Remembrancers (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.

Here comes another show that starts off with laughter. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, this is Mike Abendroth with my laughing sidekick.

That�s what I do, I�m the Ed McMahon of No Compromise Radio. So when

I lived in North Hollywood, Steve, I think probably three or four times, maybe five times, somebody would come to town, my mother would visit from Nebraska, and I would take her to Burbank Studios down there,

I think it was NBC, and we would watch Johnny Carson. The Tonight Show, starring Johnny Carson. They�d have a guy come out ahead of time, here�s how you clap, here�s what you do, then

Ed McMahon would come out, and then the show would start, and that man from Fremont, Nebraska, Johnny Carson, would command the monologue stage.

Little Homestead Pride. It was. Anything good come from Nebraska? Anybody else from Nebraska?

Warren Buffett. I don�t know. You know, a whole album of Springsteen songs. Called Nebraska. Yeah. The horror movie,

I think, was filmed there, Children of the Corn. Well, did they do

Field of Dreams there, or what did they do there? Oh, maybe. Maybe. If not, they should have. Yeah.

Anything new on the grandkids deal? You know, because I don�t have grandkids yet, so I just live through you.

What�s happening? Anything new with them? Well, I mean, we just had a lot of fun on Halloween.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Four of them dressed up as My Little Ponies, and Jude was

Batman, so, you know. Steve, you know, there was a day, I think you probably had the biblical view of letting kids dress up like Sargon, the evil.

Sargon? I think that�s a chess computer program. You mean Sauron?

You can�t even dress like Sauron. No, Sargon, I think that was an old James Tiberius Kirk episode.

I was going to say, yeah, maybe, yeah. I was in New Zealand, and they had a little book, and the book was all original

Star Trek little paintings and scenes, you know, with the Gorn, remember that guy on the planet there right down the street from your house, filmed over there?

But they were all cats, and it was, Kirk was a cat, and the Gorn was a cat, and all this stuff.

Some people love cats a little bit too much, so. Well, you know, they tried to get me to like them via the

Star Trek allegory, but it didn�t quite work. Not going to happen. I know. So, dressing up, did they get any good things while they were out there?

You know, it was just so funny, because Jude came, but when they all came back, you know, Jude came back, and he�s three and a half, and he goes, �This bag�s heavy ,� you know?

So, a couple pounds of candy, and he�s like, �Oh, this bag�s� More people listen to our show from the

United States than other countries. That makes sense. We�re here in Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

You know, if you live here in the U .S., that Halloween�s a big deal, and adults and children, and that�s a money -making operation, and people just love it.

Well, when you go to Germany, I was there 10, 15 years ago, and just the initial pumpkins would show up and some masks, because it was not this

German deal. Well, last year I was there during Halloween, or two years ago, a lot of people, you know, you go to the

May Company type of thing, Kaufland, supermarket, all the people that are doing it.

So now I just was in New Zealand during Halloween. Here�s how New Zealand celebrates Halloween. Maybe one in 100 kids goes out, they only put a mask on, so they don�t dress up in any way, shape, or form, it�s just a mask, and then they go around and knock on doors.

So probably in a few years, they�ll have full -on Zargon outfits, and you would have been displeased with me,

Steve, because when I was in New Zealand, I saw many things, Bridal Falls waterfalls,

I saw the ocean on both different sides, I saw redwoods,

California redwoods in this particular wonderful forest, but I did not see any hobbit houses.

It was 100 bucks, man. Yeah, see, I don�t even really understand that. I mean, I would take out a loan, mostly because I really enjoyed the books, but secondly,

I�m like, �I�ll never get to New Zealand again.� You know, I guess you�re probably just like, �Well, they�ll invite me back.�

Me, I�m just like, �One and done ,� so I don�t even think, �Well, the next time they invite me out for this conference,

I�ll� I�ll tell you what, Donald Stevenson was the host pastor there and friend at Fenton Park Bible Church in Rotorua.

By the way, Rotorua. Rotorua? Uh -huh. It smells kind of like that. Okay. It�s got the sulfur and the volcano and all that.

Not all of town, but just when you go over to the boiling hot lava, mud, geyser area, it smells sulfur -y.

I probably would stay away from that area. I�m just kind of, I�m just weird like that, �Hey,

Steve, there�s an active volcano over there.� I�m like, �Okay, good to know. I�m going the other direction.� Yeah, but basically the entire country is built on an active volcano, you know, the ring of fire, the line of fire, circle of fire, something.

Ring of fire. We�re down, down, down. One time I was in Hollywood and I was stacking

Duracell batteries onto this display as a merchandiser. That was my first job out of college.

And a guy said to me, �Do you have any D�s ?� Right, he�s asking about the

D batteries. �Do you have any D�s over there ?� And I thought, I recognize that voice. And I turned around and I was correct.

Sometimes I�m not correct, but this time I was correct. It was Stan Ridgway, the lead singer of �Wall of Voodoo.�

And you might know that band because I�m on a Mexican radio, but he also sang �Ring of Fire.�

Did he? Uh -huh. Well, that�s a great song. A lot of people have sung that song. You know, I mean,

I can think of, I don�t know if there�s a song, a country song that�s been done more than �Ring of Fire.�

There might be, but, you know, it�s a very popular song to do. So, for today�s show, we�re going to look at a little thing by John Love.

He�s got a great jump shot when he gets open, by the way. I knew a guy named John Love, he was a lieutenant on the

Sheriff�s Department. Seriously? Yeah. What did Thurston Howell III call his wife?

Lovey. So, this is John Love. He was born in 1757.

He died in 1825, and he wrote a little nine -point deal on, it�s called �Remembrancer of Daily Duties.�

So, almost similar to Edward�s Resolutions, you know, all pretty much law, no gospel.

But we�re going to see what we like about this and don�t like. This was from the Banner of Truth Trust Magazine.

Arr. As my brother says, when you do the Daniel Fuller mixture between the two, it�s called

Glospel. But then I�ve stolen that, and I�ve turned it into not law and gospel, but Gaw and Lospel.

Because it seems like you kind of lose the gospel when you do that. Gaw and Lospel. Uh -huh. Yes. Yeah. Gaw. Glospel.

But if you�re in New England, you call it Gar. Gar. Gar and Lospel. It doesn�t really roll off the tongue.

I know. So, Steve doesn�t know what this is ahead of time. We�re just going to roll with it as a �Remembrancer of Daily Duties.�

Now, Steve, up front, what if you had to do all these duties to stay right with God? How would that be working out for you?

I probably wouldn�t get it done. I probably wouldn�t. If you have to treasure Christ above all things to show saving faith, how is that working for you?

I don�t even understand, you know, I don�t even understand the concept when people talk to me about, you know, do you have sufficient works to withstand the final judgment?

Yes, I do, and those sufficient works are all in Christ. Steve, why,

I mean, I just talked about this with Pat Abendroth on a recent show, seemed like just a couple hours ago, but it was like two weeks ago maybe.

I just don�t get that either. Why can�t we just go back to kind of truths that were taught to us for the last 400 years in congregational,

Presbyterian, Baptistic, Anglican confessions and systematic theologies? Why can�t we just simply say, �You are justified by faith alone, period, full stop, new category, but that faith won�t be alone

I don�t really know, but it smacks of, you know, like you said, well, let�s put it this way, being innovative, being, you know, somehow entrancing, you know, interesting, kind of cutting -edge, you know, in a way that I don�t think it�s helpful at all.

I have to introduce something that people aren�t talking about so that someone will listen to me.

You know, it�s like a signal flare. Look at me, look at me, look at me, and I don�t get it. Yeah.

Steve, I think you�re correct, and you do this probably not as much as I do, but I like to do the flamboyant, inflammatory, throw the scud out, and then you reel it back in.

I�m dull. I�m really dull. Yeah, but you would say things like I would say if you want to get someone�s attention true or false, you�re saved by works, and then we have the pregnant pause, and then we say, yes, the works of Christ, something like that, right, to get people thinking.

I do that all the time. Right. But what we do is after the pregnant pause, after the say -la moment, we then give the right answer.

So if you�re going to put a Desire and God tweet out that says, �You�re not saved by faith alone, be killing sin ,� well, then what needs to follow is, see, we got your attention.

And now that we got your attention, what we said was, we�re trying to show you, you know, salvation in the large umbrella, going back to the eternal decrees, and then regeneration, progressive sanctification, you don�t want to be lawless, you�ll be transformed in your nature, and you�ll show good fruits as evidence, and being killing sin, etc.

But they don�t do that second part, and that�s what drives me batty. Well, it�s like when I was opening my last sermon,

I said, �How do you comfort unbelievers ?� And I paused for a second, and then I said, �You lie to them.�

And everybody�s like, you know, there�s like a little gasp, and then I explained what I meant, you know, and then I said, �Now, how do you comfort believers ?�

And it�s just the opposite. You tell them the truth, and you tell them truths about God. So yeah,

I mean, it�s a nice device, but when you leave the false impression as the right impression, you know, in other words, that that�s what you really meant, well, then

I have to take it as, well, that�s what you really meant. And if you say other things in other writings that would confirm that, then that�s even problematic.

Remembrance, sir, of Daily Duties, John Love, number one. Okay. I�m just going to read it, and you start. Okay. Okay, we�re probably going to have to do two parts for this show.

Return solemn thanks for the night�s mercies. Beg assistance for the day. That�s a daily duty you should remember.

Well, and I think, I mean, I don�t really look at it as a daily duty. I think I try to start every day thanking

God for all that He�s blessed me with, you know, and viewing things through the lens of the gospel. So I don�t really have a problem with that, and I do ask for assistance for the day.

You know, I don�t want to sin. I want to glorify the Lord in everything that I do and say today, you know, please help me to do that.

And so I think that�s fine. Good. Let�s just try to spruce it up a little bit, and we have that opportunity since this is radio, and we can do the kind of redaction.

Spruce. Redaction. Redaction. Jim Rome. Yeah. Return solemn thanks for the perfect work of Christ.

Something like that, right? Where you just say, hey, even though I haven�t obeyed today, was it not

John Bunyan who said, �My righteousness has been in heaven for 1 ,700 years.�

And at the time, that was just good timing, right? God, thank you for saving me.

Thank you for the day. Thank you for all the mercies you�ve given me found in the person of Christ, right?

Ephesians, in Christ, union with Christ. And tomorrow, you know, I know you�ll be there with me tomorrow as I move forward.

Yeah. I mean, the night�s mercies is kind of a nebulous term because I just think, well, you know, what if I didn�t sleep that well, or what if I woke up in horror, or you know, what if I was like just laying there all night thinking about the sheep and the flock who need help and, you know, aren�t doing things right?

You know, then what? You know, how does that... Thank you that I got no sleep last night. He might say, though, but at least you didn�t have to go to hell, or at least you have a bed.

That is true. At least you have a roof. Yeah, that is true. At least you have a wife. At least you have grandkids. Yeah. Yeah. Good. All right.

Well, that�s not too bad. At least you don�t have sepsis. That�s true. I mean, there were many times when

I first was diagnosed with cancer, I�d wake up in the middle of the night and I�d think, �I have cancer.�

And it was hard to go back to sleep. It was hard to kind of work through those things. But one of the things that this cancer has really taught me, and I think

Hebrews has taught me this more, but it was exemplified in my life, experienced in my life, and I know that�s not the driver of truth, but it showed forth truth in my life as I experienced it.

I thought, �You know what? What if I�m not thankful right now? What if I am anxious? What if I am worried about certain things ?�

But you know what? I�d regularly say and preach to myself, �I know Jesus isn�t worried. I know He�s not afraid.

I know He�ll never leave me nor forsake me. I�m struggling as your child, God, but I know you don�t kick me out because I�ve got weak faith that�s prone to sin in the middle of all this.�

Agreed. Okay. Okay. Number two, John Love, �In all acts of devotion, let me first collect my thoughts.

Let me have them at their bent before I begin. Speak directly to God. Give way to no external nor internal diversion.�

That�s a remembrance, sir, of daily duties. Yeah, I don�t even... I don�t even know what he means.

Well, let�s take the first part. When you�re going to pray, should you just start praying right away? I guess you could.

Would it be some good advice once in a while to stop and think to whom you�re praying? Sure. Okay. Yeah. But I mean, there are times where I just, you know, do

I have time to collect my thoughts, you know, and organize them? No, you know, but I think this would be, you know, is it a good thing?

Well, my best prayer times are when I am, you know, organized and when I�ve got a plan. I think they got an app for that.

They have an app for that, yeah, they do. The second part says, �Let me have them at their bent before I begin.�

I guess that means his thoughts. So to collect my thoughts ahead of time, let me have my thoughts at their bent before I begin.

Yeah. At their bent. That�s just not a phrase we use very often.

So okay, yeah. All right. So maybe this will only be one show. More of the same. Number three. Remember, it�s our three.

Let me read the scriptures, A, with a serious, practical view, and B, with comment.

Well, I think, you know, serious is definitely right, practical,

I don�t really, you know, is there, again, I think we go back to this, is there anything more practical than understanding

God are right, you know, than thinking about God are right? I think, no, there is nothing more practical than that.

And with comment, well, I would just say this, that, you know, there are times where, you know, you just have to, you just have to pause a little bit and just think to yourself and maybe say aloud, �Jesus is really wonderful.

This is really amazing.� You know, and so... You could do the Reformed Baptist thing, there�s a truth, where you can say, �Amen, verily, verily,

I believe that, that�s true.� And when it talks about reading the scriptures with a serious, practical view,

I think, to give them the benefit of the doubt, truth is practical, doctrine is practical, and so let�s read this as if this is

God speaking to me, he was in the room talking out loud to me, except now it�s in a book, and what he has to say to me is important, and I need to heed it.

And if it�s a son running around in the playground, and you call him in and say, �Son, I need to talk to you for a second.

Sit down. This is very serious. I want you to get it. Look at me in the eyes as I tell you this.� Maybe that�s the kind of attitude.

Okay, remember, it�s our four. Hopefully this one will rescue us. �Never trifle with a book with which

I have no present concern, and in reading any book, A, let me reflect what

I may learn by it, and B, beg divine assistance.� So, let�s just take that first part.

Don�t trifle with books that you don�t have present concern with. So, let�s say,

I don�t know, the latest Allen Iverson bio. We�re talking about practice.

You know, I don�t know, because I think I learn from almost,

I mean, if I�m reading some, I just don�t read novels that wouldn�t have any particular value to me.

But I think even in the most seemingly meaningless biography,

I learn something, right? Because there are practical and theological implications, even in the wrong way that men and women live their lives, right?

So I don�t really, I don�t know if I understand that. Well, I just think, Steve, you stand convicted, because you�ve already said publicly on the radio that you like The Hobbit books, and so those are novels that don�t really mean anything.

And you�re reading the U .S .S. But actually, they do. I mean, they have some really great themes running through them, so.

I think they use those themes for the Gospel Coalition�s Bible studies. I wouldn�t go that far.

I would never go that far. And your Grant, Ulysses S. Grant bio, there�s things that you can learn there, the providence of God in the life of a man, whether that man�s born again or not.

Yeah, amazing. Amazing how— Steve, I too find this wrong, and here�s an illustration.

Sometimes I read a book, and it doesn�t seem like it�s apropos to anything currently. But then

I finish the book, and then something happens in the next week or two, and this particular information is in my mind, and then

I can use it. It�s almost like when you study Scripture, and you think, you know what, that�s neat, and here�s what�s going on in Psalm 73, and I finally see things in light of the throne of God.

It all makes sense now. Then I�m talking to someone, and they begin to say something, and I go, oh, I�m just recalling that by the

Spirit�s power to that particular situation. In a similar manner, not equal to, but similar,

I read a book about whatever, Houdini, a bio, and then something comes up, and I go, you know what, that�s that Houdini thing that talks about such and such and such and such.

And I�ve read, you know, biographies about people who were just, in the current parlance, they were workaholics, and you know, what you realize in reading this is nothing more than what it says in Proverbs, or sorry, in Ecclesiastes, that life apart from God is an utter waste of time, but men seek to do almost anything to feel, you know, whether it�s seeking after pleasure or seeking after, you know, some, to find their kind of place in the universe, to find some meaning for their life, and you know, they show the futility even of work if it�s done for the wrong reason.

Speaking of which, did you, Steve, read that book long ago by Paul Johnson? I believe he�s a

Roman Catholic scholar, and it was called The Intellectuals. Right. And I want to say about 13 chapters,

Rousseau, Marx, a variety of different people, and what he showed was the tragedy that ideas have consequences.

And Rousseau was brilliant, of course, and had all kinds of things to offer intellectually, but then totally dogged his kids, totally, you know, the women in his life, and just,

I don�t remember the details, but it was a complete disaster. And so I read that, and that�s not necessarily written as a

Christian book, but this is what happens when you think you�re really smart, or even people today, they�re intellectuals, but morally dwarves.

Yeah. I mean, the phrase I like to apply is too smart for their own good, right? And there are a lot of people that fall into that category.

They are so excellent at one particular thing in life that everything else just kind of falls away, you know?

But you can have it all, baby. Well, I mean, I�m just not that smart. So you know, I struggle to kind of keep my life together.

I know. I forgot the guy�s name, but he used to go to Grace Church. Maybe he still does, and he was training

Bruce Jenner. And Bruce had not won the gold yet in the decathlon at the

Olympics, and he was training Bruce, and Bruce is like, �I want to win the gold in the decathlon.�

And I remember the guy at Grace Church, maybe it was a Bible study or one of those men�s breakfasts, kind of a

Bob Vernon, LAPD type of breakfast or something. I wonder what ever happened to Bob Vernon.

I don�t know. Yeah. Anyway, this man said to Bruce Jenner, �You know what? If you want to win, it�ll cost you everything.�

And Jenner said, �I want to win.� And then the guy said, this Christian man who�s the trainer, �But

I mean everything.� And then years later, Jenner said, �This is before all the Kardashian craziness.

It cost me my first marriage. It cost me my relationship with the kids. It cost me financial things. And you were right.

It cost me everything.� So some things just aren�t worth it. Including his male identity, apparently.

I know. Well, you think about it today with your kids in sports, for instance, and for you,

Steve, grandkids. I love sports, and the way we�ve tried to teach our kids with sports is we want you to be able to go play volleyball when the college group plays, right?

You can throw a Frisbee when they�re doing it at recess at school or the church deal.

You know how to shoot a basketball. But if you want to be great, you�ve got to start at five with personal trainers and this, that, and the other.

It�s impossible unless you give up everything else. I mean, unless you�re just super talented.

Mo Jackson or something. You know, I mean, if your son was Steph Curry, you know, that�d be one thing, right? Where just kind of from a young age, you just go, �Well, this guy�s really good.�

So then, you know. I was listening to a Lance Armstrong podcast with Phil Keegan. Keegan is the amazing race host and a bicyclist, and just he re -rode the 1928

Tour de France with one of the original 50 -pound bicycles with no gears.

So it�s just a single speed and 50 pounds. And those days, it was a 22 -stage course, but 3 ,300 miles versus the 22 -stage courses now that are 2 ,000 miles.

And so, it�s a movie called La Ride or something. Anyway, in that podcast, Lance gets an

Uber ride in San Francisco by a young 20 -some -year -old kid, and he wants to be a faster swimmer.

�What do I need to do to become this great swimmer of all time ?� type of thing. And Lance said, �It�s too late, because you didn�t start until you were five years old.�

�Oh, we�re out of time.� Did he tell him to cheat? Yeah. Mike Abendroth, Steve Cooley, No Compromise Radio.

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 6. We�re right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

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