Blake Shelton's "Bible Verses"

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I know that's not a topic I usually talk about, but some of you may know,

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I do like country music when it's real country music, I don't know what they're playing on the radio today because it doesn't sound like country most of the time, but there are still a few songs and a few artists

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I like. Blake Shelton, there's a greater chance that I'll like his music than others just because he still sounds kind of traditional, he's been in the business since the 90s, and so he still has some of that traditional sound, and that's what

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I appreciate. But he just came out with a new song, and I thought, I gotta go over this song.

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Blake Shelton's never gonna see this video, probably, but there's part of me that wishes he would, because I want to kind of plead with him, to be honest with you, and it's not just him.

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It's a lot of country music artists who come from more conservative backgrounds in rural middle

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America, from the Bible Belt, usually, their parents are probably Christians, or they come from a

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Christian culture, and they're familiar with church. Church, even today, church is a theme in country songs.

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There'll be references to church, or references to the Bible, or the King James, or something like that.

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And it's sad, because I think there are some saved country music singers,

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I think, like Josh Turner, sounds like he's probably a true believer. I know years ago, now he's had a stroke, but Randy Travis was pretty outspoken, and there's been a few singers over the years, of course,

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I think all of them will probably claim on some level, some version of Christianity, but Blake Shelton put out a song that just typifies kind of Southern culture, when it comes to traditional religion, and Christianity in particular, and kind of just that the

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Christian culture that exists for those who aren't actually Christians, right, because there is a higher percentage of Christians, I think, in the

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South. I don't think there's any doubt about that in my mind, but there's also a lot of people who think they are, because they have all the outward trappings and traditions, but they're not, they haven't actually trusted

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Christ for salvation, they haven't repented and put their trust in Christ, they're trusting their own works on some level, and Blake Shelton is one of those people, still thinks it's somehow, you know,

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I think of the Alan Jackson song, he says, where I come from, it's cornbread and chicken, and working hard to get to heaven.

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It's like, you will, and I don't think he's Catholic, so it's like, where did you, you know, even

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Catholics wouldn't phrase it that way, so it's like, where did you get this impression? But that, the thing is, that is the, you can have even the best culture, that's the most clear about the gospel, woven into the culture itself, woven into the sermons, and it could be, you could be getting stellar teaching, but the natural tendency of men is to want to take credit for things, to want to brag, to want to try to work themselves into a situation where they are worthy of something, and if they're not, to get depressed that they didn't meet the standard in their mind.

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That's every religion but Christianity, true Christianity, is a works righteousness of some kind, and sometimes it's hidden, sometimes, but it's always there somehow, the woke

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Christianity is that as well. There's always a way that it seems like they try to sneak in the law into the gospel somehow, the law becomes so important, and you gotta do these certain things, or else you're not like a real, authentic Christian, or you don't have the full gospel, or something along those lines.

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Well, I want to talk about Christianity that is just cultural, and there's no, because look, it's good to have

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Christianity influencing culture, you want a culture that's Christian, you want cultural

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Christianity, everyone wants to raise their kids, if they're Christians, in that kind of a culture, but you don't want someone thinking that they're authentic, or that they're a believer, just because they live in that culture, and I know this is kind of obvious to all of you, but I'm going to read the lyrics to this song by Blake Shelton It's called

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Bible Verses, and it made me sad when I heard this, because it's actually, it's a nice song, it's nice sounding, but it's the cry of a man who is depressed, who's lost, but knows that there's something to the

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Bible, there's something about it that's true, he respects it, but he just sees himself falling short, and you know what it's missing is the gospel, so let's read it.

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It says, I ain't ever worn a halo, don't suppose I ever will, as far as saving me goes, it's a battle up a hill, but I'm keep climbing, trying, fighting.

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Because they think of Luther, right, striving there. Got a King James in the dresser, and I take it out sometimes, but Lord knows

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I ain't measured up to what's inside, and they say that that's okay, but I keep praying for the day.

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Now this line particularly struck me, I think the line that said, and they say that that's okay,

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I said I'm gonna do this on the show, I'm gonna talk about this song, because the they say that that's okay is, he's talking about other

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Christians I think there, he's saying that, hey other Christians are saying it's okay that I don't measure up, and he's saying, but no it's not, his soul demands justice, he knows he's committed, he's broken the law of God, he knows that, and no matter what anyone else says to try to appease his conscience, you see this in the social justice movement too, no matter what happens, trying to appease your conscience that you're not racist, or you're not complicit, or whatever, it never works, you never feel like you've achieved it, and it's sad to hear the crying of someone who's never achieved it, but he says, but I keep praying for the day.

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So he doesn't, he hasn't given up hope, but that one day, what's the hope in though? The hope is in himself, that one day he'll measure up to what the

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Bible says about how he should live, and he's hoping that one day it happens, and then he says that I can open up that good book, and heaven don't look like it's out of reach, when it feels like those apostles are giving me the gospel, and not the third degree,

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I just want it to read like Bible verses, and not the Bible verses me. He's in chained, to sin, he's, every time he gets convicted when he opens it up, he realizes he falls short, and this is a great place for Blake Shelton to be, it's a great place for anyone to be if they are, if they don't have the gospel, because this is the starting point to realize that you are in sin, that you've broken

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God's law, if you are denying that and suppressing that, then there's, you know, you can't go to the next step of here's what

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Jesus has done, but if you admit it, and you know that you're wrong, and you're wicked, and you're evil, and the law has done its work, which is, sounds like it's done that for Blake Shelton, unless it's just a song that the, you know, some author wrote, and he doesn't,

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I mean, he's singing it, so I'm assuming he means this to some degree, the fields, the fields are ripe, and so I'm going to read the rest, and then

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I'll read some, I want to read for you from 2nd Corinthians, anyways, he says, I woke up in last night's clothes and it's whiskey on my lips, if God's looking down,

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I know he's really looking down on this, wow, the view of God he has, right,

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God's not outstretching his hand, ready to forgive because of what Christ has done, no, God is, God's just looking down, ready to punish him, this is, this is a part, this is life apart from the gospel, because apart from the gospel, there's truth in this,

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God is ready to pour out his wrath, but it doesn't have to be that way, he says, but I have faith that I can change,

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I keep praying for the day, faith's in himself, that I can open up the book and heaven don't look like it's out of reach, and he recites the course again, and he says,

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I'm just trying to give myself a little grace, again, you know, he's putting himself in the position of God, only

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God can give grace, he's trying to find what you can only find in God in himself and in others, till those words, he says, and me get on the same page, so this is, this is a song,

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I think it's supposed to be kind of inspirational about self -improvement -ish, but it's depressing too,

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I don't know which it is, it's kind of a mixture, and I'm not going to play it just because I know that it's going to flag all the algorithms that say

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I'm violating copyright if I play it, but you can go listen to it if you want to hear it, it's acoustic, it's kind of soft, and it seems heartfelt,

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I want to read for you though, this is from 2nd Corinthians, this is the book, and if Blake Shelton ever watches this, or anyone who's a country singer that feels similar, or anyone who feels similar, they don't have to be a country singer, or living in the bible belt, this is what

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Paul says in 2nd Corinthians, he says, therefore verse 17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold, the new has come, this is what

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Blake Shelton is longing for, the old has passed away, the new has come, all this is from God, who reconciled us to himself, through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, he doesn't say it's because I was able to muster up some ability to achieve a standard that I set for myself, or one day

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I just did it, I finally lived the way that I was supposed to live, and I'm new because of that,

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I'm new because I followed the law, and that was the motivation, actually, in verse 14 it says,

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Christ's love compels us, it's the love of Christ, and the love of Christ is what makes the difference here, and if you're in him,

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I'll explain what that is, then you're a new creation, and that's from God, who reconciled us to himself, through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to himself and Christ, not counting men's trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation,

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God has not counted men's trespasses against them, that's what people like Blake Shelton need, not to have their trespasses counted against them, it's not some external law that's going to motivate them to finally do better, the law can't do that, the law condemns, it's the love of Christ that compels, it's the sanctification, becoming new, is from God, it's a fruit of being in Christ, and being in Christ means your trespasses don't count against you, because Christ has taken them, and here's where Paul explains justification, he says, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God, God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God, that's the gospel message, that's the gospel message,

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God took Christ and he put on him all our failure to keep the law, and all our sin, all the breaking of the law that we've done,

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Christ took that on himself, and the exchange is that we then became the righteousness of God, Christ is the righteousness of God, but he made us the righteousness of God, because we're in him, and so I was thinking about this, this ministry of reconciliation, because often times the social justice movement likes to bring this up as like, well this is racial reconciliation guys, and we're given this ministry of reconciliation, you look at the context of this, the context of this is for people like Blake Shelton, the context of this, the reconciliation is what

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Christ has done, to take away sin, to make people trophies of his grace, to make them new, to make them different, to make them, if Blake Shelton really wants to achieve that,

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I mean it must be so frustrating, knowing this standard exists, knowing there's probably people in your community, or people you've known that were good

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Christians, and you can't seem to do it, you can't seem to measure up, your sin keeps getting in the way, and your only hope somehow is to muster it up within yourself, and one day you're just going to have to do it.

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The people that are like that, that Blake Shelton probably knows, didn't get there, because they just mustered it up in themselves.

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If they did, they were just putting on an act, and they weren't really, truly walking with the Lord, they weren't in Christ.

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The way to get there is to let the love of Christ compel you to come to him to get forgiveness, and all it requires is faith in him.

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It's really nothing more than that. We're saved by grace through faith, and it's a repentant faith, of course, but it is faith.

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It is because of what Christ has done in his work, not our works, and I know that's review for most of you, but I wanted to put it out there for people who might be watching this who are not regular listeners, but maybe the algorithm favored you looking this up because it has

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Blake Shelton's name in the title, and you like the song, and I would compel you and try to persuade you to repent of your sin, put your trust in Christ Jesus, cling to his finished work on your behalf, what he has done to pay the price for your sin, to satisfy the wrath of God, so that you don't have to bear that wrath, and you can be in a right relationship with God, and it is possible to live a life that is more and more conformed to Christ, that is more holy every day.

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It is possible to one day be with him in heaven, to be with God, and be perfect in his sight because of something he did, not something you did, but it starts with not just the humility of realizing that you're sinful, but the humility of realizing you can't do anything about it.

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Blake Shelton can't do anything about it. There's nothing he can do to change his relationship with God and stop the sinning.

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He can trade one sin for another, but he can't stop the kind of sinning that he's doing, or escape the penalty of that sin, more importantly, without being in Christ, without putting his trust in someone else and saying,

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I can't do this, I'm not good enough myself, but it's because the Lord Jesus Christ has died for me, and because I can, because he has paid the price for my sin, and as the verse here says, that God made him to be sin on my behalf, that I can stand before the presence of God and not melt like a candle.

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So I just want to put that out there, quick episode, just wanted to give the gospel to those who might be fans of this song.