Jesus Meet Mr Self Righteous (Part 2)

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.

Self-Justification, Religion, and the Need for a New Birth

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. I�m not quite as discombobulated mentally as I was last time we were together on this day. I think this is a Wednesday. This is summertime for Wednesdays. I am recording the shows in early June.

I like to have interviews on Wednesdays, but since I won�t be around to interview and be in the studio, you just get moi. I am the one. We are the world. Remember that song? Was that the 70s, late 70s, early 80s?

We are the children. I think Bono and was it Bob Geldof? We don�t like Mondays. Maybe they were on. We have demographics for what kind of people watch our YouTube No Compromise videos. They�re usually 55 and older.

Because the poor 25-year-olds, they have no idea what I�m talking about when I say, you know, flock of seagulls or Tiny Tim, something like that. I mean, they have no idea. Well, on this show, we�ve been talking about religiosity, self-righteousness, self-justification.

Probably D .A. Carson was right when he said the opposite of justification was not condemnation but self-justification. I probably would nuance it a little bit more. Probably Carson does as well. I don�t have the thing in front of me to quote it exactly.

That the opposite of justification is truly condemnation. But you get to that through self-justification. So you say, well, if I�m not going to be justified through faith alone, like the Bible says, then I�ll try to justify myself and that eventually leads to condemnation.

And so we�re talking some today about self-righteousness, religiousness, and does religion save? Keeping rules, spiritual rules to get to heaven. And so I love to go to John 3 because it puts the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on display.

Now, if you want to write us, you can info at nocompromiseradio .com. By the way, received some Pete�s coffee in the mail. That was wonderful. And received a Heno hat in the mail. That was wonderful. I feel like I�m Ed Sullivan to use the 60s illustrations again.

Oh, man. John 3, verse 3, it says, �Jesus answered and said to him, �Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Last time we talked a little bit about religion condemns.

You can have even an intellectual faith in Jesus. That�s not going to save. But there�s another truth right here in John 3 that�s very counterintuitive. Maybe these are counterintuitive truths. Counterintuitive truth one, let�s see how we can do this.

Religion said it�s saving a person, ends up condemning a person. Counterintuitive truth number two, just because you know about Jesus, that is not enough to get you to heaven. And counterintuitive truth number three, you need a new you, but you can�t save yourself.

Now, we�re talking to do people, aren�t we? We�re the doers. We get things done. And Jesus is now saying, you need a new you. Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, you call me a rabbi, yes, that�s true, of course, call me a teacher.

And you want more instruction. But here�s the thing, you�ve got enough instruction. You�ve got actually the whole Bible, the Old Testament at the time. And what you need is not more teaching. You need a new life.

You need to be born again. I�m not a religious teacher only. I�m the Savior and Lord, and you need to see me as such. Right? Jesus answered. Do you notice that? Several times I was reading it today. Jesus answered.

Jesus answered. Jesus answered. But Nicodemus hadn�t asked a question yet. Because Jesus is answering his thoughts. In his thoughts, he has a question. Jesus knows the thoughts and then responds with, �Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Amen, amen, with a solemn, serious double amen up front. You�ve got to be born from above. You are born physically, and you need to be born spiritually. You think it�s just because you�re born a Jew, and now you�re a Pharisee, that will get you into heaven.

You need a new you. If you want to experience eternal life, the resurrection, to participate in the kingdom as Carson calls it, you�re going to need a new you. Why? Because you�re sinful. And you can�t save yourself.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God, Romans 8. There�s nothing you can do. Something has to be done to you. There has to be radical transformation, not a New Year�s Day resolution list with behavior modification.

You need a new you. You need to be made alive. And so, maybe the response is, again, back to the Pharisee and the tax collector, �Lord, have mercy upon me, the sinner. Counterintuitive truth number four, Christianity sounds ludicrous at first blush.

It sounds ludicrous at first blush. That was the response of Nicodemus in John 3. Nicodemus said to him, �How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother�s womb and be born, can he

Jesus answered, �Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Jesus is trying to talk to him about an FM frequency radio, and Nicodemus has an AM antenna that�s broken off halfway.

You know, it�s got the tennis ball on the top. Remember those? Sometimes you get the orange, I don�t know, was it 76, what�s the gas station, 76 station? Maybe that�s it. There�s kind of an orange ball you could put on the top of your antenna before they put the antennas inside the glass of the windshield.

Hmm, interesting. I don�t believe in the divine retribution principle of what comes around goes around. But I remember once I got the cell phone antenna for the car, it�s attached to the back, and Kim and I were newly married and we went to a movie, and there�s another movie next door, we didn�t have kids at the time, let�s just stay for another movie, and so we ended up saving 20 bucks because we snuck into the other movie.

I know, we were like 29 years old. Came out, antenna broken. How much was the antenna? $20. $20. Let�s see how that works. Nicodemus. You don�t understand what Jesus is talking about. And he replies, Nicodemus, with amazement, it�s pretty incredible.

Some think there�s a bit of scorn here. What are you talking about? I don�t know what you mean, and it�s incredible. R .C. Sproul says, regarding Nicodemus, that this was really an insult, �What are you talking about?

Are you suggesting that a man has to enter a second time into his mother�s womb to be born? What a ridiculous idea that is It�s odd, it�s foreign, and isn�t that the world�s response to the gospel that Jesus Christ saves sinners?

1 Corinthians 1 .18, �For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. It�s an amazing thing to think the instrument for criminals and slaves and sinful rebels, the cross, is actually how God saves.

The word of the cross, theologically, the cross saves. We think you�ve got to save yourself, you�ve got to have religion to get into heaven on your own, now we see Jesus on a cross, he can�t even save himself, how can he save anyone else?

Isn�t this Nietzsche, the metaphysics of a hangman? This is weird, you can�t even save yourself, Jesus, and I have to trust in you and what a man did 2 ,000 years ago on a cross will determine my eternal destiny?

Jesus has a sin-bearing substitute? See, you can�t save yourself, and it spirals into, �Therefore God must save you, unless one is born of water and of spirit. Now, how would Nicodemus understand John 3 .5?

Well, I think it�s easy. This is something that has to be done to you, and God alone has to do it on the inside, and if you want inward purification, the Holy Spirit�s going to have to do it. You�re going to have to be cleansed on the inside.

There�s a spiritual cleansing needed, and how do you spiritually cleanse your inside? Well, what he�s talking about to this teacher from Israel is certainly Ezekiel 36 .24, �For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land.

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances. This internal cleansing, this internal washing, this internal purification, this is not resolutions.

These are not turning over a new leaf type of things. This is real cleansing being made by the power of God. How can you be made by the power of God? How can you be saved when you can�t do it? �God, have mercy upon me, the sinner.

You can ask, and you know, it�s interesting because the text goes on to say in John 3 .6, �That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. What comes out of the flesh is fleshy, and the only way you�re going to have spiritual cleaning is if the Holy Spirit cleanses you.

Steel factories in Pittsburgh don�t produce wool, fleece, cotton, and so what comes out of the heart of man, well, what�s already in the heart of man, and there�s not anyone righteous. And so you need a whole new nature, and that�s why Jesus said, �You must be born again.

By the works of the law, no flesh will be justified Romans chapter 3, Matthew 5 .20, �For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

You�re going to have to be more religious than the Pope, Billy Graham, Mother Teresa combined, but even all three of them tainted by sin. �Indeed Ecclesiastes 7, �there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.

You need someone to make you alive. Jesus says in John 3, 7, �Do not marvel that I said to you, �You must be born again. The change is to the second person plural. For you and for all the listeners, second person plural.

You can�t regenerate yourself. Salvation has to be done to you. It reminds me of the story of the Bishop John Taylor Smith, who was a chaplain general of the British Army. The story goes something like this.

He�s preaching at a large cathedral on �You must be born again here from John chapter 3. �My dear people, he said, �Do not substitute anything for the new birth. You may be a member of a church, but church membership is not the new birth.

And except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The rector was sitting on his left, pointing to him. He said, �You may be a clergyman like my friend the rector here and not be born again.

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. On his right sat the archdeacon, pointing to him. He continued, �You might even be like an archdeacon like my friend here and still not be born again.

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. You might even be like a bishop like myself and not be born again. But except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. According to Ironside, the story gets more interesting when several days later, the letter from the archdeacon arrives.

�My dear bishop, you have found me out. I have been a clergyman for over 30 years, but I have never known anything of the joy that Christians speak of. I could never understand it, but when you pointed at me and said that a person could be an archdeacon and not be born again, I understood what the trouble was.

Would you please come and talk with me And the story ends with, he was talked to and responded to Jesus and his salvation. Counterintuitive truth number five. Let�s take a swig of some kind of monster drink.

It�s got to be bad for you, don�t you think? It�s got to be bad for you, but how do you survive on no calories a day? It�s got to be caffeine, bulletproof coffee, something. But at least my triglyceride numbers are correct.

God’s Sovereign Work in Regeneration and the Call to Believe

God is in control of your destiny. God is in control of your destiny. You know, you think you are, right? The wind blows wherever it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going.

So is everyone who is born of the Spirit, John 3 .8. If you want Paul to describe this, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. That�s what God said to Moses, Romans 9 .15.

Whitefield, man is nothing. He hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him to will and to do his good pleasure. See, it�s all forcing yourself to be thrown upon the mercies of God.

Spurgeon, I do not come into this pulpit hoping that perhaps somebody will, of his own free will, return to Christ. My hope lies in another quarter. I hope that my Master will lay hold of some of them and say, �You are mine and you shall be mine.

I claim you for myself. My hope arises from the freeness of His grace and not from the freedom of your will. Nicodemus answered and said to him, John 3 .9, �How can these things be Help! Help! How can this be?

I need some instruction. I need some help. Jesus answered and said to him, �Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things The teacher? You mean the Pope doesn�t know about how to get to heaven?

Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak that which we know and bear witness of that which we have seen and you do not receive our witness. Basically, what�s happening here? You is plural, right? And you�re representing your nation and her unbelief.

This is a moral issue. This is not we don�t have enough facts, but we just reject what we do know because of our sin. If I told you earthly things Jesus said in John 3 .12 and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

What am I going to go talk about now because you can�t get the ABCs of regeneration? You should know all that. You can�t even get that? Listen to Jesus, �And no one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man.

If anybody comes along and tells you, you know, their religious system has scaled the heights of heaven, you need to remember this verse, �Jesus is the latter. Right? And you need to think about the Incarnation and how He came down.

And then we have John 3 .14 and following, counterintuitive truth, number what? We�re at certain numbers here. I want to say seven, but it could be six. Believe not do. The response is to believe not to do.

Now here�s what happens. Everybody wants to do something. They want to do something, but because of the fall, we can no longer do things to get to heaven. Right? That�s an impossibility. So, you have to take God at His word.

You have to believe. �Moses, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. John 3 .14 and 15. Now, we have Jesus coming to rescue, to grant eternal life.

The end is 17 times used in this gospel. Eternal life used first here. Jesus has to be lifted up. He has to be. It�s under divine necessity. That�s the language of the Greek. Jesus is sent by the Father, and He has to do His will, and the will of the Father is that the Son of Man be lifted up.

Remember John 12, �And when I am lifted up from earth, I will draw all people to Myself. John 8, �When you have lifted up the Son of Man Jesus said, �then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing on My own authority, but speak just as the Father taught Me.

Jesus must be lifted up. It�s all planned by the Father and the Son. Now the account that Jesus is referring to here is Numbers, Numbers chapter 21. Now in Numbers chapter 21, you have Israel. They�re so close to the Promised Land that they can taste it.

You watch what happens when they have unbelief and the complaining and the bickering, the impatience. Numbers 21, �From Mount Hor, they set out by the way to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom, and the people became impatient on the way, and the people spoke against God and against Moses, �Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?

For there is no food, no water, and we loathe this worthless food. Then the Lord sent, Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people so that many of the people of Israel died.

Serpents. Now I regularly get stung by hornets and wasps on my bicycle, and it is hot, fiery, fever-like to the touch. These are snakes that produce burning, that�s the idea of the Hebrew. Fiery serpents.

They�re not on fire, but what burns isn�t a flame, but your skin after they bite you. These are supernaturally sent by God. Can you imagine? I mean, it�s one thing to have certain snakes that bite, that are poisonous, but these are sent by God.

Stinging, biting. Oh, that miserable bread. Bite! Ever been bitten by a snake? How about one sent by God to bite you? And the people came to Moses and said, �We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you.

Pray to the Lord that he may take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people. So, an effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man does accomplish much. Now these people are having the snakes bite them.

That�s what�s going on right now. �And the Lord said to Moses, �Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live. Hmm, better hurry up. People are getting bit right now.

You got to take the time to fashion this snake. Expository Bible commentary said, �The people had called the bread of heaven detestable. Moses is commanded of God to make an image of something detestable in their culture and to hold that high on a pole as their only means of deliverance from disease.

So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, and if that serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. Faith. This sounds kind of dumb, though. Go dip yourself seven times in the Jordan and you�re going to be cleansed?

I mean, what�s the logic behind all this? It�s just taking God at His word, that�s all. You�re not saved by doing anything. You can�t be. And by the way, it seems kind of foolish to do this, but what God said to do, you�re to do.

Isaiah 45, 22, �Look to me and be saved, all ye ends of the earth. I am God and there is no other. If you look, you�re going to be healed. Literally, it�s to fix your gaze, pay attention to. It�s an act of the will.

It�s knowledge, assent, and trust. I mean, what do you do for a snake bite? Snake bite kit, have some medicine. You know, 8 ,000 people receive venomous snake bites in the United States every year, and only 0 .2 die.

More people die from wasp stings and bee stings than from snakes, but with God�s snakes, they�re all fatal. When God sends a snake to bite you, you�re going to die unless you do what He says. Unless you actually do what He says.

So we�re going to have to continue this next time, because I�m in the middle of all this snake talk, and I need to stop because I want to flesh this out a little bit more. So here�s my question. Are you born again?

No, I didn�t ask you if you�ve been baptized. Are you born again? I didn�t ask you if you go to church. Are you born again? I didn�t ask you if you have a King James Bible. Are you born again? I did not ask you where your parents go to church.

Are you born again? Today�s the day I think many listeners need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust in His perfect law-keeping life, to trust in His provision at Calvary by dying for the sins of all those who would believe, confirmed by the resurrection.

Jesus is alive. My name is Mike Avendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. You can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com.

Closing Announcements and Station Disclaimer

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Avendroth 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.