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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.
Ephesians chapter 1. How often do I hear the refrain, well we don't really want to believe in election, we can't get around election, we don't really want to believe in predestination, we'll turn it to post-destination or something else, but you know it's there and as you learn and as you grow and as you get some deeper truths, we'll tell you in about five years, maybe on this dividing doctrine of predestination.
Did you know in Ephesians chapter 1, Paul says, before you bow your head and say I praise you God for the death of Christ, he says I want you to understand that you need to praise God for unconditional, sovereign, distinguishing election.
I thought to myself, I cannot believe this. God knew every one of my sins that I would ever commit. Before time began, he chose me. If you could see what I've thought in my mind and done with my body for the last 50 years, you would not want me to be your pastor.
And if I could see what you've thought in your minds and done with your bodies, I wouldn't want to be your pastor. And I'm not even holy by nature. The holy God of the universe says before time, I set my love on them.
And if you get that truth, you are going to begin to mature. But if you're prideful and say, I cannot believe that, you're trying to make God into somebody who's less than you because you'll stand up for your own will, your own rights, your own sovereignty.
And look what Paul says. How do you praise the Lord? Paul doesn't say, well, we'll work up to it, kind of an inch by inch kind of thing. He says in chapter one, verse three, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Praise number one, even as he chose us in him, when? Before the foundation of the world. Why? That we should be holy and blameless before him. Don't forget verse five, because it goes with verse four.
In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will for a reason, verse six, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has blessed us in the beloved.
Paul did not say, you know, this whole election deal caused a lot of controversy. Let's talk about that later in advanced class. You want to say to yourself, I don't think I like it personally that God chooses before time.
It creates a lot of questions in my mind about what if you're not picked? What if this? What if that? I've got all these other questions, but I have been bought by Christ Jesus, given by the spirit of God, and I will obey his word and I will believe it.
And if you come to the text with that, you're going to grow. But if you say, well, you know what? God looks down the quarters of time and you mess around with this verse, I'm going to tell you something.
You are going to be stunted in your behavior because you will not let the word rule over you. Everybody has to believe in predestination. You either pick the kind of predestination that exalts man, his belief, his repentance, his decision.
Are you believe in the predestination found right there in love? He predestined us before the world began. And you say, I can't believe that I'm on the receiving end of election. Say, well, you know, I don't like all this election talk.
That's all you ever talk about is election. Grow up. The way that you've even said that shows me that you're stunted in your growth because you will not have this sovereign God who by his own good pleasure, not by what you've done, holds out the clemency, holds out the staff of clemency and says, bow before the Lord and believe in Christ Jesus.
And you never knew that it was done in eternity past. The father chooses the bride in an arranged marriage for the son. Sometimes it's pride. People get stuck because they don't want to have this God who's super sovereign, who distinguishes who he loves.
By the way, in case you're wondering, maybe you're a visitor. When the angels fell, were any of the angels given a second chance? Were any of the angels given redemption as a possibility? Does that make God less than God then?
No. God is still God even though they've fallen and they have no plan of salvation. What do they deserve? Justice. What do we deserve? Justice. And if God bestows some grace, he is still God. Sometimes it's pride that stops our growth.
Sometimes it's laziness. Turn with me if you would to Romans chapter 12. As you're turning there, I'll just tell you this. I have to pick a grade level to preach to. I could pick pre-K and tell you, you know, you want some high school theology, come on Wednesday nights to the special group, the special study group.
Most churches do it that way. I could pick PhD level or anywhere in between. If you were the pastor, what would you pick? You've got to preach at some level, 5th grade, 8th grade. You say, well, the NIV is written in 8th grade English.
Maybe that would be a good spot. New King James is written in 11th grade English. That would be a good spot. New American Standard is written in 12th grade English along with King James. That'd be a good spot.
Wherever it is, it needs to be high enough so the majority of the congregation rises up. I'm not going to shoot low. I want you to have Bible, pencil, pen, resources to say, it's time for the biggest meal.
It's time for the biggest meal. I want to try to explain things well. I want to say in other words when I say propitiation, but it is your responsibility to listen and to learn. By the way, if you have a job, don't they have big words at work?
Man, I don't want the big words, man. I just, give me the facts. I'll get the big words on Wednesday night in that little secret study over there in the church parlor. No, we all just know. And if God has written the word propitiation and election and redemption, then ought we to know it?
And if you meet a brand new Christian and they don't know, they don't know. But if you meet a Christian who's been around long enough and they don't know and their life's falling apart, I know why their lives are falling apart.
Because the greater you appreciate God and the more you mature, the better you handle the trials that God has ordained for your life. And so if I didn't love you, here's what I would do. Well, we want everybody just kind of like me and we'll just preach at a real low level.
And then comes along cancer. Weak doctrines are going to be bulldozed by cancer. I've got to bury my 18-year-old special needs son. And if what they've been getting has fluffed their whole life, how do you think they're going to handle that?
How will Nancy handle that? She's going to cave because she will be immature. So part of it's pride and part of it is we just need to say, Lord, I want to study better. I want to study more. Give me desire to do this.
And I need to use my mind. Romans 12 talks about that. Henry Ford said, thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it. But someone said, I didn't say this, but I'll repeat it.
The probable reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory to them. I'm glad that you're not this way, but don't ever turn into the kind of church that is what I call people magazine Christianity.
When I get on airplanes and somebody's sitting next to me and they got people magazine, self magazine, us magazine, unholy Trinity, me, myself and I magazine and all the glitz and glamor and all that stuff.
You know what I think? My first thought is probably not the best one, but my second one is probably better. But my first thought is what a waste of a life. My second thought is that used to be me. Just a different kind of magazine, different kind of study.
And we as Christians need to use our minds and the world is going to try to anesthetize our minds, distract our minds. We're caught up in the latest basketball computer game, this, that, and the other.
Everything is right in its place. But when the place becomes preeminent, I'll show you somebody who then becomes retarded in their thinking. They're going backwards. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, the hardest task in the world is to think, but we true or false are to love Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
George Bernard Shaw said only 5 of people think. Only 15 think they think. The other 80 would rather die than think. IBM's founder, Thomas Watson Sr., since 1914, had a little card above his office wall that said, think.
There's a great Puritan, by the way, named Thomas Watson. I'm sure he would say spiritually think. Your mind matters. Look at Romans chapter 12. You want to grow? You're going to have to use your mind.
You're going to have to stop and think and cogitate and review. That's why your personal Bible study is so important with your own Bible. Stop and go back. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, Romans 12, 1, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.
This is fascinating, which is your spiritual worship, which is your reasonable, logical worship. If God has saved you, isn't it logical that you say, I'm going to praise and honor and thank this God for the rest of my life?
Based on, what does the text say? The mercies of God. What mercies of God? You say, well, I've got to use my mind the right way. What's the first thing I need to do? Here's what you need to do. You don't have to do it right now.
But close your eyes and rehearse chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. By those mercies of God, by the mercies of God that God has, even though I had no righteousness, he gave me righteousness that was a perfect righteousness from Jesus himself, confirmed by the resurrection.
He's given me the spirit of God now, and he's sanctifying me. He will glorify me. I can't lose my salvation. And in light of that, it's time to what? It's time to praise God, be thankful to God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God.
That's what the text says. Pretty easy to give money, pretty easy to give time, pretty easy to give yourself for some errands. But how about you? God wants you. You are on the sacrifice, and you're not a dead sacrifice, but living.
Boy said, God does not want your money or your time without yourself. You are the one for whom Jesus died. You are the one he loves. And in a society that says indulge, God says sacrifice. The good news is, Jim Elliot was right.
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Verse 2, you see the text with the mind. Do not be conformed to this world. Don't fit into their mold, but be transformed by the renewing of your what? Mind.
That by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. How to stay spiritually immature, number 2, don't show up for corporate worship unless a senior pastor is preaching.
Stay home instead. What does that tell me about someone that says, by the way, it happened back at Grace Church. People would go, is MacArthur preaching tonight? No. All right, I'm not going. I just have two simple words for that kind of theology.
Easy words, simple words. Any guesses? Grow up. If the person is qualified, if the person is biblical, if the person is teaching the word of God and you normally show up at corporate worship, you don't say, well, the pastor's not there.
I'm not going to show up. Babies do that. That tells me more about you than it tells me about anything else. There's something about corporate worship where the word of God is preached. I even think in Romans chapter 1, if I remember right, it's fine to read your Bibles.
I want you to. It's fine to listen to tapes. I want you to. It's fine to memorize scripture. I want you to. But nothing can replace the proclaimed word of God when the saints get together. Nothing. Paul even said it in first chapter of Romans.
Now, let's see if I can find it. Paul said, I want you to know, my brothers, that I have often intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented, and in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the Gentiles.
He says, I've got this book, Romans, to give to you. You'll learn. You'll grow. You'll understand it all. You'll get it. You'll comprehend it. But there's something better, and that's me, Paul, preaching Romans to you in person.
Number three, how to stay spiritually immature. Let your children choose what church you attend. I don't even ask my kids when we go to another church, did you like it? I might get to that, but I don't start, well, did you like it?
And then I go, yeah, here's some 8-year-old kid giving me assessment of if they like the church or not. What do they know? Now, maybe they're getting old enough now and they have pastor's kids. He preached the Bible.
It was verse by verse. They sang songs about Christ being exalted. But I don't say, did you like the church? The church is not to like or dislike. A church is a place where we worship. I didn't really like that.
You know, I've had people say to me, I didn't really like that song you picked. They didn't say it like that because I have to restrain myself and say, oh, Steve Cooley picked them. No, I'm just kidding.
Friends, you're acting like a baby. You can have preferences. And like I tell people, if you want faster music here, well, this is just what the elders have decided. For many reasons, that's another sermon.
Go to your car and put in Striper. I don't care. Double speed. It doesn't matter to me what you listen to. I'm not a legalist. But I don't pick the songs. I don't go, hmm, let's see, what should we pick today that everybody would like?
Did you like it? No, we don't ask those questions. The same people that ask their kids, did you like that Sunday school? What do you mean, Dad? I've never met anybody there in my life, and the teachers seem really mean, and there's no carpet on the floor, and they don't give me some kind of push-up popsicle and go in there.
I hate it. And they're standing like that. Well, of course you didn't like it because you're brand new. So you're going to teach your kid how to like it. Worship has nothing to do with liking it. I think at the end of the day you can say, I enjoyed that.
It's good to give praise to the Lord with a corporate body. You can feel good about it. But the people that say, do you like the church? I never see them go home and say, you know, I just inherited $100 ,000, and my 8-year-old.
How should I invest that? Because if I heard that, I'd say to the dad, grow up. I'm just kidding. I would. I'd be nicer, hopefully. Worship is giving. And so when you ask the kids, you can say, tell me about church today.
Was anybody nice? And there's ways to get to the right question. But if you pick a church based on if kids like it or not. Friends, let me just tell you something, and I know you're already here, so I'm not after you.
They're not going to like it. Because what do kids like? Action. Oh, it wasn't really like Six Flags Riverside, so I didn't really like it. But when people say, how do we get kids in the church? Because if we can get the kids, we can get the parents.
It's backwards. I'm after your mind as a parent. And the oxygen's coming down for you. I don't care where you send your kids. And once I got you, though, your kids would be right by you thinking that, you know what?
People get saved by listening to the Word of God. And the fastest way to damn your kids is to keep them in the back for the whole time and let them be taught by somebody else. Don Kistler said that. I didn't say that.
But I believe it. We have junior church not for you members. It's not for you. As soon as you can get your kids out of junior church to sit next to you, that's when you should. If you're a brand-new Christian here today or you're here saying, I'm not even a Christian, but I've got my kid, and my kid's kind of unruly.
Do you have someplace to put him? Yes, we do. We love you. We want to serve your kids. But I'm after you. And once I get you, through the Word of God, proverbially get you, we're going to bring the kids in because they need to learn.
It's not babysitting. We'll try to teach them who God is. But it's not for you to send your kids, if you're a member maturing, to send your kids off to junior church. You want me to get you mad? All right.
I'll just say it and go on to the next one. Let your wife pick your church. If you're a dad, a husband, and you let your wife pick the church, you need to grow up. Should your wife like the church? Can you talk together?
Are you equal in Christ? I get all that. But you're a leader for a reason, friends. And I'll say this now. I might as well. I'm going out of town soon. Preach away and fly off and let the elders deal with it.
Immature women don't like my preaching. But maturing and mature women do. Because the preaching style found in the Bible is so opposite of what a carnal or a natural woman would want. In this day and age where people say, well, how did you like the sermon?
He was kind. He was relevant. He seemed to understand. And he didn't seem to above it all. And he shared some of his experiences. It's not what I'm after. In the days of the Puritans in the 1770s in New England, people would say, well, what did you think of the sermon?
And here's what they would say. Biblical, high view of God, Christ-centered. Bring in Louise May Alcott, other kind of transcendentalist friends, male and female. Take away some of the tough sides of God like predestination, sovereignty.
God's will that saves, not free will that saves. We don't like all that. So what we need to do is have a kinder, gentler God in what was born, Unitarianism and Universalism. And by the way, we don't like cemeteries next to the church because it makes us think of our kids that we buried and parents that we buried.
So let's move the cemeteries out to Forest Lawn Drive. If we had to walk through those doors every single Sunday and say, you know what? I miss Blake. I miss my mom. I miss those babies we had to bury.
The church would be better off. Once transcendentalism, Louise May Alcott, romance novels, low view of God came in, people would say, what do you think of the sermon? And they would say things like, he seemed empathetic.
He seemed to identify. He shared some of his struggles. If you know me well, you know I sin. You know I have struggles. If you don't think that I do, you can talk to Kim. But when the Bible says, you preach the word of God like a herald, 2 Timothy 4, verse 2.
I'm going to preach the word of God like a herald. And the herald says this, God, you've just told me that in light of all the great things you've done for the people, you've put up a fortress. You've saved them from opposing marauders.
You've given wives, you've given produce. And now you're telling me, King, to go tell the people, pay more taxes. 5 increase starting tomorrow. Then the herald comes out and he sticks his finger out and he goes, well, you know, I'm not really that good at paying my taxes.
I've struggled in my life with paying my taxes. We all kind of need to get together for kumbaya. We could have an Oprah book club to pay taxes and all that kind of stuff. No, I'm supposed to pay my taxes, loud and clear, received.
And now I have a message from God for you. Pay more taxes. But nobody likes that kind of preaching because it seems so different than society. Society's sharing, you know, there's a reason. This is Father's Day, so I'm just going to say this too.
Wives, don't say to your husbands, you should be more transparent. When I hear that, Kim doesn't say it to me because she's, I just know Kim a dollar. I just mentioned her name. You should get together with other guys at the church and maybe have breakfast together.
You should get together with some of the guys at church and you can maybe share a book study together. Friends, how about you should get together with those other guys and go cut down those trees over there, drag them over there and then go downtown and preach the gospel.
And the men go, hoorah. We just, you know, just be a little more transparent. We'd be fine. All week long, God says, Mike, don't be factious. Don't be striving. Don't be self-centered. Don't be a baby.
Grow up in your life. And I say, Lord, I'm sinful and fallen and foolish and I'm so thankful that you're forgiving God. Now I have a message for the people. It's time not to be factious, sinful, immature.
It's time for BBC to grow up. I'm not over you. I'm not better than you. I'm not the most spiritually mature person here, but I have a message from God. So ask yourself the question, what kind of preachers do you like to listen to even on the radio?
Some are a little more empathetic. Some are not. You know I don't treat Kim like some kind of cave woman. Do this. Do that. It's sinful lording over. But at the end of the day, the husband's a leader for a reason.
And I think, rightfully so, there are many very godly ladies who are at this church that I don't think they'd pick this church, but their husband said, honey, that's where we're going. Well, before I get kicked out, I'm not going to do the next one.
What would you do if I moved away to California and never came back? The first pastor of this church went to vacation in New Hampshire and never came back. I have round-trip tickets. Kim only has one way, but I got to.
And in two years, I write you a letter. And I say, you know what, I was there for 13 years teaching you the truth. And the only thing I hear now is, I'm Steve, I'm of Dave, I'm of Pradeep. Strife, quarreling, church splits.
I'd come back, if the elders would allow me, and I would stand up and say, because grace has graced you, it's time to grow up. Wouldn't you feel bad if I had to do that? Imagine Corinth getting this letter from Paul.
For those of you that are maturing, great job by the grace of God. For those of you that want to mature, it's never too late to repent. And for those of you that sit here today without Christ Jesus, consider your latter end, because you are going to die and face God.
Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, I thank you for these dear people. I thank you for Bethlehem Bible Church. Each person here who wants to learn, who wants to grow, and I just pray wherever they are, that you would take them to the next level of spiritual maturity.
That you would develop them. Father, that in even our midst, we would send out missionaries, pastors, elders, pastors' wives, missionary wives. We could send out teachers into the school districts, public and private.
That you would mature us. But Lord, my biggest prayer is that we wouldn't lose our first love, like Ephesus did. So kindle that in our hearts. Help us. Use your word. And Lord, help us also to be patient with the new Christians as you mature them.
We need wisdom for that too, Lord.
In Jesus' name, Amen. 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 10 .15 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.