Sighing and Groaning (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 Avendroth.

From Myra Radio Ministry, my name is Mike Avendroth. I did get some junk mail one time that said Mike Haverhorf. So anyway, we�re glad that you�re listening. I do not feel so tired. Last week was tiring.

I think I yawned six times in the one show. That was an all-time record. But I have my H &O coffee mug here, and that�s hot and that�s nasty. Nasty Starbucks K-cup. I don�t like it, but that�s about all I had.

I was in a hurry. Much rather have a Pete�s Coffee in the morning. For years, when I meet a Pete�s barista, I say, �Oh, I talk about Pete�s Coffee on the radio show all the time, hoping just once that they would give me a free coffee.

But to my chagrin, that has not happened so far. But I like a Pete�s Coffee just because, I don�t know, it reminds me of California, Santa Cruz, that kind of thing. I know it�s not from Santa Cruz. And to me now, Starbucks, besides the whole political deal, dirty, espresso�s not very good.

I don�t know. Starbucks is going downhill. Now, if somebody sent me a couple free pounds of Starbucks, I�d drink it, but I�m not going out of my way to go to Starbucks any longer. Took the app off my phone.

Come on. Info, at No Compromise Radio, we have the trip to Germany. If you�re thinking about doing it, I hope you�re going to send in your forms soon because I�m about ready to pull the plug. If I don�t get enough people, NoCo won�t be going.

So that�s the way the ball bounces. But if you�re thinking about it, you should email me so I can get an idea, are there enough people who would like to go? That would help my planning. It�s only Europe at all.

May 20th through 30th, that�s with Mike Gendron, or Mike�s going to be going alone, and that is to Geneva, Wittenberg, Zurich, and some cities in between. Would be a great trip. It�s an expensive trip, but a great trip for Reformation 500.

I�ll already be in Europe for a sabbatical and speaking at the Reformation 500 EBTC, European Bible Training Center. James White, I think MacArthur�s are only by video now, probably Phil Johnson, a bunch of speakers, NoCo Radio, Steve Lawson.

That will be the EBTC Reformation 500 in Wittenberg, May 17th through the 20th, I think. Is this coffee getting any better? Actually, it�s nice to warm my hands up, so you can even use Starbucks coffee to warm your hands up if you must.

Christian Complaining and Contentment

Speaking of other things, Evangelical White Lies, the book I wrote about some lies people buy into like tithing or living the gospel or green church stuff. You can get that at Amazon. It�s a Kindle version as well.

Well, I was encouraged by the book, but not encouraged by the sales. Come on, man. The good news is I don�t have 2 ,000 copies in my garage because it�s Amazon Create Space and it�s just order as we go.

But if you want a bunch of copies, you can email me because there�s a way to get around the Amazon thing because I can direct ship books at a much cheaper price. Oh, here�s a good one. This is a praise.

I like praises. A church in California, Southern California, ordered 100 copies of Sexual Fidelity and they gave it out free to every person that came to their sexual purity men�s conference. Now, how�s that?

That was worth a 40 discount. In all seriousness, if you�ve got a large group like that, 10 or more, and you need some help financially, I can ship them because I�ve got thousands in my garage. That�s not true.

I think I ordered 2 ,000 to start because this is just all new to me and I don�t know how many I�ve got left. 700? Something like that. I don�t know. If I sold 1 ,000 books, that�s pretty good. But what we need, we need a trend.

We need a trend of churches buying 100. See, I�ll give you the 40 off and then we hand the book out. Kirby Myers told me they gave a copy of Sexual Fidelity to Ben Watson, so maybe now Ben will read it and then he�ll think all these churches need hundreds of copies and thousands of copies.

When these 700 that I have are gone, I will just create the CreateSpace Amazon one and then people can just click and order as they like and then I don�t have to do the shipping. A lot of shipping. I don�t want to do the shipping.

Let�s see. What can we do today? Today, and this will go through the end of the year, end of 2016. If you go and order 2 Sexual Fidelities on NoCompromiseRadio .com, I will send you wait a second. What am I doing again?

The producer is saying I can�t be so generous. No, I�m just kidding. If you buy 2 Sexual Fidelities, just write in the little notes there special, special, the Heno special and I will send you let�s see.

What could I do? I will send you a free copy of Things That Go Bump in the Church. How�s that? So if you just say Heno special, you order 2, all orders through 2016 with a gift no matter how large it is or how small.

No, just buy 2 Sexual Fidelities, we�ll send you a Things That Go Bump in the Church for free. How�s that? Just make a little note. Make a little note. Something about the special heard on No Compromise Radio, the Heno special.

Murmuring, Grumbling, and the Sin of Discontent

All right. We�re talking today about complaining and murmuring and how it relates to contentment. We�ve been looking at a series of passages in the New Testament, today maybe old, that talk about contentment via the awful sin of complaining and murmuring.

We�ve looked so far on No Compromise Radio at Philippians 2. And then last time, whenever that was played, we looked at James chapter 5. That was more the sighing and the groaning about other people. And today we�re going to look at 1 Corinthians 10, which alludes to an Old Testament passage or passages.

The Bible says that complaining is sinful. The Bible says that murmuring and groaning and sighing is sinful, and I don�t want to do that. I know I do, but I don�t want to. You probably complain about things maybe a little less than I do, but we complain.

We�re a complaining society. And I�m not talking about a consumer complaint that it says that this coffee�s supposed to taste good and it doesn�t. I�m talking about like complaining about your wife, your kids, the church, pastor, congregants, et cetera.

Christian complaining. We�ve made it an art, practically, the art and science of Christian complaining. Well, I sell more than 700 books for that. Sexual Fidelity maybe sold 1 ,300 and Evangelical White Lies is sold in negative 12.

How does that work with all the returns? I think the biggest complaint I got to tie these two concepts together, somebody ordered Sexual Fidelity and said that the packaging wasn�t sufficient and their book was damaged and chipping.

I said, �Oh, I�m sorry about that. I�m just new at this. I will send you a new copy. And they said, �Don�t bother. I want our money. We want our money back. And I said, �Well, then I will send you your money back, keep the book, and I�ll send you another book, a different book, even packaged better for your problem.

And they were still mad. I thought, �How is it like to be married to him Oh well, 1 Corinthians 10, it says in verse 6, �Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.

Do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written, �The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and 23 ,000 fell in a single day.

We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor and here�s the part I�m coming up to, which is in verse 10 of 1 Corinthians 10. It�s talking about indulging in sexual immorality, putting Christ to the test.

And now here�s the final one, 1 Corinthians 10 .10, �nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. The Corinthians, like the Israelites, were complaining. They were doing what they used to do before Jesus was their Lord, before they were Christians, and they acted the same way, and they were complaining.

They were not content with the Lord�s providence, and God was not pleased with their response. The dissatisfaction of the sovereignty of God in their lives and in the lives of others, they didn�t like.

And Israel did it, and the Corinthians were doing it, and Paul was trying to show them that they need to learn to be content in whatever circumstances they were in, Philippians 4. Now before we talk about the context, the historical context of this, let�s just break it down a little bit.

Some of them grumbled, 1 Corinthians 10 .10. Literally as some of them grumbled. This means, as one commentator said, to express oneself in low tones that are not readily distinguishable. What did you say?

Oh, nothing. You can almost see someone�s shoulders move when they�re sighing like this. This is unwarranted dissatisfaction, as one person wrote it. In the back of all the same man wrote, �In the back of all murmuring against God and against his representatives is unbelief.

Now, Israel was complaining against God, kind of, but through Moses. Moses, you�re the problem, but it�s really against God because who chose Moses as the leader? Similarly, Paul is, he�s not the leader like he�s the bishop of Corinth, but he�s the one who they�re complaining against, and you can look at the super apostles in 2 Corinthians, and Paul is the leader.

Here�s the grumbling against both. Maybe Paul is grumbled against because of his apostolic authority, because he�s against the idol feast and certain kind of food laws, and they�re just pushing against the leadership, divinely appointed leadership.

Now, there are so many cases of groaning and complaining of Israel against Moses and God. Why did that car slow down there? We�re not exactly sure which one. We think it�s a particular one with Korah, but there are so many.

I just thought I would go over some of the grumbling experiences in the wilderness that Israel had, where they put God to the test. Fascinating. It�s just awful, is what it is, because I see in these others what sometimes I don�t see in me, but when I see it in them, I don�t like it, and so when I see it in myself, I don�t want to like it either.

I�m going to put my phone. It�s over there. I bet you this cord can reach. Let�s see. For the first time in NOCO radio history, I�m farther away, and now I�m getting that close. Let�s see, because during the show, you have to check to see if anybody�s texting you.

Oh, man. Okay. See, good thing I looked, hmm? Good thing I looked. Why? Here is a new email. I will be hosting Wretched Radio, December 19th and 20th. How about that? I record two shows on the 19th, goes 19th live, 20th is the recorded show.

How�s that? I think Wretched Now is only one hour, but I�m happy to be on Wretched Radio. Can�t complain about that, can�t murmur, sigh, groan, or complain. Exodus 17, all the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin, S-I-N, capital, by stages, let�s call it Zin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, �Give us water to drink. And Moses said to them, �Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.

Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. So the name of that place was called Tabara, and the name of that place was Tabara, and because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving, and the people of Israel also wept again and said, Oh, that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic, and the sushi.

But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at. Numbers 14. And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land, the men who brought up a bad report about the land died by the plague.

Isn't that amazing how it says that? Before the Lord, of those men who went out to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive. Chapter 17, Numbers. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the house of Israel, the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each father's house, from all their chiefs, according to their father's houses, twelve staffs.

Write each man's name on his staff, and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each father's house. Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony where I meet with you.

And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout, thus I will cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you. Verse 10, And the Lord said to Moses, Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.

Grumble, grumble, grumble. Can you see the pattern? Can you see what's happening there? This is why Paul is talking to these Corinthians. They're the grumblers, and they don't like authority. Who likes authority?

Well, godly people like authority. These people are acting in an ungodly fashion. Now, what about the destroyer? Doesn't there say something in 1 Corinthians about the destroyer? But I don't notice any of the destroyer talk here.

What I do know is that grumbling goes against God's sovereign plan. It's an ungrateful response, and it should be replaced with joy and contentment and thanksgiving. When you survey Israel's history, you see this habitual grumbling against God, habitual grumbling against Moses, against Aaron, and there's so much grumbling in the Old Testament.

You're trying to say to yourself in 1 Corinthians 10, which one is Paul talking about? I mean, which is the exact one? Paul talks about some angel that destroys. What's this destroying angel? Well, quote, interestingly, in the Wisdom of Solomon, chapter 18, the writer relates the account I've recorded in number 16.

He describes Aaron, the high priest, stopping the destroyer from inflicting further damage on Israel. Such language meshes with Paul's usage, for he supplies a definite article and calls the angel the destroyer.

So that is numbers 16. Numbers 16 is the one where we have this outside biblical authority, right? It's not biblical authority, but outside of the biblical authority. Wisdom of Solomon. That's not a book of the Bible.

That's a technical book. That's a different book, an apocryphal book, but it relates to chapter 16. So that's probably what's happening. Certainly, there's nothing wrong in seeing it that way, because numbers 16 is one of those passages that involves grumbling against God and judgment, okay?

So my name is Mike Avendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. Should we check our mail again? Should we check our email? Should we check at nocoradio for the Twitter? How many tweets do we have? What's going on with Twitter?

If you're mad at me, Twitter's not a good way to express it, because I probably won't respond. If you're mad at me, I guess you can write an email. Spencer will then read it and see if it needs to be passed on to me.

Oh, man. Numbers 16. Korah, the son of Ishar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan, and Abram, and the sons of Elieb, the sons of Pelleth, sons of Reuben, took men. I guess we don't even have to name all those names.

You got a posse, right? The posse, Korah's posse. That's a good band's name. That's a good band's name, Korah's posse. Rose up before Moses, number of people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation chosen from their assembly, well-known men.

Men of preeminence. They stand against God? How? By standing against Moses and Aaron, you've gone too far for the congregation are holy. Every one of them, Lord's among them. Why do you exalt yourself among the assembly of the Lord?

Hey, we all want to be leaders. We all want to be priests. Who appointed you to be the leader? I think I know the answer. Can you imagine? Hey, God's among everybody. He didn't just choose you. We're all holy.

Hey, we're all called to be holy at least, aren't we? Hey, come on. My cousin, Moses and Aaron, my cousins, we don't like that. Moses, who appointed you leader? Paul, who appointed you leader? Who appointed the leaders of your church?

Moses fell on his face. In the morning, the Lord will show who is and who is holy, who is his, and will bring him near to him, the one whom he chooses. Moses, he will bring near to him. Do this. Take censers, Korah and all his company.

Put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi, Moses says to Korah. Hear now, you sons of Levi.

It is too small of a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near to him, and all your brothers are the sons of Levi with you, and you would seek the priesthood also.

Therefore, it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you will grumble against him? Levites got the privileges of being in the tabernacle, but they want the priesthood as well.

See where this is going? Before we get to the part even where the land opens up and consumes them, gobbles them down, closes, no more remnant, before this judgment that's not been seen before or after, a sinkhole of great judgment proportions, it's like, well, you know what?

I'm groaning and complaining against the sovereignty of God. I mean, why do people hate unconditional election? Because God's in charge. Why do they hate that Israel has chosen none of the other? I mean, why are people anti-Semitic?

I think it relates back to the sovereignty of God. We don't want to have God rule. We will pick and choose. Don't tell us what to do. We, the creatures, say to the Creator, thus and such, we will do this, that, and the other.

It's crazy. But that is sin. It's insanity. Sin is insanity. And I know because, sadly, I act insane half the time, half of my life. Half the time, half my life. That would be like one quarter of my existence.

By the way, I have received complaints that there are too many little noises in the studio and they can hear the chair and when I just shut my iPad. You know, when you're preaching and everybody starts shutting down their iPad, closing their Bibles, you think, okay, time to land the plane.

You know, you say, finally, in conclusion, or you kind of start telling a story, then they all know it's time to quit. You can write me, Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com. If you do have some encouragement you'd like to send in the form of coffee.

No, seriously, if you have a letter you'd like to email, that'd be great. How the Lord has worked through NoCoRadio to help you, that'd be wonderful, or to amuse you, that'd be helpful. Maybe we'll read some of those on the air, and if you say you can read my last name on the air, I'll do it.

If not, I won't. I don't know what the law is, but in my opinion, I better obey the law. Mike Abendroth, NoCoRadio.

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.