The Divine Credentials of Jesus (Part 2)

No Compromise Radio

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:01

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

00:08

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

00:16

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.

00:24

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

00:30

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

00:41

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is

00:46

Mike Abendroth, and we are also on Facebook Live on the NoCo group. I don't know what to do with the group.

00:51

I don't do a lot of Facebook typing stuff and talking and chatting. I just try to post a few things.

00:59

So at Ben's request, we do the NoCo videos.

01:05

And it's just me in my office here. This is the studio. It's not much to see, really.

01:10

There's the microphone. There's the iPad. There's the Bible, coffee. There's the mixing board.

01:21

There's a few different things here. The NoCo deal, the office.

01:31

I'm turning it around. I can't. I couldn't quite do it.

01:40

It's just me sitting here. That's all it is. The trees are pretty outside. And my name is

01:45

Mike Abendroth. No Israel this year. Sorry about that. I waited and waited and waited. I knew months ago we'd never be able to go, but I just didn't want to pull the trigger.

01:54

We will try to go February 2022. So if you've given your money for a deposit, email me

02:00

Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com and we'll send you the money back. Or if you want us to keep the money so you can just keep the deposit there, that's fine.

02:08

Vicki, welcome to the show. Susan, welcome to the show. Mike, welcome to the show. Good to have viewers.

02:14

I think there is a different dynamic when I'm doing the radio show and no one's watching. I don't know.

02:21

I guess I just put my head down and look at my notes. How do you like that cool sticker? If you want one of those stickers, just write me.

02:26

Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com. I think I've got 30 left. But then when

02:34

I'm on the TV or whatever this is called. I used to have a

02:39

TV show. I don't know if you know that. It was in the Midwest, No Compromise TV. And my wife is the smart one of the group.

02:47

And so years ago when I did a radio show in Worcester, I did ten shows, two weeks, five days a week for someone filling in.

02:56

It was live radio from two to three here in Worcester. And then the producer of the radio station,

03:03

WV &E, said, you know what, you're not really too bad at that.

03:11

So we'd like to offer you a show. Of course, you have to pay to be on. But we'd like to offer you a slot. And we'd like to offer you a slot.

03:25

And we need within the next couple of weeks, you know, a name. So I didn't know what to name the show.

03:32

I said to my wife, honey, what do you think I should name the show? And she said, No Compromise Radio. So that was simple.

03:38

That was her idea. And then when it comes to the TV show that we did, I thought, well, you know what,

03:44

I just don't want to get up and like talk and just like me behind a desk. So Kim said, the brains of the operation, she said, well, you know, think about variety shows.

03:54

This is not a sermon, so you have more leeway. Think about a variety show, a Jimmy Fallon or Johnny Carson, you know, back in the day.

04:03

And why don't you have like segments, right? So if you watch David Letterman, they'd have stupid pet tricks and then they have the monologue.

04:10

They'd have a guest. They'd have the top ten, et cetera. So that's what we ended up doing. And I thought it worked out pretty well.

04:16

So we had sections for every show. Are you a Roman Catholic or a Protestant? And I would have a.

04:24

I know R .C. did steal the name for his No Compromise conference and didn't even have me come.

04:29

That was bad. So then we had a Cooks and Barney section.

04:35

I had a Are You a Roman Catholic section. We had the message moment. Remember this magic moment with the message

04:41

Bible. And that was that was fun. And then like a teaching time from Romans. So anyway, my name is

04:47

Mike Abenroth. No Compromise Radio. I hope we've encouraged you throughout the years. This is,

04:53

I think, going on year 11 now on No Compromise Radio. We've kind of settled into Mondays are the sermons.

04:59

Fridays are a rerun. And I always think to myself, I think my theology was a lot is a lot better now than it was 10 years ago.

05:07

What if we play some of these reruns on Friday and then people listen and they're like, what's this theology again?

05:17

Somebody said they listened to a rerun a while ago. And I thought, oh, I hope it was good. But I don't have time to go back and listen to all the, you know, 2500 shows to see which ones need theological editing.

05:29

I mean, here I have in this in this mixing board. I have everything from host and guest and caller.

05:37

Those ones I used when I was on Wretched Radio. But I don't have a theological acumen button.

05:44

But I wish I did. I wish I did. So we do have some new things in store for No Compromise Radio.

05:54

We're going to have some Beza briefings coming up soon. Theodore Beza, or as we say here,

06:00

Bezer. That's going to be a new little segment on the show. I've got some good interviews lined up with different folks.

06:09

And so we'll try to get back into it a little bit more. If I could just get rid of this pain, this nerve damage in my arm, dying.

06:17

Oh, brother. So how many prescriptions can you particularly go through?

06:26

What was the one particular subject of theology change? You know what, Mike? I don't know if you watched the last show just a few minutes ago.

06:34

But I think basically the big paradigm shift, I think, was to a Christ -centered preaching versus kind of moral principles and stuff like that.

06:43

I think that's probably it. We could talk about law, gospel and, you know, covenant of redemption and some other things.

06:50

But I think that's the big thing, Christ -centered preaching. And that happened because of many things, including teaching through the book of Hebrews.

06:58

Hebrews really did a number on me. I really think to myself, I'm not the same person as I was after I finished the book of Hebrews.

07:08

And it was interesting because simultaneously, as I'm preaching through Hebrews and realizing the subject of every sermon is the object of our faith, it's the

07:17

Lord Jesus. And he's in the Old Testament, obviously, a lot more places than I originally thought, coming from kind of a dispensational background.

07:26

And then I also got cancer. And then it made me think, you know, I thought I had some righteousness.

07:32

I thought, I mean, I was self -righteous. Still am, sadly. But I need the righteousness of another.

07:40

And that was really, that was good for me. I thank the Lord for that.

07:46

It was hard. Still have to deal with some things regarding that. But it was right and good.

07:52

And so it wasn't just experiential. Oh, I went through some kind of trial, and therefore I changed.

07:57

But the trial was secondary and commensurate and following to and subsequent thereof to for.

08:08

The Hebrews was antecedent to. So that's the big thing. I'm more reformed in my theology, if you want me to put it bluntly.

08:17

So Matthew 8. Last time we were talking about Matthew 8. And here's what I wanted to do with Matthew 8 that I never got into at the moment because I was just pontificating.

08:26

And that is Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the Gospels of the Lord Jesus. Remember, the best way to talk about these books, because they're a genre of their own, is the

08:36

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew. I know we like to just say Matthew, but in my mind,

08:41

I don't want to do that because it has really nothing to do with Matthew. The Gospel of the

08:47

Lord Jesus according to Matthew. Good news. I have good news. I have a joyful proclamation, the kind of proclamation where you can stand on your tiptoes and announce it.

08:58

The world is over. It's a boy, Ronald Reagan, in a landslide, etc.

09:05

So what happens is I'm reading these comments here. Sometimes they make sense.

09:11

Sometimes they don't. Oh, Matthew number eight. Oh, there you go. Okay, now

09:16

I get it. I didn't know what that meant. Numero ocho. I was thinking ocho de cinco.

09:22

That's where my mind goes, sadly. When it comes to going to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, I'd like you to regularly read the

09:33

Gospels. So in the morning, just for an illustration, I got up this morning and I did read the proverb of the day, right?

09:43

So if today's the 17th of October, I read Proverbs 17. I also read

09:48

Exodus 8, because that's the Old Testament scripture reading for tomorrow. I was reading some in Acts, Acts 13, because that's going to be the call to worship

10:01

New Testament reading. And then I usually read my passage that I'm preaching through.

10:08

And if I'm not preaching through one of the Gospels, I'll then read the Gospels. And then when

10:14

I'm getting dressed, and then I have my regimen of all these things that I have to take and all these kind of vitamins and pills and all these other things,

10:23

I listen to Gospels. You could listen to any book of the Bible, obviously.

10:29

But I listen to Matthew 8, 9, and 10 over and over and over. I mean, lots of times every day.

10:36

Or the other ones I like to do is John 7 through 10. Every day, every day, every day, getting ready.

10:43

That's just what I do. And then I can start remembering, okay, this is what's going on. So then in Matthew 8, I can say to myself, these are the credentials of the

10:50

King. Who do you think that I am? I'll tell you who I am. I might say things that are dramatic and, you know, pushing the envelope in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 in the

11:02

Sermon on the Mount. Here's what you've heard it said, but I say to you, right, if you do these words of mine, and now

11:09

I have the authority and the credentials of this King, because I can do these things. And I can heal the leper.

11:16

I can heal the servant of the centurion. I can heal Peter's mother -in -law and some others.

11:22

I can tell people, you follow me and let the dead bury the dead. I can tell the sea and the winds and the waves to obey.

11:30

And I can tell demons to go. And anyone who has those kind of credentials,

11:36

I need to listen to his words. And that's the tie -in in terms of the authentication of not only

11:43

Jesus, but his message. And that's how you should think of charismatic issues as well when it comes to sign gifts, right?

11:51

How do you know that you're supposed to listen to this person and that they're telling the truth?

11:57

Well, they need to be authenticated. And how are they authenticated? How were they authenticated?

12:03

Elijah, how was he authenticated? Moses, how was he authenticated? Elisha, how was he authenticated?

12:10

Joshua, how was he authenticated? The apostles and Jesus, they were all authenticated by powerful signs, wonders, healings, miracles, and spectacular supernatural things, right?

12:29

We said last show, and I think about this just kind of as a personal, just kind of like an anecdote.

12:36

I think, what would it take for me to walk up to a human man and worship him and get down on my face and really say,

12:43

I worship you. And I'm not even to be in your presence. You are so great.

12:49

And if I had hair to think, you know what, I'm going to take my hair and wipe his feet off because he's got dirty feet with the

13:01

Palestinian sand and dirt from Israel and other places. I mean, would you just do that for anyone?

13:08

But someone who had authenticated his greatness with signs of compassion and mercy and power, then that's a different story.

13:23

So my name is Mike Avendroth, this is No Compromise Radio. Thanks for watching on the NoCo channel and also listening to No Compromise Radio.

13:32

So Matthew chapter 8, let's get into the text a little bit because I love this section in particular, the section on the leper.

13:40

Matthew chapter 8, verse 1 says, When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. Remember, this is a tie -in as you're reading

13:48

Matthew to the Sermon on the Mount ends, right? And we've got all kinds of discussion about many will say to me on that day and enter the narrow gate and do these words of mine.

14:00

And most likely Matthew is putting these here. It's not chronological, but it's a topical section so you can see the credentials of the king.

14:09

The king has the right genealogy. Chapter 1, bad guys were trying to usurp the throne.

14:14

Chapter 2, with Herod, you've got the forerunner, John the Baptist. Chapter 3, you've got other people trying to take over as the king is inaugurated into gospel ministry, and that is

14:24

Satan. You have the manifesto of the king, and that's Matthew 5, 6, and 7. And now he, Matthew, arranges by the inspiration of the

14:32

Spirit of God some powerful things in Matthew 8, including this leper to be healed.

14:37

And behold, a leper came to him. Matthew likes to say that. Behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him saying,

14:44

Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. How many lepers have been healed up to this point in biblical chronological history?

14:58

Well, let's see. Miriam, right? Miriam, she had leprosy, and leprosy just means scaly in the

15:08

Greek, and there's all kinds of different skin diseases, and what if it's Hansen's disease? But that's not the point right now, and I don't want to get bogged down in the minutia when

15:17

I'm thinking about big picture, what about Jesus healing this person? And what's going on here? Behold, I mean, leopards are leopards.

15:33

There's a young man at the church, and I have this thermos, and I didn't pick this color on purpose, but I like this brand a lot, and so I just bought one of their cheap colors.

15:50

And he's like, well, Pastor, why do you have this pink thermos? Every week you drink out of a pink thermos, and I say, because I can.

15:57

I'm manly. My old pastor, my first pastor,

16:05

I got saved in Calvary Chapel, at Calvary Chapel, Raul Reis, and he was,

16:11

I think he spoke maybe German, English, and Spanish, but Spanish was his first language, and he always said leopards.

16:18

Jesus healed the leopards. He could heal a leopard at the spots. The leper.

16:26

There was another leper, and, of course, Vicky's picked up on it. We have Naaman, the Syrian, right, in the

16:32

Jordan. When I was in the Jordan last, we were right there on the border, the

16:39

Jordan River, and then Jordan, and there was a bunch of people on the other side of the river, and there were some soldiers there from both different sides, and it's like a tourist spot, so nobody's really going to try to cross over there.

16:54

But I saw people getting baptized there in the Jordan from the

16:59

Israel side, and they were kind of typical baptisms, you know, in the name of the Father, Son, and the Spirit, and dunking.

17:04

And then there were some other people on the other side. They were kind of in the water on the other side of the river, and it was easy to see, and they were dunking themselves seven times.

17:13

And at the time, I didn't really understand what was going on. I'm like, wait, auto -dunking, auto -baptism, self -baptism, dunking seven times.

17:22

I mean, they were bobbing. Why was that such a big deal when you're a kid in swimming class?

17:34

All right, everybody bob. This leper comes up to Jesus and kneels before him and says,

17:44

Lord, think about that, Lord, and I don't think this is sir, you know, mister.

17:49

No, Lord, if you will, right, if you're willing, you can make me clean.

17:57

You've got the power to do it. I just don't know if it's your will. You have the capacity to heal lepers.

18:05

I mean, who heals lepers? We'll realize soon enough in Matthew 11, you'll know the

18:11

Messiah if he heals lepers and raises people from the dead, of course. Every convention here is messed up because you're a leper.

18:22

You don't come this close and kneel before this rabbi. And there's all these people there, right?

18:29

Great crowds followed him. That's what the text says. And he, the leper, has it right.

18:37

I know you have the power. I know you have the ability. I know you're able to do this, but will you?

18:46

Is it your sovereign will? Is it your purpose? Is it your good pleasure to heal me?

18:55

I don't know if this leper heard the Sermon on the Mount.

19:01

Maybe he did. Maybe he heard of the Sermon on the Mount. And remember the Sermon on the Mount says, ask, seek, and knock.

19:10

Remember? Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be open.

19:22

Now, either the leper heard that from Jesus, heard that Jesus said that, or just went up.

19:31

But the news of Jesus is spreading. It's like wildfire.

19:40

It's permeating the land. And now this leper breaks all protocol and comes up to Jesus.

19:48

Instead of staying far away, he comes up. And what must have been this leper thinking?

19:53

Okay, nobody's basically healed. Nobody's ever better from leprosy. Okay, Miriam and Naaman, that's about it.

20:02

And I'm going to go up to Jesus because I think this man could heal me. Now, what

20:08

I do when I study the Bible sometimes is I just kind of run off to the next point. But if you kind of stop and let that settle in in your thinking,

20:15

I think it makes the magnitude of this passage more impressive.

20:23

And again, I'm not going to get bogged down in all the details of leprosy, but I will say that leprosy was incurable.

20:31

Lots of times it would cause, particular leprosy, numbness and soreness. And even some of the modern -day leprosy, the leper colonies, they'll have cats that will live in their homes and in their hospitals.

20:46

And why would you have a cat in the hospital? Dr. Brand would put cats in the hospitals for the lepers because you'll lose your nerve endings, kind of like my arm.

20:56

Maybe that's what I have. Maybe this whole thing. I've been going to the doctor. He's like, it's a pinched nerve.

21:02

It's a vaccination thing. Here's a prescription for this, this, this, and this. Here's the

21:07

St. John's work deal. Here's all this other stuff. I heat everything else. I can't ride my bike.

21:13

Might as well just eat. Maybe. Maybe I need a cat around or something.

21:21

But the nerves are so numb. You have a cat around because then if a mouse comes or a rat comes and starts chewing on your feet or your hands, you wouldn't notice it, but the cat will get the rat or the mouse.

21:35

I mean, it's pretty crazy, right? Lots of times there was ulcers and just kind of oozing and pain and just it was bad.

21:45

The description probably could be used in Numbers chapter 12 of a leper,

21:51

Miriam it was talked about, whose flesh is half eaten away. And the stigma civilly, the stigma socially, the stigma religiously was all there.

22:05

And here this leper comes up and says, if you will, you can make me clean.

22:11

I don't even really think he snuck up. I think he just went right up. I don't think he was like hiding in a sycamore tree or in a bush or something like that.

22:21

Kind of a sneak attack. I mean, it's just like walking right up. And what would you be thinking if you were one of those great crowds that talks about in chapter 8, verse 1?

22:29

Here's this leper just kind of, I don't want to say sauntering up, but with purpose goes right up to Jesus.

22:36

I mean, here's the dead man walking. And I'm not going to try to be cutesy or anything like that.

22:41

But, you know, there's all this zombie stuff that goes around and all these zombie talks and everything else. This is probably what it looked like, right?

22:52

Is this dead man walking. And he has confidence in the power of this man.

23:00

Again, I'm not saying he's only a man. But he is perfectly man.

23:06

He is truly man. And this man comes up. Sometimes they would say that it would affect your vocal cords and your tongue and your throat.

23:14

And so you couldn't really talk much. You would just kind of gurgle. I don't know if he was gurgling when he said this.

23:20

They also said the skin is so rotten that it smells.

23:27

So he looks awful. He probably smells awful. Who knows how close he is to dead.

23:36

But he recognizes who Jesus is. And he calls him Lord. And he bows to the sovereign will of this

23:44

Lord. And by the way, that makes perfect sense. Because if he is Lord, he does what he wants. Everything about the name it and claim it and grab it kind of prosperity gospel stuff should be eviscerated by passages like this.

24:01

The way you approach God, the God man, the son of God, the son of man is this way.

24:08

It's not you tell me what to do. You do what

24:14

I say because words are containers and are powerful. And I basically bind

24:19

God to do something. I mean, that is the most asinine, idiotic thing that I've ever heard of.

24:25

But it plays to people's greed. And that's why people are into the name it and claim it, blab it and grab it.

24:31

The same thread that goes through our minds and bodies to buy lottery tickets is the same thing when it comes to name it and claim it.

24:41

It is just greed. And so how do you get money from people? By fear or by greed.

24:47

And then the rest is history. This man is full of leprosy.

24:55

And he is going to ask for something that basically never takes place. It hasn't taken place for a thousand years.

25:03

So something hasn't happened for a thousand years, name in the Syrian, getting healed. And he goes up and says, you know what?

25:10

I am begging you to do this. I want to please have you do this.

25:18

Now, Jesus is not only powerful, but he's compassionate. And that's why Matthew 8 should be read by you on a regular basis.

25:25

And I just look down and it's 24 minutes and the show's over. Okay, I'm going to stop and start again with Matthew 8, verse 3.

25:35

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

25:41

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.

25:51

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.

25:58

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.