Confirmation

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 Avendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

Confirmation, Baptismal Regeneration, and the Problem of Applying Christ's Death

My name is Mike Avendroth. So here�s how we work around here. Here�s how we roll at No Comprehension Radio. Somebody was critiquing one of the YouTube videos at the No Compromise Radio YouTube channel.

I mean, what�s the world come to when you have your own YouTube channel? I mean, come on, you have your own TV show, NoCoTV at Worldview Weekend. Who knows? It�s a crazy place. It�s scary. And so, they called it No Comprehension.

So we like to call ourselves No Compromise. Always biblical, always provocative, always in that order. That�s what we�re after. I�m after pointing you to the Lord Jesus Christ, who never compromised. And if you just would think about that for a few minutes, how many times in our lives have we compromised?

I mean, really, a little, you know, shade in the truth there, a little gray area there. You don�t shade the truth. You shave the truth. Where�s Cooley when I need him? And so, we serve one who never compromised.

And when God the Father looks at us, He sees only no compromise, because we stand in the stead of Christ Jesus, and we�ve been given His righteousness by imputation, by a declaration, and we�re thankful for that.

So what do we do? We talk about different topics that are, oh, on my mind. I used to have to prepare everything, print everything out, look down at my notes all the time. And now, with cue cards, we don�t have to do that.

No cue cards here. So you can get the new Romans commentary that�s out, S. Lewis Johnson�s Romans commentary. I adapted the information, Discovering Romans. I think you�ll really be blessed, and I�d encourage you to get that.

Well, the other day, I was cleaning out some of my files. Now, you know, file cabinets or electronic files, either one. But I have some regular file cabinets here at the church and at home, mainly for taxes at home and owner�s manuals, you know, car titles, stuff like that.

And I found some old notes from Calvary Lutheran Church, I think on 84th and Maple Street, Omaha, Nebraska. And these are from 1973 and �74. Unbelievable. And it is my confirmation folder. Now, I don�t know why my mother saved these, but I�m sure glad she did.

Now, my mom died, I think, eight or nine years ago, so she never knew about No Compromise Radio. I don�t think she ever knew about any book that I published. I don�t think she knew about many of those things.

I�d love to tell her now. Sometimes a tear would come to my eye because I think, �If only mom, if I only could tell my mom. You know, here�s an S. Lewis Johnson commentary, and it�s published by Zondervan, �If I could only tell my mom.

If I could only tell my mom about No Comprehension Radio, she would be so proud. And so my mother got saved, and I remember being in the car, driving on Tomahawk Boulevard, listening to Chuck Swindoll.

Now, I�m not putting these in the same category, but my mom didn�t have any idea at the time. She was a new Christian. Jimmy Swaggart. Who else did she listen to? I think those are the two I remember.

And I remember wanting to get home for serial TV. Not for serial on TV, but for serial, S-E-R-I-A-L. Because you�ve got to tune in to Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel, and you�ve got to figure out what happened to Batman.

Could he get out? Would he be rescued? Batarang, that kind of stuff. Utility belts. He always had the best stuff in his utility belts, and so when my mother would make me the Batman Halloween costume, everything seemed pretty good until we got to the utility belt.

My utility belt didn�t really have his stuff. My belt was like my dad�s NRA belt. N-O. Oh, that�s so funny. So anyway, I have this confirmation stuff. So what�s confirmation? Well, I think it would be fair to say that both, of course, liberal and conservative churches that believe in paedo-baptism, paedo-child baptism, infant baptism, have something called confirmation.

So when the child is older, let�s say 13 years old, they go through classes and some more instruction, and then there�s a confirmation or deconfirmation or a denial of what the said student would believe.

And so since a baby can�t believe, then you confirm that child when they�re older. So that would be both conservative circles and liberal as far as I know. Well, this was more of a liberal church theologically.

I didn�t know it at the time. I mean, if you ask me, did we believe in Jesus� life and death? I didn�t think Jesus ever sinned. I knew what sin was. I believed in the Trinity. I believed the Bible was the Word of God.

I believed that Jesus was an excellent teacher. I believe He died on the cross for my sins. I believe He rose from the dead. And I would believe Genesis 1. Maybe they didn�t teach it this way, but I would believe Genesis 1 in a normal, literal, plain fashion.

No gap theory, no stopgap theories or anything like that. But here�s the problem. The problem with the liberal Lutheran church, I want to say L-C-A-R-E-L-A, now E-L-C-A, whatever it is, I love L-A, Randy Newman.

The problem is with these kind of churches, as well as the Roman Catholic church, it�s not that they teach the wrong view of the Trinity. It�s not that they don�t teach the deity of Christ. They do. It�s not that they don�t teach the humanity of Christ.

They do. It�s not that they don�t teach sin. They do. It�s not that they don�t talk about dying on the cross for sinners. They do. They do. They do. They do. The problem is how the death of Christ is applied to the sinner.

That�s the problem. And so, what we have in evangelicalism, often people say it�s because of faith, right? You�re saved by grace because of faith. When we know the �because� is of love and mercy, earlier in chapter 2 of Ephesians, So, it is the �faith is the non-meritorious instrument of salvation.

Now, often I say faith is a result of salvation, and what I mean by that, it doesn�t cause it. But to be technical, if we want to talk about Reformation and confessions and particular things, then we want to call it a non-meritorious instrument of salvation.

It�s not efficacious in salvation. It doesn�t earn anything. Faith doesn�t earn. Faith looks away from self and looks to what Jesus has done. So, that�s where the problem lies. Of course, the Lutherans and the Catholics and others believe many things that we do, but it�s how it is applied, how it is appropriated, how it is given to the sinner.

And so, it could be, instead of through faith alone, it could be through faith and sacraments. It could be through faith and baptism, faith and the Lord�s Supper. And so, for me, growing up in a Lutheran church, I honestly, this is, you know, true confessions, I am thankful that God put me in a place where I would learn some Bible.

So, I had a conviction that sin was sin, that there was a real hell. I didn�t want to go there. I was restrained in many things when I was growing up because of my fear of sin and then hell. So, I was refrained many times from, you know, getting drunk because of that.

I think about premarital sex and how God used the Bible in an unbelieving church, in my unbelieving heart, to restrain me from sin. Often, that was the case. And so, what do we do? Well, I�m thankful that I was taught the Bible.

I could have been a pagan. I could have been into, my parents could have been into Wicca stuff, Wiccan theology. I could have been in a Native American, Indian family where I would learn about ancestors and ancestral worship.

I could have been born in China and same kind of thing. I could have been an animist in Haiti or in Africa. And so, if you�re a Christian now, aren�t you glad that you have had a quasi-Christian background if that�s the case?

I mean, if you grew up in an evangelical home and you cut your teeth on John MacArthur and this, that, and the other, I mean, how much more should you be thankful? I mean, my kids don�t know yet. Even though I�m sinful and frail and fallible and far less perfect than many other pastors, they don�t know how good they�ve got it here at the church where we try to point people to the Savior and try to teach them the full counsel of God.

I mean, what a gift. And the only reason I�m smart enough to do that is I�ve been graced and given good examples, I like to say, because I think it�s true. I�ve been given the best theological education in the world.

That�s a gift from the Lord. Isn�t He good? Doesn�t He give us great gifts? If He doesn�t spare His Son, He�s not going to spare anything else. And so, here on No Compromise Radio today, I want to go over a little bit of some of my quizzes and reports and sermon notes that I got at the confirmation when I was a Lutheran.

And then, it�s amazing to me how much Bible knowledge I knew, but I still didn�t ever hear �You must be born again. Why? I never was challenged. Examine yourself to see if you�re in the faith. And that�s what I like to do to my Lutheran friends and Roman Catholic friends.

Examine yourself. I mean, it is in the Bible, 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Are you in the faith? Prove yourselves doers of the Word, not hearers only. Call yourself a Christian, James 1? Prove it. So, I just find it fascinating that I�m sure the Lord used this in my life.

I mean, I never sat there as a pagan when I was 28 before I got saved at 29 and said, �Well, I don�t believe there�s a God. I mean, I knew. Of course, everybody knows Romans 1 natural revelation, but I knew specifically because I had a Bible.

When my dad was dying, I picked up the Bible. I need answers. And I had no interpreter, no decoder, no illuminator. His name is the Holy Spirit, so I couldn�t figure it out. So, I just think it�s fascinating to see how providentially, wonderfully God works with our past.

And for me, he used all this, I�m sure, as he began to convict me of sin and draw me to himself and help me, assist me, regenerate me. There�s all kinds of words I could use, but salvation is from the Lord.

Sermon Scorecards, Confirmation Quizzes, and Bible Knowledge

So, I have all kinds of notes here. Sermon scorecard. I think that�s funny because now I teach people to critique sermons at Southern Seminary and at European Bible Training Center. And now here I was given a scorecard.

It�s funny. Here�s one that I had, and it was, �Jesus has come. I was writing the notes. �Jesus has come with the angels I spelled it angles, �and separate the sheeps and the goats. Left, go, right, come.

So, here I am, I�m 14 years old, 13 years old. I�m being taught that there are sheep and goats. �My life is accountable with Jesus. I should have probably written two. �Honor Him, listen to Him. We are prepared for our briefing.

I have no idea what that means. I didn�t pass. I didn�t pass that one. Oh, man. All right. Confirmation. Report to parents. Mike Abendroth. Winter-Spring Terms. Times present, 32 class attendants. Three absent.

Worship attendants, 32 times present, three absent. One per month. Sermon notes handed in. I turned in 11. Apostles Creed Course. I got a 91 on creation, a 95 on redemption, and an 87 on sanctification in the winter term.

And I�m still unsaved. Amazing. Here�s what the teacher said, Pastor Ellison. Pastor Instructor is his name, his title, rather. Mike has been great. When lessons 19 and 20 get in, he could have one of the highest averages in the class.

Well, there you go. It�s top of the morning to you. Oh, man. So then I have all these sermon notes. A lot here. Actually, more than necessary. You listen closely. February 24th, 1974, Luke 9, briefing time.

So this is interesting. What kind of sermons was I getting back then? Jesus was briefed in the transfiguration. Top of the mountain, Jesus became white. Cloud came, said to him, said, �Listen to him. They did not continue prayer.

Jesus said to keep this a secret until the resurrection, and they did. Transfiguration into this. Jesus needs strengthening. Three disciples. He got a preview. Now, a couple of the typos aside, that�s so true.

Remember 2 Peter? Why is it written? Ah, Jesus isn�t going to come back. Uniformitarianism. Where is the promise of his coming? 2 Peter chapter 3. And so what does Peter record in chapter 1? I was on the mountain, and I saw Jesus transfigured, and I heard with my ears, I saw with my eyes the transfigured Jesus, and I saw the glory that he�s going to have when he returns.

It was a preview. It was a preview. I know the second coming is true because I got a little preview of a coming attraction. But I know that the second coming is true, not primarily because I got the preview, but because I have the Word.

I have the Old Testament. It talks about that, too. So I have the Word made more sure. So I even got that down. I still love the transfiguration. Jesus needed strength. Moses and Elijah show up. The purpose was for strengthening Jesus for what was coming up next.

Boy, I could not spell a lick. Boy, this is bad. What�s the so what? The law and the prophets for all to hold. Briefing time prepares us for a place of prayer. Lord, look for praying people. Always pray and never lose heart.

The Transfiguration, Second Coming, and Prayer

So we started off well, but it didn�t go so well. All right, let�s see some of these other ones. These are interesting. Lesson one, Old Testament. All right, so we have all kinds of thoughts about the Old Testament creation, and then they would give you things to look at, and then they had symbolism.

And it was really, it�s called the Bethel series. It wasn�t too good. So let me go to lesson three. Satan was very brash or subtle in Eden. Okay, so multiple choice confirmation for you Lutherans, 1973, he was subtle in Eden.

All right, I got that one right. I missed this one, though. The disagreement between the secularist and the Christian is over the existence or causes of a man at enmity with the world. Existence or causes.

See, I missed that one. How about number three? Man in Eden rebelled against God, having either partial or complete knowledge of God�s restriction and the consequence of disobedience. So he had complete knowledge.

I got that one right. How about this? I mean, this is what I was taught. I praise God for even this liberal education because much of it was true. The greatest consequence of sin is that things don�t work out as we would like, or it separates us from God.

Man is powerless, number five, to do anything about guilt or the sense of guilt. You can do things about your sense of guilt. Isn�t this amazing? Even today we try to do things about our sense of guilt and we drowned our sense of guilt in alcohol, drugs, hedonism, illicit sex, all kinds of things.

As sin enters the world, the image of God in man was blurred or lost. I mean, this is pretty good. Now it�s got a list here. There�s many 39 books of the Old Testament you could list. So my first one is, I kid you not, G-E-N-I-S-U-S, Gensis, N-O.

My second one was, he counted that one right, my second one was E-X-U-S-D-O-X, Exodus. Now how could I get Ecclesiastes right except for the S? I got Isaiah, I-S-I-A-I. I got O-B-I-D-I-A, Obidiah.

I got J-E-R-I-M-I-A. I know it�s because I�m dumb, but I think I had a bad education that kind of accelerated like a catalytic converter, my stupidity. Which book of Bibles is this, N-E-I-M-I-A, Nehemiah.

Oh man, this is fascinating, fascinating stuff in No Compromise Radio. You can write me at info at nocompromiseradio .com as I live my life over again. Now here�s one, lesson four, you have to complete the fill-ins.

So this is not like a Mad Lib, this is just more of a fill-in for the Bethel series. Now the Lord said to Abram, �Go from your blank country and your kindred, his father�s house, to the land that I will show you and I will make of you a great name.

And I will bless you and make your nation great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who curses you I will curse and by you all the families of the earth will bless themselves.

Genesis 12, 1 -3. So there�s about eight fill-in-the-blanks there with 30 points, I got 15 right. He gave me 15. True or false, the covenant is the cornerstone on which Israel�s history is built.

I said false. Mine is false. All right, let me give you the next one. In the covenant, God establishes a relationship like that between a child and a judge. I got that one right, it was false. The destiny is composed of two parts, promise and prophecy.

Abraham, though very imperfect, won God�s special favor. I put true, he counted it right. I guess there are more Arminian there than I would have liked to have guessed. All right, well, my name is Mike Abendroth, this is No Compromise Radio.

Here�s the point today. If God has taught you anything before you were saved about himself, which of course you had to learn some things or else how would you be saved, I hope you�re thankful. I�m very thankful that I was taught this.

Now I would have never remembered any of these things. I wish many of these things that I was quizzed on I would remember right now. But going through here, I thought to myself, you know, thank you, Lord, that even though I don�t even know if these people were saved, I don�t know how they could have been with baptismal regeneration.

Twelve tribes of Daniel, I put Dan, Asher, Benjamin, Reuben, Juden, Ephraim, Simeon, and Dad. And then, I didn�t know what word for this one. This is still No Compromise. Following the end of the third reign, the United Kingdom had become a what kingdom?

And I put D-United instead of divided. Hey, but he didn�t count it wrong. Right on. That is so, I�m so happy for that. The third king of the United Kingdom was, I mean, do you know? Laugh it up, bub.

Do you know? I put S-O-L-E-M-N. Solemn. I have to have some coffee for that. I don�t have peace today. It�s a Keurig day, so that means Starbucks. Somebody said that Pete�s Coffee should give me some money for advertising all their coffee.

I ran into somebody in Pittsburgh, they said that very thing. Okay. Let�s see. Just a couple more. All right. True or false, Israel became a divided kingdom upon the death of Solomon. So see, there�s a lot of data here that I�m thankful for.

Quiz on the commandments. That one�s good, right? We have purpose of the law is protection, illustrated by a stop sign, reflection, illustrated by a mirror, and direction, illustrated by a guide line.

All right. So, let�s flash back to the law, 1973. We've got here in the Lutheran Church, basically, three roles, three uses of the law. I thought they were Lutheran. Direction illustrated by a guide line.

So we at No Compromise Radio, of course, we�re lawless, we�re antinomian, we don�t believe in any kind of law in any way, shape, or form. But here, I was taught, by the way, just so you know, I was taught the three uses of the law in 1973.

So for all of those haters out there. This particular one, Quiz 7, got 50%. Missed 25 questions. I�m just guessing. Civil law for nomads, I knew that, Exodus 21 through 23. How about that? I knew a constant presence in Israel�s midst, God was in Exodus 40.

So anyway, my name�s Mike Gibendroth, No Compromise Radio. I am very thankful that God causes all things to work together for good, Romans chapter 8, verse 28. Aren�t you glad? I can have an unbelieving church, a liberal church, a mainline church, and I can still be taught things that God would use later in my life.

And for that, I�m thankful. And I hope you are too. And you praise the Lord, the God of grace, who is so wonderful as he gives gifts to us. The word, the Lord, forgiveness.

Thank you, Lord. 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 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.