Taming the Tongue

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Ebendroth. I just recorded a show, went about six minutes in, and I thought, this is bad. I don't want to make the people suffer through that. So we're going to try this again and see how it works.

The good news is on radio you can do that. I stopped doing live radio a long time ago for that reason and for many other reasons. And, you know, when you're preaching, there are no re-dos. I guess if you have two services or three services or something like that.

I wonder how many of our listeners, how many of you listeners attend a church where there's more than one service? There are sometimes churches that have Saturday night services, and then they have a couple Sunday morning or a couple Saturday night.

I know one church that has two on Saturday night, three on Sunday morning, I think like something like that. But that'd be hard on a pastor. But today's show is not about should you have multiple services or not.

The Power and Limits of Human Words

Today's show is about talking. It's about words. In a world where there are words galore, think about even podcasting. What did we do before podcasts happened? I guess it was cassettes. I went through my cassettes a while ago, and I didn't want to really throw them all away.

I gave a lot of them away, but I wanted to save some. They just have kind of a sentimental spot in my heart with all the things I've learned on cassettes, and then would tape over them or all the other things that would go along with it.

Talking about words today and talking. Talk, talk, talk. You're talking a lot, but you're not saying anything. Of course, David Byrne said that from the talking heads. I looked at a website called wordsrated .com, and it said the average person speaks around 16 ,000 words in a day.

Maybe ladies speak a couple hundred more than men, but not by much. People speak, according to the website, 941 words per hour on average. Talking time is about one hour and 54 minutes. We only use 5 of the words that are unique.

We repeat all the others, and we only use about 3 of our total vocabulary every day. Talk, talk, talk. Today, I want to talk about talk. Let's talk. Today, I'd like to discuss the matter of Jesus' words and revelation of God, revelation from God.

Why We Need Revelation from God

We, as you know, live in a very spiritual world, a very mystical world, a very follow-your-heart world. And people say they're spiritual and not religious. They'll say they, you know, they believe in higher powers, but, you know, of their own choosing.

As that one man said, Christopher Smith, I think, Christian Smith, said, you know, Sheilaism abounds. It's just what Sheila believes. She cuts and pastes whatever she wants. It could be called Tobyism, right?

Toby, a man, says, I believe this and I don't believe that, and just cut and paste from different religions, from the Bible, and it ends up being just Sheilaism. That's the religion. We are going to not be in a good place if we follow our heart, if we look inside, if we become Quakers, spiritual light people, where there's a flicker of goodness and yumminess inside of us, and then we can follow that.

We need to be told from the outside what to do and how to think. That's what we need. We need revelation from God. Of course, you can see God's power and wisdom as you look at nature. Of course, the law is written on our hearts, but we need special things.

How do we understand about—how do we understand salvation, and how do we know forgiveness? How can we experience forgiveness? How can we do all these things without being told? And so we need to be told.

I don't really like it if somebody in a scolding way would say to me, I told you so. I told you, kind of like you didn't listen the first time I told you. But in a real way, when the Lord Jesus speaks, we need to hear it, and we need to go back to the fact that we've already heard it and He's told us, but, of course, we're weak and frail.

Christians Sin and Need the Gospel

I say regularly, and I hope you understand me, that Christians sin. I don't want them to sin. I don't want to sin. I don't like it when I do. But I'm a realist, and I realize that we're not glorified yet, and that we sin.

Christians sin. That's why we preach the gospel to Christians. That's why we preach the gospel to unbelievers. It's law gospel to the believers. It's law gospel to the unbelievers. Speaking of which, I'm working on—it should be out hopefully mid-December— a book on the law gospel paradigm, law gospel distinction, called Law Gospel, a Primer.

Looks like Primer, but it's a Primer. And as of this recording today, you can go to Amazon .com and get the condensed pamphlet, Jesus and Cancer. I took the information, the material in the book Cancer is Not Your Shepherd.

I took out the Thomas Watson, J .C. Ryle section, which was about half the book. I condensed my half of the book down to about—I think the booklet's 49 pages, easy to read, larger font, pamphlet size, kind of five inches by, oh, I don't know, seven-something.

And it's just easy to hand out. It's small enough. You don't even really have the spine that's got the name of the book, Jesus and Cancer. Kind of a pocket guide to suffering is what the subtitle would be.

So you can order those. I think they're $6 .99. If you want them 40 off, you just email me, Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com. You can hand them out at chemo places, friends. I think they will pick them up and read them more readily than the other book.

Jesus' Words at the End of the Sermon on the Plain

So, did that. Off we go. We're talking about talking. Talk, talk, talk. Mike, would you get to the Bible, please? Sure, I'd love to. I'm glad you said that. As you know, often I look at the words of Luke that I'm preaching through and then think, oh, that'd make a good radio show, too.

Maybe some of you don't listen to the shows on Mondays, which are sermons, which is probably good because in many ways the material is repeated, but just in a different fashion. This is kind of my test kitchen deal, and I'm working through Luke.

We're at the end of the Sermon on the Plain. They call it Luke 6, and there's similarities to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. And we come to the end of the sermon today, and it's kind of surprising because it's, in my mind, and maybe I'm a bad listener.

Sometimes I am a bad listener. It's only preached in a negative way. It's only taught in a way that you might want to duck or to cringe or to wonder or to examine yourself. Jesus ends the Sermon on the Plain, the Luke 6 sermon, and he says in verse 46,.

Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you? And that's why we're talking about words today, Jesus's words. Trumping all other words. In other words, Jesus's words trump all other words.

Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say? Or don't do what I tell you? He goes on to say in Luke 6, 47,. Everyone who comes to me and hears my words, and then he says in verse 49,. But the one who hears and does not do them, then he explains.

So there's one who comes to Jesus and hears and does. There's one who hears and does not do. Today we're talking about Jesus's words trumping experience, trumping what the world says, trumping all other religions.

Jesus is Lord, and therefore his words need to be obeyed. Now, typically when people come to this passage, they use it to frighten people. Are you really a Christian or not? Or if you're not a Christian, this is your doom.

Now, there's occasions that we need to challenge Christians and say, Are you sure you should be calling yourself a Christian when you live with your girlfriend? That is 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9 through 11.

Do not be deceived. There's a time to talk like that, obviously. And there's a time, always there's a time, to warn unbelievers of the wrath to come, to tell them about standing before God without an advocate and mediator, the Lord Jesus, to give them the free offer of the gospel and to declare with great joy who Jesus is and what he did on earth and what he's doing in heaven now and call people to repentance and faith.

I'm also not saying that... I was just going to repeat myself. I was going to say something else about something else, but okay, I'll tell you. When I said faith and repentance, I'm working on another little primer, and it's faith and repentance, a primer.

So that's going to be a little booklet as well. That'll probably be smaller. But we're working on that too because is repentance the same as the fruit of repentance? Is repentance changing your mind or changing your mind that would then lead to change your actions?

Is repentance in the justification category or is it in the sanctification category? Are faith and repentance, is that a synecdoche? When I say one, I mean both. Two sides, two different sides of the same coin.

That Sinclair Ferguson would teach? Or is repentance a fruit of faith that John Calvin would teach? What do we tell people? Is it a logical thing to say to someone, repent and believe? That's chronology, but is it logical?

Is it theological? Which one comes first? So we're going to do that another time. So that's what I was thinking. I was going to mention it. See, now you realize why I wasn't going to mention it. Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you.

The Warning and Assurance in the Two Builders

What's missing? Here's my point. The point in what I'm saying is this. There's some assurance here too. This is not just a warning. This is not just doom. This is not just, how can you call yourself a Christian and disobey the Lord?

He says in verse 47, Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it because it had been well built.

That doesn't sound like a warning to me. That doesn't sound like doom to me. That doesn't sound like questioning your salvation to me. Does it sound like that to you? I don't think so. Now, I will grant that the question in chapter 6, verse 46, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?

That means there's some people not doing those things. But he gives the positive. And the positive is, if you are doing these things, here's the wonderful thing. You're stable, secure, protected, safe.

If you're not doing what Jesus tells you, even though you're calling him Lord, Lord, verse 49,. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.

When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you? That's kind of a question of all time. Could that be at the very top of questions, the most important question list?

I mean, as you know, sin is real, and God is holy, and death is a fact, and eternity is a long time. You either go to heaven or hell, bliss or torment. And here we have something that is a recurrent theme in the Bible, and that is two ways, two paths, two directions, two options.

Moses is close to his last words. Take to your heart all the words with which I'm warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of the law. For it is not an idle word for you, indeed it is your life.

For by this word you will prolong your days in the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. And of course, for us, it's not words about land, it's words about eternity. Not the promised land physically, but eternal life.

And I think what you've noticed in regular preaching that you listen to, that you'll see that here as well. What do I mean by that? Jesus ends with a call to action. Sometimes people who preach and teach, they have a little two-word question that they write in their notes.

Sometimes I do. I think about this all the time. Sometimes I might not write it in my notes. The two words are, are, so what? This is truth. We're preaching truth from the Bible. So what? Kind of a call to action.

What do we do with the said truth that we just learned from any place in the Bible? As you know, if you're a listener to No Compromise Radio Ministry, the Bible is relevant. We don't make it relevant.

Let's say that again. The Bible is relevant. I mean, is sin relevant? Is sovereignty relevant? Is holiness relevant? Is death relevant? Is eternal life relevant? Is marriage relevant? I mean, the list goes on and on and on.

Is wisdom relevant? But it's not the job of the pastor or the teacher to say, let's make the Bible relevant. That would be dumb. But it is a shepherding heart that says, I'd like to show the people how this is relevant.

That's what I'd like to demonstrate, so they understand that it's relevant. And so here Jesus gives a call to action, as it were. The sermon is coming to a close, and it's a call to respond, a call to action.

Here the greatest preacher who ever lived has a challenge for the listeners. And it's a warning, but the warning has some good news in it, as I just said earlier. Sometimes people call this personal application, where you're going to show how the Bible is to be applied.

The parallel passage to this is Matthew 7 .21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?

And then will I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and don't do what I say? And, of course, the previous passage about good trees, good fruit, bad trees, bad fruit.

You want to know what bad fruit is? It's calling Jesus Lord and not doing what he says. Lord, Lord. Now, if you're not careful, you're going to turn this passage into a works righteousness passage. If you're not careful, you're going to say, you know what?

The key to heaven is law-keeping. The way to heaven is doing what Jesus said. If you want to get to heaven, I just need to do these things. And, of course, if you could perfectly do them, you could get to heaven that way, assuming Adam's sin wasn't credited to your account, which it was, so, therefore, that's out of the question.

But hypothetically, if you go back to Adam, if he would have obeyed after this period of probation had ended, I think he would have been glorified, and that would have been just it. For us, we can't perfectly obey, entirely obey, exactly obey, because of Adam's sin, and we have sin nature.

I don't want you to ever think, when you come to this passage, about a house built on a good foundation and a house built, in Luke 6, no foundation, one built on the rock, one built on nothing or sand, that this has to do with obeying Jesus' words to keep the law.

Because, strictly speaking, as we're talking about this, no one can do that, and God's not going to lower the standards of His law. So, we can feel like we can keep it. If I were to say to you, heeding Jesus' words, obeying Jesus' words, is the key to this passage, doing the will of the Father, doing the will of the Son, doing the will of the Holy Spirit, what would go into your mind?

Faith in Christ, Not Works Righteousness

Well, of course, you should be thinking, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, what words are we to be thinking about? Let me read to you John 5, a little bit of it, and you'll see, probably, that this has nothing to do with getting to heaven by being good.

John 5, 24. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word, sound familiar? and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. John 6.

Then they said to Him, What must we do to be doing the works of God? Okay, great question. How would you answer that? Jesus answered them. These are Jesus' words. This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.

Remember what Jesus goes on to say, I'm the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I say to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe.

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. There's a wise man, there's a foolish man. There's one who hears the words of Jesus and obeys, the one who hears the words of Jesus and disobeys.

This does not have anything to do with you get saved by doing things. We don't believe in works righteousness. We don't believe in keeping the law gets us saved. We know God is perfect, He demands perfection, and that's why Jesus, the eternal Son, becomes flesh, and dwells among us, and perfectly obeys as our representative, dies for our sins as a substitute, and is raised from the dead.

You want to know what the will of God is? It's to believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are the words of Jesus. And if you do that, there's assurance. If you do that, there's great hope. If you don't do that, there's destruction and disaster.

I love the song. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. When you're trusting in the rock, the fortress, the deliverer, the one in whom you take refuge, as David said, stronghold, savior, in 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18, you're going to make it.

When the trials come, when death comes, when the torrent comes and bursts against your house that you built, when the wrath bursts forth and consumes, you're not going to have to pay any penalty, because you're trusting in what Jesus did for you.

You will be safe and secure, you're going to make it to heaven. Jesus is the rock of your salvation. He's your eternal refuge, and he lives, and he is a righteous rock. Jesus said, whoever believes has eternal life, John 6, 47.

And if you believe, you have eternal life. And if you believe, you're not building your house, your life, your spiritual life on something that's going to give way when there's a big trial like death.

Top Lady wrote, Rock of Ages, and this is our response to God. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace. Foul I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I would die.

We, as Christians, can say, the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. That's Galatians 2, verse 20. We can be sure. John the Apostle said, These things I have written to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

We're to know that. And so you say, well, I don't, even now as a Christian, I don't always do what Jesus says. Sometimes I call him Lord, Lord, and don't really do what he says. Am I safe? Well, of course you're safe, because you're a Christian.

I just said, you're a Christian. You come to him, you get eternal life. It's not based on if you then sin again or not, because if the Father gives someone to the Son, and he has you, Christian, then the Lord's not going to ever cast you out.

You're sealed to the day of redemption with the promised Holy Spirit. You're saved not by works you've done in righteousness, but according to God's mercy, by the washing and regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

Assurance Through Justification by Faith

And you can have great assurance, because you know what God promises in the Bible. You've seen the work of the Spirit of God in your own life. You're looking at the person of Jesus, and you're saying, you know, I'm trusting in that Lord Jesus.

Romans chapter 5. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we hope we'll have peace with God in the future through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained temporary access by faith into this obedience in which we might falter, and we are sad as a result.

All right, that's not the Bible. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

So, is there a warning built in here? The purpose of today's show is to tell you, of course there's a warning at the end of the Sermon on the Plain, just like there's a warning at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, just like there should be warnings in sermons on a regular basis, even reminding Christians what they've been saved from.

But also, I want you to remember in Matthew 7 and in Luke 6 that there's some good news there. It's not just a warning. It's, here's hope. For the Christian, you have assurance. And if you've built your life on the words of Jesus, and you trust him as prophet, priest, and king, if you say, you know what?

He washed me, sanctified me, and justified me, and it's all because of him, and I'm trusting in Jesus only for my sin bearing, you're going to make it. When the trials come, including and up to death, you're going to make it.

Anyway, my name is Mike Ebendroth. There's lots of words there. What in the world happened with that? That's interesting. I've never pulled up that song at that particular moment. Mike Ebendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry.

You can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.