Spying Angels

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 is

Mike Abendroth. Welcome to the show. If you haven't tuned in or you're new to the show, I actually bribed,

I think, 10 people who listen to Wretched Radio. I bribed them and said, if you have never listened and you write in to Wretched, or write in to Info, No Compromise Radio rather,

I'll send you a free book. But then everybody I sent a free book to, I said, well, but now you have to listen at least once.

So maybe we have 10 new listeners, let's see, 10 new listeners at $10 plus shipping.

This is an expensive radio show, that's a difficult way to get listeners. But do you know what? Come one, come all.

It's interesting, in Ephesians chapter 3, Paul is giving his function of his ministry.

Remember, Paul was basically a Christian persecutor and maybe killer, and then God met

Paul on the Damascus road, and Paul was dramatically converted on that road to Damascus.

And several times in the book of Acts, Paul relates that story. It's a fascinating story, it's a wild story.

I love it because it talks about God's initiative, saving sinners, and Paul was at the top of the list, and he knew that.

In 1 Timothy chapter 1, he knew he was the chief or foremost of sinners. And so Paul says in Ephesians chapter 3, to me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the

Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.

Paul says, I get to preach to you the riches of Christ Jesus. The riches of His grace, he called it in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 7.

The riches of the glory of His inheritance, Ephesians 1, 18. The surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, Ephesians chapter 2, verse 7.

The riches of His glory in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 16.

Christ has blessed Paul and all those who are now Christians, and Paul preached about that.

Paul did not preach about marriage seminars and psychological background analysis and how, why you do things because of what was done to you as a child.

Paul didn't preach about people, with the exception that he preached the

God -man, Christ Jesus. The focus for Paul wasn't on sinners, but what

God has done. What's fascinating when you look at the book of Ephesians, the theme basically is this, that God has a plan.

He works out that plan in and through the person of Christ Jesus, and He does that to the praise of His glory.

He, God, does that to the praise of His glory. And so everything about Ephesians revolves around a plan through Christ to the praise of His glory.

So Jews and Gentiles into the church together, that was planned by God and He did it through Christ and He did it to the praise of His glory.

Husbands and wives and children, how do they function in a family unit? Well God had planned that,

He planned that in Christ, and He did it to the praise of His glory. So the theme that goes throughout all of this is, in fact, that God has a plan.

Talks about that in election in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 and following.

God had a plan, He worked it out through Christ, and He did it to the praise of His glory. And so Paul is saying,

I'm preaching Christ, and by the way, that is a good model and a good motto for gospel ministry today.

Try to find a good VBS program that preaches Christ. Just this morning I looked at Great Commissions, I think it's a joint project between OPC and PCA, Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Presbyterian Church of America.

They have a joint project for VBS, and I don't know about the details, of course the devil is in the details,

I'm not sure about the details in terms of what the graphics look like, what the leader guide says, what the skit is, how good is the music, but the five days for this

VBS in 2013 for Great Commissions joint project for VBS, it's all about Jesus.

And every one of the days it says something like, Jesus is the Savior, Jesus is the promise,

Jesus is the truth, Jesus is the way, that kind of thing, and I thought, that is great. Now that is a chip off of Paul's block, that's what my father used to say, it's a chip off the old block.

So for Paul, he was going to preach to the Gentiles, and of course he did to Jews occasionally, the unfathomable riches of Christ Jesus, all the truth about Christ Jesus, and all the blessings that are found in Christ Jesus alone, who he is and what he's done, and that is the purpose of every preacher.

I'm showing up to a worship service on a Sunday, a meeting, to worship

Jesus, and so how do I worship Jesus unless I hear about Jesus? Now obviously there are times that our response to Christ work, we do things,

I know there are imperatives, I know there are commands, but for Paul, he's putting everything in this one, everything in Christ Jesus, and all the riches found in Christ Jesus.

Actually we should call today, The Real Wealth Gospel. This is the real health wealth gospel, focus more on the wealth.

The wealth is found in the riches in Christ Jesus that I just read at the beginning of the show, unsearchable riches, every one of his blessings, every one of his promises, every one of his truths, the gospel is found in Christ Jesus, and in Jesus we have all the promises of God, yes and amen.

John Stott said, inexplorable, inexhaustible, illimitable, inscrutable, incalculable, infinite, the wealth of Christ has as he gives,

I can't even read this, not even type right. Let's just stop there for Stott.

And so the thing about Christ Jesus, what he does for people, let's think about it this way, what he does for people is he, by his own grace and kindness and mercy and love, that's

Ephesians 1 and 2, gives riches to people. Now of course you know

I'm not talking about material riches per se, primarily, although that is true. Doesn't he give you everything?

Everything that you have, material things, financial things, your house, your car, all that, well that's all true.

That's all going to fade, that's all not going to be around. That's a means to an end. But when

Christ does something for a person, he doesn't impoverish is what I'm after. He doesn't impoverish, and that's what sin does.

Sin impoverishes, that's exactly what it does.

Here Christ gives riches. He always enriches, and so that's why we want to preach about him.

Given that background, Paul had that message for the

Jews. Of course he did, but then, unlike Peter, Paul was given the commission to go to the

Gentiles. And so today on No Compromise Radio, we're trying to keep our voice, we're trying to keep stable here and steady the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus.

And when you think about some of those riches that are found in Christ Jesus that are unsearchable, unfathomable as the passage says, you can start asking yourself the question, unfathomable, how did

God, or why did God allow Satan to fall? Why would

God choose the Jewish nation? Why would God choose David, the apostles,

Luther? Why would God have it so that the martyr's blood is the seed of the church?

How can you have people getting saved in such strange, providential ways? The story of Spurgeon, checking the acoustics at the tabernacle, and someone there is working and hears

Spurgeon practice and gets saved. Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became his counselor?

It's just amazing to think, how does God work all this out? And it becomes very much like Job and God, where pretty much we should just be quiet because otherwise

God's going to ask us all these questions. And Paul goes on to say in Ephesians 3, 9, "...and

to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things."

Paul's commission, Paul's great commission, was to make plain the secret plan of God.

Now when you read the word mystery, if you're not thinking biblically, you just think with your English dictionary, you're going to think of something mysterious, at least

I would. Something mysterious, something eerie, some ghost -like word.

But most of the time when you read the word mystery, it's something that was true, something that was a reality, but was not given to people for them to know until revelation came around, until someone revealed it.

God used someone to reveal it. So here, "...to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things."

And so Paul had this great privilege, and we get to be in on this privilege, of course, we're not apostles.

We get to let people know about the outworking of God's plan, and what

God does, and how he saves sinners, what he thinks about salvation. Paul's ministry was the outworking of God's secret plan.

He got to preach that. That's pretty amazing. It says in Acts chapter 26, "...delivering

you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, this is Jesus to Paul on the Damascus Road, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me."

Paul never forgot that, and you can see in Paul's ministry here in Ephesians chapter 1 and elsewhere, he takes a spotlight, he takes a halogen light, and he focuses it in on this particular topic, and he never lets go.

He never wants to let go on this. Something was hidden from all the ages of eternity past.

It was hidden in God, never to be found out by humans. I don't care how many

Nobel Prize winners are put on this topic, try to understand the secret counsels of God.

What are they? This is, it's of Herculean difficulty. This is back in Daniel, you know, interpret the dream, well, this is what the dream means.

Well, no, what is the dream? It becomes very, very difficult. And so why was Paul giving this ministry to preach to the

Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery?

Well, it says it in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 10, "...in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places."

Okay, now this is amazing. This is amazing even if I have a cold and I can't talk very well. It's always fascinating to preach a sermon you don't think it's very good, you haven't felt very well, and some dear saint will come up and say, man,

I really needed that message today. So I'm thankful for that. Why does

Paul have this charge? Well, one of the reasons he has this charge is because God's wisdom is to be shown.

How God arranges his plans and his purposes and how he chooses his means,

Lenski said, needs to be on display, because this is going to make people praise the

Lord, be in awe of the Lord, be thankful to the Lord. Tozer said, "...wisdom

is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means."

God wants this to be on display. Paul says, "...in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places."

This is a embroidered pattern of wisdom, isn't it? That Paul makes sure he tells us what the purpose is.

They haven't really seen anything yet if they've only seen God choosing

Abraham and going to make a great nation out of them. People haven't seen anything yet if you say, well, why did

God just choose Isaac and not Ishmael? They haven't seen anything yet if it's God choosing

Jacob and not Esau. They haven't seen anything yet if they've only seen Moses and the redemption through the

Red Sea. They haven't seen anything yet if the Babylonian captivity has ceased.

The church is the wisest thing that God could do, maybe, but it certainly is wise.

God in many ways, it shows His wisdom, His manifold wisdom, by uniting the

Gentiles and the Jews in the local church through the work of Christ. Talk about a coat of many -splendored colored wisdom.

Through the church, God shows His wisdom through bringing Jews and Gentiles together.

He shows this on the stage of the world where the church are the actors, if you will.

Church is the actors. Church are the actors. The applause is for Christ Jesus.

The encore is for Christ Jesus. Who's the audience? Maybe the world, maybe the saints, but here it's through the church to angels and demons, to principalities and powers.

You can argue if these are unholy or holy or both. Maybe that would be the best.

These are both good angels and bad angels. Certainly, angels would be interested in this plan of God, wouldn't they?

Angels are watching people. We know that in the Scriptures. In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents,

Luke 15, 10. Angels watch people. Matthew 18, see that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that if there are angels in heaven, continually behold the face of my

Father who is in heaven. So there is a very general sense that the angels are watching over people.

First Corinthians chapter 11, therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels.

Angels are watching people. They are watching here in 1

Timothy chapter 5, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of his chosen angels to maintain these principles without bias, do nothing in the spirit of partiality.

Hebrews chapter 1, are they not all ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

And lastly, 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 9, for I think God has exhibited a great apostles last of all, as men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.

Angels are watching. Angels watch what is going on. Angels observe.

Mackay said the history of the Christian church becomes a graduate school now for the angels.

Angels are watching the church in this particular passage in Ephesians chapter 3, because we are part of this mystery that God has always known, but now he reveals to people, and angels watch that.

They've certainly watched what was going on back in the sacrificial system of the

Old Testament. They watched the offerings that were burnt and given as an aroma to God.

They've watched Passover slayings. They've watched Yom Kippur slayings.

They've seen Jesus' birth. They've been there for the death and resurrection of Jesus.

But there's still a school for the angels. And what is the school for the angels?

What can they learn? How can you educate angels? Like he said in page 144 of his commentary, little did the angels realize that God had a secret plan in his heart, that he was erecting the stage upon which in our day he would introduce the church and display in it to these same angel beings his very varied wisdom.

And so it is an amazing thing to think that the angels have seen a lot, but until the church they hadn't seen it all.

Here we have the church where Jews and Gentiles can both be together, and what happens?

This displays the manifold wisdom of God. Forget kings, forget rulers, forget emperors, forget presidents, forget the strong.

The focus in the New Testament is on this little tiny group called the church.

Insignificant, small, I'm going to sneeze. Boy, I think that's the first on No Compromise Radio, 900 shows, the first sneeze.

Now, there are glories hidden which they didn't know anything about. Do I need a sneeze button?

This is bad. This could be one of the worst shows of all time. I am impressed when

I see the Grand Canyon, when I see the Swiss Alps, when you fly from Germany over into Greece or down into Italy and you see the

Alps there, I'm impressed. I'm impressed when I see the fall here in New England and the beautiful colors.

I'm impressed when I see the moon so close to the earth it seems like you can almost touch it. But how does

God deal with sin and deal with it with the Jews and Gentiles so that both are part of the one new man?

This is wisdom that only God could come up with. How can God be the just and the justifier?

And so the angels, look, the angels want to see where loving kindness and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other,

Psalm 85, 10. How can God be both holy and gracious at the same time? How can

God be born in a stable? How can God be raised a carpenter? How can God be under the law and then be a sin bearer?

How can God reconcile Jew and Gentile? They hated each other. And actually you had the Mosaic law to prevent these two groups coming together.

This is unbelievable. This is something that if you look and learn and watch, you'll say to yourself, glory be to God in the highest.

This is a Hollywood sign for angels. This is how

God uses the church to enlighten angels. When God creates things, you say power.

When God destroys things like Sodom and Gomorrah, wrath. You see the love of God, sacrificial love and grace of God at Calvary.

When you look at the church, here's the punchline, you should see the wisdom of God. Oh, there's more to see, of course, but Paul's focus here is the wisdom of God.

When you see 6 -Day Creation, power, but now it's wisdom. How can

God show his wisdom in the local church? It's easy. Why does he do it?

Because he wants the angels to see. He wants other people to see, to be watchers of this cosmic plan.

But I like to just imagine to myself now how particular it works out and what does it mean exactly,

I don't really know. But angels watch the church and they're watching the church now to see the unfolding redemptive plan of God as it's worked out in the ages, one age after another after another.

Something that the angels would long to look into, that they would see, oh yes,

I see now how God is so wise. How God can, through Christ Jesus' work, put these two groups together.

So on No Compromise Radio today, I'm basically melting down. If you could have a video here, and actually

I think we are going to try to video some of these things. For what reason? I have no idea. That'd just be as stupid as having a donate button on your website.

But probably today wouldn't be a good day to have the video because you'd see stuffy nosed, runny nosed, droopy eye,

I can't even talk. And so I've got my Polar Spring here, I have my coffee. Today is day two, coffee without cream.

I think that's why this is all happening, don't you? This is happening because I don't have any cream in my coffee.

The non -fat half and half, is there such a thing? I think that's basically skim milk with a bunch of emulsifiers and molassifiers, viscosities.

So here's the bad news. The bad news is I can't even blame some cold remedy for the problem today.

Overall the passage today is Ephesians chapter 3, and Paul had a mission. Here's Paul's mission, to go preach the gospel and to go show forth to the

Gentiles how amazing God is, to include them, and then to proclaim

God's wisdom to the angels. And I don't want you to miss out on it.

How could God do this? How could God take Jews and Gentiles who hated each other and bring them together in the church?

And the answer is found in Ephesians chapter 2 because 2 follows 3. So you learned something today, right? 2 follows 3,

Christ himself is our peace. And God took the Mosaic Law and fulfilled it perfectly in Christ Jesus, and now it's not there to separate

Jew and Gentile. Oh, there are things in the Mosaic Law that are unchanging, the moral law of God, unchanging moral law of God, but I don't think that's the

Ten Commandments necessarily, although I think a lot of the Ten Commandments are in fact that, but that's another show.

So, looking through church history and seeing what is the moral law of God and how it's unchanging, etc.

Well, I'm spiraling down. If you'd like to go to Greece with us, you need to get your $200 in by November 15th to reserve a spot.

We're going April 17th. Also, No Compromise Ever, the video, part 2, should be up soon.

It's going to be on mysticism, then we'll talk to James White, Phil Johnson, and Carl Truman again on that.

You can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com. My name is Mike Abendroth. Again, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

God bless you. 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.