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No Compromise Radio. Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.
Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.
Number eight, number eight, what is the best way to evangelize homosexuals? Answer, the same way you evangelize any other sinner. There's no special gospel. There's no Gnostic gospel. There's no, I've got, this is a special, I've got five spiritual laws for these people.
A friend, and she's a homosexual, and she said to me, Mike, I'm going to the hospital and I'm going to have a knee surgery, would you come and visit me? I said, I'd love to come and visit you, but I'm a pastor, and so when I go visit people in the hospital, I read a psalm, and then I pray.
I like that. So Kim and I went, went to the hospital, I knocked on the door like any other pastoral call with my Bible, and her partner was there, partner doesn't want to hear anything that I want to say, although she's kind to me and I'm kind to her, and she's so kind to go now.
They kissed, said goodbye, we talked, and I said, do you have any particular psalm that you'd like me to read? She said, I really like that one psalm, Psalm 22, the Lord is my shepherd, I like that one.
I said, I think you mean Psalm 23, but I'd like to read to you just one verse from one psalm, Psalm 22, verse one. My God, my God, why have you forsaken? I said, can you imagine the sins that we have committed against God, the creator, are so bad that he's going to judge every one of our sins?
So bad that they deserve eternal torture forever in a place called hell? And yet God in his goodness, his kindness, he didn't have to do it for the angels, he just judged, no plan of redemption, no salvation plan.
God the father poured out his wrath, not on us, but on his son, and the son drank the cup of God's wrath all the way down, without the bloodshed, there's no forgiveness of sins, and Christ shed his blood and he was raised from the dead, God confirmed that, and she said to me, that must have been horrible, that the son had to receive all that wrath that he didn't even deserve.
How do we evangelize? Compassionately, kindly, regularly, the gospel about our great God, our sin, the difference, the need we have, we've broken God's law, we show them their sin, Everett said, no man can enter heaven until he is first convinced he deserves hell.
Horatio Bonar said, in all unbelief there are two things, a good opinion of self and a bad opinion of God. So long as these things exist, it is impossible for an inquirer to find rest. His good opinion of himself makes him think it quite possible to win God's favor by his own religious performances.
The object of the Holy Spirit's work in convicting of sin is to alter the sinner's opinion of himself, and so to reduce his estimate of his own character, that he shall think of himself as God does. What gospel do we preach to any sinner?
If you've got a sinner this big in your house, or you've got a sinner who's 90 years old, you preach to them the gospel, the good news, the declaration of what happened 2 ,000 years ago. You talk about the attributes of God.
You talk about the salvation of no one else, Acts chapter 4. You talk about how Christ would clothe himself in Philippians 2 with human flesh. You see what Thomas Watson said, that Christ should so clothe himself with our flesh, a piece of earth that we tread upon, oh, infinite humility.
Christ taking our flesh was one of the lowest steps of his humiliation. He humbled himself more in lying in the virgin's womb than in hanging on the cross. It was not so much for a man to die, but for God to become a man was the wonder of humility.
Philippians 2 says he was made in the likeness of men. First John chapter 1, verse 7, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all our sins. Number 9, what does it say about a society when it embraces homosexuality and celebrates it?
Answer, let's go to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1, what does it say about a society? What it says about the society is this. It says that judgment is here. It doesn't say judgment's coming if you keep it up.
It says, no, we're getting judged now. Oh, if America doesn't turn her back and all that stuff and, I mean, turn back to God and if they don't, if America doesn't turn her back on all these things, God's going to judge us.
Friends, look at the newspapers today. Look at the world today. Look at this issue of homosexuality and you can say to yourself with crystal clarity with Paul in Romans 1, God is judging America now and it is super scary.
If I wasn't a Christian believing in the sovereignty of God, I would be very, very frightened. Romans chapter 1, verse 18, Romans 1, 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness.
This is very, very critical because the gospel found in verse 16, the gospel found in verse 16 about how God's righteousness is revealed in verse 17, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, the Jew first and also the Gentile.
The gospel's important because there is such a thing as the wrath of God, the unmitigated holy anger of God. That's true and we need deliverance. We need the gospel of grace. People say, well, I'm not really mad at God.
Unbelievers say that. Well, how could you be after all the lavish gifts he gives you as an unbeliever? Breath and life and food and family and enjoyment and all that, how could you be mad at God? But friends, if you're not a Christian, having peace with God through the reconciliation done at Calvary by Jesus for you, he's angry with you.
People say, well, you know what? God's just kind of passive when it comes to sin. They expect every time that someone sins, a lightning bolt to come down and kill the person. If you're really their God, you know, and this is really bad, then kill me with a lightning bolt.
Well, this passage talks about the anger and the wrath of God who is opposed always and forever actively. This isn't passive. This is active. And look at where it comes from, from where, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.
This is not from society. This is not for the Supreme Court. This is God's wrath from heaven where he is. It's divine activity. And in a very, very real sense, isn't this true, Christians? You need to be saved, not primarily from sin, Satan or the world.
You primarily need to be saved by God from God himself. You need to be saved from God because it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God, isn't it? And look at it. You know what? Maybe, maybe God will just let a couple of those sins go.
Maybe just one or two will get by against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Are there exceptions? No. Does anything get by God? No. Some kind of, you know, you're going to fake a pass over here in basketball, but you'll look that way and you go, that one kind of got by me a little bit.
Everything he sees. And one of the things about God that people hate if they're an unbeliever is that God is immutably holy. He's immutably just. Immutably means he never changes. You know, it'd be one thing if God was holy almost all the time, but a couple of times he just wasn't.
If he was just almost all the times, but a few times, especially the few times when I want to do my sin and get by with it, he just doesn't. But you know, the problem with God is he's always holy, forever holy, and immutably holy.
And so what do people do? Men by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Who can live like that? God is angry with the wicked every day. I can't deal with that. I've got to suppress that truth. I want it out of my life.
I've got to try to deflect that. Who wants to live with a mind honed in on, God is going to get me. So what does our society do? It has to get rid of every remnant of God. We want it out of schools, out of the courtroom, out of the public arena.
We can't stand any of this God stuff because it impinges on our conscience when we want to sin. Society, at best, will say religion can be in the public square, but we'll create this kind of Westboro Baptist kind of Christian where it's this hellfire and brimstone caricature.
Verse 19, nobody can say, I'm not sure about this, God. I didn't have the facts. I didn't have sufficient data. I didn't know. I can't be blamed because verse 19 says, that which is known about God is evident within them for God made it evident to them.
What's a substantiation? Verse 20, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal, different word for eternal there, the alwaysness, power, and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are what?
Without excuse. By what has been made, by what has been made, not by what has been evolved, not by what has been theologically, theistically evolved, by what has been made. Just like in 2 Peter, the same word that created everything is the same word that's going to destroy things.
By what has been made, by God. And if there's a great God who made something, what's the response of the human? Now, Michelangelo was dead when I went to Florence to see David, the sculpture. But when I looked at David, the sculpture, by Michelangelo, I thought, and that is awesome.
How can you see some kind of, I don't know what it's made out of, marble or whatever, here's a big chunk of marble over in the mountain, and you go, I see David in that. And then to sculpt it, and to put it up there, people are just like this, art students, stairs, you know, riding, doing stuff, people are just there in awe.
Look at David. Are you, maybe you're into paintings, and you say, you know, Renoir, what can Renoir do? And you sit and look, or you listen to music, and you just think, who could put that together? How could Mozart do that?
That's just amazing. There's just something in you that wants to go, that is awesome. And here God has made the universe with the Word, and what's the response to the revelation of God in the universe?
What's the proper response, the biblical response? Can you imagine that? I remember being in the room when my kids were born, and you see natural revelation going on right there, the wisdom and power and might of God, and all of a sudden, out comes this baby, and you just go, oh, you know what, yeah, it's a girl.
I said every time, well, the last two times, at least here in Worcester, the California people were more sanctified. I mean, my poor kids, two of them have on their birth certificate, California, and two say Worcester.
And for every one of those kids, what? For every one of those kids, you just think, how could God do that? How could God knit this baby together in the womb of a woman, birth? And I said to the last one, the last two kids, oh, ain't evolution grand?
Meaning, if evolution does it, zips our lip, and nothing happens, but if you think, God, I love it when somebody has a newborn baby, and they want to give all the verses out, Psalm 139, praise God, fearfully and wonderfully made.
What does a dad do? What does a mom do? The mom's usually recuperating, but the dad's on the computer, driving away, God is so awesome. Because that is the response of people to the creative work of God, thanks.
So if you're not thanking God, and you're being ungrateful, you slide into this kind of pattern here. Watch what happens. Verse 21, for even though they knew God, how they knew God, because we just learned about that in verse 18 and 19, they did not honor him as God.
Don't miss these three words, or give thanks. But they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Do you really think God made the world and the universe, expecting praise and glory not to us, but to thy name be the glory, and then God just goes, yeah, but it's not that big a deal.
You'll just skate off unscathed. Not going to experience anything bad. What goes? The mind. The mind that was made to love God, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. What God gave you to worship him with, then he just turns dark.
People say, I'm enlightened, I don't believe in sin anymore. No, your mind has been darkened by the active nature of God. What does a mentally deformed person say, verse 22, what does it say about their character rather?
Professing to be wise, I've got a new life free from God. They became fools. To quote a burgeoning theologian, Mike Abendroth, sin makes you stupid, senseless. To what degree are people stupid and senseless and foolish and moronic?
Verse 23, can you imagine? What's the degree? Exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and the birds. It wasn't so sick it'd be funny, four-footed animals and crawling creatures, and they did it deliberately.
They did it purposely. Determine substitution with sweat and toil and focus. We are worshipers, we can't worship that God, so we'll have to make up our own. Now look at the consequence, look at what happens to a society found in the next few verses.
18, to where we are now, 23 is the cause, here's the consequence, and you will not see God standing by as a spectator, hedistically, winds everything up and just lets it go. You'll see God actively involved in condemnation, especially when you see these three words.
Three times, God gave them, let's use four words, God gave them up. Verse 24, 26, 28, God gave them up, God gave them up, God gave them up, God active, God initiating, God is the one doing it. The unalterable fact of the universe is sin leads to more sin, and this is going to be called divine abandonment, punished by the thing that you love.
Verse 24, first God gave them, found in verse 24, therefore God gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity, their bodies that they might be dishonored among them. God didn't just say, let's let nature take its course, God willed it.
He removed the restraint and he does specific acts of judgment. Reminds me of Judges 10, you have forsaken me and served other gods, therefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen, let them deliver you in the time of your distress.
That's America, crying out to our gods of self and money and success, and no one can deliver. And look, God gives them over to the lust of their hearts to impurity, uncleanness, dirty matter. With all the porn industry, friends with benefits hooking up, you can just see it all.
God punishes sin by abandoning the sinner to sin the way he wants to sin, judicial abandonment. God says, I'm going to give you over to what you love to do, and I'll let you have uninterrupted sin. Kind of reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar, right?
Nebuchadnezzar said, everything in this place is mine, I did it all, me, myself, and I, the unholy trinity, I did all this, look at me. And if you look at the world and say, you did it all, if you're a ruler and you look at the realm that you have and you think you run it all, what is that?
That's insanity. That's madness. That's straitjacket kind of thing, and so God says to Nebuchadnezzar, you want insanity? Your insanity is at a level nine now, now it's at a level 10. Immediately, the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled, he was driven away from mankind and began to eat grass-like cattle.
His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird claws. You want to act insanity? Then here's insanity for you. Act like a cop. That's insane.
Jesus talked to the false teachers in Matthew, and he gave them three words that you never want to hear from God. Let them alone. Just let them be. It's one thing if God was chasing in them and disciplining them, but it's another when he says, you know what?
Jesus said, just let them go. Divine abandonment. Israel, in Hosea 14, Hosea 4, Ephraim, or Israel, is joined to idols, let them alone. So when God lets a nation alone, you see the news, but now let me interpret it for you theologically.
Romans 1 .25. We need to hurry up. For they exchanged the truth of God for the lie. God doesn't exist. And worship and serve the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. They gave veneration to creatures.
For this reason, verse 26, God gave them over, there it is, number two, to degrading passions. You want to know what a vile affection is? Something dishonorable or evil? It's clear as day, sinful. For their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural.
Verse 26. ESV says, for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are in contrary to nation. Lesbianism. It's dishonorable. Verse 27. And in the same way also men abandon the natural function of the woman.
First God abandons them, now they abandon what they're supposed to do. And burned in their desire toward one another, men with men, committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
For their disgraceful passions, God judges. And the ultimate penalty, we know what that is. Verse 28. The final, God gave them over. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper.
A mind that's disapproved. A mind that does improper things fitting for wrath, deliberately. A mind that doesn't pass the test. And then he just gives a huge list. Look at verse 29. Being filled. Don't miss that.
Being filled. Not 10%, not 50%. Being filled, glutted, satiated, over the top with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice. There are gossips, slanders, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.
And to top it all off, there are sinful people that clap others into hell. They give them attaboys all the way to perdition. And although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but they give hearty approval to those who practice them.
And over my dead body, am I going to call sin righteous? I'm not going to be mean and vile and unfriendly and loving to homosexuals, but I will be loving by saying this is sin, and I will not applaud or celebrate any sin's behavior.
That's the bad news. The good news is when society's the darkest, the gospel light is the brightest, isn't it? This is actually better to be in Massachusetts. For all the times I've blasted Massachusetts, kind of, and you think after 14 years I wouldn't do it any longer, but now I have job stability, I'm able to.
If you were in the South where everybody's a Christian, it just becomes more difficult from the human perspective. Not from God, he knows the unregenerate elect, he'll bring them to the preaching of the gospel.
But just everybody says they're a Christian, at least in Massachusetts, we live in such a corrupt and vile and decaying society. It's pretty easy to tell people who act like they're born again, isn't it?
It's pretty easy to find people who say, you know what, I'm a born again Christian, and I've been born from above, saved by the blood of the lamb, and I'm here to try to live out my life as a sacrifice of thanks to this God.
And everybody else who doesn't act that way or talk that way, oh, we might be misunderstanding or we don't have full knowledge, but in general, when I don't meet those kind of people, do you know what they need?
They need to know about the son who did everything well-pleasing to the father, who's the perfect sinless sin bearer. I'm so thankful that God is sovereign, and I'll never forget when I talked to MacArthur in 1999, he's here in Worcester preaching, and I was kind of giving him the litany of how tough things were in Massachusetts.
Coming out of Logan, he looked over at me, and he said, Mike, I think the gospel's powerful enough to save people in New England, don't you? There's another Mike in the car? Would you stop beating your wife?
I mean, what am I going to say? When the church gets crushed, the church prospers. Persecution, the real church prospers. Russia, when there's persecution, the church prospered. Now the doors are open, all kinds of false teachers, all kinds of wannabes, because why?
If you're not a believer, and it costs you something to be in a church, you're out of that church. I sometimes so wish we would start getting to be taxed if you're a Christian, and right outside the door today, the IRS people are there for this year's taxes, and if you call yourself a born-again Christian, you give them your social security number, and it's going to cost you five grand this year.
I'm not so sure we would need another building. The martyr's blood is the seedbed of the church, and God's in control. We don't have to be worried. Here's my focus on this, is so you can analyze the society and say, God, I should have been that person.
I was the person who exchanged the lie, and I was worshiping people, sex, kids, money, power, instead of you, who is the creator, who's blessed forever, and you saved me, and now use me to preach the gospel to save other people.
It's not bad news. The light that Jesus talked about, dear, the light of the world, shines greatest in the darkest places.
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.
The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.