The Promise Keeper

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. Glad to have you watching. Tell your friends, hit subscribe, like, et cetera.

A few comments before we get going. Book that I wanna promote today is called

King. Understanding Jesus as King has nothing to do with Christian nationalism. So just Jesus the

King. Working on another book at the moment called Sanctification a Primer. And so we had

Law Gospel a Primer. This introduction to Law Gospel. We're gonna have another one out soon,

Lord willing. So about sanctification. What is sanctification? Was it not? How to live a holy life?

Who's the sanctifier? Et cetera. Today, I want to talk about promises.

Promises. Who said these promises? Read my lips, no new taxes.

George Bush, broken promise. Who said this? If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your healthcare plan.

I think he also said, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Who said that? President Barack Obama, broken promise.

Who said peace for our time? Neville Chamberlain, broken promise.

Who said this? I have never had a single positive doping test and I do not take performance enhancing drugs.

Lance Armstrong, broken promise. How about this one? Even if I must die with you,

Jesus, I will not deny you. And of course, you know that as Peter, broken promises.

I mean, really the world is littered with broken promises. People have oaths and vows and promises and then they break them.

I mean, we can make it really personal. Have you ever broken a promise? The answer is yes.

Mario's broken promises. I've broken promises. Here's the question though, for the show today.

Does God break his promises? Does God even promise anything? He can just say things.

Why does God promise? And so today we're gonna look at Luke chapter 12 and promises from the

Lord Jesus. And of course, with his character, his person, his nature, his essence, he is true and right and righteous and would never break a promise.

All kinds of promises in the Bible. But today we're gonna look at Luke chapter 12 and talk about some promises that Jesus himself made.

And when you think of promises in the Bible, no condemnation for those in Christ. I'll never leave you or forsake you.

How about if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

How about those he justified, he will eventually glorify. Romans chapter eight.

I mean, promise after promise after promise. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus.

How about we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. Promises in the

Bible. Today, promises from Jesus. Now, if you think about promises,

I think about promise keepers and that old organization that Bill McCartney, I almost said

Paul McCartney. Paul McCartney started in Liverpool on Apple records.

Bill McCartney was the coach of the Colorado Buffaloes football team back in the 80s,

I believe. And he came up with something called promise keepers. And it was a men's movement. And of course there are probably lots of good motives, but he had seven additional promises added on to the two great commandments, the 10 commandments and other scriptural exhortations.

Like I need more promises to break. I promise this, I promise that. But today, instead of talking about his organization, we're going to talk about Jesus, the promise keeper.

And there's a great verse in 2 Corinthians chapter one that talks about the promises of God find their yes in Jesus.

Every promise of God finds his yes in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is why

Paul goes on to say, that is why it is through him, Jesus, that we utter our amen to God for his glory.

So today, promises from the Lord Jesus in Luke chapter 12, and we will have an eye toward eternity.

We're gonna be thinking about eternity. It'd be good that Jesus would promise, you know what,

I'll take care of your food. I'll take care of your clothing. I'll take care of your dwelling place.

I'll take care of your children. You respond with working hard temporarily on earth.

I've got you covered. Those are good promises and I'm glad for those. But what about eternity? What about eternal things?

What about life after we die? I mean, every one of us is going to live forever. Our souls will live forever.

One day be reunited with our body and then what? And so are there any promises about eternity?

Yes, and they should give you great encouragement. They've encouraged me as I've studied it, five promises from Jesus, and who knows how many we'll get to.

Mario, I don't think I can get through all five. So several promises today on No Compromise Radio from Jesus that will help you think about eternity, that should give you comfort, joy, no matter what your problems are.

My problems right now are I've got ice on the driveway. My back hurts.

Mario's got problems. He's got to put up with me. He's got work stuff going on. These promises will help live a life of faith.

So promises from Jesus, promise number one, that if you acknowledge

Jesus on earth, you confess Jesus on earth, you believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ, that He, Jesus, will acknowledge you before the angels and the

Father at the end of days. Judgment. Can you imagine standing before the bar of God's judgment, knowing you're a sinner, knowing you're depraved, knowing you've got

Adam's sin, your own sin, knowing that I've broken promises, lied, coveted, lusted, self -righteousness, idolatry, sin, iniquity, perversion, knowing what

I deserve. Yet you mean to tell me, Mike, that Jesus is going to stand up on judgment day and in front of the angels and His Father say,

I acknowledge Mike Ebendroth as my own. And he doesn't deserve to be here, but based on what

I've done, he's here. And I acknowledge him. Let's find out if that's true. Luke chapter 12, verse eight.

Now there's all kinds of people around Jesus. Tens of thousands of people, chapter 12 say, and He hones in,

Jesus hones in on talking to His disciples. Now the Pharisees have really been after the disciples.

And of course the Pharisees are in a long line of killing machines. And God's people,

God's prophets have been regularly killed throughout the ages. And Jesus will be killed, of course, by the

Pharisees and others. And Paul will die at the hands of religious leaders.

Peter, James, Stephen. Pharisees are trying to control.

Pharisees are trying to condemn Jesus. Pharisees are trying to run the show. And sometimes it's difficult to live in light of that persecution.

And so Jesus is going to say, by the way, it's worth it. Any hardship, any trouble, any persecution, any issue that's going on.

And I don't care if it's, I don't know where my next job's gonna be, or my back hurts, or difficulties with marriages, or whatever it might be.

To think Luke chapter 12, verse eight. And I tell you, Jesus said, everyone who acknowledges or confesses me before men, the son of man will also acknowledge before the angels of God.

You confess him on earth, he confesses you in heaven. I mean,

I probably don't need to say anything else. I could just say to you, just think about that for a little bit.

Ponder that, that we confess Jesus now. And of course we would do that by grace, by the work of the spirit of God.

It's sovereign grace, we didn't do it on our own. He made us alive, we responded with faith. If you confess

Jesus before men, he will confess you before the angels.

I mean, in front of all the angels, angels where one angel could kill 188 ,000, was it 188 ,000, 185 ,000?

It's a lot, it's 180 some thousand people that one angel can kill. Can you imagine the glorious angels and Michael and Gabriel and these angels that show up?

You think, what in the world, Mike Abendroth is mine? He's my brother,

Jesus would say. I confess him as friend, I've paid for his sins, I've redeemed him,

I've made him alive and he will be in my presence and join me forever. That eternal perspective is helpful.

If you confess Jesus, what is he talking about? A simple confession in front of men on earth? Well, it would include that, but it does derive from the confession you have when you believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ. What does Romans 10 say? If you confess, same word as acknowledge.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.

And you shall have your name professed by Jesus in front of the angels and the father on that day.

That is amazing. You'll be professed wonderfully, marvelously. If there's something that brings comfort to our soul,

I think this would be it, that there's an end and there's a beginning of eternity, if you will, and instead of being judged, instead of going to hell, we are confessed by Jesus.

We have Peter's great confession, you're the Christ, the Son of living God. We have the centurion's great profession at the foot of the cross.

Truly, this is the Son of man. This is the Son of God. And now we have Jesus's profession. Every Christian by name professed in front of the angels.

Well, what will that look like? What will that be? We have knowledge of Jesus. We have assent to Jesus's work and we have trust in Jesus.

That is what saving faith is. And if you have saving faith, there's eternal life for you. I think about some of these verses, for God so loved the world that He gave

His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should have eternal life and not perish.

And part of that eternal life is going to be, Jesus confesses your name. He acknowledges you in front of the angels and in front of the

Father. Now, the text is in front of the angels. In Matthew, it says in front of the Father, because both will be there.

Here, the Son of man, that language from Daniel chapter seven, where the Son of man coming with the clouds, ancient of days was presented before Him.

He's got the dominion and authority and power. This is all language of Daniel seven, the eternal God -man.

You will have your name confessed by Jesus on that day.

So in the context of Luke 12, Pharisees persecuting, Pharisees coming alongside to kill even, what kind of courage would that give a

Christian? What kind of courage would that give a disciple? Hey, boys, Jesus would say, He didn't say boys, but He said, hey, men.

He didn't say, hey, either, but I'm just, bear with me. Hey, boys, I know they're gonna persecute you.

They're gonna kill me, but I want you to know they can't kill your soul. Remember just earlier,

He talked about, don't fear people that can just kill your body. Fear people, fear the one rather who can cast your soul into hell.

And if you're a believer in Jesus, your soul's not gonna be cast into hell. And when these Pharisees persecute you and they deny who

I am, you profess, you confess, you stand up for me. That's a sign that you're a

Christian and I'm gonna profess you one day. Whose approval do you want? Do you want their approval or do you want my approval?

And when you're trusting in me, you have that approval. Second Timothy chapter two, if we endure, we will also reign with Him.

First John chapter two, the one who confesses the son has the father also.

Revelation chapter three, verse five, he who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments.

And I will not erase his name from the book of life. Listen, and I will confess his name before my father and before his angels.

Wow, he wouldn't have to do that, but he does it to encourage, he does it to comfort. He does it to try to tell you how wonderful, how awesome will heaven be.

I, you, sinful, deserving justice. And Jesus says, everyone who confesses, not just the disciples, but everyone, that includes you.

Eternity is at stake. And now we're trusting in the promises of God. I'm gonna believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll think about what will happen that day in eternity and it will change the way

I live today. It'll change my focus today. Do you know, if you think about the future, it affects your behavior now in time.

What's going to happen at the very end? One writer said, he will testify that we belong to him by faith.

Jesus will claim that through his death on the cross, he has taken our shame upon him and fearlessly paid the full penalty for our sin.

He will plead for his father to declare us righteous in his sight, and he will win our case.

Now, I've had to give testimony and deposition before lawyers before. Somehow I didn't have a lawyer present.

I thought this lawyer was gonna help me, but they didn't. And to have the right lawyer, to have the right mediator, to have the right advocate, that's what we need.

And that's who Jesus is. We acknowledge Jesus by grace alone, through faith alone,

Christ alone, and he acknowledges us. The greatest confession ever is not our confession.

It's Jesus confessing us to the father. That should encourage you. One writer said, this is warm encouragement for judgment day.

Warm encouragement. Now, as you know, I love creeds and confessions and summaries of Christian faith.

One of my favorites is the Belgic Confession. You can download it. There's an app. You can go online, the

Belgic Confession. And it talks about the last judgment. And it's article 37.

And here's what it says. In contrast, the faithful and elect will be crowned with glory and honor.

The son of God will profess their names before God the father and the holy and elect angels.

All tears will be wiped from their eyes and their cause at present condemned as heretical and evil will be acknowledged as the cause of the son of God.

Mario, this one's for you. And as a gracious reward, the Lord will make them possess a glory such as a human heart could never imagine.

So we look forward to that great day with longing in order to enjoy fully the promises of God in Christ Jesus, our

Lord. I wonder if Jesus could keep the promise. I think we know the answer.

Promises from the Lord Jesus. My name is Mike Abenroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. You can write me, mikeatnocompromiseradio .com.

Go to the YouTube channel. If you're watching, you are at the YouTube channel. And if not, I don't know what to tell you.

You can listen by audio. Mario, I've been listening to an audio book lately on the

Mayflower and the pilgrims coming over. And I'm surprised at the very beginning, they were talking about the

Christians that came over and these Christians who came over, many of them believed in what the author called the covenant of redemption.

And they were talking about covenant theology at the beginning of this book, where the Father and the Son and the Spirit before time, an intra -Trinitarian promise and agreement that Jesus would be sent by the

Father to die for the elect, ransom the bride. The Spirit of God would apply the work of Christ all to the glory of God as these saints now are conformed to the image of the glory of Christ Jesus.

And it was in the book on the Mayflower, I thought, I don't feel so bad listening to a secular book now.

Promise number two, as great as this promise is for comfort, the second promise in Luke chapter 12 is hard to swallow if you're an unbeliever.

Now, these Pharisees, they're denying Jesus. They're trying to suffocate Jesus's work, His person.

They're after Him on the Sabbath. They again will kill Him eventually. There's something about confessing, but what about those that deny

Jesus? What about those that wait to the very end and still deny? They're on their deathbeds.

I've been there before. People dying and I'm trying to implore them to believe in the Lord Jesus. And with resolute stubbornness and a stiff -necked attitude, they still say, no,

I refuse to bend the knee. That tells you basically how bad sin is, how enslaving

Satan is. But here's what Jesus says in promise number two. But the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

If you confess that Jesus is Lord, you believe on the work of Jesus, the risen Savior, the sin -bearing substitute, you have eternal life.

What about those that deny? What about these Pharisees that He's talking to right now? When they deny

Jesus, He will deny them. For Christianity, you're either all in or you're all out.

You're either for Jesus by faith or you're against Him by sin. There's no neutrality.

There's no middle ground. It's either Jesus or nothing. It's either heaven or hell. And it's all what you think about Christ Jesus.

Think, well, this is foolish. That's why Paul called it the foolishness of the cross. Out of the 30 ,000 alleged

Jews that got crucified during the Roman persecution, you mean to tell me that I just need to believe in this one

Jew, this Jew that calls himself God and that He dies for sinners and is raised from the dead?

Yeah, that's what I'm telling you. And He showed you that He was the Messiah by never sinning, by compassionate miracles, by healing the leper, by raising people from the dead, by raising

Himself from the dead. And what you do with Christ, believe or not believe, determines your eternal life, heaven or hell.

You see God in nature and you say there's gotta be a creator and He's powerful and He's wise.

We see who God is specifically in scripture and we think we need to repent. We know we're sinful.

We need to be forgiven and we need to trust the Lord. Here, if you deny Jesus, He'll deny you forever.

Satan's first lie, what was it about? Think back in Adam and Eve's day. Think about Genesis chapter three.

There's no judgment. That's Satan's lie. So many people I know of that aren't

Christians, they're like, hey, I'm gonna make it. They're buying into the lie of judgment.

Now, let's talk about this. If I were to ask you, have you ever denied Jesus? Have you ever said, you know what?

I've been kind of ashamed. My friend, what are you reading? You quick put your Bible away. Are you reading a book about Jesus in the plane?

You're like, I don't know if I want them to see it. Or some family member asks you and you say something and it's kind of this denial.

Are we talking about a one -time denial? Are we talking about a resolute, permanent, when

I die, I'm still denying Jesus? And I think you know the answer because it's the second one. Peter, did he ever deny

Jesus? Yes. So that means Jesus is gonna deny him? No, Peter, not once, not twice, but three times denies

Jesus. In front of little girls even. And is he in heaven? Yes.

What we're talking about here, what Jesus is talking about is this persistent, rebellious, hard -hearted, recalcitrant heart that at the end still says, forget you.

I hate you. I don't want you. I don't need you. This is the ultimate denial. This is dying, denying, dying denial.

Did Paul ever deny Jesus? Of course, he was persecuting the church.

He was killing people. He was there affirming Stephen's death. Is Paul in heaven?

Of course he is. So is this, I've denied Jesus, I'm done? No, no, this is this ongoing,

I will deny to the very end. For these kind of people, Jesus said in Matthew 7, then

I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. That's the ultimate when it comes to denial.

Matthew 25, then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, you cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

The issue is not have we ever denied Jesus? Have we ever sinned? Of course, denial of Jesus would be sin, but those sins have been covered.

Those sins have been paid for by Jesus. The failure is when you die denying the

Lord Jesus. Therefore, by the way, if you're watching today and you're not a Christian, it's not too late.

Today's a good day. Today is the day of salvation. Jesus, the way, the truth and the life, believe on the

Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. Just like that jailer in Acts chapter 16, what do

I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus. Aren't you glad it doesn't say work to get into heaven, do good things to get into heaven?

Because if you had to work to get into heaven and to be good to get in heaven, it would have to be perfect. You have to perfectly love

God and perfectly love neighbor. But Jesus dies for those sins and he saves people who have temporarily, temporarily denied.

If I were to ask you as a Christian, is it your desire to never deny Jesus again, to never be ashamed, to never make an excuse, to never hide your

Christianity under a bushel? The answer would be yes, yes, and yes. That's the sign of a Christian. Christians aren't perfect.

Christians aren't, practically, Christians aren't the ones who have never sinned, but here Jesus is talking about this disowning.

He's not talking about you lose your salvation because you sinned in the future, Christian. He's talking about people who aren't

Christians and they say, I disown Jesus. He is not the way, he's not the truth, he's not the life.

I'm not this big sinner, I'm better than other people. I don't want him to be an advocate. I don't need him to be a mediator.

I will stand in front of the bar of God's justice and I will plead my case and come what may.

This is not about people who say, you know what? What will somebody think if I'm a Jesus freak?

By the way, I could say this, and I will say it, it's my show, high ratings.

We've got thousands of people watching. If someone were to say, do you know what?

I'm kind of afraid to become a Christian because my dad might disown me.

Maybe you're in a Muslim country and you think it's gonna bring shame, a shame culture.

And what will my wife think if I become a Christian? What if I'm gonna be some kind of evangelical now and people hate that and they assume that I'm just some

Republican evangelical stereotype, some Jesus freak. You don't want

Jesus to deny you on judgment day, do you? So you'd rather put up with some of the problems now on earth than go to hell.

The Bible says in Revelation 14, people will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb.

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night.

And whether that's people that have the mark of the beast or anyone that denies Jesus up into the end and dies as an apostate, dies as an unbeliever,

Jesus says, I will deny you. If the father and since the father has said of Jesus, this is my beloved son in whom

I'm well -pleased. Christians say the same thing. And unbelievers essentially say, even if they try to give lip service, he's not a beloved son.

There are other ways to heaven, I don't care. Final judgment is final.

Once that's happened, it's happened. You have until you die and then comes judgment. Matter of fact, was it not the writer of Hebrews that said, it's appointed for man once to die and then the judgment.

John Bunyan said, I don't wanna do the first, die. I can't do the second, be judged without Jesus.

I don't wanna die and I don't wanna be judged, but both of those are true. It's interesting as I'm almost 66 years old, death is much closer to me than it was obviously 20 years ago, 40 years ago, 60 years ago.

And I'm thinking about it. When is my day? Dad dies at 55, mom dies at 66.

I'm almost 66, had cancer a couple of times. Who knows what's gonna happen? What would it mean to live a life thinking,

I just hope it all works out on that day. My good outweighs my bad. God will take some of my bad motives, but I'm kind of sincere a little bit.

No, here Jesus gives the promises. You confess me, I confess you. You deny me, I deny you.

You don't wanna perish, do you? You wanna repent and believe. Knowing the terror of the

Lord, Paul said, we persuade men. John Calvin said, how could

Christ our advocate condemn his clients? How could the lawyer condemn his client?

And so on judgment day, we're not going to be condemned. The only way Christ would condemn his clients if his clients were not trusting in him.

What you do with Jesus affects everything. So many promises.

Does God keep his promises? What are those promises? Well, let me give you one more promise in the time we have left.

Every sin committed against Jesus can be forgiven. Every sin, no matter what kind of sin you've ever done, it can be forgiven.

Luke 12 10, everyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven. But the one who blasphemes against the

Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Now, I know you want me to talk about the unpardonable sin. I know you want me to talk about the blasphemy of the

Holy Spirit, that's next show. But for now, we're talking about, if you speak a word against the son of man, you will be forgiven.

I just want you to know, when I watch the Lord Jesus on the cross, as I look at scripture, and he says, father, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing. Every sin that I've ever committed was forgiven. Why? Because Jesus in his grace bestowed that upon me and I responded with faith.

Think about all the different things you've done with thought, word and deed, with your hands, with your body, with your eyes, with your mind.

Every kind of sin can be forgiven because Jesus's death was so great. Is there any sin that can't be forgiven in terms of on earth, confessing, repenting and trusting the

Lord Jesus? No, sins are not forgiven after you die, but while you're alive, every sin, when you've been justified by faith, through faith rather, you think, okay,

I have Jesus's righteousness. He took on my sin. Every sin can be forgiven.

What about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? Well, I'm glad you asked, but that's for next time because I don't have enough time to talk about that.

What I do know is that you ought to be thankful. I had to be thankful that I don't have to pay for one sin.

Think about David, kills Uriah, Bathsheba, adultery, forgiven.

You think you'll see David in heaven? Abraham, she's not my wife, she's my sister.

He's in heaven. Samson, give me a wife. He's in heaven.

Paul, kill those people over there. He's in heaven. Peter, I don't know the man.

He's in heaven. And now think of you, you get to go to heaven. And back to where we started.

Jesus will profess your name in front of the angels and the

Father by grace alone, through faith alone. You can write me Mike at No Compromise Radio.

I will hope to have some little reels coming up sometime soon and other things. But for the meantime, if you've got a question, you've got a comment, you've got a

Patreon, Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com. Mario made me do it.