Jesus is Lord (Part 2)

Opening Banter, Book Promotion, and Conference Plans

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Cavendroth. How are you doing? I just need to speak up a little bit. I said to myself the other day, my voice has gotten so much stronger these days.

I never sound like I do today. I don't know what is going on. Good to have you on. There must be a proverbial frog in my throat. You can write me, Mike, at nocompromiseradio .com. What else? You can go to Spotify, you can go to iTunes, you can go to the website.

I need a new website. You know what I need? I need an app, but I have no idea what to do, how much it costs or anything like that. I think we have 11 Patreon supporters for which I'm very grateful, but maybe we probably need about 20 to get an app is what I would guess.

Who knows? My new book, Cancer Is Not Your Shepherd, should be out sometime around when you hear this. If you've got a better title, you can let me know. I thought about that because I'm in the hospital and I was thinking about all these people who are wracked by cancer.

I'm in the laboratory area and it's like, oh, cancer is like leading them. They don't have a shepherd to lead them. That's why I thought about it. A 31-Day Guide to Suffering. I wrote the first 16 days.

The last 16 days are Puritans and Spurgeonists, Spurgeon kind of people. I think it'll be encouraging. Written in maybe sexual fidelity style. One chapter is called You Have Cancer. What's it like when you hear that?

How do you think through it? Chapter on Redeeming Blood Tests. You have to get so many blood tests at the hospital. Every time you get stuck, what should you think of? How to serve the staff, how to rest in the sovereignty of God, how to have joy, how to think about the future, short-term and long-term.

I had ideas for all the chapters and within two minutes I wrote down all the ideas and then I just started filling in the blanks, trying to write 3 ,000 words a night. It's off to the editor now and then I need the formatting, then cover, then Amazon.

Who needs Crossway? I think I had one book that got to the Crossway editor's room. What's it called? Publishers. Review Board. Once Justin Taylor found out it was me, it was over. I did only talk to Justin Taylor one time.

He seems like a fine fellow and I, instead of doing a no-compromise thing, because I think I was after the Gospel Coalition at the time, and now they just get after themselves. And I just said, you know, one of the things I really appreciate about Crossway is not just the whole Christ by Sinclair Ferguson, but the little individual Bible books published with the blank page on the right side and then the text on the left side that you can write in, the kind of journals.

And he said, thank you. And he said, you know, such a simple idea, but so helpful to so many. And I said, yeah, it's true. Thank you. Thank you for your ministry. See, I can even be nice. I'll be at the Shepherd's Conference this year, Lord willing, and I'm just going to show up and talk to friends.

499 seemed steep to me and I hardly ever went in for messages anyway. Alistair Begg's no longer on the list. And so, they've given Piper two slots. And I'm talking about his teaching. I'm not talking about his person or his godliness or anything like that.

This has nothing to do with ad hominem. But I don't really care for Piper's preaching style, nor do I like his theology on Sola Fide. So, why would I go do that? I mean, they should have brought in Sinclair Ferguson, right?

If I could listen to anyone preach who's alive today, I think it'd be Sinclair Ferguson. I don't know if I'd pay 500 for one message. But 499, I just might. So, anyway, if you hear this and it's played before March 3rd, 4th, and 5th, I think, 5th, 6th, and 7th, who knows what the dates are.

And maybe I hope to see you. So, you can buy me a coffee since I won't be able to have any name tags next. I can go to the coffee place and buy a coffee. And I could probably be accosted by people who call me an antinomian.

Antinomianism and How to Respond to Critics

So, I need to have a good strategy. Maybe you could help me with this as a friend here, as an audience that is friendly. If somebody says, I heard you're an antinomian. And I can be really jerky and say, that's slander.

I could say, prove it. I could say, what's an antinomian? I could say, put your money where your mouth is. I could say... I know I am, but what are you?

I could say lots of things. I declare that you will only speak positive words of faith and victory over yourself, over your family, and over your future. You will not use your words to describe the situation.

You will use your words to change the situation. I declare that you will call in favor, good breaks, healing, and restoration. You will not talk to God about how big the problems are, but you will talk to your problems about how big your God is.

Problems. Wallet. You don't have much money in there. You got a big God. That's what I'm going to do when people come and talk to me. I'm going to give them the old Joel cube. They'll probably respond with a Joyce Meyer cube.

Where's my Sinclair Ferguson cube, by the way? I could probably make a lot of money. I'm going to have to call Sinclair and ask him about that. My Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson. I saw the Bob Marley movie the other night, because I was thinking about names.

Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson, Robert Nesta Marley. I don't know what the Nesta's for. I think that had to do with maybe it was his mom's name or something like that. Maiden name, something like that. I don't know what they did.

Anyway, when I watched the Johnny Cash movie, I thought to myself, the actor that plays Johnny Cash, I didn't think he was an actor anymore. I thought, that's Johnny Cash. And here the whole time I thought that actor just made me think the whole time that's an actor.

They did not show at the end of the movie that Bob Marley got baptized in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Now, there are some rumors that he was preached the gospel to at his deathbed or near to it and then baptized, but they didn't put either of those in the show.

The show opened with Ziggy Marley, his son. Marley had a lot of sons from a lot of different people, but from his wife, Rita, that's Ziggy's mom, that the show has the blessings of the Marley family, et cetera.

So I thought that part was good, but I was wanting to see the Ethiopian Orthodox baptism after all this Haile Selassie, Jah, Rastafari, I and I, ganja nonsense. But the music is good. I just, you know, when I hear freedom of Jah people, I just think Yahweh, not thinking the Exodus.

Jesus, Not Religious Minutia, Is the Center of the Show

Hey, you do that too, don't you? Come on. I know you do. You do it. It's true. You do that. Let's talk a little bit about Jesus today. There's a show on local AM radio on Saturdays, and maybe it's still on.

I don't know. And it was a guy, he seemed genuine. He seems a little charismatic. He seems Arminian. He seems not like he's got great systematic theology, but what he did have for him is he would say, let's talk about Jesus.

I think that was the name of the show. That's a lot better than some expositors that I know, like word studies, minutia of the text, human author only, no redemptive historical, no biblical theology, just whatever the commands are, sanctification by vinegar, sanctification via athletic and military metaphors alone.

By the way, Paul does use some of those, but they're after the personal work of Christ, union with Christ, et cetera. Anyway, that's probably a good title. Let's talk about Jesus. That could be the new radio show.

Forget duplex gratia radio, DGR. Let's talk about Jesus. That's a great show. Is it already copyrighted? Now, what we're after is in this particular show, part two of the Lordship of Jesus. Who said I didn't believe in Lordship?

That's the other thing they're going to say at the Shepherds Conference. Mike doesn't believe in Lordship. I mean, come on. Go to Heidelblog, download my articles from Lordship to Law Gospel. You can see what I believe.

I want holy living. I want you to kill sin. I want you to live for righteousness. I want you to be obedient. I want you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling. I want you to pray. I want you to rebuke.

I want you to do church discipline. I want you to read your Bibles. I want you to attend worship services. I want you to evangelize your neighbor. Did I mention I want you to kill sin and live to righteousness?

I mean, come on. That's the Joel cube. Maybe we could do the prophet Joel and he just would give us a verse or something. That'd be much better. Anyway, the Lordship of Jesus, I obviously believe in Jesus is Lord.

You don't make Jesus Lord, Jesus is Lord. But sola fide is a belief in the Lord Jesus. And it's not, I have to be completely submitted to the Lord Jesus in order to be saved. That's not what I'm after.

I'm talking about knowledge of a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, immediately after justification, sanctification is instant. It is at the same time simultaneous. And what happens?

Spirit of God dwells in you. Christ is spirit. And you have now power for holy living Christ for pardon, justification, Christ for power, sanctification. It's not on your own. It's because of the Lord Jesus.

And he is a complete savior. The Lord Jesus, right? Did I not say that the Lord Jesus, of course he's Lord. And of course, we submit to him and surrender to him and to yield to him and want to have the Lordship over our finances and sex life increase.

But that's not in order to be saved. That's because you are saved. That's my whole issue there. So do I believe in the Lordship of Jesus? Yes. And I want to be nice about this, but I defy anyone to listen to sermons or even no compromise radio and say he doesn't believe in the Lordship of Jesus.

So that's part two. You see the kindness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you not? And he arose Luke 4, 38 and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house. By the way, Simon's going to have to leave that house, right?

You're going to follow me. I'm going to make you fishers of men, not fissures of men, fishers. Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill. Wait a second. Simon's married? The first Pope's married? Uh-oh. 1 Corinthians 9.

It's also fine to bring along a wife, a believing wife. His mother-in-law was ill. S. Lewis Johnson made a joke about, are you sure you want to heal her? It's going to go for a father-in-law too. Come on.

With a high fever and they appealed to him, Jesus on her, Simon's mother-in-law's behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever and it left her. And immediately she rose and began to serve them.

Christ’s Authority, Power, and Compassion in Healing

Now the miracles that Jesus did pointed to Jesus as a verifier, confirming his message, authenticating his message. Of course, fulfilled prophecy, but also designed to show you his love and his compassion and his tenderness.

I agree with Thomas Watson. No action of his has fallen short of the ideal. Jesus is full of surprises and they are all the surprises of perfection. You are never amazed one day by his greatness and the next by his littleness.

You are quite amazed that he is incomprehensibly better, incomparably better, excuse me, than you could have expected. He is tender without being weak, strong without being coarse, lowly without being servile.

He has conviction without intolerance, enthusiasm without fanaticism, holiness without Pharisee-ism, passion without prejudice. This man alone never made a false step, never struck a jarring note. His life alone moved on those high levels where local limitations are transcended and the absolute law of moral beauty prevails.

It was life at its highest. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Jesus kindly, majestically, sympathetically takes care of Simon's mother-in-law. Mark says she's lying sick, she's thrown sick, she's in a bed with a great fever.

Luke says she's taken like somebody took over, a lot of danger, no Tylenol back then, no antibiotics back then. It's a burning fever. Some think it's dysentery, a feverish dysentery, they would write.

And they think it's a medical term that Luke uses. Dr. Luke, what do you do back in those days? Well, there's all kinds of things about iron and knives and braids and hair and thorn bushes and everything else.

Hapless. Peter's married, his mother-in-law's sick, there's a high fever, and there's a great physician. He stood over her like a doctor would, warmly, kindly. Presence matters. Not a whole lot of details.

We just see his authority. Yes. His power. Yes. But even more, we see his compassion. Complete healing. Yes. Because she got up to serve him. What if the temperature just went down, her fever went down, her dysentery was gone, but she's still so weak.

I'm so weak. I'm so exhausted. I have no more fever, but I just need to rest a little bit. She's not sweating anymore, burning hot skin no more, but she just exhausted. Doesn't have a sore throat anymore.

No, she gets up and does what she needs to do. I would imagine you're weak from dysentery, but Jesus completely healed her. And what's so incredible here is the insight we get from Matthew and Mark. He touched her hand, Matthew says.

Mark says he took her by the hand and lifted her up. I mean, the healing touch of Jesus, the instantaneous miracle, the organic miracle, the complete miracle, the total miracle. He's touching a woman.

Now, this is no inappropriate touch, of course, but Jewish teaching in some places say a man should not make contact with a woman's hand, not even to count money from his hand to hers. I mean, we've just seen two Gentiles healed, widow of Zarephath's son, Naaman the leper, calmly, confidently takes her by the hand, caring, warm, personal.

I think that's pretty good bedside manner, don't you? Bedside manner. I thought to myself, you know what? I better study a little bit about bedside manner. And what I found 2 ,500 years ago in the Greek culture, here's what it said in the anonymous admissions of Hippocrates.

The physician also ought to be confidential, very chaste, sober, not a winebibber, and he ought to be fastidious in everything, for this is what the profession demands. He ought to have an appearance and approach that is distinguished.

Everything ought to be in moderation, for these things are advantageous, so it is said. Be solicitous in your approach to the patient, not with head down back arrogantly thrown or hesitantly with lowered glance, but with the head inclined slightly as the art demands.

He, the physician, ought to hold his head humbly and evenly. His hair should not be too much smoothed down, nor his beard curled like that of a degenerate youth. Gravity signifies breadth of experience.

He should approach the patient with moderate steps, not noisily, gazing calmly at the sick bed. He should endure peacefully the insults of the patients, since those suffering from melancholic or frenetic ailments are likely to hurl evil words at physicians.

Well, you don't have to teach Jesus how to have a good bedside manner. I mean, my worst experience was with a doctor in Boston, when I told them what treatment I had, and they basically said that was the wrong way to go and that was dumb.

I mean, it's already in the past, it's already done. And when you tell me my option that I took was dumb, I wanted to say, well, so is my copay. The heart of compassion, Jesus's bedside manner. You know, there's another place in Matthew where right after Jesus heals someone, the prophet Isaiah is listed out, and how Isaiah 42 has been fulfilled in Jesus, where a bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench.

So, you've got bruised reeds and smoldering wicks. And what does Jesus do? He doesn't break them off, he doesn't snuff them out. If you think about conquerors, you think about kings, you think about Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus and Darius and Alexander and Napoleon and Stalin.

Jesus is gentle, Jesus is merciful. Reeds were used for what? There's thousands of reeds, millions of reeds in riverbanks and marshes, and you just needed the right reed and you use it for a flute. And if it was cracked, if it was worn, if it was not great, you just throw it away.

It's no biggie. You can get those things, a dime or a dozen, you just throw them out. Nobody would say to the shepherd, I can't believe you just threw out a bruised reed. Sometimes you'd use a reed to write something, and if it didn't work anymore, you just toss it.

Smoldering wicks, are they good for anything? They don't illuminate anything, they just smolder. Smoke and smoke and smoke and smoke and smoke. I mean, snuff that thing out and throw it away and get a different one.

It doesn't cost much, doesn't take much trouble, it's cheap. What about bruised people and wounded people and hurt people, suffering people? It's caused a lot of smoke, caused a lot of angst. I mean, there are millions of people, just snuff out a few.

They deserve it. They're sinners. Their problems outweigh their good. They're creating all kinds of problems. What would the Pharisees do with these kind of people? What did they do to these kind of people?

Weak people, helpless people, little faith people, they break those people, they snuff those people out. They're of no use. How does Jesus deal with those that are burnt out, struggling, tossed back and forth?

We know what he does. What a great Savior. How awesome is that? I was just thinking, you know, even in the middle of, don't want to make it all about me, but just tired, lethargic, hard with all these medicines and cancer and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

He's not going to snuff me out. I might not be working at my top capacity. I might not be able to do all the things I want to do. My mind's a little cloudy and sometimes I just hardly don't get much done.

The other day I had to take two naps. I have a special spot here in my study that if I lay down, nobody can see me. I could just put the radio sign up on the air. I don't, but I could. I think it just says hush or something like that.

When I first started doing radio here in this very seat, it was live radio and people would come by and stare into the windows and watch me. People from the church, they wanted to check it out. Are you a smoldering flax, a bruised reed?

Do you need tenderness and love and kindness? Are you weak, feeble? Do you need comfort? Jesus felt compassion when he saw the multitudes because they were distressed and downcast like a sheep without a shepherd.

Do I need to say more? Peter's mother-in-law was instantaneously healed and she gets up and starts serving. I mean, the cook was sick, big meal of the day, like our Sunday dinner. It's a Sabbath meal.

Why is it here? Well, how thankful she was, how out of gratitude she wanted to serve, but how complete the healing was because you want to see the authority and the power and the compassion of the Lord Jesus fully restored to strength.

How fast Jesus healed. Doesn't fever usually make your body weak? Aren't you usually tired a little bit? And she immediately begins to serve, not just an individual, but the whole group. Luke goes on to say, now, when the sun was setting, all those who had any were sick, any who were sick and various diseases brought them to him.

And he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. Demons also came out of many crying, you are the son of God. He rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew he was the Christ.

Sun setting, every one of them that was brought to Jesus, lay his hands on everyone, everyone, complete, total, indiscriminate. He just heals with a word, puts his hand on them, and then just says something.

They've got burdens that they're carrying and he heals them all. A lot of sick people back in those days without antibiotics, without aspirin, without anything. A lot of demon possessed people. Here we have both groups, sick people and demon possessed people.

And he's healing, not permitting the demons to speak, casting out demons, proclaiming liberty to the captives. This is the Lord Jesus. Well, my name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry.

The Lordship of Jesus. Does Mike Abendroth believe in the Lordship of Jesus? What do you think?