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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. My name is Mike Abendroth and we have a theme, always biblical, always provocative, always in that order. I need to get some new theme music and stuff like that.
It�s just hard to get done. I�m a full-time pastor and husband. I have four children. Wasn�t that good when I talked to Luke the other day on No Compromise Radio? I mean, not that my stuff was good, but wasn�t it a good interview?
That is to say, the interviewee was excellent, it�s fun to watch, and then he just sent me that video that you�ve seen posted on social media, you know, Compromise Radio. He and a bunch of his master�s college university buddies did the skimboarding down the streets of Santa Clarita behind a Jeep, and that was fun, a few inches of water.
He probably should have had his helmet on. That would have been better. What else is happening? Reformation 2017, Germany, Switzerland, and we�re going to go, and you are invited if you�ve got the cash or the time and the wherewithal to do it.
We�re going to go to Wittenberg, Geneva, Zurich, Vortburg Castle, and a lot of other places, and we are going May 20th through 30th, No Compromise Radio, teaming up with Mike Gendron, he and his wife, from Proclaiming the Gospel.
So Mike and Jane Gendron, Kim and I will be going, my wife should be there, and we will tour. We�ll have a bunch of Bible teaching. I�m going to teach a bunch of stuff from Romans, since that is apropos, and we will go to Vortburg Castle.
We will go to Luther�s house, the Luther House, the museum there. We�ll see where the 95 Theses were nailed. That church still stands, even though the doors are different. Actually, the doors aren�t that bad because it�s this metallic 95 Thesis imprint thing.
So that is going to be great. It�s not too late to sign up. So far, I think there are 13 people signed up for No Compromise Radio�s portion. Gendron I think has got 27, which is not right. So I need a large homeschool family with 12 children, and see, I�ll give you credit for it.
I�ll give you a certified no-co credit for schooling. In all seriousness, I remember taking the family to Germany seven, eight years ago, and I remember Luke, my son, looking at a book that said something about a concentration camp, and he said, �Oh, no, that�s Dachau.
He knew exactly which one it was. We went to a few different ones over a three-month period, but he recognized that, and it will be an excellent education. Not only will you be able to figure out geography, there�ll be history, theology, Bible teaching, fellowship, and I�ll be there a few days early as well for the Reformation 500 via Christian Andreessen.
James White will be teaching, Phil Johnson. I�ll have a no-co booth out in Wittenberg interviewing every speaker. That should be fun. But to go with us, it is Reformation2017livingpassages .com. Make sure you tell them no-co.
We can�t give this to Gendron. He heard about it here first. Then you can also go to nocompromisedradio .com. There�s a link. So it�s not too late. We�d love to have you go. I should be over there in Wittenberg a little earlier.
Like I said, I think you can sign up for that extension if you�d like. I�m talking a lot about Jesus because I�m preaching through Hebrews. And remember, when it comes to no-compromise radio, I first started off and thought, �You know what?
This is going to be a show where we never compromise. And of course, I�m sure I have. I can�t particularly think of an exact instance where I have on the show. I mean, I compromise, of course, because I�m sinful.
But I then thought as time went on, �You know what? Let�s talk about the one that never compromised, the Lord Jesus. That�s better, right? This is not a sermon, and I hope you don�t listen to these as sermons, but hopefully just to goad you along, to prod you along, pastorally think of biblical topics, especially Jesus who never compromised.
I also like to think about the cross because there the attributes of God were not compromised. You have justice and you have graciousness. The grace of God and justice of God, neither were compromised at Calvary.
And then finally, in light of those first two truths, I don�t want to compromise. So that�s really the show�s deal. I�m still trying to get my wife on the show. She was the idea for the title at least, and then we�ve had to kind of work through it ever since.
We have a Twitter account, at NoCoRadio, if you want to sign up. And we have a Facebook page and their iTunes podcast. I�ve been doing a lot of podcasting lately. I don�t podcast NoCoRadio though. I may be vain, I may be prideful, I may be arrogant, but I don�t podcast my own shows.
Occasionally, I�ve listened to one here or there, just in the background because I want to see or hear how I come across or what�s the volume like, et cetera. Don�t forget you can order the books too, Evangelical White Lies.
There are thousands of them here on campus. So back to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is talked of much in Hebrews. He�s talked about a lot in Hebrews. He�s the theme of Hebrews. And there�s something about Jesus, because of the incarnation and because of the suffering both in life and of course at his death, that makes us particularly grateful and appreciative of his ministry, that he would know us and that he suffered and he was still faithful and he knows how to help people like us because he was made like his brothers in every respect.
Now if you�d like to have someone who would comfort you and counsel you and come alongside of you, it would be Jesus, wouldn�t it? Now you can go to Greek mythology and Charon, C-H-A-R-O-N-R, K-H-A-R-O-N, Charon, he was the one that was the ferry person.
I did that on purpose, the ferryman across Hades. And what he would do is he would take people�s souls that had just died and he would take them across the river Styx and Archeron. I know you want to start thinking about Styx music, but I never was really a Styx fan.
I mean, there was a couple songs maybe made me think of high school or something or college. But anyway, Charon, he was a person that assisted those going from the world of the dead to the world of the dead, the living to the dead.
Now here�s the thing about Charon, Charon, he didn�t do this for free. You got to pay, pay the piper, pay the Charon, and you got to have a coin to do that because they didn�t have currency that I know of at the time.
So what you would do, someone would die and now you need to get them across the river and so you put a coin on their mouth or in their mouth, the dead person�s mouth. And they said usually it was a nanake or a abulus.
I don�t know what an abulus is, but it sounds fabulous. Now, what do you do when you can�t pay? Well, you just let those people be unburied. Those poor people have to wander around the shore, Lake Geneva shoreline for a long time.
The word karapos means of keen gaze. And I don�t know if that meant he had this flashing laser-like eye. Some people think it was a euphemism for death, but as time has gone on, this particular entity was not very nice.
If you look at the course of history in ancient Greek art, he looks rough. He looks like a seaman. He�s got a right hand, a pole in his right hand and in his left hand he receives dead people and their money.
An article on the internet says Hermes sometimes stands by in his role as psychopomp. That�s exactly what it says, psychopomp. Qu�est-ce que c�est? Pah, pah, pah, pah. Pah, pah, pah. Pah, pah, pah. Psychopomp.
All right. David Byrne is not happy with me. Now, in first century B .C., a Roman poet Virgil said that Charon, he doesn�t really allow people to do what they want to do. He said of him, Virgil said, �There Charon stands, who rules the dreary coast, a sordid god down from his hairy chin, a length of beard descends, uncombed, unclean, his eyes like hollow furnaces on fire, a girdle foul with grease binds his obscene attire.
So he�s not looking too good right about now. Latin writers said that he looked haggard and fierce. Dante, 14th century Dante, you probably remember the Divine Comedy, Dante�s Inferno. He took some of Virgil�s descriptions and came up with kind of a tough guy look.
He looked mean, vicious, eyes of fire. Other places have him as a winged demon wielding a double hammer. Michelangelo showed him to have an oar over his shoulder and he was going to use that oar to whack people, whack a mole, whack a soul.
See, see how we just make these up? That�s why you pay for this. You get a lot of people paying on Patreon. I just dropped my phone. I just got the new iPhone 7 Plus. Very happy with it. Happy, happy, happy.
I don�t know. Those other phones seem dinky. They seem minuscule. Same reason I wouldn�t want to ride a miniature pony. I wouldn�t want a small phone again. Hello, Moto. And these days if you think of Chiron and you look at him, he looks kind of like the grim reaper.
Well, can you imagine if you had to depend on such a person to get you from the land of the living to the land of the dead? Of course, we don�t even think that way because, of course, the soul does not die.
The body dies, but the soul doesn�t die. So how do we cross the river? And who�s there to help us cross? Who�s there to help us meet God? Remember, all religions lead people to God. Every religion leads people to the triune God, the only God, the God of the Bible, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Yahweh the Father, Yahweh the Son, Yahweh the Spirit. Every religion leads to God. But unless you have a tender high priest, a merciful high priest, a faithful high priest, somebody who�s exactly opposite of Chiron, you�re not going to make it because you will be entered into the presence of the judgment of God.
Right? God and his judgment. All roads lead to God, but they lead to his judgment hall because of sin. Adams and ours. We need someone who is merciful and who is sharing in our flesh and blood. And that�s exactly what Hebrews talks about.
So if you have your Bibles, we�re going to talk a little bit more about Jesus in the book of Hebrews. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, �Sin is so terrible, so foul, and so vile that nothing could deal with it but the blood of Christ.
And that is what happened on the cross. It is not a patching over, a covering over of sin. It is not God saying, �Do not worry, all is well. It is God showing us sin as it is, really bringing it out to the light and then dealing with it.
Martin Lloyd-Jones. Well, chapter 2 of Hebrews is talking about Jesus, the great Son. And he is the faithful high priest, of course, and that�s the theme of the book. But he is greater than angels as the eternal Son.
But even when he adds humanity via the incarnation, he�s still greater than angels. And he�s even greater than angels, although Jesus suffers. Angels don�t suffer, but Jesus suffers. How could a suffering person be greater than angels?
And that�s what the writer is working on. It says in Hebrews 2, verse 18,. �For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Now, that sounds a lot different than Charon.
That sounds a lot different than these myths and legends. Jesus is able to help? You know, that�s important. Because what if he was inable, unable, a-able? What if he couldn�t help? He didn�t have the power, but he�s also willing to help.
So you have to have both. You have to have the power and the will. If you have one without the other, maybe you have the will to help but no power. And remember how Rabbi Kushner and other bad philosophers and religionists try to tell us, well, you know, how can there be suffering if God�s all-powerful and, you know, all-loving, sovereign?
Well, maybe he�s not one of those. You know, which one doesn�t fit in? Maybe he just, we�ve got to keep him as he loves us. Maybe he just doesn�t have the power to do it. He doesn�t have a sovereign power to do it.
Jesus is both able to help sinners and willing to help sinners. All this is written so that you might have faith in Jesus. And if you�re a believer, that you might still have faith in him. Are you believing today Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the Lord, Jesus has conquered death, Jesus is the high priest?
You need to know him, affirm him, assent to him, have confidence in him, trust him, believe him. That�s what we�re after. He is fully God, therefore he has much power, and he also is fully man, therefore he can be the mediator between God and man.
He can be the great high priest. Whatever our problems are, he is, well, he�s still human because he never let go of his flesh, he never canceled out his flesh. He�s the eternal God-man. The will of God is to help.
Now, when you�re in a temptation, you�re in a trial, something�s coming up that�s difficult, there�s an opportunity that you can trust him, that you can go to him and have aid. Now, it�s fascinating to me how you begin to practice what you preach with this, because I�ve preached the sovereignty of God for a long time, since I understood the doctrine.
Lloyd-Jones had that great quote. Now, S. Lewis Johnson can say of Hebrews 2 .18, �For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. He says of that verse, Lewis Johnson does, we could meditate on this for the rest of our lives, that particular verse.
Jesus knows suffering. He knows temptation. Therefore, can he help you when you suffer and help you when you�re tempted? This is a personal thing, right? This isn�t, well, an academic exercise. Jesus really knows.
It�s not a laboratory-type experiment. He shares our nature. He suffers. He�s tempted. He knows how to be delivered from temptation, because he was delivered, delivered himself, whether you think about the Spirit�s role in that or his own role in that.
We ought to say, �Thank you that you�re such a God. Thank you that you would know this, that you would know suffering when tempted. I was doing retro radio a while ago, national radio, and then I got a message from the doctor.
I had been in for a biopsy, and the doctor says, �I have good news and bad news for you. I thought, �Okay. He said, �The bad news is you have prostate cancer. The good news is it probably won�t kill you.
Okay. What do you say to that? Can I go on sabbatical? Can I ride the bicycle? You say a lot of different things. So that was back in mid-December. So as I have gone through life I�m 56 years old as I�ve gone through life, I�ve thought to myself, �Do you know what?
God is sovereign. And then things like this happen. You go, �Well, do you really believe it? Do you really believe it And while I have my ups and downs and thoughts like, �Wow, I can�t believe this is happening to me.
I don�t say, �God, I don�t believe you. I don�t say, �God, you�re wicked and evil, and how could you do this to me �What do I deserve instead I don�t have those thoughts, but I have thoughts like, when you wake up, you go, �I have cancer.
Yikes. That�s the first thought of the day. The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup. I only wish. So then I look at these verses and look at this particular verse here in chapter 2, verse 18.
�He himself suffered when tempted and is able to help those who are being tempted. And you get tempted, those of you that have had trials like this. I�ve had trials in my life, and my son was really sick when he was born.
There are, of course, trials in the life of a church. There are church splits. People say things about you. So I�ve had some trials like that. My loved ones have had trials. I�ve lost my mother and father.
I think I�ve had probably fewer trials than most people. I�ve always been healthy, wealthy, and wise. I�m looking outside, and I appreciate the BBC NoCo helicopter that sits there on the pad. In my life, I�ve thought, you know, I�ve had a good life.
I�m 56. I have done things around the world that I never thought I�d do. And a lot of them, I go teach the Bible places, you know, whether it�s writing books or preaching, just being able to be a pastor here, watching those.
Some people, I�ve been here 20 years, some weren�t alive when I was here. And then now, they�re in preaching classes, and they�re graduating from high school and going to college. And I get to watch them and see them grow and see the grace of God in their life.
There are temptations, though, where you think, you know what? I�m worried. I have fear of the future. I don�t have fear of where I�m going to go when I die. But I thought I could get out of this alive.
That�s what I thought. I thought I could get out of this alive. Maybe pre-trib is true. So anyway, when I look at a verse like this, it does require reflection. I mean, okay, if somebody says you got cancer, then you say, all right, who do I want?
Chiron or the Lord Jesus? So I thought today I would just sit here and kind of preach to myself. That�s what I thought I would do. I�d just preach to myself. For those of you that have a desire to send in articles and links and stuff like that, something about cancer and sickness, you know, everybody says, oh, I have a friend that had this happen or that happen or the other happen.
Feel free to do that. I won�t feel offended. I will consider it a token of love along with large copay gifts. I have an MRI scheduled, a doctor�s appointment, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles.
So we�re just trying to figure out what to do. The church has been very gracious and helpful. And it was hard to tell the wife. It was hard to tell. That�s not to sound derogatory. Hard to tell my wife.
It was hard to tell my children. Maybe I�ll tell that story sometime. It was hard to tell the church. Actually, if you heard that sermon that played on BBC Church the other while ago, I don�t know when the show airs, Sovereign Sovereignty, I preached that then prayed and then told the church.
So that was why that was in the middle of all the Hebrew stuff. But it is good to be reminded that he himself suffered when tempted and he is able to help those who are being tempted. And so when I get tempted to think, oh man, or what�s going to happen?
Or do you do active surveillance or do you do radiation? Do you do surgery? Do you do the Cairo knife, the Kara knife? I don�t want that one. I don�t have the coin. You think, okay, Jesus was tempted and he never succumbed to the temptation.
I get tempted and I regularly succumb to temptation. And even on this particular one where you think, okay, it�s nerve-wracking and you�ve got to do all the study. And the biggest problem with all this is if you have certain problems medically, they�ll just say, here�s what you need to do.
Here you have to figure it out yourself. You go to a surgeon, they�ll say, have surgery. You go to the oncologist, they�ll say, radiate. You go to a nutritionist and they�ll say, do active surveillance.
And so you just go, oh, brother. Now I have to decide? So that creates angst as well. Anyway, you don�t have to feel sorry for me or anything like that. It�s probably not going to kill me. I�ll probably die of something else.
But if you want to pray that I�d respond well, that would be great. And that�s about all I need to say on that now. I didn�t know. I mean Todd Friel prayed for me on national radio. So I guess the secret�s out.
But I always remember Alistair Begg saying when the guy in the white lab coat, the doctor, says you don�t have long to live or you�ve got cancer. It�s like you don�t forget those. I could just replay it.
I know perfectly what has happened and all the books. I�ve talked to Dr. Scardino on the phone. I�ve talked to Dr. Walsh on the phone. The Lord has set up all these things. And even in the midst of this, wife and church, supportive, good medical insurance.
Thank you, Lord, that I don�t have Obamacare. I can go anywhere I want and we�ll see what happens. So that�s that. We�re going to keep carrying on. I still plan on going on the Reformation trip. We�ll figure out what to do after that.
This is Mike Abendroth, 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 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.