The Word (Part 2)

No Compromise Radio Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author,

Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the

Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

What's the beginning of wisdom, Solomon said in Proverbs? Fear of the Lord, but he also said here's the beginning of wisdom.

Get wisdom. Acquire it. Where do we go? It's in the Word. And so I am committed to try to tell you with great happiness, by the way, way to go

Bethlehem Bible Church for your study of the Bible. And as Paul says to the church of Thessalonica, what?

Say it out loud. Excel still more. Keep going. The world is going to keep on selling you wisdom.

So don't say, well, you know, I've read through the Bible one time and I'm good to go. The world sells its wisdom and God says it's fatal.

It passes and it doesn't know what God's thinking. I want to know what God's thinking. What an interesting concept.

Let's see. What am I going to study today? Geometry, calculus, diffuse, all these other subjects, which are fine to study, especially if you're in school.

But I think today I'll study the mind of God. Tell that to your unbelieving roommate at WPI.

What are you doing today? I'm studying the mind of God, the depths of God.

He's decided to disclose himself. It takes study.

Yes. But it's worth it. And now number six, the sixth reason found in this text that you should study the word of God is that you get to be taught by the best teacher in the universe, the spirit of God versus 12 to 13 should study the

Bible. It's relevant. It shows the eternal mind of God. It shows just how wise you are.

It shows you things you could never come up with on your own. It shows you the deep things of God.

And it teaches you truth from the best teacher in the world, the

Holy Spirit himself. Verse 12. Don't forget you are. We's and us is here. It's not Paul in the church of Corinth.

This is the apostles. Remember, there are false apostles teaching all kinds of wrong things. Now we have received not the spirit of the world that passes away.

That's doomed. That comes up with nothing but the spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

And as we get them from God, now we give them to you from God.

People say, well, you know, I really like Jesus's writings, but I don't like Paul's.

I'm kind of a red letter guy, and I just studied the red letters. And if Jesus says that, then, you know,

I go for it. But if Paul does, you know, that's Paul. Or people say, well, you know what, especially if they don't like a particular verse, they say man wrote the

Bible. Men wrote the Bible, but they wrote what God, the

Holy Spirit told them to write. The deep things from God, by the way, when people say,

I like Jesus's red words, but I don't like, you know, Paul's, I just hope they read the Sermon on the

Mount sometime and they read chapter seven and they'll say, well, maybe I don't really like Jesus because he exposed us into the black letters in your

Bible are just as inspired as Jesus's words. And don't fall for this error either.

The Bible just contains the word of God. Is that a good word to say a good sentence? The Bible contains the word.

What's wrong with that? I call that a weasel word because it sounds close. And to the naive, we might just say, well, yeah, that's right.

It contains the word of God. But here's what people are saying. It isn't all God's word. Some of it is and some of it isn't.

So the Bible does have divine truth. It contains it, but it's not all the word of God. Paul said,

I didn't just come up with this. I just didn't somehow say to myself, I think I'll start

Christianity. Paul says, God, the spirit taught me. And if you'd like to be taught by God, then read your

Bibles and read the wisdom from God of God. And you notice what he says here. How does

God communicate today in words? Verse 13. And we apostles impart this in what words in grammar, in syntax.

That's how God communicates today. Not in dreams any longer. Not in visions any longer. Not in pillars of cloud any longer.

Not in words any longer. This is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased. Do you know how God communicates to people today and how he only communicates to people today with direct revelation?

Through words. He communicates through words. The spirit teaches words.

And they're freely given. Leon Morris says, the spirit's activity extends to providing the actual words used and is not confined to the supplying of general ideas.

God communicates not phrase by phrase, not thought by thought. He communicates with exact words.

No wonder Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 that not one jot or not tittle is going to be destroyed.

It's going to be this eternal mind of God. By the way, I did some research and how many jots or how many tittles or how many in Hebrew yodes are there?

Just the smallest little marking. If I remember how Bengal counted before computers, he counted 66 ,420 yodes in the

Bible. Because those yodes help us understand what the letters were because the letters help us understand the words and the words help you understand

God. I used to tell people that came to my Bible study in North Hollywood, you'd like to be a good Bible student?

Here's my first recommendation outside of reading the Bible. Go take an English refresher class because if you're anything like me, when

I went to school, I shot spit wads during English class, you know, rubber bands with needles and stuff like that, you know, up into the ceilings and I didn't understand what a phrase was, what a clause was, what a preposition was, the object of a preposition.

You want to understand God? Okay, let's just say we don't understand Greek or Hebrew, but you can be a great scholar, a great student, a great theologian if you understand the

English language. This is a great translation. NES is a great translation. New King James is a great translation.

You don't need to know Hebrew and Greek, but you have to know English. What does the text say in 1

Corinthians chapter 2, verse 13? And we impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the

Spirit. He is our teacher. What a great teacher. I can go back to my seminary days and think, well, who's my favorite teacher?

One of my favorite teachers was Dr. Roskup. I know Steve had Dr. Roskup as well. My favorite thing about Dr.

Roskup is this. He loved the Lord and he loved his wife. His wife was sick and he'd have to quickly leave class and drive all the way home to take care of his wife.

She couldn't get out of the house and you'd go up to Dr. Roskup, I'd say, Dr. Roskup, I'm struggling in this area of my life.

Would you please pray for me? Yes. A year later, you'd see him in the elevator at the seminary and he'd kind of give me that scowl.

It was a smiley scowl, but it was still a look of displeasure. Hi, Dr.

Roskup, what's going on? Well, I told him that that particular thing in my life was much better and he was disappointed that he had to continue to pray about what had already been resolved about nine months earlier because every single day of his life he prayed for that issue because I asked him, could you pray for me?

I thought, who's a teacher like Dr. Roskup? Who loves like Dr. Roskup? Who's your favorite

Bible college professor? Oh, I love that teacher. But to think we have the spirit of God as our teacher, and this isn't just for pastors by the way, this isn't for the deluxe club, this is for everybody.

And then at the very end, a very complex, very difficult thing to understand, scholars debate what this means, interpreting at the end of verse 13, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual,

I'll quote Garland, spiritual subjects, namely the things that God has graciously given them, such as Christ's sacrificial death on the cross, requires spiritual expression, words taught by the spirit.

And now we come full circle, Paul says, I didn't pick these words because I'm trying to win an audience,

I didn't pick these words because it grows churches by numbers, I didn't pick this because the

Jews hankered for them and the Gentiles demanded them, I picked these words because what?

God told me these words and told me to tell you these words. I don't use rhetoric and oratory,

I use the words that God gives. Now let me just push this for a second, if God is the great teacher of the

Holy Spirit, there's got to be a few implications, let me give you the first one. Here we have a great teacher,

God, the best teacher, the omniscient teacher, let me give you an implication, number one, trust

God that he has supplied all the information that you need to know when you're facing a problem.

Trust God that he has supplied all the information that you need to know when you're facing a problem.

Now the text doesn't teach that, I'm just saying this, if God is the great teacher and you're in a great problem and the spirit is, the scripture is sufficient, don't say to yourself,

I wish God had given me more information because I've got a problem and I don't know what to do. We've all done that I think, we've all been tempted to do it,

I have this huge problem in my life and I'm looking for a Bible verse, I just need to figure out, what do

I do? God help me, I wish you could be more specific, but as a great teacher of the universe, as the great

God of the universe, the spirit of God, did he forget something? If I could just find

God tells me to go be a missionary to Mattis Gascar, I would go. So here's what you do by the way, when you have a trouble that needs to be solved, when you have trouble that needs to be solved, a decision that needs to be made.

So immerse yourself with divine wisdom, that doesn't even necessarily relate to your problem and then trust the

Lord with all your heart and make a decision. Saturate yourself with wisdom from the word and then make a decision.

You don't have to be told, well I need to marry Jim, or I need to marry Sam, who should

I marry? Jim or Sam? And then you drive down the street and you see Samuel Avenue, there's a sign from God.

You don't do that. That's not bibliolatry, you know what that is? That's bibliomancy.

People used to take old books and they would open up the book and they would point to something in the book and say, that bit of the

Koran, that bit of Socrates' wisdom, that bit of whatever book that they were reading, that book of proverbial wisdom from Confucius is now what

God wants me to do in my life. And they called it bibliomancy. See, doesn't that sound like what we are prone to do?

Because I think we forget that we have the greatest teacher. And if God didn't tell us these details in here,

He didn't tell us for a reason. That is to say, He doesn't want you to know.

He wants you to know general wisdom and then He wants you to trust in Him. Don't ever think that you have more to the

Bible because there's plenty in there to try to understand now. But God wants us to know His nature and His character so much so that we just say,

I have a decision to make and I need to make that decision. Trust the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge

Him and He will what? Make your path straight. Why do we want to say, yeah, but I want some other teacher and I think

I'll do circumstances for a teacher. For those of you who are on the BBC mailing list, I sent out something this week from S.

Lewis Johnson called satanic providence. Satanic providence is what S. Lewis Johnson calls the art of looking at circumstances to make decisions in your life.

And he talked about how Jonah, Jonah goes down, he wants to run from God and he goes down to the harbor and he needs to go that direction and that boat that he went down to, it's going to Tarshish.

Perfect. How much is it? Well, it's this amount. I just happen to have that exact amount in my pocket. It's a sign from God.

S. Lewis Johnson said that is satanic providence. Trusting in circumstances and trusting in open and closed doors versus trusting in the wisdom from God and God says in his wisdom,

I told you everything you need to know about me. Now go make some decisions. And by the way, here's the great escape hatch.

If you make a wrong decision, an ignorant decision, a foolish decision, a wise decision, a sinful decision, a righteous decision,

God, our father will make all those things right. Not for us to presumably do those things, but God is sovereign over sin, ignorance, everything else.

And he will take his children and guide them in the direct path that they need to go. And that is unto glorification.

No decision you can ever make will stop God from glorifying you. And if you're a Christian, that doesn't mean go out and sin.

That means go out, flood your, here's what I do. I need to make a decision. What do I do? I'm telling you, this is the truth.

I read first and second Kings. Why? A, I'm selfish.

And first and second Kings don't have anything to do with me. I'm not in first and second Kings. Not anywhere to be found.

If I was, I'd probably be on the evil king side, you know, but for the grace of God. And he did evil in the side of the

Lord. You know, you just hear the kids refrain. It has nothing to do with me, but it has everything to do with God who builds his kingdom, who saves sinners, who sovereign over evil, who sovereign over sin, who brings some up, puts others down.

And you read first and second Kings and you go, God is so in charge of the world. I'm just going to go make a decision.

And if my decision's stupid, well, maybe I made it presumptuously and in discipline, God disciplines me and chastens me, but he will never cast me out and he'll turn everything into good.

God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

True. So make some decisions without some kind of biblomancy, read first Kings, read second

Kings and say to yourself, the greatest teacher in the world did not make a mistake by only putting 66 books in here.

I wish chapter 67 would have been in here on, you know, where to find a husband, where to move, what to do here, there, the other, no saturate your mind with wisdom.

And you know what? What wise people do, they often make wise choices.

Show me someone that continually makes foolish choices and I'll show you somebody that needs to read first and second

Kings a little more often, Romans a little more often. A second implication regarding a great teacher, don't add anything to the

Holy Spirit's word. Not new revelations, not tradition.

You've read the warning in the back of revelation. The greatest teacher, this is the flip side of the first implication.

The first implication is don't somehow yearn for more. And then I'm trying to say to you now, don't add more.

Here's I guess what I could say. I've got it down as implication number three, maybe these all three to go together. Be content with what

God has revealed in scripture and study that. I love when people quote

Deuteronomy 29, 29, but only half the verse, you know the verse, the secret things belong to the

Lord, our God. Secret things belong to him. I don't know.

That's kind of a good verse to use. I like to use it, but it's not the full verse.

How about this for the full verse? The secret things belong to the Lord, our God. Okay, ready?

I live for these moments right here. But the things revealed belong to us, he's talking

Israel, and to our sons forever that we may observe all the words of the law.

Some things you can't know about God, but the things that you do know about God and what he's told you to do, get busy doing that.

To have the greatest teacher, the word of God, should have you say here at this church, and I know you do, let me give you another implication.

I demand the Bible to be taught to my kids in this church.

I demand the Bible to be taught from this pulpit. I demand the

Bible to be taught at VBS. I haven't talked to the VBS people, but let me just give you kind of just a heads up.

I'm going to do this in a pastorally nice way. If you teach those kids at VBS to mind their manners, to say yes or no, sir, to show up on time, to give their money to the offering for the missionaries, and don't do anything else, let me just take care of this early, you're fired.

That's not wisdom from God. That's not wisdom from the apostles. If you're a teacher here at this church, every single parent, every single junior church, every single get together, every single

VBS should say, tell the kids the wisdom from God about the nature of sin and who the savior is and the resurrection.

Here's who Jesus is. It's not the wisdom of God to have the VBS class say, you know, everybody just pray the prayer and everybody that raised their hand, you're in.

We have this great wisdom from God. And if you know me for long enough and I know your kids for long enough,

I'm going to do everything in my power to saturate your minds with the Bible. It's going to be like the manna that's coming out of your ears.

It's going to be the quail. You know, we should like some meat besides the manna, God. And God gives them quail and it's coming out of their nostrils.

This is called Bethlehem Bible Church for a reason. And as long as I'm alive and as long as the elders are alive,

I have no wisdom. I can't offer you anything. I can't change anybody's life. I can't save you.

I can't sanctify you. I can't glorify you. I can't do anything. I may be making mad. I can do that.

I can't do anything, but I am determined and you are as well. And it is a gift from the spirit of God that you have this as well.

Give me the book. Amos says there's a famine in the land. So give me the

Bible. It's not a famine for food. It's a famine for the word. I want you to be wise. I want you to be skilled in living.

I want you to say, you know, I know how to look at things. I'm no great politician. I'm no great economist. I'm no great sports analyst, but I have a wisdom from God.

And so do you through the apostles, through the word where you say, I know life. I know more about life and death.

And so do you than any unbeliever you've ever met or will meet. I don't call up unbelievers and say, could you kind of walk me through this problem in my life?

Because I've been taught the word and so have you. And so I guess I like to say this every once in a while, and I'm not trying to ruffle feathers, but you need to demand the

Bible from this place. Even if it divides. Truth divides by the way, and truth divides what truth from error.

Well, it's just kind of so divisive and it just kind of, that's just kind of the, it just, it just slices propositional truth says this is right.

And this is wrong. That's just the way it is. If I was going to come up with the wisdom from God, here's how my ears, my eyes, my nose and my taste buds in my hands would figure it out.

I've got a way to kind of balm everyone, calm everyone, get everyone to like me.

And then kind of over here, I'll just slip in some truth. But even like last week with Luke 17, that's just not the way

God does it. That's why I want you to read Mark this summer, because you'll look at Jesus and you'll say, nobody teaches like Jesus.

And he stands up to teach the truth to people, whether they think they need it or they don't. So if you're an Awana leader here,

VBS leader, Sunday school teacher, you're an evangelist here. I want you to give what

God has given you. And that is, I receive wisdom and I give it out. I'm going to know this book. Machen said, if we're going to avoid controversy, we might as well close our

Bibles. For the New Testament is a controversial book practically from beginning to end. The New Testament writers and our

Lord himself presented truth in sharp contrast with error. And indeed, that is the only way in which truth can be presented in any clear and ringing way.

If you don't read your Bible, today's a good day to repent. Ask God to forgive you.

He will. And start reading today. You want to be wise? You'd like to come into my office for less counseling?

Read your Bibles. Read your Bibles and say, God, open my eyes so that I can see in your law deep things, wonderful things.

I want to worship you. And I want to receive from you who you are. And if this is the focus of divine presence,

God, I want to worship you. Feed me. Luther said,

I have coveted with my Lord that he should not send me visions or dreams or even angels. I am content with this gift of scripture, which teaches and supplies all that is necessary both for life that is on earth now and that which is to come.

Now here's my final question.

What's your view of this book, our

Heavenly Father? I know you use the word to encourage, to chasten, to sanctify, to convict.

And I pray for the members of Bethlehem Bible Church, for the staff, for the visitors today that you would increase our hunger for your word.

Thank you that you're a forgiving God. We've never studied the Bible like we should. So we look to Christ Jesus, our risen

Savior, one who studied Torah exactly the way we should have. And how you look at us now as great

Bible students because of Christ. But practically, Lord, help us. I pray that the church this summer would have hunger pains for the word.

Their stomachs would growl for the word. And Father, I know it's easy to do in my life, and so I pray for this church as well.

It's all too easy to go on vacation and get out of the routine of reading the word, worshiping you.

So Father, prevent that this year. May you give us a rest during the summer, holiday, refreshment, sabbatical.

But Father, don't give us rest from wanting to know you better. As the song says,

Lord, we do want to know you, and you have made yourself known. So Father, turn our hearts now toward your word.

And let us never be satisfied by circumstances, dreams, visions, burning in the bosoms.

Father, help us to read your word. I pray that you'd encourage the congregation, too, as they do that, and they might see marvelous things.

In Jesus' name, amen. 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.