Time For a Good Look in The Mirror - Shoutout to Paul Barth

Taking the Gospel and Sin Seriously

Well, guys, it's time to take a good look in the mirror. You know, I had a friend, well, I have a Facebook friend that I've learned a lot from. Just a shout out to Paul Barth, if you are in the Reform Pub, you know who Paul Barth is.

I've never met him, but I've seen a lot of what he produces online, and he's had a really big impact on my thinking and my theology. I don't agree with him on everything, but he's super helpful, very intelligent guy.

I saw him post something that kind of got me thinking along these lines, and I've been thinking along these lines myself, personally, maybe you can relate. But the reality is, guys, that the way we preach the gospel in the United States often does not sound like the way the gospel is presented in the scriptures.

Jesus’ Call to Repentance and Urgency

And I'm not saying this to criticize, because we always get there kind of in like a roundabout sort of a way. But in the Bible, it talks about how Jesus preached. And it says that he began preaching, and what he said, like the summary of his preaching, was something like, repent because the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe the gospel, repent or perish. And we understand that, right? We get that. We understand that that's the message. If you keep going the way you're going, you're going to perish. But you should repent right now, because if you don't, you're going to perish.

Like, we all preach that, but it's like this sort of, oftentimes it's like this sort of disconnected, sometimes low sense of urgency. Not all of us, I'm not saying all of us, but just think about the times that you've heard the gospel presented.

And sure, they'll say the words like, today is the day to repent, right? Today is the day to accept the mercy of God, because you're not promised tomorrow. And yes, we always say that, but sometimes we just, let's just be honest, I'll speak for myself.

Maybe you can relate. I lack the sense of urgency. I really do. I preach like it's, like the words are like it's true, but you know, I don't preach like it's true. You know what I mean? And also let's just be honest, like I like to think that I take my sin seriously, but oftentimes I don't.

Oftentimes I don't take my sin seriously. I sin as if, you know, the judgment seat is coming much, much later. You know what I mean? I've got time here and I'm ashamed of that. I'm ashamed of that. Maybe you can relate to this because what I've been thinking over the last week or so is, you know what?

I haven't taken my sins as seriously as I need to. I haven't been as relentless to kill it as I should be. And the last week or so, I've been praying to God, you know, for mercy for my family. And I've taken some time and I've, and I've, and I've, and I've really thought about, you know, sort of what, what have I accomplished in my battle against sin over the last week or so, or the last couple of years or so, and definitely have some victories, you know, don't get me wrong.

The Holy Spirit is working in me. No question about it. I'm being sanctified by his grace. No question about it. I've had victories. But guys, I'm here to tell you that I need to take it a lot more seriously.

God’s Wrath, National Judgment, and the Need for Repentance

And in a time like this, where we see the wrath of God being unleashed on this nation, even if you don't think the COVID thing is really that big of a deal, and it's just the economic turmoil, this is the wrath of God being revealed.

And if you think that the COVID thing is a big deal, which it seems certainly seems like it is in some ways, that simultaneously with the economic issues and simultaneously with potentially other things coming down the pike, we don't know what the future holds.

There could be natural disasters. I know that the earth seems to be rumbling a little bit here and there and that kind of thing. And it's just reminder after reminder that God is there, God is there, and he's not kidding.

You know what I mean? He's not joking around. He's not pleased. And I think what this guy, Paul Barth, what he was saying was, it's very easy to say, well, the wrath of God is being revealed because the scripture says that.

And it's because of all of this homosexuality. It's because of the abortion crisis, because of socialism. It's because of all these things. And yes, don't hear me saying it's not because of those things.

Those are wicked. Those are evil things that were expected. I mean, in our lands, evil is called good. Good is called evil. It's twisted in our lands, right? It's very easy though to get caught up in all that kind of rhetoric, which is definitely part of it, but instead we should be thinking about ourselves in addition to all of this stuff, right?

I'm not saying ignore one. I'm just saying you have the most control over what you do and over what sins you have still in your life that they're besetting and you fall back into them and like a dog returns to its vomit, you go back to that.

And I'm not saying that your sin defines you. What I'm saying is that, listen, we don't take it as seriously as we ought. We want to be killing sin. So don't get wrapped up into this idea of the wrath of God being revealed because the United States has completely rejected him.

That is definitely part of it. We know this from Deuteronomy. God deals with nations in this way. When you turn against him, he will bring you to your knees. And then when you turn to him, it'll go well with you in the land.

God deals with us in that way today, just like he used to do. I've seen some people posting memes about how that God doesn't work that way anymore. Yes, he does. But, but, but let's just remember that all of this stuff, it starts with God's people.

Killing Sin, Repentance, and the Cross

We need to reject our sins, guys, like, especially in a time like this, this is a time for prayer and fasting and a complete and utter denial of the old ways. Repentance. You got to change your mind about your sin.

You need to take it way more seriously than you do. I'll speak for all of us here because I'm fairly sure that if I went down the line of all regenerate Christians and I said, do you take your sin as seriously as you are?

Most of us would say, no, I don't. No, I don't. Well, today is the day to put a stop to that. Today is the day to say no more. I'm not going to do this anymore. Today is the day to remember what that sin cost in order to forgive.

Your Lord went to the cross to cancel that debt for you. How can, how can those of us who have died to sin still live in it? We can't, we can't. And so as you're thinking about the wrath of God being unleashed upon our world, upon our country and all of these things, as you're praying for mercy to that God, just remember that you need to be killing sin or it'll be killing you.

Anyway, I hope you found this video helpful. God bless.