who call the fall a fable, who deny the personality of the

Holy Spirit, who call justification by faith immoral and who hold that there is another probation after death and a future restitution for the lost.

So, Spurgeon, he's not going to back down. What finally happens, the downgrade is in full effect and so the

Baptist Union Assembly meets in April, 1888 under the presidency of John Clifford.

Everybody's jammed in there and they have six doctrines commonly believed.

This is what we want you to believe if you're gonna be in the Baptist Union. Divine inspiration and authority of Holy Scriptures, fallen and sinful state of man, person and work of Christ Jesus, justification by faith, work of the

Holy Spirit, resurrection and judgment at the last day. And so you say, well, those are good, but those are very general and they can be interpreted in such a way that all kinds of people can believe.

Justification by faith, where's the word alone? Where is substitutionary atonement? And so they censure

Spurgeon, 2000 to seven, that's what the vote was, 2000 to seven.

See, when people start saying modernism and liberalism and anti -supernaturalism and let's just get together and cut corners, he knows that's not going to be good.

He's read things about cooperating with leaders who are liberal and on the downgrade.

Later, you've got guys like B .B. Warfield who will fight for the truth.

What do we do with worldliness in the world? What about downgrade? What about lessons from Spurgeon?

Well, I've got several lessons and it's already 17 minutes into the show, so I will say again, you can go to nocone90 .com

and you can watch some YouTube 90s. I don't know, sometimes I get fired up about them and think, oh, this is fun.

Other times I think it's the albatross, what a drag it is to do these things.

So we try, sometimes you have a better attitude than other days. You can go to iTunes and listen to us,

Worldview Weekend and listen to us. I'm gonna have Brandon on pretty soon for an interview. I think that will be good for you to know who he is.

And what else? That's about enough for now. So lessons to learn so we can navigate the minefields of the downgrade controversy today.

There's certainly things are happening today, don't you think? Number one, while you should not love controversy, how does

Truman say it again? Controversy, you should not love controversy. There is a time to defend the

Lord Jesus's glory. Now, we should not be pugnacious, either physically or spiritually.

Maybe some people think no compromises. I think that you should probably listen to my sermons on Sunday morning and you're gonna see that I'm not always trying to pick a fight.

But sometimes I do pick a fight because it's come my way. That's why.

Controversy isn't pleasant in itself, but we are called to fight.

We are called to battle. Read the pastoral epistles and ask this question. Is there battle language there?

Or is it only agrarian, pacifistic kind of language?

You're gonna find quickly that there's fighting language in the pastoral epistles. Somebody's gotta fight.

Somebody's gotta stand up for the truth. Satan is real. Satan's minions are real, and they are going to attack.

And they are going to try to not say, well, the Bible, forget it.

God doesn't speak today. They're gonna take the Bible and torque it. They're gonna revise it, and they're gonna add things.

Just look at what Satan did in the temptation account with Jesus. And what does he do with the

Bible? And how does he go about trying to torque it and dislocate it and twist it?

My brother now, I couldn't do it because he'd probably sock me if I tried.

But when my brother was younger, his arms would come out of the socket pretty easily. So if you swing a kid around, you grab one leg and grab an arm and swing him around.

His arm would come out of the sock and just kind of lay there limply. And so we would have to quick turn his elbow in and then pop his arm back.

First you go to the doctor, then you figure it out on your own. And so that was always a bad thing to dislocate my brother's arm.

I was told not to do that. Well, when the gospel's dislocated, somebody better stand up.

Somebody's got to do something. And so we fight, we stand up for truth when

God's name is at stake, don't we? Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you or write you about our common salvation,

I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which is once for all delivered.

It's like Judah sitting down to write and then out of nowhere, this is bad news coming down the pipeline and I've got to stand up and defend the

Lord's honor. There's a compulsion. I feel my funny bone just got hit and I've got to do something about it.

I feel my ribs, like a horse feels in its ribs the spur of the cowboy's boot.

I got to do something about this. And so he states it positively, doesn't he?

Appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, to defend the faith. He doesn't say, does he?

I've got to refute all the opponents. Now that might be included, but I'm going to defend the truth by teaching it, by appealing to you that you should teach and you should believe.

And this is soldier language. This is leader language. This is we're on our way across the channel and we're going to hit the beaches and therefore

Eisenhower writes that famous letter to the men. The faith needs to be defended.

The knowledge of the truth that we have, the body of Christian truth, the message of the gospel, the solace.

This falls into the category of choosing the battles, doesn't it? You don't always have to fight about everything, but this one you've got to fight for.

This is not a lay back, let God, this is be on your guard, be on your post, fight for this truth.

The once for all delivered, not the once upon a time truth, the once for all delivered truth, delivered by God through men.

Manson said the word delivered implies a leaving things in another's hands by way of trust. And so does not only note the mercy of God, but the duty of the church to whom the oracles of God were committed to be kept.

Certain men have crept in unnoticed. Jude goes on to say those who are long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our

God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ.

These people have no reverence for God. They might look like it, they might say it, but they're talking about free grace in their minds.

And it's the free grace that you can just blatantly live an immoral life, licentiously unbridled in your living, a reverence for God, how?

By your words, no, by your actions, a practical denial of who God is, Christ's person and his work, master and Lord Jesus, Messiah.

They renounce God in every way. Well, my name is Mike Abendroth, this is No Compromise Radio. We're talking about the downgrade controversy.

We're talking about the controversy that exists even today. You can make your own assumptions about what do we do when we got to have a lot of people, a big platform, so we can do a lot of good social things, admissional things and planting churches and helping folks and social justice.

Let's just carve off a few of the things that keep us separated. We don't wanna do that. So if you'd like to write me, you can write me at info at nocompromiseradio .com.

If you wanna go to the website, got all kinds of things happening, especially on Facebook. These days with men helping the other faithful guys of the team, you can get all kinds of social media updates and YouTubes and sermons and sermon jams and all kinds of things.

I am, I am, Sam, I am. I don't make any comments on those, although I usually read the comments.

I just like to see what they say, but so far I've kept my track record in place, no commenting on Facebook or blogs.

Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio. You can write me at info at nocompromiseradio .com. 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.

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.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.