Soli Deo Gloria (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ. Based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

Michael Lee Abbrott here. Abendroth. Abendroth. Abendroth.

In Germany? They obviously know my name's not Abendroth, and they're like, how could you destroy such a good name?

Abendroth. Abendroth. Abendroth. Abendroth. But that's the way it goes.

The Anglo -sizing of the Deutsch. For those of you that have prayed for me and the prostate cancer that I have, thank you.

I really appreciate it. I've gotten many encouraging emails, positive, encouraging,

Caleb emails. I really appreciate that. And you, honestly, I feel pretty good.

I'm back on the bicycle, pretty tired, sick and tired of being sick and tired.

My dad would say, I'm pretty tired. I'm not pretty and tired, but I'm pretty tired.

I'm awfully tired, terribly tired. I'm wicked tired. What do we do that here in New England?

It's wicked tired. And in Nebraska, it's terrible. Nebraska's coach might have a problem after the

AD's fired. Hello. Hello. Thank you for praying. And if I could be serious for a moment,

I have pretty much run the course of the radioactive seeds.

They have a half -life of 17 days. I'm down to like 1 .075 % or whatever that is.

I have not been in really any pain. First couple of days, it was kind of painful, but it's basically uncomfortableness.

And that's about all I can say on radio. It's just uncomfortable. And it has, you know, compared to other surgery, cancer, bone marrow, cancer, and those kinds of things,

I have no complaints. I have no complaints anyway in life, but it's nice that you would pray.

I have a PSA test next week. And then in December, I meet with my doctor,

Dr. Zalewski at Memorial Sloan -Kettering in New York City, Upper East Side.

And then I have an MRI to check to see how everything's going and another blood test.

Hopefully, the blood test will reveal that the cancer's gone and I won't have to have biopsies in the next couple of years nor will

I have to have any type of radiation externally or salvage prostatectomy or hormonal therapy or anything else.

This could have gotten it all. There's a high percentage chance that that is true. And Lord, please let that be.

If not, something else could kill me, right? But I'm just not in charge and it is the

Lord's plan to do whatever He wants. I'm just happy to be justified. I don't believe in a future justification.

I believe I will never be more justified than I am right now. No condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. But that's for another show.

If you are a man listening or a woman listening who has a husband who has prostate cancer and you don't know what to do, you can email me on my personal email, mikeatnocompromiseradio .com.

And my background was I used to sell prostate biopsy guns. That's a bad deal, isn't it?

It was fine and dandy when we were using them on other people. And partly because of that and partly because of the people that I know in prostate cancer circles.

And then my own experience and my own study, I can probably help you because I would try to direct you to some spiritual resources as well and not just the urological components of the whole thing, right?

Urology. I would help. I'd be glad to help. I can talk to you on the phone if you're the person that gets the phone call.

You have prostate cancer, then I want to be able to help. And if God has comforted me in this, 2

Corinthians 1, he has. I want to be a good comfort to other people. I've seen nothing but the faithfulness of God in all this.

And it's kind of hard to say. I mean, I know I'm supposed to say it. It's kind of hard to say because there are all kinds of complications that go along with this stuff or potential complications, which

I've had a few of. But I'm thankful to be on this side of it.

At least I can say that. Lord, thank you for the cancer. I can say it. Okay, I said it.

Thank you because it has taught me a lot about myself. I am weak and fragile and sinful and need to be more dependent on you,

Lord. It has taught me to be more compassionate and empathetic and sympathetic to people that have cancer.

It has helped me already as I minister to other people who have had cancer. And it has made me think that my faith in the object of Jesus is much more important than faithfulness.

And I have a faithful Savior, who even when I'm faithless and worried and full of anxiety and fear about cancer,

Jesus isn't worried. So I can say thank you for all that, to learn those lessons.

If I talk about it much more, I might cry, so I should probably be careful. But thank you. And if you have prostate cancer and you want to call me, that would be great.

If you don't, I would suggest you read a book. And you're going to think it's a joke, but it's not. And the book is, it says nothing with the spiritual aspect of things.

The book you should be reading is the Psalms or the Sovereignty of God, Trusting God Even When Life Hurts, Jerry Bridges.

That would be good. Sovereignty of God by Pink, that would be good. The Supremacy of King Jesus, that would be good.

That book is almost out of print. The first two books I wrote, Jesus Christ, Prince of Preachers and Sovereignty and Supremacy of King Jesus.

Day one said they're done printing them and they sent me my final commission checks. And so when they're gone, they're gone.

So collector's items, one and all. I guess I should probably republish them, but I don't have, maybe, you know, sometimes people who listen to NoCo Radio help me.

And John, the lawyer, he helps me with certain things and other people have helped in the past. And so maybe you can help.

We could take those books and then we'll put them up on Amazon or something like that. I also need an editor.

If somebody wants to help with editing, that would be great. These are non -paid positions.

I will pay you what I pay the other staff members at NoCo. Radio. Oh, the book.

The book is Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers. And I forgot who wrote it.

I visited him. He's an LA doctor. I talked to one particular doctor, the famous Dr.

John Hopkins. He's since retired, but he was really the guru of nerve sparing surgery, prostatectomy.

And then I talked to also a key doctor in New York City on the urology side.

And then I also talked to this particular doctor. And basically what happens is when you hear you have cancer, it's like, get it out, cut it out.

And there are probably times that prostatectomy is the right way to go, but that's not the only way to go.

There are other things you could do. I had the brachytherapy with the radiation. If you catch it early enough, you could go for that route.

It's not as invasive and not as many complications, at least early on. And pretty much everything you're going to do when it comes to prostate, proton, photon, vitamin

D, herbs, prostatectomy, open, prostatectomy, da

Vinci, brachytherapy. There's two different kinds of brachytherapy that you could use.

And the list goes on and on and on. Hyperbaric chambers. I mean, really, you have to decide.

And if somebody needs help, you know, here's what happens. You should go get your PSA if you're 50 or older.

And when your PSA is over four, they're going to say, go to the urologist. The urologist is going to say, we need to take a biopsy.

And before you do any of that, you should probably read this book just to make sure you go get PSA test. Again, the

PSA percentage test you could get. Think about a few things before you go get the biopsy. And of course the surgeon who does the biopsy will recommend that you get surgery if you have, in fact,

Gleason 6, 7, 8, 9, and on up. There you have it. No Compromise Radio.

Last time, yesterday, we were talking about glory. We're doing a series on the five solas of the

Reformation. Soli, Deo, Gloria, to God alone be the glory. And essentially we said there are two types of glory.

The glory that God has by nature, that is His intrinsic glory. And then the glory we give

Him by recognizing who He is and how glorious He is without adding anything to His glory, just recognizing that glory that is the extrinsic glory.

So we give God glory when we recognize His attributes and His glory.

Does that seem to make sense to you? And when you think of glory, you're probably thinking

Shekinah glory and the temple. And then we have this great

God who became, you know, the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only

Son who came from the Father full of grace and truth. And that's using the language of God's tabernacle out in the middle of the desert and God dwelling among them in the tabernacle, in the tent.

And that's exactly the language here used in Greek in John 1 and made His dwelling among us,

His residence. You have the bright glory cloud, the Shekinah glory cloud that would be in the tabernacle, of course, then in the temple later.

And now we have the Shekinah glory, but it's, I don't know if I want to use this word or not, but just to use it in a non -theological way, encapsulated in the flesh.

You kind of saw a little bit of what was on the inside, the intrinsic glory of God, the

Son on the inside of the transfiguration, where the glory of God was beaming out, as it were, when the true who

Jesus was on the inside was shown on the outside, this metamorphosis. The glory of the

Lord, it says in Exodus 40, fills the tabernacle. Moses can't go in to the tent of meeting and the clouds settled on it because the glory of the

Lord filled the tabernacle. That kind of glory, external beaming radiation glory.

I just say radiation, radiating. I've had so much radiation.

See how this ties in, this manifestation of God's self -disclosure, as one man called it.

You have the glory of God displayed in the incarnate Word. The Father himself grants this kind of glory to only one person, and that is the

Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1 calls Jesus the radiance of God's glory. And we have it seen in a little baby, low condition.

Bedrunen said it is striking and deeply important that the climactic revelation of God's glory took place in and through a human being.

In a human being who didn't externally seem that glorious. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him like one from whom people hide their faces.

He was despised and he was held in low esteem. Isaiah 53, the

Lord of glory, the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of God's being dwells among men.

God with us, Emmanuel. That is quite fascinating.

That is quite amazing when you think of Luke 2, suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising

God and saying, glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests.

This is kind of a cloaked glory, isn't it, because of the incarnation? Even when

Jesus fills those water containers, changes, now he doesn't fill them, but he changes the water into wine.

It says this is the first of the signs Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested his glory.

What a cloaked glory, what a theology not of glory like Rome would have.

I should probably explain the difference between the theology of the cross and the theology of glory, but it is fascinating to see what happens at the incarnation.

That would be a time normally I'd have Steve talk about something. John 12, if you have your

Bibles, you might want to turn to John 12 as we're talking about the glory of God.

Let me read you a little bit what's happening here in a passage where you see both the intrinsic glory and the extrinsic glory of God.

All right, I'm just checking my phone here for a second as you're turning. I tweeted out the other day or a little while ago something about the

Babylon Bee. Remember when it was fun? People just didn't like it that I said that.

All right, well, I have comments.

I'm just restraining myself. My public statement is on the Babylon Bee. Unfollow. Now among those who went up to the worship at the feast were some

Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked,

Sir, we would wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus, and Jesus answered them,

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly,

I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.

If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. John 12, 27.

Now my soul is troubled. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall

I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour.

Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and will glorify it again.

The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said,

An angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered, This voice has come for your sake, not mine.

It's fascinating. Jesus knows that it's a voice. The other people don't.

Don't. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out, and I, when

I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show what by what kind of death he was going to die.

So the crowd answered him, We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the

Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is the Son of Man? So Jesus said to them,

The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.

The one who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of the light.

When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they did still not believe, so that the words spoken by the prophet

Isaiah might be fulfilled. Now before I read what it says in Isaiah, how can people not believe in Jesus?

That's the question. How can there be unbelief? I mean, he said these things, and he hides from them, and he had done so many signs, so many signs.

The answer is because it's a scriptural thing that must be fulfilled, so that the words spoken by the

Isaiah, prophet Isaiah, might be fulfilled. Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the

Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, for again Isaiah said, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.

This gives us the reason why there's a negative response with so many people to so many of Jesus's miracles.

It is a judicial, why can't I talk today? It is a judicial hardening, because I'm thinking ahead of what

I was going to say. John 12, Jesus wants to do the

Father's will. He's going to be lifted up. The Jews do not like this kind of talk, that Christ doesn't, he remained forever, and Jesus hides himself from them, and these people, these unbelievers, how can it be explained?

So many signs, because it's been predicted in Isaiah, two different chapters.

Why did Isaiah say these things? Verse 41,

Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Isaiah said these things.

The Isaiah that wrote chapter 6 and the Isaiah that wrote chapter 53, some people say there was a lot of different writers.

Here we have a vision of the glory of the pre -incarnate

Son of God. Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.

Isaiah 6, turn there. What was going on in Isaiah 6? The glory of this great

God in Isaiah 6 is the glory of Jesus, the intrinsic glory of God found in the person of the second person of the

Trinity. The setup in Isaiah, in the ying and the yang and the king and the wing.

Maybe the radiation has affected the way I talk. Partly is I went on a bicycle ride today, and then mowed, and then what else did

I do? Drinking a lot of caffeine today. I do have a request for those of you who send me herbal remedies for prostate cancer.

I've already, thank you, but I've already had the radiation. It's already killed the prostate. That's what they do.

They kill the bad tissue and the good tissue. It's dead, right? At least we hope it's dead.

Early on, you have to decide whether you get radiation, surgery, something in between, or you do active surveillance.

In the old days, they call it watch and wait, but now it's active surveillance because it's such a slow growing cancer.

Can you just take things, or are there herbal remedies? I've taken algae.

I've taken ginger. I've taken saw palmetto.

I've taken pomegranate juice, pomegranate extract. I've taken

D -E -J -Q -E.

That's an inside theological joke. And so I thought, well, let's do what we can to do the active surveillance.

Who wants to have anything done, cutting or radiation? I'm sure in 300 years, they're going to think it's barbaric, but I don't really want this to go into my bladder and bones.

You got to do something. So I receive all these things from you, and I'm glad as listeners that you care for me.

I really appreciate that. But then once it's done, I'm going to have to do then all the benefits of this alternative therapy.

That's not going to do any good because I've already had the radiation. So anyway, thank you, but no more ginger letters, please.

I guess you could send me ginger tablets or something, tabletons, because I probably take those.

For probably the last five years, I've taken a daily regimen of 10 different pills to keep the prostate healthy because my numbers have been high over the years and they fluctuate.

And so Invasion of the Prostate Snatcher's book has this regimen of herbs.

Then I had the radiation thought, I can't take these because I don't want the prostate to be healthy. I want it to be killed by the radiation.

I was really in a theological conundrum. The angels see the holiness of God in Isaiah 6.

It's Jesus on the throne. If you want to be technical, it is the second person of the

Trinity on the throne. In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of his robe filling the temple.

Here this godly King Uzziah dies. It was happy days are here again with this king.

Now it's the worst of times.

What about Isaiah? What would give him a good shot in the arm before he went off on this continued mission trip?

The king's dead, but there's another king who sits on the throne who never dies.

This king, this sovereign one, Jesus himself, he never dies.

You might lose your power if you're Uzziah or any other king. You get voted out every four years or we kick him out after every eight, but there's another powerful king, the most powerful king, the omnipotent king, the king of kings.

He sits on a throne. What do kings do? What do sovereigns do? They sit on the throne, high and lifted up, this elevation, this exaltation, this majesty.

And the train of his robe fills the temple. Everything in here wants you to think, wow, fill in your mind with, wow.

Well, I just looked at the clock. Wow. Two, three, four, I got 10 seconds to go.

Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio. You can write us info at 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 six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

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