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The doctrine of the sovereignty of God is one of the most comforting truths in the universe. Tune in to be reminded to walk by faith in the sovereign God and not by sight.
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. Mike Abendroth here. Real time, Friday, June 3rd, 2022. How do I know that�s already happened? I�m not just saying that. Well, Celtics won last night. Whoever thought I would root for the Celtics?
I was always such a Laker fan, hated the Boston Celtics in terms of a basketball team, a lot of respect for Bird and Dennis Johnson, and I never respected Lambert, but Robert Parrish, McHale could play, but rooting for them?
Well, I couldn�t root for the Lakers because we have LeBron James as a Laker, and he�s in cahoots with China, in my opinion, and so how can I root for the Lakers? How can I root for Golden State Warriors when their coach is as liberal as you can get?
I don�t care if he�s liberal. I just care that he runs his mouth as a liberal. I watch basketball or play basketball because I want to get away from all the politics. Anyway, so there are probably some bad politic guys on the Celtics, but it�s been fun to watch, and so that�s why we know we�ve actually gone past June 2nd, because I know the score.
They were down by double figures, and then they came back to win. I don�t even know the score, but anyway, it�s 1 -0 Boston right now. Will they win? Who knows? We�ll find out later on No Compromise Radio.
You�ll probably already know by the time this plays. Israel is a go. February 21st through March 2nd, next year, 2023. From Boston, you�ll need to get here if you live someplace else, so that�ll be an additional fee, but $3499, $3 ,499 to go with this.
Everything except a few lunches are paid, and you�ve got to get to Boston. You could get to Newark, and that will be a good start, because we go Boston-Newark, Newark-Tel Aviv, and on the way back, though, we go Tel Aviv-Boston, so maybe there�s a way to get from Boston to Newark then.
You don�t have to do that at the beginning. Anyway, now with one-way flights, you can fly to Newark, meet us there, and then fly home from Boston. You can email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. $500 deposit will get you in line, first come, first serve.
I have 22 open slots. Unless we go for two buses, it wouldn�t be as fun, but I guess if I had 40 people who wanted to go, we would take you. Lots of people want to travel. The only cost that�s not there besides a few lunches is if there is any COVID testing requirement stuff.
That�s on your own. So if they require crazy stuff with COVID in February, then I don�t know what we do, but we�d love to have you go Bible teaching and fun in, do we call it the Holy Land? Should you even call it the Holy Land?
That�s a good question. That could be a whole show. Should this be called the Holy Land? Should it be called Israel? Should it be called Palestine? Do you get bothered if it�s called Palestine? Is it Palestinian control?
What do we do if they�re Palestinian Christians, and what do we do if they�re Jewish unbelievers? To whom would you have more affinity, more love, more camaraderie, more brotherhood, more fellowship, more koinonia?
A person living in Palestine who is born again, or a Jewish person, conservative, living in Jerusalem? That�s a good question. Sometimes maybe we don�t think about it. Hey, listen, I love Israel. That�s not the question.
I was posing a different question. What else is going on? You can go to Heidel Blog, and I wrote an article there, a three-part article. I think only one or two parts are up, parts are parts. And what else is new?
The assurance book, No Condemnation, hopefully will be out sometime in July. That�s the hope. We�ll see if it happens. A couple more things I need to do. Okay, enough of that. We�re talking about the sovereignty of God.
I�m working through Ecclesiastes, and Ecclesiastes, instead of a propositional statement or the Book of Romans, chapter 8, verse 28 type of statement, or a confession on the providence or sovereignty of God, it uses poetry, and it made me think a lot about sovereignty of God in Ecclesiastes.
And does this help with the fleeting, vain, temporal, puzzling life? Yes, it does. It helps us to understand that God is sovereign. You have to see behind the curtain and realize there�s somebody actually controlling every thing.
And, of course, many people have said it, but if you go by a rug, one side of the rug, the underneath side has all kinds of weird things on it, and yarns running across, and it doesn�t seem like it makes any sense, and you flip it over and you go, �Oh, there�s the perfect pattern.
And from one perspective, it seems crazy and chaotic. From the other perspective, perfect pattern. That�s what a proper view of the sovereignty of God does. And so last time, we looked at a couple realms of God�s sovereignty to help us to expand Ecclesiastes 3, 1 to 8, and that was God is king over all creation, God is king over all history.
Those are what we looked at. Everything in His creation, remember, there�s the creator-creation distinction, very, very important in theology, and we realize that God�s sovereign over what He created.
I mean, who isn�t sovereign over what they create? Frankenstein? Dr. Frankenstein. Then God�s sovereign over history, governments, people, societies, He�s sovereign over history. Now we move to the third realm of God�s sovereignty that will help you get through life, enjoy life, see life properly, walk by faith, not by sight, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.
God is king over creation, over history, and now over specific details in your life. The first two are kind of broad, right? You think creation and history. Well, what about minutia? What about small things?
To me, they�re big, but to God, they might be small in comparison to creation, world history, kings and queens, and all that stuff. The Bible gives many examples of seemingly small details that God oversees, sustains, and ordains.
From the seemingly fortuitous to the overtly calamitous, God is king over everything. Those are hard words to say. Spell check. Retractors might argue that God controls the big events and circumstances, but with the small things, He allows them to take their own course.
They imply that there are trifling atoms and frivolous molecules that go their own way. God�s Word plainly states the opposite. You can go your own way. Call it another lonely day. The lot is cast in the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord, Proverbs 16, 33.
Or you know this one. This was a good one when you think about the sovereignty of God. Each man said to his shipmate, �Come, let us cast lots so that we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.
Jonah 1, 7 goes on to say, �So they cast lots. And you have to say this really slow for effect. �And the lot fell on Jonah. Luck? Fortune? Random chance? They don�t exist in the vocabulary of the Christian or they shouldn�t, but uneducated pagans, okay, fine.
Odds in Las Vegas are 100 certainties in the plan of God, the king, the triune God. The Bible states that even random events are anything but accidental or coincidental. Instead, they are destined to occur because God is making things happen.
He is ordaining. He is providentially orchestrating. B .B. Warfield says, �In the infinite wisdom of the Lord of all the earth, each event falls with exact precision into its proper place in this unfolding of His eternal plan.
Nothing however small, however strange, occurs without His ordering or without its particular fitness for its place in the working out of His purposes. And the end of all shall be the manifestation of His glory and accumulation of His praise.
This is the Old Testament as well as the New Testament philosophy of the universe�s worldview which attains concrete unity in an absolute decree, purpose, or plan of which all that comes to pass is the development in time.
It�s true. It may be hard to get your mind around completely, but if you realize that the world is going precisely as God wishes it to go, from the most minute, insignificant, minuscule, microscopic, infinitesimal, or diminutive event or activity in the history of the world, behind it is God�s sovereign rule.
Doesn�t that make you happy, noco-listeners? Doesn�t that make you think, �That is so good. For me, it makes me happy because I know God�s now sovereign over COVID, over bacterial pneumonia, over leukemia, over whatever people might have or whatever people do have.
God is making things happen exactly the way He intends. God�s rule as King is exhaustive and thorough. How about this? Are not two sparrows sold for a cent, and yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father?
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. That�s the Lord Jesus. Talk about small things. Matthew chapter 10. In a world that�s full of tragedy, trouble, crime, Ecclesiastes understands all this under the sun.
What if randomness is at the helm? What if luck is guiding the ship? What if the triune God, who is sovereign and who loves sinners, what if He�s at the helm? I know what you�re asking. You might say, �Well, what about calamities and other tragic events
Let me answer, but first here�s the question. What would it do to your perception of God if He were only sovereign over good and not over evil or trouble? The Christian�s hope, your hope, is that God is triumphantly sovereign over everything.
Here are some verses. You can either submit to them or they�re going to be like a stomach punch. In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider. God has made the one as well as the other, so that man will not discover anything that will be after him.
Ecclesiastes 7 .14. Lamentations 3. Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord had commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth? Does a bird fall into the trap on the ground when there�s no bait in it?
Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all? If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in the city, has not the Lord done it? Is not God sovereign over all those things?
God causes well-being and creates calamity, true or false? Come on, true or false? God causes well-being and creates calamity, true or false? Like I�m good in the first part, but the second part I�m not so good at.
I don�t want to admit. I�ll admit the first easily, I don�t want to admit the second. Well, maybe would it help you if I quoted Isaiah 45, verse 7, the one, capital O, forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity.
I am the Lord who does all these. How can this be? How can God use sin, Satan, trouble, joys, and everything else to cause him to accomplish his eternal purpose? Well, as Christians, we know it�s true.
How he does it, I don�t know, but we know that it is true. How we don�t know, but we know it�s true. And all things work together. God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God.
All things, yeah, all things, yeah, all things. Where are the pastors that teach these verses? Are they afraid or embarrassed or ashamed of God the King? God is sovereign over good and bad. Everything that will ever happen to you, hmm, that�s encouraging to me.
Otherwise, hope the winds of fate blow my way. God is sovereign. We can rest in that. Isn�t that good? Of course it�s good. He�s sovereign over creation. That�s a pretty big deal. He�s sovereign over history.
That�s a pretty big deal. He�s sovereign over little tiny details. That�s, too, a pretty big deal. Number four, the fourth realm, God is king over every act committed by man. Kind of bleeds into the last one, but now we�ll make what was implicit explicit.
Your good acts have God�s sovereignty stamped upon them. Did you know that? For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should, what, walk in them, Ephesians 2.
Did you know, on the flip side, that Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, names Cyrus and calls him my shepherd, God�s shepherd and God�s anointed? Here�s this guy who is assisting the Hebrews in reoccupying and rebuilding Jerusalem.
I mean, few would argue the fact that God is king over the righteous behavior of men and women throughout the ages. Philosophically, it�s easy to digest, kind of like saltines and ginger ale for the sick stomach.
But when people are confronted by the Bible, as it clearly instructs its reader, that even the sinful and unrighteous deeds of humans are under the auspices of God�s sovereign control, I mean, what�s the response?
They shudder and squirm like a frightened five-year-old his first day of school, kindergarten. Why is this the case? Could it be possible that you who struggle haven�t bowed your mind and your hearts and your will to the clear teaching of Scripture?
Maybe you haven�t read your Bible enough. Could it be that teachers place false theology over these verses to blunt the trauma that they perceive? They think these are jackhammer verses and they�re going to cause trouble?
Evil and evil people are not outside the sovereign umbrella of the king. Did Joseph understand that in the midst of his brother�s sinful actions? Genesis 45,. �Now therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God.
And he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. God�s the one that sent him. Verse 20 of chapter 50,. �As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.
In order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive, it�s pretty straightforward. God is sovereign over evil and evil people, over sin. Even Absalom�s heinous sin happened under the sovereign rule of God.
Second Samuel 16,. �So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom went into his father�s concubines in the sight of all Israel. Would we think that would be sin? I mean, it�s horrible, preposterous.
Maybe that falls outside the pale of God�s rule. I mean, if any behavior known to man would be immoral, this was. I mean, it�s kind of making Jerry Springer blush a little bit, but did you know this was underneath God�s sovereign plan?
�Thus says the Lord, �Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household. I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight.
Indeed, you have done it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and under the sun. Second Samuel 12, God�s sovereign. Make no theological mistake. Human agents responsible. They were supposed to obey and didn�t.
They�ll be judged, slash punished, yet God�s sovereign rule is seen clearly. Did you know God ordained Ahab�s deception through Satan himself? Like, you�re pushing it too far. Yeah, I know. We�re just reading the Bible.
First Kings 22, the Lord said, �Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And one said this, while the other said that. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, �I will entice him.
And the Lord said to him, �How And he said, �I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. Then he said, �You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so. Can anything be done in the world that is done without God�s will and divine pleasure?
If you still remain convinced, unconvinced, I have one more question for you. What was the worst sin ever committed by mankind? Stalin sins? No. Hitler�s? Pol Pots? No. Horrible sins? Yes, I know. The response to the question, �What�s the worst sin ever committed by mankind is the crucifixion of the most innocent man ever, Jesus Christ.
No one deserved execution less the Messiah. Yet observe carefully the words of Scripture as I read them. Observe with your ears. When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all the chief priests and elders had said to them.
And when they had heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, �O Lord, it is you who have made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit, who through the mouth of our father David your servant said, �Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples devise futile things?
The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. Now listen, Acts chapter 4, �For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur.
The death of Christ Jesus at Golgotha was sovereignly planned by God, even though sinful men will give an account for their sinful actions. Both are true. Derek Thomas said of Acts chapter 4, �God reigns through the stumbling, hobbling service of his people and the rage and malice of his foes to establish his eternal purpose in the world.
Now think about it. Let's just cut straight to the chase. The alternative is frightening. If God's not sovereign in all these areas, then what? On the positive side, aren't you glad you serve a God with such power, wisdom, sovereignty, rule, dominion, and might?
Of course. Ideas have consequences, and if you have the wrong idea about God, there are consequences. And the only way you're going to make it through with any amount of joy, I don't mean happiness, you can have happiness here and there, circumstances, happenstances, happy stances.
But if you like joy, it's got to be because you believe God's sovereign. That's not the only thing you believe about God. But you realize this triune God is sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and we can trust Him.
You get to trust sovereign gods, capricious gods, impotent gods, malevolent gods, bloodthirsty gods. You don't get to trust them. But a sovereign God who's kind and loving, and who's immutable, who's triune, who's eternal, who's faithful, who's benevolent, who's almighty and powerful, who's righteous, victorious, exalted, it's good to think about.
Well, my name's Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. I guess I could say I am No Compromise Radio. I've got to get Cooley back more often. Between my pneumonia and his things that he's working through, it's just hard to do.
So I probably can have Steve do some shows this summer if he would like. He can upload those. If he doesn't want to do them, we'll just keep on plugging through. If you'd like the information for the Israel trip, of course you can email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.
We do have a Patreon site, No Compromise Patreon site, if you want to go there, that's great. I don't know what else. I would say the long run radio shows like ours, it's like how long do you go about doing them?
It's better to have these kind of new shows, you're excited, but not like 3 ,500 shows in. I mean, I don't know, we get 1 ,000 to 1 ,500 downloads per show. I mean, I guess maybe there's 1 ,000 of you that listen.
I mean, that's more than I deserve. That's for certain. I think we've got 7 million downloads since we started. That's not bad besides just the radio stuff and our affiliates in Wyoming and Alaska. But you never know.
One never knows how this all works out. So maybe there's a format change. I don't know. I'm just so used to this format. I don't know how to do anything else. Maybe some more guests on, got some ideas for guests.
So those will be coming up soon. So if you like the show, maybe you tell me. That might be an encouragement to me. And if you don't like the show, you could tell me too. That's okay. I'll just read it once, hit delete, then talk about you on the radio.
Because I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. What are we going to do? We're in the courts. They're not righteous.
We're going to have to look beyond this world, are we not? We believe in the resurrection. We believe in eternal life. We believe that Jesus Christ has conquered death, and so we have hope. Anyway, good to have you listen.
I appreciate all of you and those who encourage in so many ways, shapes, or forms. My name is Mike Abendroth. This is 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.