Lucky Luck

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.

Halloween, Reformation Day, and the “Hello” Catchphrase

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth and we are in the studio today. The royal single we, that is me, me, myself and I, it�s a Friday here, it�s October 31st in real time.

No Compromise time, it�s probably in November. How�d you like your Halloween? How�d you like your Reformation day? I�ll never forget the time my wife and kids went out, and I probably am looser now than I used to be, but we never celebrated Halloween.

We might watch a Abbott and Costello meet the werewolf kind of movie down in the basement, but normally my kids just spied on the pagan trick-or-treaters that came to our home. We would have candy, and lots of times I would hand out tracts, and of course I�d wait to the last minute, so the only thing I had to give out for tracts were, I don�t know, some jacked chick tracts or something.

I think one that we gave out one year, at least it had a Bible verse or two on it, �Satan wants to trick you, but God has a treat for you. That is so awful. By the way, thank you to the social media folks who have picked up on my �hello� from Grandma Nona, and so that�s going to be a No Compromise trademark.

When something weird happens, and you tilt your head a little bit, kind of like a dog does, like this is weird, and we often say �hello like �hello how could that be, �hello When my grandmother Nona, my mom�s mother, she would answer the phone, I think she died when she was 92 or so, and she was blind, probably in her late 80s, and so she moved in with my mom.

When she�d answer the phone, and she still had kind of a rotary phone, I used to work for the phone company, and if she ever had any phone troubles, I�d make sure to go to Grandma�s house and help her.

She was known as Grandma Up the Hill. We had Grandma and Grandpa Abendroth, and Grandma and Grandpa Up the Hill. In �72, my grandfather Carl Otto Anderson died, and then it was just Grandma. Well, she was Grandma Up the Hill, and she would answer the phone, always, I even know her number, 553 -3836.

She would answer the phone, �hello and so that�s the No Compromise deal now, that�s the New Compromise too. For when something weird happens, you go, �hello so someone on the YouTube channel, we have the YouTube videos, just another way to try to infiltrate your mind.

Someone said it wasn�t No Compromise, they didn�t like what I said, they called it No Comprehension, I have no comprehension, and you know what, I forgot the guy�s name, but I give him props, you know, No Co a Day keeps the confusion away, you know, we have these different slogans, and for them, that ranks right up there, No Compromise Radio is now turned to No Comprehension Radio, �hello so anyway, we would not let the kids trick or treat, and I�d let the kids run around, and I don�t think they threw rocks at the trick or treaters, but they, you know, I think they went to the neighbors� houses, my kids did and got some candy, but it wasn�t trick or treat stuff, I mean, you know, I�m a trick or treat, they won�t be dressing up as some Dracula, but maybe, you know, a football player or something like that, a marine, WWF wrestlers, but anyway, back to the story, my wife thought, you know, why let the world steal something away that�s fun, there�s nothing inherently wrong with dressing up in a costume and knocking on doors asking for candy, I mean, it�s all the gross stuff that goes along with it, right, the pagan stuff that comes along with it that ruins it for Christians, and so, I think here at the church, you know, we have the Harvest Festival and stuff like that, you could dress up as your famous, favorite reformer, famous too, and so she, Truth or Something it was called, I wish I could remember, Trick or Truth, and then they, my wife and kids got a bunch of Fox�s Book of Martyrs tracks, and then they dressed up as their favorite, can�t talk today, favorite martyr, blood, hatchets, and then they would go to this Roman Catholic neighborhood, which they�re all Roman Catholic here in New England, and they would talk about Trick or Truth, and they would basically say who am I, and then they would try to give the gospel through the lens of the martyr�s story.

So, I don�t think that went over too well around here, but they came back alive, and so, tonight�s trick or treat day for the world, and people are going to go crazy and wild, I don�t know what we�re going to do, you know, maybe I�ll be like one of those sour folks and we just turn off the lights and hunker down.

So anyway, my name is Mike Cabendroth, you can write us at info at NoCompromisedRadio .com. Spencer will probably get the email and send it off to me or Ray or someone else. We�ve got folks working on the website, Josh and Jonathan and Ben helping with social media.

You can go to Twitter at NoCoRadio. In the past, I�d probably send out four or five theological articles per week. I did it for about 20 years on the BBC mailing list, BBC pastor mailing list, but I gave it up.

So, now my time, if I spend, it�s on Twitter. I�ve now entered the Twitter world. So anyway, I just go to HootSuite, paste in a bunch of stuff, it schedules them, and off we go. What else can happen? I just got in my hands, my hot little hands, my hot sweaty hands, discovering Romans, spiritual revival for the soul, S. Lewis Johnson, Jr., adapted by Mike Cabendroth, and so I�m thrilled.

I just got off the phone with Grace Johnson Monroe, his daughter, Lewis�s daughter, and just have enjoyed my friendship with her and her husband, Dennis. They live in Dallas area. And so anyway, I think you�d be really encouraged as you read this Romans.

It�s Romans commentary, but written in a style that you could just pick it up and read as a book. It�s got some discussion questions at the end of every chapter and notes. Instead of footnotes, I would have rather had the other way around, but for the sake of reading an audience published by Zondervan.

And so I think you�d really like it. So this one�s easier for me to promote, although it does have my name on it. It�s smaller letters. It�s kind of hard to promote yourself. Well, it�s actually very easy.

It comes very naturally, doesn�t it? But I�d rather promote the Lord�s work through S. Lewis Johnson. And so here�s how I approach this. If I were to promote the church I pastor, would that be okay? And I think the answer is yes.

Come to Bethlehem Bible Church. Why? Because we tell you about the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, how He existed in eternity past, the second person of the Trinity that is, and how He�s the Eternal Son, how He would make appearances in the Old Testament as a Christophany, how He was born of a virgin, how He lived a perfect life, how He died a substitutionary death.

His life was a ransom as He would redeem sinners, reconcile them, making propitiation with the Father, and being raised from the dead. And so it�s easy for me to say, �Oh, come to Bethlehem Bible Church.

And so it�s easy for me in a similar fashion, although not exactly the same, to say this is a great book, S. Lewis Johnson�s Romans Commentary for pretty much lay people. I think if you�re a scholar, you�ll appreciate the footnotes.

Several chapters were BibSAC articles, so it�s a little more theologically driven, but very applicational, very relevant, very seriously, you will like the book. And you can get it on Amazon and probably everywhere else, not till November 25th for you normal people.

I already have mine for you hoi polloi, for you just regular folks. But anyway, coming to a theater near you. When I was in the Czech Republic in 2013, October, slowly dying from an allergic reaction to hazelnuts, I thought about my wife and kids.

I thought about Roddick, who was my student, driving me to the hospital. I thought, �I have to die well. You know, this is a class. Class, here�s how you die well. I thought about all kinds of things.

For a brief moment, for a split second, I did think to myself, �I�ll never see the Romans Commentary. I wanted to see it. So I guess my life is now complete is what I�m trying to tell you. When it came to my door, it said Zondervan.

I opened it up and saw that copy. MacArthur did the forward endorsements from Sinclair Ferguson to Daniel Wallace. Anyway, I was very, very happy. To God be the glory. Well, today we�re going to do something a little bit differently than we normally do.

Quotations, Illustration Books, and the Value of Thinking

I have in front of me 3 ,000 select quotations. Now, this show is either going to be wonderful or it�s really going to bomb. Oh, before I forget too, there�s a new no-compromise TV show. You can go to Worldview Weekend.

I think there are 10 shows recorded. I don�t think I know 10 TV shows, half-hour shows. Brandon House has been very generous with his time and with the studio. It�s free to no-compromise radio. To me, he edits it, puts it all together.

You can go to his website. There�s a show from Justin Peters. There�s a show from Michael John Beasley. There�s a show from Tommy Ice. Lots of folks. Anyway, thanks to Brandon. Here�s the problem. We go to Branson with Brandon and there are people named Brandon.

How can I keep all these things together? I can�t. That�s no-comprehension radio. No-co still fits. 3 ,000 select quotations. Now, I am cleaning out my office slash study and it�s good to do that every once in a while.

There�s a bunch of books that I receive that I don�t like. There�s books that I don�t like anymore. There�s books that I have on e-format now. I�m not a big e-guy, but at least for Lagos, I do that.

I have a lot of illustration books. When you�re a young pastor, when you�re a new Bible teacher, you�re looking for illustrations to really make the point hit home. There can be a little more illumination from the Holy Spirit as you give an illustration.

Now, of course, illustrations are fine. They give light to the subject, but they�re not the main point. I think it was Spurgeon who said in lectures to my students that illustration should be like windows, but you just don�t have a whole house made of windows, I guess, unless it�s the Crystal Cathedral.

I went to the Crystal Cathedral in 1984 and I did hear the word Jesus mentioned in Jesus� name, Amen, and that was about it. Even as a pagan, I knew something ain�t quite right. So, I�m getting rid of illustration books now because you don�t really need them.

What you need to do is you need to just think. Look outside and think. Remember something that�s happened in your life. Use your mind a little bit and you can find plenty of illustrations. So, as I get older, I have more of a reservoir of illustrations.

So, what I thought I would do is I�m just going to open up this book, 3 ,000 Selected Quotations. I was ready to throw it away or give it away. It says Selected Quotations from Brilliant Writers Compiled from the Religious Literature of All Ages by Josiah H. Gilbert with an Introduction by Charles S. Robinson, D .D. Hartford, Scranton Company, 1905.

So, I thought it�d be fun to just see where this goes. So, I tell you ahead of time, you can�t see me. This isn�t wretched radio where you can see what�s going on here behind the scenes. I am not setting these things up.

Now, it would be better radio if I would look ahead of time for some choice quotes, either negative or positive. My wife, when we first were married, worked for Love Connection. Remember Chuck Woolery, 2 and 2, and set up the dates.

She was a talent coordinator, and she would interview potential contestants. So, she would either make sure that they were going to be a perfect fit and that way they would have a nice romantic date on Love Connection, or they would hate each other.

Then I went to seminary. I get saved and go to seminary, and people say, �What is your wife doing Other students had wives and five kids at home, and they were homeschooling and all this kind of jazz.

My wife worked in Hollywood for the Love Connection. So, anyway, here�s what I�m thankful for. Aren�t you glad there�s progressive sanctification? Aren�t you glad we all grow in Christ? I know. All right, so here we go.

It would make better radio if it was either really bad or really good, but we�re just going to give it a shot. All right? So, here we go. Patience. The disciples of the patient Savior should be patient themselves.

Spurgeon. So, I would have to say, yes, how patient was the Lord Jesus? It reminds me of Jonah, where Jonah knew the Ninevites. If they heard the message about this great, generous God, God is so patient, long-suffering.

Remember Jonah in chapter 4, that God would surely save these wicked people, and Jonah wanted them to go to hell. He didn�t care about them. And so, I like Spurgeon�s quote here because we learn Jesus is patient, and in light of who Jesus is and what he�s done for us, we should be patient too.

It doesn�t do you any good to just go around and tell people, �Sunday school, at home, be patient, be patient, be patient. We give people the indicative, who Jesus is and what he�s done, what mom and dad have done for the children, in light of that, be patient.

So, that one wasn�t too good, but it wasn�t too bad. There couldn�t be better quotes. Okay. I�m going to open this up again. Top lady, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace.

Vile I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. What a great stanza. That is a great stanza by Top Lady. And I often think to myself, �Mike, is Christianity true Right? I might have a fleeting doubt here or there.

And then I�ll say to myself, �I know it is true. I can just look outside and open my eyes and see birds and see the ecosystem. I know what God�s Word says, and I begin to preach to myself, right? And then I say to myself, �And I am willing to trust my eternal soul to the validity of the claims of Christ Jesus found in the Bible.

If the Bible isn�t true, if Jesus isn�t true, I�m willing to stake my eternal life and destiny on the claims of Jesus that He is the eternal Son of God. I�m all in. My chips are in, and I have no other recourse.

If Jesus isn�t the Savior, I�m damned. And so, as I begin to preach to myself and things like that, my subjective assurance begins to increase. And as you know, when you want to have assurance, there�s lots of ways to have assurance.

There�s objective assurance as you contemplate the Lord�s work, right? There is a little less than objective assurance when you begin to think about your life and go through 1 John chapters 1 through 5, and you say, �Well, what are the tests of saving faith in John

Well, I don�t measure it perfectly, but I see an aptitude. I see an appetite for these things. I see affections for godly things and a lack of affections for ungodly things. And so, John would give you five tests, wouldn�t he?

He�d give you, �Do you confess sin �Do you confess Christ as Lord �Do you love not the world �Do you love God �And do you love your fellow Christians �Do you love your neighbor So, then begin to look at those things.

And then there is a subjective Holy Spirit applied, typically in Trials and Troubles, Romans chapter 8, where he bears witness to you that you�re, in fact, a Christian. And so, I often think to myself, �Wash me, Savior, or I die.

I have no other hope, no other trust. So, my name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio, and we�re just having some quotable fun. This could be a new segment, depending on how well it works.

I�ll open it up. Ready? Rutherford, �Build your nest upon no tree here, for ye see that God hath sold the forest to death. This is under the category of earth. When it comes to the earth and the world, �Build your nest upon no tree here, for ye see that God hath sold the forest to death.

Now, I don�t know exactly what Rutherford means, and I would guess it was Samuel Rutherford, the great Scott. But when I look outside right now, I kid you not, I see several colors of the trees, leaves to be specific, in New England.

I see orange, I see a red, I see yellow, and I see green, and kind of everything in between. And so, green is life, isn�t it? In a tree, in a plant. And so, as the leaves die, they turn these wonderful colors.

And so, as I think of the fall, I don�t mean the fall of Adam, but I think of autumn, I think of death, and I also think of this. There will be a few leaves that don�t fall off the tree. How do we get rid of those?

How do you get the leaves that remain on the tree off? Well, that�s easy. In the spring, the new buds will grow out, and it will push those right out. So, when I think of sanctification, I often say to myself, �Mike, when it comes to sanctification, as I put off and put on, things will take care of themselves.

And so, it�s not a matter of Ephesians 4 just saying, �Don�t steal, but work. Don�t lie. Tell the truth. And also, it works the same. As I�m telling the truth, then I�m not lying. And so, very good advice from Samuel Rutherford.

Let�s hope it�s Rutherford. Thomas Boston, �Let the mantle of worldly enjoyments hang loose about you, that it may be easily dropped when death comes to carry you into another world. Now, you probably have seen people die.

Maybe I�ve seen more people or less, but it is absolutely true that there�s nothing they can take into the other world with them. And so, you can be buried with who knows what? Gold? A servant? Your wife?

Clothes? A key? Knife? I mean, you can be buried with all kinds of things. But Thomas Boston is right. Hang on to these earthly things loosely so you can just drop them quickly. Now, I�ll tell you where I get convicted.

I think to myself, if I ever had to just close up shop and move someplace, how many days would it take me just to unload the shed? Okay, so I have a home. I�m guessing it�s 1 ,500 square feet, split-level ranch, not our favorite, but we�re thankful for it.

And so, I�ve got a shed in the back and I have a garage and I have an attic. If I just cleaned out the attic and the garage and the shed, not even clean it out, but just had to box stuff up or sell it, I wonder how many days that would take me.

And so, there�s nothing wrong with having a shed or there�s everything wrong with a split-level ranch, but you get my point. We just need to hold on to these things loosely. Abraham was very rich. He had lots of stuff.

And so, it�s nothing wrong with having things. You can actually, some of the most money-loving people that I know, they don�t have any. So, it�s not a matter of what you have. It�s your attitude regarding that.

Worldly Enjoyments, Death, and Loose-Ended Affections

All right, let�s try another one. I�m just opening it up randomly and it is to Robert Murray McShane. I think McShane the Scot died when he was about 29 years old and we especially like Robert Murray McShane on No Compromise Radio because he was premillennial.

Break my heart, Robert Murray McShane said, Jesus my Lord. In the inmost part, hide thy sweet word. And so, some poetry from Robert Murray McShane. I guess I don�t do much with poetry in the sense that exegeting it.

So, I�m going to just go to the next one. Joseph Allain, A-L-L-E-I-N-E. I�m trying to remember a call to the unconverted. Something like that he wrote. Scary book on evangelism, a little Puritan paperback.

Two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the troubles in the world. Peace with sin and peace in sin. Wow. Friends, this is why when we evangelize, we have something to say to people that have a good relationship with their kids, a good marriage, a good job, and good health.

What do we tell people about the Lord if we�ve got the prosperity gospel, but we�re already talking to prosperous people. The common grace of God is so great that pagans still have nice lives, wonderful lives.

They have good life with their kids and you know, of course there are issues that they have and I understand all that, but they can have a nice life. So, what do you have to offer them? If you don�t offer them forgiveness of sins found in the person and work of Jesus alone, then you have nothing to offer them because their life is better in every single way, shape, and form.

So this way, when we�re biblical about it, we have something to offer folks. And so, when people have peace with sin and peace in sin, there�s something we can still offer them. Well, my name is Mike Abendroth and this is No Compromise Radio.

I was just reading some quotes from 3 ,000 selected quotations. So, if I read, I don�t know, how many did I read today? Four or five? So, five into 3 ,000. That means I have 600 more shows ready to go.

So, we�re going to try this again sometime because at least it gives some random thoughts and if you don�t like the one quote, you might like the next quote. It�s the same with NoCoTV. Five segments, if you don�t like the one, maybe you�ll like number two.

If you don�t like fourth segment, maybe you�ll like number five. You can write me at info at nocompromiseradio .com or mike at nocompromiseradio .com.

And check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WV &E, its staff or management.