Law/Gospel: A Primer: Part 2

Welcome to Don't Compromise Radio Ministry.

It is show two today for me.

It is February 8th, Saturday, 10 .30 in the morning. I'm here at the church building early. There's a funeral here in the next couple of hours. And we're getting ready for the snow. Snow Sunday it's going to be.

I think we're going to have about 25 inches of snow here in central Massachusetts in the next 10 days.

At least that's what they've said.

I don't know if that's going to be true or not, but that's what they have said. I started last show with a little segment called, Did You Know These Things Had Names? And I was so proud of my work. We're going to do part two today.

Did you know these things had names? The day after tomorrow is, what's it called? The day after tomorrow. Well, let's call the day after tomorrow. No, it has a name.

Overmorrow.

Now, some people study the marrow controversy. Do you have to forsake sin in order to come to Christ? And they don't like it. And so they're overmorrow.

Over marrow. They're over it.

Somebody said to me recently, somebody I love and loves me. You just talk about law and gospel all the time. Isn't there something else to talk about? Yes, overmorrows. Your tiny toe or finger is called minimus.

A wired cage that holds the cork. And a bottle of champagne is called, there's one word, agraph. Like a giraffe, agraph. The space between your nostrils is called columella nasi. I get the nasi part. The armhole and close where the sleeves are sewn is called armski.

A-R-M-S-C-Y. Armski. I have comments to make. I just can't do it.

Illegible handwriting is called griffinage. Here's one we should all know in the Bible. The dot over the eye is called a tittle. The utterly sick feeling you get after eating or drinking too much is called,.

Oops, I can't say it.

The metallic device used to measure your feet at the shoe store is called bannock device. Remember that? A bannock device. I had no idea. Steve Bannon device. Those things have names. Very, very interesting.

The Law-Gospel Paradigm and the Purpose of the Book

Today on the show, we're going to talk about something else that has a name. It's called the law gospel paradigm. How to understand the Bible, law, and gospel. I read some of my book last time, and I thought I'd read a little bit more this time.

We're not going to do that many shows on it, but just to give you an idea, because I like to talk about law gospel, and I want you to know how it's written so that you could properly assess. Should I give it to someone?

Should I avoid it? Should I read my court and stuff instead?

That would probably be a good idea.

Law gospel, a primer. I published it. It's on Amazon. I publish on Amazon because you essentially do this. You have an idea for a book. You then write the book. You then get the book edited. I mean, a lot of these steps take money and time, of course.

They all take time. Then you get the book typeset, and then it turns into a PDF. You then get a concept for a cover. Stephen does my covers, and then that's put in a PDF. Then you go on Kindle Direct Publishing, and you upload a PDF, and you upload a PDF for the text, for the inside, for the guts of the book.

Then the outside of the book, you also have a PDF. You pick the size of the book. Do you want it matte? Do you want it hardback? Do you want colored pictures inside? All the things that you choose. Then it says it costs X amount to produce.

This is the minimum amount of money you can charge. You pick the prices, and then it tells you it's going to be sold in Australia for such and such and such and such. You can change the prices at will.

It just takes about a day to change the prices. One of the great things about Amazon and their Kindle Direct Publishing arm is that if people are in Australia, and they wanted the old Sexual Fidelity book, it would cost me $20, cost them $20 to ship overseas or in England or some other place.

But here they have about 10 places that they can cross the world where they print on demand and then send the book. Of course, you get the books for free, so I don't have to buy 1 ,000 Sexual Fidelity, the old ones, and then ship them from my home.

Get it shipped to my house, pay for shipping there, and then ship it to other people. That's how we used to have to do it. Now you get the updated, gospel-infused, I hate to say the word infused, but in this particular case, updated Sexual Fidelity online, and there it is.

We did that with Law Gospel, a primer. On the left-hand side of every page is a question and then an answer that's one sentence and then elaboration for a couple paragraphs, simply written, a primer.

And on the right-hand side of the page, there are quotes that reinforce what I wrote, just so you don't think I'm making stuff up. So today, Mike Evendroth, No Compromise Radio, Law Gospel, a Primer.

If you bought the book, would you review it for me, please? That would help. Okay, that's under general questions. So that's the one-sentence answer that I have. Every question, question.

I was gonna say question and question and question.

It is just crazy around here. Come on, it's a question. You know, there's somebody in the background that he bugs me regularly and often, and so you can't quite hear it very well sometimes, but it's like that thing, you know, the frequencies that the kids can hear, but the parents can't, you know, in the background.

And then he comes in the foreground.

Questions, questions.

Are you a questioner?

He's about...

As Job, as written in Job,.

And who can stand before his cold? By the way, if you're really struggling with things, read Job 38 through 42, and you won't be asking God as many questions. We tend to do that. I'm not saying it's always wrong, but eventually we have to go back to who the Lord is and just submit and be resigned to the fact.

Okay, I have leukemia. What am I gonna do about it? Get mad, get angry with God, and then get disciplined for that. I'd much rather just say, Lord, you're in charge, and I need to count it all. Joy, you're working in me.

You know, one thing I've noticed, and I obviously am a hard case here, but when I meet people that are Christians and they're really neat people and they're really wonderful and kind and humble and patient and just the kind of people you think, I'd like to be like you.

I've met several people that I've said to them, I'd like to be like you. I think probably first I said, I said, I wish you were my dad because, you know, you kind of are like your dad for good or for ill.

I wish you were my dad. I've said that to Phil Howard. I've said that to Martin Holt when he was alive, those kind of people. And what makes those people? Of course, there's ladies, but I'm thinking about men because I'm a man.

What makes them who they are? Well, it's the Lord's work. It's the Lord's sovereign grace. He saves, he gifts, he gives the Holy Spirit to do well in them, shaping and molding and pruning. But he often does it, most often does it through suffering and trials, which make us less dependent, which make us more humble, which make us more thankful, which make us more eager for the Lord's return and the hope of heaven, which makes us hate sin more, which makes us see creation grown and how it affects creation, sin does, and even us.

And so neat people, you pretty much say they've got a lot of trials in their background. And so what I was going to say for me, it must, you know, the Lord only had half, a third of the way done or a fourth of the way done with the prostate cancer and then 16 days in hospital with COVID and then leukemia and other trials.

I'm not joking when I say that I'm, you know, a difficult case, but of course the Lord can do anything and I hope I am kinder. I hope I am nicer. I just got to, I don't really usually get on Facebook.

Somebody message me on Facebook.

I sound like Sean Connery.

There used to be a Twitter account that was like theological Sean Connery and everything was written out in a way that it would sound just like him.

If you said it out loud.

And this particular man, I think lives in South Africa. And he said, Mike, I used to listen to you 10 or 15 years ago, but you'd always beat me down. I'm like, why am I listening to you? But Martin Holt said that you were good.

So I tried listening. And he said, now I'm very thankful for the assurance and I listened to the pactum and no compromise. And so encouraged by that. Back to the point. What about motivation to obey? I write in the book, every Christian wants to be motivated to obey God.

From where does this motivation originate? It does not come from the law. The law has no power, no animation and no energy. Some have said it's like the GPS navigation in your car, which only indicates how to get somewhere.

The motor or the engine of a car is what actually propels the car down the freeway. Others say the law is like a rudder on a sailboat. The rudder steers, but it does not make the boat move. The sails move the ship.

The gospel is the engine that motivates. The gospel of Jesus Christ is like a sail furled open, filled with the wind, driving the boat to shore. I think the first, the GPS thing, I think I heard from Fonville and the sail, I think I heard from Horton.

The book of Romans provides a perfect example of the famous theological paradigm, guilt, grace and gratitude. Romans 1 -3a, guilt. Romans 3b -11, grace. Romans 12 -16, gratitude. Grace motivates and animates gratitude.

The power to obey flows from the triune God, who he is and what he has done. There's a period missing on page 11.

That's amazing.

Self-edit. Right now. Spencer, if you want to take that out, you can.

You don't have to.

On the flip side of the page, there are periods. Spurgeon, when I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin. But when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could have ever rebelled against one who loved me so and sought my good.

That's one of my favorite Spurgeon quotes. And I think it really is from Spurgeon, but I've yet to find a reference for that. I've yet to find that. So Phil Johnson, if you're listening, let me know. Galatians 2 -20, the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

And then final quote regarding misunderstanding the law of gospel and holiness and motivation. Ernest Reisinger, because there can be no true evangelical holiness, either in heart or life, except it proceed from faith working by love and no true faith, either of the law or the gospel, unless the leading distinction between the one and the other are spiritually discerned.

The law and the gospel are set before us in the Bible as one undivided system of truth. Yet an unchangeable line of distinction is drawn between them. There's also an inseparable connection and relationship.

Unfortunately, some see the difference between them, but not the relationship. However, the man who knows the relative position of the law and the gospel has the keys of the situation in understanding the Bible and its doctrine.

Mike Ebenroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. There's here a chapter on is the gospel and the law of gospel distinction biblical or is it just Lutheran? And I gave a quote from Casper, the friendly Olivianus.

For this reason, the distinction between law and gospel is retained. The law does not promise freely, but under the condition that you keep it completely. And if someone should transgress at once, the law or legal covenant does not have the promise of the remission of sins.

On the other hand, the gospel promises freely the remission of sins and life. Not if we keep the law, but for the sake of the Son of God through faith. And so I quoted him because he's talking about law gospel properly, but he's not a Lutheran.

So it's not just Lutheran. My name is Mike Ebenroth, this is No Compromise Radio Ministry. Those were some questions that were in the general section of questions and then answers. I then moved to law questions and I introduced it with a quote by Machin, J. Gresham Machin.

A new and more powerful proclamation of that law is perhaps the most pressing need of the hour. Men would have little difficulty with the gospel if they had only learned the lesson of the law. So it always is.

A low view of law always brings legalism and religion. A high view of the law makes a man seeker after grace. That's amazing to me. Of course, you know, that fundamentalists, legalists, heavy law preachers, you need to have enough evidence in your life to somehow call yourself a Christian.

It's not N evidence and fruit, it's N plus one evidence and fruit. How can you live like that and call yourself a Christian? Now, I think that's actually a fair question to ask sometimes because 1 Corinthians 6, 9 to 11 addresses that, don't be deceived.

But that's a Corinthian church and that's not something we always say to people. You say, well, what do you mean?

You don't always say that.

How can you live like that and call yourself a Christian? Now, if it's, hey, Mike, I'm saying to myself, Mike, how can you do that?

You're a Christian.

Stop, repent. Walk by faith, not by sight. Okay, legit, I'm on board. Somebody lives with their girlfriend. I say, how long you live with your girlfriend? 10 years. Are you sleeping with her?

Yes.

You're having sex? Oh yeah, of course.

Are you a Christian?

Yes. How can you live like that and call yourself a Christian? By your own testimony, you're not. I'm not talking about we, I'm not minimizing sin by calling it slipping up, but we slipped up and we sinned and we ask for forgiveness.

We've put up boundaries. We're not over at each other's house late at night anymore and we have people around. Okay, you know what I'm saying, don't you? But there are some people that whether they're preaching to the Corinthian church, don't be deceived.

Fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of God. How can you live like that and call yourself a Christian? Such were some of you, but they're preaching it to Ephesus. They're preaching it to the churches at Galatia.

They're preaching it to the Philippians. They're preaching it to the Colossians. They're preaching it to Philemon. They're preaching it to Timothy. They're preaching it to Titus. They're preaching it to the Hebrews.

They're preaching it to the 12 dispersed tribes in James. They're preaching it to everyone, like Patmos. I mean, when you're preaching to Christians, you preach law gospel, you talk about sin. You should talk about repentance.

You should talk about holy living. You should talk about honoring the Lord by your obedience. You should talk about loving God and loving neighbor and loving enemies. Of course, of course you talk that way.

But every single Sunday, how can you be a Christian and live like that? Now, back to my point with the law. Essentially, they just make the law light. They don't understand how inflexible it is and how unchanging it is and how it reflects rather God's character and nature and holiness and righteousness and judgment.

See 1 Timothy 1 and Romans 7. If you, the fundamentalist preacher, hammering law all the time, how can you call yourself a Christian and do that? Do you know what? Physician, heal yourself. Look at yourself.

If you're the kind of Christian that goes around doing this all the time or you're a pastor, a Bible teacher that does it all the time, you're just making the law light. Let's think about it. How can you do that and not love your wife like that and call yourself a Christian man and then, you know, blast him?

Again, there's a time to say, Christ loved the church. We're supposed to love our wives sacrificially at our own expense and mirroring Christ loving the church. So we have to be loving our wives and we're not just talking about eros love.

We're talking about agape love.

Preach it.

Go right ahead.

Preach, preach, preach. Of course. But after you preach that and convict people, give them the balm of the gospel, give them the truths about the promises of forgiveness and all that that goes with it.

I'm not minimizing all that. I'm just trying to talk about something. I'm getting to another point.

But you're the preacher.

Who's saying all that? Do you really love your wife like you should? In the old days when I preached like that, I would say to myself, okay, these guys in the church, they're not loving their wife because I know some of the stories behind the scenes and I wouldn't do that.

That's the first wrong thing that I thought. They are doing the wrong things. How do I get them to do the right things? How could you call yourself a Christian and do that? Is that what I'm really after?

We're not talking about adultery. We're talking about what? Just denying self, going home to serve your wife, providing for her, loving her, talking with her, sharing with her, praying with her, all these other things.

Do you, preacher,.

Do you, Bible study teacher, really think you do that well? No, you're lowering the standard of God's law, if it were possible, to quote Clark. The law doesn't change. I think the word is inexorable. It is not flexible.

It is immutable. And so these law preachers, they just lower the law because they can't live underneath it either. So they just tell everybody else, hey, you bunch of losers. And for themselves, don't they need a savior?

Don't they need a law keeper? Don't they need someone who died for those who didn't keep the law? Don't they need someone to say, yes, it's good to look back at the first use of the law and how even as a Christian, you remember your salvation, remember where you were going, you remember what your doom was, remember how bad sin was, remember how enslaving it was.

This is what the law does. It's first use, even for us to remember as Christians. And now in light of that, God's law doesn't change, but my status before God changes, I'm now a son. I'm not condemned.

And I'd like to obey God. I want to honor him. I want to make his name great. I know it's good for me. I know it's good for my neighbor and I want to obey the law. But do we ever perfectly, entirely, exactly, and perpetually obey the law?

The answer is no. So if you're a Bible teacher and you're whacking people the whole time, you don't keep the law, how can you call yourself a Christian? I want you to preach the law to yourself, but not your flimsy law, not your wavering law, not your law that you just kind of amend and lower and say, well, you know, no, no.

I mean the law, the law that talks about motives, the law that talks about sacrifice, the law that talks about, well, it's just not my sincere desire to keep it a little bit, but no, perfectly keeping God's law.

Think about honoring parents. Think about don't murder. Don't commit adultery.

Right?

Don't steal.

Don't bear false witness. Don't covet. Let's go to that one. Let's go to the 10th commandment.

Coveting.

How can you call yourself a Christian, law preacher, and live the way you do?

Coveting.

Pride.

Self-righteousness. Boasting. Thinking you're better. These poor losers in the church, they don't live up to the Bible, but I do, and I'm going to make sure I tell them. Now, tell them, but then preach the gospel.

Tell them some good news. I think in the old days, and I was taught this, but you don't say anything about your own struggles, because why would anybody want to follow a pastor if he's got his own struggles?

And I'm not talking about pornography. I don't look at pornography. I don't want to look at pornography, but I'm just talking about other sins like self-righteousness,.

Pride,.

Worry,.

Complaining. Did I mention self-righteousness?

Pride.

Not trusting the Lord.

There's a bunch.

I think we could keep listing them. If I struggle with those things, my whole sermon's not Mike's confessional booth. That's not it at all. That's not what I'm after. But I certainly can say, after I give some second-person imperatives, you, we need a Savior.

I need a Savior, and I need Jesus just as much today as I did in 1989 when God saved me in September in California. I need Him now. And, you know, when Piper would say things like, you know, if you're 30 years old as a Christian and you still struggle with the same sins, how can you call yourself a Christian?

Maybe he even said you're not a Christian. And I don't know the full context, so maybe I should give him a benefit of the doubt. But I just say, John Piper, you're lowering the standard of God's law for yourself.

I mean, you don't struggle with... I mean, is there a struggle in Romans 7? Now, you may disagree with me on Romans 7. Paul talking as a mature Christian in the section in chapters 6 and 7 for holy living, in a section where he sins, and even if you don't believe Romans 7 is a Christian, you have a different view, fine, you can go elsewhere and show me that, of course, Christians are justified, but they're not...

They're not perfectly, in their practice, holy, right? We're not Kesex, we're not perfectionists. And by the way, that's what perfectionists do. While I would condemn years ago Wesley's perfectionism, I would pretty much act like I was a perfectionist because I don't struggle with all these things.

I mean, I love my wife and I don't run around on her and I don't look at pornography and I provide. She's never missed a meal that she didn't... I mean, now that we're older,.

We miss meals on purpose.

We had all the kids home for Christmas and grandkids and everything else and we're like, these people eat so much food. We're like too old. You know, we're in our 60s, we eat like birds, right? Partly because we don't want carbs and, you know, we're trying to stay thin and active and everything else.

And if you eat carbs,.

You're in big trouble. I almost talk like Sean Connery again.

Carbs are fine.

Oh, to have a piece of.

Homemade sourdough bread,.

Warm,.

With just a huge, huge slab of caragold butter on there or some ghee.

Oh, come on.

Just let it drip down your wrist, down your hand to your wrist.

I haven't had any food this morning.

I can't forget.

Get myself to go to the... The store by our house has eggs for $7. Do I have $7 for eggs? Yes, but it's the point. So there's another store that's bigger. It's farther away and the crazy people go there,.

But there's $3 eggs.

So before I go to this place, this crazy place, it's called Market Basket. I brace myself. I'd like to eat a meal first, so I'm not shopping hungry and I like to just be calm. It's a social experiment because I'm going to walk around.

There's going to be all kinds of people with their carts, carriages we call them here, shopping carriages and they're going to all be buying stuff and there's going to be a long line and everything else.

So my wife and I know, only go there when we're calm, peaceful, eagles, easy, peaceful feeling. That's the only time we go there.

Otherwise, stay away.

Mike Abendroth,. Law Gospel, A Primer. This book, I hope will help people understand do and done. Promises are done. Person of Christ Jesus, we think about him and we think about what he calls us to do in light of who he is.

Mike Abendroth,.

NoCoRadio.

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