Do this and live (rerun)

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. My name's

Mike Abendroth, and today I'm juicing again. Juicing diet today, and I am starving.

It's 2 .30 in the afternoon on a Friday. That's what day it is today as I record.

What day this day is as we play it, I have no idea. But at the moment, there's no snow outside, although it's very windy.

There's lots of wind. And I'm sitting here looking at this article.

December 7th, Wednesday, christianpost .com, can being a good neighbor trump worship services at church?

And so here is the skinny. As you probably knew, or maybe you didn't know, Rick Warren is the leader of Saddleback Advocacy Group.

I don't know what he's a leader of. It's called Saddleback Church. I've been there about 10 times. And, boy, what does that sound?

I need some oil for this desk here. Anyway, they decided not to have a worship service, saints gathering together to worship the triune

God. Instead, they decided to, with their 20 ,000 members, of course,

Rick Warren wants to make sure we know that number. It's like Driscoll and Warren and these other men who are always making sure we know how many people go to their large churches, or James McDonald, for that matter.

Anyway, he, Rick Warren, has confused his ecclesiology and his evangelism.

In other words, the typical paradigm is that you can easily see from scripture is the church gets together as a called group of people.

God has affectionately called them, has granted them faith and life and repentance, regeneration, they've been justified by the work of God.

And they get together to praise God. They sing, they read the scriptures, they hear preaching.

If they're the preacher, they preach. Lord's Supper, baptism, et cetera. So that's what the church does when they get together.

And then when they leave, they go out into the mission field and they are their own contextualization as some are into biking, some are into snowmobiling, some are into cooking, some are into going to school, et cetera, et cetera.

And they go and preach the good news, the good news of Christ's substantial atonement for sinners and his resurrection.

And the response to that good news is repent and believe, trust, follow, et cetera. That's the second time

I've said et cetera today. I'm not sure. Steve's not here. I need to laugh today, but Steve's not around.

So it's just me. I know we get lots of calls. Where is Steve? Well, Steve won't be back till Tuesday.

That's where Steve is. So it says here in the Christian Post, can be in a good neighbor Trump worship services at church.

Almost, almost, although most Christians hearing of mega church pastor

Rick Warren's plan to cancel regularly scheduled worship services this weekend in order to help facilitate community service projects have given the thumbs up.

Others say the event sends a missed, missed message. It's very misty.

Mixed message. I'm exhausted today. I'm literally exhausted. We have a big concert tonight.

I need some Pete's coffee, but I think I'm drinking too much caffeine. So I'm going caffeine in the morning and that's it.

So see, I'm a slave to caffeine. Good neighbor weekend has been enthusiastically received by the majority of the 20 ,000 members at Saddleback Church in Orange County.

Many have already signed up online for acts of kindness, according to church officials. So what you do is you say no corporate worship today.

We go out and serve the neighbors. Now, the way it could have been done biblically and could have been done in a more theologically correct way is this.

You have a worship service in the morning. You tell people what Christ has done for them and some of the ramifications.

And then you talk about how we're to love our neighbor as ourselves in light of that great gospel. And then now let's have a quick luncheon and go out and serve the community.

But here we have the blurring of the social gospel. The gospel is not done.

The gospel is not lived. The gospel is not acted out. We aren't the gospel.

We don't do the gospel. We don't mime the gospel. The gospel is a declaration. First Corinthians chapter 15 makes it explicitly clear.

That is to say that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. He was buried.

And what happened? He was raised from the dead, according to the scriptures. And so that is the gospel.

The good news isn't due. The good news isn't law. The good news isn't you better buckle up.

The good news isn't start. The good news isn't how could you? The good news is something that God has done.

Pinnacle of what God has done at Calvary. So being a good neighbor, trumping worship services, it says here in the

Christian post, according to, oh, this person would remain anonymous.

They're a member there. Why would we have to cancel any kind of service if we could easily reach out to our neighbors before or after church on any given

Sunday? Going to church is something we do as a family every week. And I was looking forward to another great message on Sunday.

Well, my only problem with that is you don't get great messages there. The 10 messages I heard, I think the first one was a

Christian message with the gospel. And the rest had governmental theories of the atonement, do good, be good, moralistic, therapeutic deism is what

I got when I was at Saddleback. And if you want to pull up their Eastern messages, talk about sin as a, you know,

God, repentance is a do -over. The list goes on. Evangelist Ray Comfort, who often takes to the streets on any given weekend to preach, told the

Christian post that Saddleback's good neighbor weekend is an admirable and worthy event.

It reminds me of something I did many years ago. I had our church drop a large bag of vegetables at the doorstep of neighbors with a note that said we were a local church and we wanted to let people know that we cared for them.

Of course you can do that and go around and clean the yards of neighbors and fix their things and do things like that.

Of course you can as an outgrowth of the gospel. I hope the people were trained though to tell them what the gospel really was.

This is why we're taking care of the lawn or the park because this is what

God has done for us. This is who Jesus Christ is and what he's accomplished at Calvary. This is why he's alive today and coming back.

I hope that was taught. But I think

Comfort drops the ball here. He doesn't understand the theological ramifications. He goes on to say, the note said that we would freely mow lawns, trim hedges.

It didn't invite them to church or even say God bless you. It was just a token of love. One lady called the church, burst into tears and said that she had been in the area for 30 years and this was the first time the church had ever done anything for her.

Comfort said there were many other similar letters and calls to the church, including a note from an atheist who wished the church well in the community.

We saw the reality of 1 Peter 2, 14 to 16. For so is the will of God that with well -doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, he explained.

Well, Comfort said, I appreciate much of Rick Warren and Saddleback's ministry, but I have to disagree here.

Calling the worship of God to go. Oh no, no, no, that's not Comfort.

That's somebody else. That's somebody on Facebook. I wish it was Comfort. I was gonna say Comfort is discomforting there as he's contradicting himself.

Comfort, who also believes churches should embrace non -traditional approaches to sharing the gospel like Saddleback has done, nevertheless gives a warning about doing so.

Comfort is known for a type of street evangelism that does not shy away from the subjects of sin and hell. And for that,

I applaud Ray Comfort that he doesn't back away. I applaud him that he's out there doing things that I don't do.

But to say that this was a good thing that Saddleback has done is to confuse or have the wrong ecclesiology.

This is because it's easier to buy some lunch than it is to tell somebody that hell exists, that God is holy and that they desperately need a

Savior, et cetera. Oh, Eric Ries, Saddleback pastor of ministry and life worship.

What's life worship? Previously told CP that this type of event is typical at the church.

Wonderful 30 -year history of maximizing the Christian season to fulfill God's call to love our neighbors.

It's going to be a great weekend. Well, I just think it's sending the wrong message.

The message is the church gets together to proclaim the greatness and excellencies of Christ and then they leave either one by one or programmatically to go evangelize and or do good deeds, good deed doing church.

That is fine. Actually, when you think about the New Testament, I think you'll notice more individuals who will go out and say,

I'm gonna go be a good neighbor for this reason or that reason, instead of a large program. Now, once in a while for the programmatic, let's go do things for the neighbors,

I don't have a problem with, but day in and day out, the New Testament church was so transformed by the message that they went out and loved other people.

So today in No Compromise Radio, I wanna talk about something else besides that, that's kind of old news and by the way, it doesn't take you very much to pull up one of Rick Warren's messages or go to pastor .com

wherever he's the leader of to figure out that it's a less than Christian message.

My problem with Rick Warren is not anything personal. He's probably a nice fellow.

My problem is that he knows better and so when he talks to Michael Horton and says that he's a monergist,

God alone working, that's good language for the reformed people and he tells Horton that he's a monergist, he ascribes to the five solos of the

Reformation. I don't know what he said about TULIP, although I'm sure he could articulate TULIP, what it means, but then he preaches something differently.

He says, substitutionary atonement is important, but then last time I was there, he's not even talking about that theory of the atonement or that fact of the atonement.

He knows better and yet does the opposite. It's one thing not to know. I mean, let's face it, for all of us, there are certain things we don't know and until we are taught, we're not sure of, but then once we're taught, why would we go back to what is wrong unless we wanted to try to manipulate the system?

So I am no fan of the ministry of Saddleback and if they become a biblical

Bible teaching church and not therapeutic moralistic deism, week in and week out, at least the weeks that I was there, then it doesn't surprise me that this church will say, let's do community service instead.

I think you should probably read Machen's book, Christianity and Liberalism, 1923, and I think that's gonna be one of my top 10 books that we'll look at at another time.

All right, let me just read the Common Book of Prayer, 1662 on No Compromise Radio, and this is going to help us realize why we need a savior.

Common Book of Prayer, 1662. We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep.

We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws.

We have left those things which we ought to have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us.

Now, you might not like the current Common Book of Prayer, but the 1662 one was certainly correct here.

We are sinful people. We are not perfect. We have fallen short of God's holy and righteous law, and really three volumes speak to our sin.

The first volume, if you will, is creation. Creation proclaims and promotes and advertises and demonstrates that God, in fact, is powerful.

It doesn't take a scientist to look at the sun and the moon and the stars to figure out rotation and how everything is cyclical, thinking about days and nights, and my daughter told me the other day that the world is tilted on a 23 .5

% tilt, et cetera. God is powerful and that God is wise,

Romans 1. The wisdom of God, how do you get water to Nebraska to water the fields?

Well, it comes from the ocean and then in the clouds and then over and the hydrological cycle.

God is a wise God, and so when we see this great God, we see creation.

Creation promotes this God who ought to be thanked and worshiped, and yet we don't.

We become foolish and do what's right in our own eyes, and so creation screams forth, worship this

God, and yet we resist. The second volume that speaks against us is our own conscience.

No matter who you are in the world, God gave you a conscience, and unless it's super hardened and calloused by repetitive sin, but even before it was calloused, your conscience told you, yes, this is right.

No, that is improper. This is the wrong behavior.

This is the right behavior, and your conscience either accuses or excuses your behavior.

This is why you see people who are Muslims, for instance, and they know adultery is bad.

It is the conscience that God has given us, and so with creation and with conscience, we certainly know that we're sinful, and finally, with the third volume, and that is the volume of Scripture, where Scripture specifically teaches us what we have done, what

Adam has done, and how, in fact, no one seeks after God, how, in fact, no one is righteous, and so we are sinners.

We are by nature children of wrath, even as the rest, Ephesians chapter two, and so since we're sinners, we need a

Savior. Now, think about this. What is God's paradigm for heaven?

How do you get to heaven? Well, that's a good question. I think the way you get to heaven would be best explained in a

Bible passage. It's just before the Good Samaritan parable, and it tells us the occasion, the situation, the purpose for this parable.

Luke 10, and behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

What shall I do? That is a really good question. Now, here's what we tend to do in evangelicalism.

Oh, you can't do anything. He should be asking about faith, and here he is, do, works righteousness, merit.

Well, okay, theologically, I'm with you, but Jesus said, you have answered correctly after he said that what's written in the law is you shall love the

Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. So here's what happens.

The lawyer stands up, putting Jesus to the test. What shall I do to inherit eternal life? What should

I do? Actually, the rich young ruler, eight chapters later in Luke, asks pretty much the same question.

Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And if you are listening today and you want to get to heaven, you have to do something.

You have to do something. And so it's interesting that Leviticus 18, it says, you shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them.

I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules. Now, here's the part

I want you to listen to on No Compromise Radio. Now, think for a second. Luke, excuse me,

Leviticus 18. If a person does them, the statutes and rules, he shall live by them.

I am the Lord. So, what would Jesus say to this lawyer?

What do I do to get into heaven? Well, he gives the great two commandments as an answer to Jesus.

And Jesus says, you've answered correctly. And then there's something in Luke 10, 28 that you must not miss.

That's very, very important. If you would like to get to heaven, here's what Jesus says. Now, remember he's just told them to love

God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love their neighbors themselves. What do I do to get to heaven?

Answer, do this and you will live. That's pretty fascinating.

Do this and live. You got the answer right in terms of the great two commandments.

Now, you've got to do them. Do this and you'll live. Present imperative, keep on doing this, always and forever.

Not just knowing, not just intellectual lip service, not just it's a good idea, but continually love

God. Continually love your neighbor. From birth, perfectly.

That's pretty amazing. Can you do that? Keep on doing it and you will live.

So what about you? Have you perfectly loved God and honored him and given him thanks and given him worship?

And have you perfectly love your neighbor as much as you love yourself? Do, you've got to do that.

And you say, well, you know what? I fall short. I've sinned. I've committed transgression.

I have iniquities. I have crossed God's line and boundary and borders.

I am a sinner. Well, that means you have not done and you have not done it perfectly and therefore you have earned damnation.

When Adam first came onto the scene, Adam was underneath the same paradigm. Do, do these things.

Do name the animals. Do tend the garden. Do in terms of multiply and be fruitful.

Do these things. And he was under the same law and yet Adam did not. And when

Adam did not, God credited his not doing to our account. The first sin credited to our account and we now like Adam didn't.

So Adam do, Adam didn't. God credits us with federal representation, didn't.

God calls us to do, do this and live, didn't. And of course in life, not just by federal representation through judicial crediting, but in our own lives.

If you want to forget Adam just for a quick moment, you can, I don't want you to, but we have not done what

God has called us to do, didn't. You can look at Israel, didn't. You can look at every person in the

New Testament, didn't do it. So my question today on No Compromise Radio, why the incarnation?

Why the incarnation? Why does the second person of the Trinity cloak himself with humanity?

Actually forever. How does he empty himself by adding human flesh?

Full human nature, God -man. We're not the man -God, but God -man. Why does he do that?

Because for any, because he's gracious, because he's merciful, because he's a wonderful savior. And for anyone to get to heaven, the answer is the same, do.

Adam didn't, you didn't, I didn't, Israel didn't.

Yet God, who is now fully man, Jesus Christ kept the law.

He did. Do this and live, he did it. Do this since you were born, he did it.

The legal law that Jesus was under, how do you like that, legal law?

The legal system that Jesus was under, the Mosaic law, he completely did. He is our representative.

You need a representative to do things in your place, and you need a substitute to die in your place.

And so Jesus wasn't just the substitute. Of course he died for our sins. That is a great side of salvation.

But why did Jesus have to cloak himself with humanity when you read in Hebrews about this body that God the

Father had prepared for the Son? Why was that? Because to get to heaven, you've got to do.

And we couldn't do because of Adam's sin, because of our own sin. So we need somebody to do in our place.

And Jesus Christ not only was man, but he was God, and therefore his doing had an infinite value.

His righteousness had a divine value, and it could be applied to all those who believe.

And it wasn't just for himself, it was for everyone who would believe.

And so Jesus's divine righteousness is a result of doing.

How do you get to heaven? Doing. It's just not your own doing, it's God's doing.

Are you saved by works? Well, most evangelicals would say no. And if they mean by our own works,

I answer the question, that is true. But we are saved by the works of another, by the work of another,

Christ Jesus. And you can read Romans chapter five to find that out. I mean, can you imagine?

For as many as are the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them, to do them, to do.

You've got to do the law if you want to get to heaven. Now, the great news is if we could have done the law, we would have our own righteousness.

If Adam would have done that in our place as a federal representative, we would have had

Adam's righteousness. But you know, we have better righteousness now. In the plan of God ordaining the fall of Adam, we have the divine son cloaked with humanity, and he did it.

He was a man who would do the law perfectly. And our response to that is thank you, praise, hallelujah.

Repent, believe, trust, follow, say to yourself, I not only have knowledge of this and a scent of this, but it's true,

I'll trust my life with this God, who completely loved the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and his neighbor as himself.

And God credits Christ's doing to our account even though we didn't. And Christ gets credit for our sins even though he didn't.

And God takes that great double imputation and he confirms that offering, that sacrifice by raising

Jesus from the dead. And so your only response is to do. Now, if you want to go out to the neighborhood and tell people that gospel, that good news, while you're raking the lawn,

I think that's great, but I think you should do it after church service, not in lieu of church service or instead of church service.

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.

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.