How Should We Respond To Cultural Sins?

The Problem With Turning Gospel Implications Into New Laws

Well, it's easy for a preacher on a screen or a tweet to say, God wants us to actively go after XYZ. Then I just want to scream in the comment section, well, how much? How do I know that I've reached the right amount?

How do I know that I've gone after your issue enough? Do I need to go march in protest? Do I need to read a book? Do I need to listen to this podcast? Do I need to befriend this kind of person? Do I need to be active in my city council for closing down this clinic?

What's enough? How do I know that I've reached the enoughness of your issue? When we think of it, well, that's when guys immediately begin to walk back. And they say, well, you have to be willing or you've got to have it in your heart.

And it's like, well, which is it? Do I have to be willing or do I actually have to do something? I think that's the problem. I think, JP, you mentioned this word of neonomism, adding new laws to the Christian faith.

These laws are never enough or we can never define them succinctly enough. Again, it's the idea of making the implications of the gospel the gospel itself. Most of these guys that I know who are saying things like this would never tie these things to your justification.

But really, what often happens is we open the back door into justification by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone, and then we let in all sorts of nonsense of these if-then conditional statements.

The Doctrine of Sin Behind Racism and Abortion

Justin Perdue. Yeah. I would say to even narrow down what you're saying, Jimmy, is that we're dealing with the doctrine of sin here. Guys, where does racism, abortion, where does all this come from? Is it a circumstantial issue where if we fix the circumstance, we fix the problem?

Or is it a heart issue to where these come from the evilness of our heart? If we were able to shut down every abortion clinic that was out there, and if we were to stop all cultural racism across the planet where it doesn't exist anymore, would we have really fixed the problem?

Because the problem is not in the action. What does Christ say the problem is? Jimmy Buehler. It's from the hearts of man. Here come all these evil things. Justin Perdue. So if you tell me that preaching the gospel isn't the solution, I'm telling you, you're going to suppress one issue of the heart where another one will pop up.

Sexual deviancy when it comes down to sex trafficking. The heart is so desperately wicked and evil that if you assume that you can deal with the suppression of sin and that it will solve the problem of the world, but you do it separate from the gospel and the advancement of the gospel, then you're going to be fighting a losing battle.