Approachability

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.

Doctrine and Practical Application in Hebrews

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. And today we�re talking a little bit more about doctrine and practical application. Last show, I talked a little bit about Psalm 49 and how important it is for us to understand the person and work of God, our triune God, one God, three persons, and how if you talk about who God is, that is applicational.

Do not ever resort to the fact that you say to yourself, �I just need four things to do so I can check those things off. And by the way, you can check them off with bad motives, because you can get the external things done.

I mean, the Pharisees could easily check things off and they didn�t have the heart for it. So what you do is you say to yourself, �While I might want some practical applicational preaching, I will train myself to sit under preaching that reflects the text.

And when you do that in the Old Testament and the New Testament, even the epistles, you�re going to see a heavy dose of doctrine. And you�re going to see a heavy dose of who God is in Christ Jesus and what He�s done.

And we forget about that so often. It�s not the Christian life, remembering what we forget and forgetting what we should remember. Did I say that properly? Forgetting what we are supposed to remember and remembering what we�re supposed to forget.

That�s the Christian life. Is that the other way around? Okay, it�s back to my super coffee. There was somebody that said never drink any liquids on a podcast. But I mean, you get what you pay for at this place.

And this is not No Compromise Radio, according to Relevant Magazine. This is so-called No Compromise Radio. What do they say it again? How do they, how do they, let�s see, something called, sorry, so-called.

That would work too. Something called No Compromise Radio, Relevant Magazine, as we talked about last time. Doctrinal preaching is important. And what we want to talk about today a little bit more is the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 7.

And because I�m setting you up, lots of people don�t think, by the way, my head is so bald with this fluorescent light up here, it looks like I have almost like the Shekinah coming off my forehead. How does that work?

Let�s see, that�s better. People want practical preaching, and I just want you to know, if your pastor is preaching the Word verse by verse, you have to be very, very thankful. And if he says, �Well, I�ve got to hold your attention with practical preaching, and I�ve got to develop some kind of audience rapport, and I�ve got to know you, the culture, and I need to know you, the audience, and I need to profile you as a typical attender or a Christian Easter person, and I�ve got to put� I mean, that is completely a farce.

The only time I think of the congregation is after I�ve done my exegesis, and I�ve looked at the passage, and then I�ve thought to myself, �Do you know what? This truth is not going to change as I speak to these people, but this lady just lost her husband.

This person has cancer. This person had their house burned down, and I want to make sure I�m talking to these people. This is truth for the people that the Lord has allowed me to shepherd, but it doesn�t go the other way.

It doesn�t, �Well, what do you want, and then you tell me, and then we flip it around. Chapter 13 is very practical in the book of Hebrews, but the first 12 chapters are very doctrinal. You can think about the book of Romans, 16 chapters, the first 11 doctrinal, and then we start with chapter 12 about renewing your mind.

If you look at Ephesians 1, 2, and 3 doctrine, if you look at Colossians 1 and 2 through chapter 3, verse 5 doctrine, this is the way it works, and this is the way it should manifest itself to in the life of your children as you parent them.

Here�s what you mean to me in light of that. Here�s what I want you to do. If you�re the dictator, you�re the drill sergeant kind of parent, �Do this, do this, do this, do this and you only say that, that�s not the biblical model for sanctification or for instruction.

There are times you just need to tell a kid, �Stop. You know, they�re going to run across the street. You don�t have to go into the imperative indicative paradigms and talk about law gospel. But in general, this is how God teaches, and He teaches through indicatives and imperatives and who God is, and in light of who God is, how you should act.

God’s Holiness and Human Sinfulness

And that�s what we�re talking about on No Compromise Radio today, because the most important thing that�s ever going to happen to you is going to be when you die and how are you going to get into heaven, especially when I read verses like this, Exodus 33 20, �God said, �You cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live.

He said that to Moses. How about Judges 6, when Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, �Alas, O Lord God, for now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said to him, �Peace to you.

Do not fear. You shall not die. Good thing he saw the second person of the Trinity pre-incarnation and not the face of God, or else he would have been obliterated. Judges 13, �Now the angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah or his wife again.

Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord, so Manoah said to his wife, �We will surely die, for we have seen God. And so many people, they just think, �Well, we�re going to die and then stand before God, and we just want to trapeze ourselves into His presence.

We want to just fling ourselves into the presence. We have lost in evangelicalism. I could ask you the question, if you�re watching, have you lost, if you�re listening, have you lost what it means that God is holy?

Because if you understand that God is holy, and you understand that you fall short of God�s perfection, then would we want to just saunter into the presence of God? Job had it figured out, chapter 42, �I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye hath seen thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

And you all are familiar with Isaiah chapter 6. Remember, the Lord sits on the throne high and lifted up, and the train of His robe fills the temple. I mean, if His robe is that spectacular, how grandiose, how spectacular must be the Lord who sits on such a throne with such a train?

Above Him stood the seraphim, each had six wings, with two He covered His face. They know protocol when it comes to holiness, even though they�re created beings as sinless. And two He covered His feet, with two He flew, and one called to another and said.

It�s like, all of a sudden, you start hearing this sound. And Tiffany, the angels over here, �Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And then the angels over here, �The whole earth is full of His glory.

And what happens? Foundations of the thresholds shake at the voice of Him who called. The house was filled with smoke. And what did Isaiah say? �Yippee! High five! Fist bump God! I can�t wait. He walks with me and He talks with me along life�s narrow way.

You ask me how I know He lives? I mean, Isaiah is afraid. And what does Isaiah do? He knows He�s sinful, even though He could have been the most holy man on the earth. Did you ever think about that?

Isaiah�s not some weird pervert, he�s not some weird pedophile, he�s not some weird rapist, he�s not some weird terrorist, he�s not some weird Unabomber, he�s not some, you know, director of pornography or whatever you want to go through in the list of crazy things in this world today.

He�s the prophet. When He speaks regularly, God speaks. And what did Isaiah say? This is what we need, a good dose of the holiness of God. Where is R .C. Sproul when we need him? �Woe is me, for I am lost.

I am a man of unclean lips Isaiah said, �and I dwell in the midst of the people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. He knew, you just don�t trapeze into the presence of God.

You just don�t saunter into the presence of God. I ask you, is this practical? Is it practical? How do I meet God? How do I die well and stand before God? How do I make it so that Psalm 49 doesn�t apply to me when death is the shepherd of unbelievers?

I don�t want that death as a shepherd. I want God to pay a ransom for me. I�m going to have my body resurrected. I will live eternally. And so Isaiah says, �I�m cursed. I deserve this. I see your holiness, God.

I know I�m sinful. And it�s like a nuclear winner when the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man hit. What happens? I think God�s going to give Isaiah his wish. He wants to be damned. Here comes the damning execution angel.

�Then one of the seraphim flew to me. What do you think he�s going to do? If you were Isaiah, you just got what�s coming to you. You just asked to be damned. You can�t even be in the presence of God.

You�d rather be obliterated. And at least God�s merciful and sends the seraphim flying to Isaiah to just smoke him. �Having in his hand the seraphim, �a burning coal, so hot he taken it with tongs from the altar.

And here comes the death angel. You just got done saying, �You know what? I know how holy God is. I know how sinful I am. And God, damn me. Woe is me. I�m unclean. I thought I had integrity in front of other people.

I did. But in front of you, God, it�s just me and you. This is David when he said in Psalm 51, �Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done what is evil in thy sight. This is Nathan coming up to David.

You are the man. Isaiah knew it. He didn�t blame. He didn�t say, �I�ve got an illness. I�ve got a dysfunction. I�ve got a disease. I�ve got a syndrome. The woman you gave me, he knows. And on that day when we all stand before God, there�s not going to be one excuse given because it will be judgment given.

And we�re not going to get to plead our case and bring some people in who are going to vouch for us as character witnesses because we know how bad we are. And on that day, it will be exposed for all. And God knows how bad we are.

Yet here�s the thing. While God creates and while God judges and while God is holy, holy, holy, holy, God�s merciful too. Now, that�s amazing. Isaiah is thinking that he is going to get obliterated by the death angel.

And what does he get instead? Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal, and he touched my mouth and said, �Now, before we have the same part, hot coal, touch the mouth. You can just imagine.

�Behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin covered, atoned for. You know the words yam kippur, the day of covering, the day of atoning, that�s the word here, that�s the root word here, your sin�s atoned for.

This is mercy seat language. This is propitiation language. This is 1 John 2, that Jesus is the propitiation of our sin language. This is 1 John 4, propitiation language. This is Romans 3, propitiation language.

And the wildest thing, the Gospel of John tells us that the person sitting on the throne, the Lord, in Isaiah 6, is Jesus, the pre-incarnate Jesus. He�s merciful. He�s kind. This is just who Jesus is.

Yes, he�s creator. Yes, he�s judge. Yes, he�s holy, holy, holy. Yes, he�s righteous, but he�s merciful, he�s kind, he�s gracious, and he loves to forgive sinners. So how do we approach God on that day, that day that�s one day closer?

How do we avoid the death shepherd, the shepherd of death? Well, the answer is found in the Lord Jesus. So when I go to a worship service as a congregant, does anybody have any good news for me? That�s the question.

I have another question when I�m a congregant. Will this sermon make sense without the life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, soon return, pre-existence of Jesus? Because if it�s just a bunch of be nice, take your wife on dates, you don�t need the Bible to tell you that.

Oh, that could be wisdom, go out with your wife and hang out with the Ebendroths long enough. You�re going to go probably dancing with us for the marriage therapy. I think we had about 12 to 14 Bethlehem Bible Church folks at the class, the swing dance class on Thursday.

That was fun. And I always tell the people, listen, when it comes to ballroom dancing, whether it�s foxtrot or waltz, our Viennese waltz, our tango, our cha-cha, or what�s the one we learned the other day?

The hustle. The husbands have to lead on the dance floor, and that�s hard to do in marriage because we�re sinful, and the wives on the dance floor have to follow, and that�s hard to do in a marriage because they�re sinful.

Anyway, how relevant is this? It�s relevant. You need special revelation to know this. If this is a message that the world could give, what am I doing here on Sunday morning? I can just turn on TV or just listen to a podcast or something.

Maybe Joe Rogan talks about it, or Malcolm Gladwell. Maybe he would help me. But there�s one place to go to learn about the Savior, about our triune God. So please tell me about Him, because I�m going to have to approach Him, and I want to stand clothed in the righteous robes of Christ Jesus.

So please tell me some good news. Please tell me your sermon is going to need the life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus to make sense. By the way, if you have a pastor who gives you that, and I�m not talking to our people right now.

I�m talking to people that don�t attend here. Make sure you encourage your pastor. Thank you for that message. Thank you for telling me about the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Luke chapter 5, �Simon answered and said, �Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as you say and let down the nets.

When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish and their nets began to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so they began to sink.

But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus� feet, saying, �You�re so good, Jesus. Thank you for doing that. You�re a fisher of men, but you�re a fisher of fish too. With you we have our plates full.

What did Simon Peter do? Simon Peter knew that the God of the universe was in his boat, and the God of the universe is holy, holy, holy. And Simon Peter knew that he was unholy, ungodly, sinful. And when you have the holiness of God meeting sin, it is a recipe for obliteration.

And therefore, Simon Peter said, Luke 5, 8, �Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. So if you want practical preaching, how about this? Would you please tell me, practically, how will it work out when I die and stand before God?

I do not want a shepherd named Death. I want God to pay my ransom. I want God to resurrect me. I want God the Son to do His work. He did His work at Calvary, but to do His work of intercessor, being an intercessor and being my advocate, so I may stand in the presence of God, Jude 24, 25, with great joy, blameless.

That is what I need to know. Because right now, my world is, I sinned today, and I fell short today, and I did not measure up today, and I do not know if I can still get into heaven. And I want to hear a pastor say, �Hey, Christians, God forgave your sins too.

Hey, Christians, this is not �so you will go� sin. This is �so you will be motivated not to sin. But those sins that you committed, they have not unjustified you. Child of God, those sins that you committed have not made you kicked out of the family.

You're not unsunned. You're not unadopted. You're not un... Oh, what's the other ones? Any uns? Whenever I think of �un, I think of 7-Up, the �un-Cola. Remember that guy? Remember that guy, the bald guy, the �un-Cola.

I'd like to be reminded that the good news is for sinners too, sinners who are simultaneously justified and sinful. When you understand how holy God is, then it gets rid of all this, �Well, you know, if I live a good life, I'll make it in.

�Sorry, God's holy. �Well, you know, I live my best life now. �Sorry, God's holy. And His holiness is going to dictate, �Can I approach Him And the answer is, without the righteous robes of Christ, without being forgiven, no.

The answer is no. You may not approach Him. You cannot approach Him. And the whole book of Hebrews is the approachability of God. He is unapproachable unless you approach the Lord through a mediator. By the way, I'm just looking online now.

There's Steve is watching. Steve Venn is watching. Janine is watching. I got a good email from your son the other day, Robert, Laura, Melissa, Wren, William, Ann. And see, if I give all the names, then, you know, then you feel better about it.

Once again, they say never drink anything on the Radio Doing Podcast, so therefore, my flesh wants to do the opposite. And so if it's a Super Coffee Nitro with MCT oil, we do it. Not bad, I say. I think it's the new no-code drink of choice.

Melchizedek and the Priesthood of Christ

Book recommendation, it is The Christian Faith by Beza. This is Calvin's successor. This was a difficult book to get back in the day, and it's been republished now, and so you could pick it up. The Christian Faith by Theodore Beza.

Ours we say here in New England, Theodore Beza. Somebody came to our house the other day, and we said, oh, what'd you have for, like, Christmas Eve? And we were just talking, and we all went up to the beach together.

My wife and my kids did the polar plunge, but I didn't jump in. It was actually a pretty warm day, but my knee was killing me. I didn't want to run into the ocean and then step on some kind of rock or something up in Maine.

But my friend said, when asked the question, what'd you have for Christmas Eve dinner? She said lasagna. Not even batting an eye. We had lasagna. Okay, good. Well, what are we talking about on No Compromise Radio?

I have no idea. That's why our radians are so low. That's why Relevant Magazine calls us something called No Compromise Radio. I almost wanted them to say so-called instead of something called. Something called No Compromise Radio.

Shauna, thank you for that. I just got a note from Shauna. Last year, I was about ready to quit No Compromise Radio because, I mean, I do three new shows a week, and then there's the new sermon on Mondays, Fridays is kind of a rerun.

But anyway, I feel better, Shauna. So thank you. I am encouraged by that. I know our show isn't for everyone. If you want serious Bible teaching, listen to a bounding grades radio. By the way, I'm going to have Chris Gordon, Pastor Chris, on the radio show in the next couple weeks.

Probably one of my favorite podcasts, a bounding grace radio. And when you hear him preach, you're going to be very encouraged. Big picture, Christ-centered, excellent in Escondido, a bounding grace.

If you look at my iPad, iPod, iTunes podcast, you're going to see that. I don't know, maybe it's at the top because it's alphabetical. Now we have Meg watching. Boy, here we go. Only a few minutes left and people are kind of popping up.

Anyway, on No Compromise Radio, the theme today is essentially this. Doctrine is relevant. And your desire, your hankering, your aptitude for just tell me what to do needs to be suppressed. There's a place for what to do.

But in the book of Hebrews, the to-do stuff is for chapter 13. How do I approach God? How do I appreciate the person and work of Christ? What does it mean to be a high priest? How can Jesus be my priest if He's from Judah?

And the Bible says you've got to have priests from the Levitical tribe. And the answer is, well, there's a special priest named Melchizedek. And let me tell you all about Melchizedek, this character, this person from the Old Testament that might be one of the most important characters in the entire Bible because our Lord Jesus's priesthood comes from that line.

He's not a Levitical priest, Jesus is not, but He comes from the priesthood of Melchizedek. And so the writer in chapter 7 in Hebrews wants you to know all about this. Don't you want to know all about your Savior?

Every little detail, and you go, oh, who could come up with this? You've got Jesus as prophet and king, but how can He be a priest if He's from Judah? That sounds like He could be a king from Judah, but He can't be a priest.

How does this all work? And you just think, this is amazing, the detail, the mind of God. And before you know it, you're thinking about all these things about the person and work of Christ, and you forget about your own problems, or your problems are put into perspective as you see the problems through the lens of the person and work of Christ.

Because one day, these problems are not going to exist. Every problem that you have right now, whatever those problems are, they're not going to exist. But you'll have a bigger problem if you don't have an advocate, a mediator, a priest, and that's going to be meeting God.

That is why when I meet someone and they ask my advice, I've got a loved one, do we put him on life support? I say, do you think they're a Christian? Yes, we do. Well, you know what, we're not after long life, we're after ending things well, and there's something more important than long life, and they're going to be absent from the body present with the Lord, to live as Christ, to die as Cain, it's okay.

If you'd like to take them off life support, that would not be unwise, and so I just give my opinion. But if they're not a believer, and I'm asked, do you think we should take them off life support? No.

Do everything you can to keep them alive long enough, or just keep them alive longer, because this matters. And when they're laying there on their deathbed, did it matter what their GPA was? Did it matter how many speeding tickets they had?

Did it matter that they got in some fights with their wife? Did it matter, I mean, whatever it is, that their back hurts? No. Something else matters more, and that's why the book of Hebrews talks about Jesus Christ, the great high priest.

If you'd like to know more about this, you can go to some of our shows. We have a great search engine there, NoCompromiseRadio .com.

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.