NXR Podcast - BONUS EPISODE - #AsburyRevival & #JesusIsComingSoon
Aired: 2023-02-23
Duration: 42:09


=== Monday Sermon and QA (14:55) ===

[00:00:00]  All right, listen, guys, I get it.
[00:00:02]  Many of you are unable to financially support this ministry because you're spending your cash and your lives on raising young children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
[00:00:10]  Praise God for you and that endeavor.
[00:00:13]  However, algorithms are a thing.
[00:00:16]  Shadow banning, sadly, is a thing.
[00:00:18]  And one major way that you can help to expand the reach and effectiveness of this ministry that doesn't cost you a dime is by spending just a few moments leaving us a five star review.
[00:00:31]  Also, perhaps even more effective than that, You can share our podcast with a friend.
[00:00:36]  We hope you'll take the time to do so.
[00:00:38]  Thank you so much.
[00:00:39]  God bless.
[00:00:40]  All right, welcome to another live Monday QA with myself, Pastor Joel Webben.
[00:00:45]  I am the host of Right Response Ministries.
[00:00:48]  Again, for some of you who are new to our channel, just to give you an idea of our weekly schedules, you can stay tuned with all of our new content.
[00:00:56]  Basically, it breaks down like this we have three primary large pieces of content every single week.
[00:01:03]  We have the sermon on the Lord's day, you can find that.
[00:01:06]  Usually, sometime Sunday evening on the podcast platforms, and it usually comes out on YouTube sometime Monday morning.
[00:01:15]  We have to go back and edit a little bit of that and make sure that it's ready to go and upload, export on YouTube.
[00:01:21]  That's the Sunday sermon.
[00:01:22]  So you'll find it on the podcast platforms, Spotify, iTunes, whatever you use on Sunday evening.
[00:01:28]  You'll find it on YouTube Monday morning.
[00:01:31]  Then every Monday, we have our live QA slash evangelical Christianity, cultural, political report.
[00:01:40]  Report that I do every single Monday.
[00:01:41]  That's about an hour long show.
[00:01:43]  And then Tuesdays, we have our flagship show.
[00:01:46]  That's an interview that I do with notable guests from all over the map, geographically, but usually within, you know, Baptist, Presbyterian, but within a Reformed framework for the most part, theologically.
[00:01:59]  And that is our show called Theology Applied.
[00:02:01]  Again, that's about an hour as well.
[00:02:03]  So you've got an hour sermon on Sunday, comes out on YouTube Monday morning.
[00:02:07]  Then you've got an hour long QA that's live on Mondays at 2 p.m. Central Time.
[00:02:13]  That's going to be on YouTube, and then you're going to find Theology Applied.
[00:02:17]  It's going to air live on YouTube Tuesdays at 2 p.m. Central.
[00:02:22]  So, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday sermon, QA, and an interview with our Theology Applied show.
[00:02:29]  Everything else that you find is ultimately going to be clips and smaller bite sized segments of one of those three things.
[00:02:35]  It's going to be a clip from a sermon, it's going to be a clip from a Monday live video, or it's going to be a clip, we call it Bite Sized Theology, from our Theology Applied show.
[00:02:44]  So, that's what you'll find dropping on YouTube or on the podcast.
[00:02:48]  You'll find that dropping on Wednesdays and Thursdays and Fridays and Saturdays.
[00:02:53]  But if you're looking to catch all of our content without missing a single beat, then just watch the full length episodes.
[00:03:00]  And that's the Sunday sermon, that's the Monday live QA, and that's the Tuesday Theology Applied interview.
[00:03:06]  So, that's how you can keep up to date.
[00:03:08]  So, that being said, let me give you just real quick a, I think it's helpful, but a quick little concordance is what I'm calling it.
[00:03:15]  For those of you who have been following the Asbury.
[00:03:20]  Revival or awakening.
[00:03:21]  It's gone by different terms.
[00:03:23]  If you've been following this event that's been going on for a little over a week now, here is a concordance that kind of helps maybe shed some light, helps you to interpret some of the terms that are being used.
[00:03:35]  Those who are defenders of this event, this movement, are saying this is a work of God.
[00:03:42]  It's something that God is sovereignly doing, pouring out his spirit.
[00:03:46]  It has the true marks of a true move of God, of true revival.
[00:03:51]  And so they'll say things like revival is happening.
[00:03:54]  When you hear them say revival is happening, awakening is happening, an outpouring of God's Spirit is happening, typically what they mean is singing, prayers, and testimonies are happening 24 7, ongoing, but with virtually no preaching from the Bible.
[00:04:14]  So if you hear revival is happening, you can just kind of interpret that as singing, prayers, and testimonies are happening, but with virtually no preaching from the Bible.
[00:04:23]  I understand, I've talked to people who have been there, eyewitnesses, multiple of them.
[00:04:29]  And they've said there's been a little bit of preaching, right?
[00:04:31]  John 15, abiding in the vine, maybe 15, 20 minutes of a little bit of preaching, and then back to hours and hours and hours of singing, testimonies, prayers.
[00:04:45]  Singing, testimony, prayers.
[00:04:48]  Some of the staff people from time to time will get up and maybe facilitate or guide the revival, if you will, by saying something.
[00:04:56]  But again, it's not a sermon, it's not an exposition from the scripture.
[00:05:00]  They'll just.
[00:05:00]  They'll give their own testimony or maybe facilitate the direction of the revival in a certain way.
[00:05:06]  But for the most part, it is students who are getting up and sharing their testimonies.
[00:05:12]  Some of them, you've seen some of the videos, I'm sure.
[00:05:15]  I feel like God's calling me to go to Brazil.
[00:05:17]  He put that on my heart and He's reawakening that call for Brazil.
[00:05:21]  And then people start to throw cash at them.
[00:05:25]  I'll be honest, my prayer is that there would be faithful ministries like mine that.
[00:05:31]  That would maybe be willing to pull that 19 year old student aside and say, How much money was given to you to go to Brazil as a missionary?
[00:05:40]  Because we will double it if you promise not to go.
[00:05:45]  I think, by the grace of God and for the good of His people and for His glory, it would be more beneficial if you did not go.
[00:05:53]  Because missionaries and revivals, for that matter, share the gospel.
[00:05:59]  And there's been virtually no Bible preaching.
[00:06:02]  And sadly, there has been virtually no gospel preaching.
[00:06:05]  All right, I'll get back to that in a moment.
[00:06:07]  Revival is happening, aka singing, prayers, and testimonies are happening, but with little to no preaching from the Bible.
[00:06:15]  Here's another thing anyone's welcome, right?
[00:06:18]  So, yeah, there's been reports that, you know, some of the students are LGBT affirming.
[00:06:23]  You know, we have queer students who are present.
[00:06:26]  I don't know if on Twitter you follow the new evangelicals, it's, you know, it's worth a follow just to understand what Satan is up to and what.
[00:06:35]  You know, what the devil is doing and the ways that he's trying to hijack biblical, faithful, you know, Christianity and churches.
[00:06:42]  But the New Evangelicals is just a God hating, pagan organization that professes to be followers of Christ.
[00:06:50]  And, you know, they have reported saying, you know, that we've been talking to some of the queer students, you know, there at Asbury who are a part of the revival.
[00:06:59]  And they're saying that they see that, you know, the seeds of this revival are going to do more good than harm.
[00:07:06]  Now, when you break that down, what they mean by that is that God's going to use this revival to make the school and the church at large more affirming to LGBT people.
[00:07:18]  Okay, so anyone is welcome.
[00:07:20]  What that kind of translates to, unfortunately, is that sinners are welcome, which is biblical and true.
[00:07:27]  Sinners are welcome.
[00:07:28]  Sinners are welcome to my church.
[00:07:30]  If sinners weren't welcome, I couldn't preach.
[00:07:33]  Not only could I not be a pastor at my church, I couldn't even be a member.
[00:07:38]  At my church.
[00:07:39]  My church would have zero people in attendance if sinners weren't welcome.
[00:07:43]  But here's the thing we got to take a second for this.
[00:07:46]  People will always misquote that, you know, Jesus is the friend of sinners, right?
[00:07:51]  It is the sick that need a physician, Jesus says to the Pharisees, not those who are well, but the sick who are in need of a physician.
[00:07:59]  That's true, but look in the gospel narratives at the life of Jesus and the sinners that he was friends with, and look at what the terms were.
[00:08:09]  Jesus is the friend of sinners, but never on their terms.
[00:08:14]  It's always on his terms.
[00:08:16]  So, Jesus, yes, he would dine with tax collectors and prostitutes, Jesus would have sinners in his company.
[00:08:25]  But these are sinners that Jesus explicitly would say, go and sin no more.
[00:08:32]  And so if these sinners are following Jesus, it's requiring them, they don't get to follow Jesus and keep their sin.
[00:08:40]  It requires them to follow Christ is to turn from sin, right?
[00:08:44]  That's faith and repentance, two sides of the same coin, or two pedals on a bicycle.
[00:08:50]  Faith and repentance.
[00:08:52]  Faith is turning to Christ, repentance is turning from our sin.
[00:08:56]  There is no turning to Christ.
[00:08:59]  Apart from turning from sin.
[00:09:01]  And there is no true repentance turning from sin apart from turning to Christ.
[00:09:06]  And that has to be the biblical Christ, not just the author of sugar and spice and everything nice, but the true biblical Jesus.
[00:09:14]  The true biblical Jesus.
[00:09:16]  So, this idea of anyone is welcome.
[00:09:20]  Yes, sinners should be welcome in churches.
[00:09:23]  They should be welcome at revival meetings.
[00:09:26]  Whether or not it's genuine, they should be welcome at a revival meeting.
[00:09:30]  However, these should be repentant.
[00:09:32]  Sinners.
[00:09:33]  They are coming, they are hearing a gospel presentation, biblical preaching, where sin is addressed.
[00:09:40]  Sin is addressed, and sin is biblically defined.
[00:09:44]  Sin is biblically defined.
[00:09:46]  Not what the culture says is sinful, right?
[00:09:49]  It's not that, but it's what the Bible says, what God says is sinful.
[00:09:52]  So sin is preached, hell is preached, heaven is preached, Christ and Him crucified for sinners, not just Christ dying on the cross as a moral example of sacrificial love.
[00:10:04]  Right?
[00:10:05]  Love has no one greater than this that a man would lay down his life for his friends.
[00:10:09]  Jesus died as an example of sacrificial love.
[00:10:12]  But that is not merely what he died for.
[00:10:14]  First and foremost, penal substitutionary atonement.
[00:10:18]  Jesus died as the just payment to satisfy the wrath of God toward you and me.
[00:10:28]  Jesus was the propitiation.
[00:10:30]  That's the satiating sacrifice.
[00:10:33]  Jesus is the satisfying sacrifice that.
[00:10:37]  It quenches, it fulfills and satisfies the white hot wrath of God toward sinners.
[00:10:45]  And it's not just God's wrath towards sin.
[00:10:47]  Brothers and sisters, please listen.
[00:10:49]  The gospel is not just that God is angry at sin.
[00:10:54]  Lust, an ethereal general spirit of lust, will not be punished for eternity in hell.
[00:11:02]  Perverts will.
[00:11:04]  The ethereal spirit of murder will not be punished for eternity in hell.
[00:11:10]  Murderers will.
[00:11:13]  Theft will not be punished in hell.
[00:11:15]  Thieves will.
[00:11:18]  The Bible is clear that God has just, righteous anger, not just towards sin, but toward the wicked.
[00:11:28]  Not just wickedness, but the wicked.
[00:11:31]  People, apart from adoption by God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the work of Jesus Christ, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, apart from adoption.
[00:11:45]  Apart from the spirit of adoption, God is not your father.
[00:11:50]  Apart from adoption, God is not your father.
[00:11:54]  In fact, Ephesians chapter 2 says that we all were once children of God's wrath.
[00:12:02]  Not just sin as the object of God's wrath, but children of wrath.
[00:12:07]  People are the objects of God's wrath.
[00:12:12]  And Jesus is put forward not just as an example of sacrificial love, but he is.
[00:12:17]  Put forward as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
[00:12:22]  He is put forward as a substitute.
[00:12:25]  He dies in my place.
[00:12:28]  He dies in your place.
[00:12:31]  Jesus drinks the full cup of the white hot wrath of God, every single drop, so that for those who are in Christ by grace through faith alone, when the cup of God's wrath hangs over your head, there's not one drop left.
[00:12:48]  To fall upon you.
[00:12:50]  Why?
[00:12:51]  Because God gets over it, because God sweeps righteousness and retribution under the rug.
[00:12:58]  No, because God is just, but Jesus bore your punishment for you.
[00:13:06]  Is that being preached at Asbury?
[00:13:10]  Multiple sources, multiple conversations of eyewitnesses on the scene, people who have been there for hours, some who have been there for days.
[00:13:21]  John Harris, who's a friend of mine, he just interviewed a couple guys who are local in the area as pastors.
[00:13:28]  So they have a vested interest.
[00:13:30]  And I would argue we all have a vested interest in something that is becoming a global phenomenon and is being used by people to interpret what a genuine work of God looks like.
[00:13:42]  Every Christian has the right to speak into this because it has an effect on every Christian.
[00:13:48]  I'm a pastor.
[00:13:50]  I pastor.
[00:13:51]  A flock, a local flock of God, you might say, well, then just be concerned about your people.
[00:13:55]  Yeah, well, what the entire evangelical internet is saying about doctrine and theology and God and his character and his nature and sin and the gospel and revival, what the entire evangelical internet is saying and defining as biblical terms is pertinent and relevant to the flock that I pastor, even though it's Not even in the same state.
[00:14:23]  But certainly, these individuals that John Harris recently interviewed on his show, Conversations That Matter, they're right there in the area.
[00:14:31]  And so they went to the revival as firsthand eye and ear witnesses, seeing what's happening.
[00:14:35]  They were there for hours.
[00:14:37]  Other individuals have been there for days.
[00:14:39]  And there has been report after report after report that the gospel proclamation that I just gave that Jesus died not merely as an example of sacrificial love, but as a substitute who takes upon his shoulders our sin, double imputation.

=== Imputed Righteousness Explained (04:42) ===

[00:14:56]  Our sin imputed to Christ, that is, our sin, he who knew no sin became sin.
[00:15:03]  He became a curse on our behalf so that we might inherit the righteousness of God.
[00:15:08]  Jesus, who knew no sin, he took upon himself our sin.
[00:15:12]  That's imputation.
[00:15:14]  Our sin is imputed, that's accredited, transferred to Jesus' account.
[00:15:20]  And then Jesus on the cross, he endures the fullness of God's just, fair, and righteous wrath towards Christ.
[00:15:30]  Our sin.
[00:15:31]  And he pours out that judgment, that wrath, that punishment on Jesus.
[00:15:37]  And Jesus' righteousness, he didn't just have mere innocence.
[00:15:42]  Jesus did not merely avoid sin and maintain innocence, but the Bible says that he fulfilled all righteousness.
[00:15:50]  It's not just an absence of sin, but a presence of perfect, righteous obedience.
[00:15:57]  Jesus loved the Lord his God, fulfilling the first and greatest commandment with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind, all his strength, every second of every minute, of every hour, of every day, for all of his life.
[00:16:10]  He fulfilled all righteousness.
[00:16:13]  And Jesus perfectly loved his neighbor as himself.
[00:16:17]  Even when he's fashioning a whip braided with cords to drive out the money changers and throwing over tables, Jesus is demonstrating for us what it is to love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:16:30]  Because love is never divorced from the truth.
[00:16:32]  And sometimes tough love is love.
[00:16:36]  So Jesus perfectly loves the Lord his God.
[00:16:39]  He perfectly loves his heavenly Father.
[00:16:41]  He perfectly loves his neighbor as himself.
[00:16:44]  At every moment of every day of his entire life, he fulfills all righteousness.
[00:16:50]  That's why he, you know, the way he answers John the Baptist I should be baptized by you, Jesus.
[00:16:54]  Why are you coming to me to baptize you so that all righteousness might be fulfilled?
[00:16:59]  So, Jesus, he accrues righteousness by his life.
[00:17:04]  And through faith, by grace, his righteousness is imputed to us.
[00:17:09]  It's accredited to our account.
[00:17:11]  Abraham believed God and it was accredited to him as righteousness.
[00:17:16]  Faith, Lays hold of the righteousness of Christ.
[00:17:22]  So his righteousness that he accrued by his life and perfect obedience transferred to us.
[00:17:28]  And our sin that we've accrued by our rebellion and disobedience has been accredited to Christ.
[00:17:36]  He died the death we should have died so that we might live the eternal life and reward that he rightly earned.
[00:17:47]  That's the gospel.
[00:17:49]  That's the great exchange, double imputation, penal substitutionary atonement.
[00:17:55]  And then sin has to be defined according to the law of God.
[00:17:59]  According to the law of God, we must define sin, right?
[00:18:04]  What does it mean to steal, for instance, right?
[00:18:06]  This is a revival that's been going on for over a week, 24 hours a day.
[00:18:10]  There's been plenty of opportunity to preach and to preach multiple sermons and to define the law of God.
[00:18:17]  So, what is sin?
[00:18:19]  What is theft, for instance?
[00:18:21]  Well, to steal is to take something from your neighbor that he has ownership over, that is his, rightfully his, to take that for yourself.
[00:18:32]  You can steal by climbing into your neighbor's window in the middle of the night while he's asleep and taking his belongings.
[00:18:39]  You can also commit theft and steal by voting for socialist.
[00:18:44]  That is civil theft.
[00:18:46]  And the majority of 50% plus one deciding that something's okay doesn't make it righteous.
[00:18:54]  So that's theft, adultery.
[00:18:57]  What is adultery?
[00:18:59]  What does it mean to be unfaithful in marriage?
[00:19:01]  Define marriage.
[00:19:03]  Is marriage between one man and one woman?
[00:19:06]  Or is it between two men?
[00:19:08]  Is it between two women?
[00:19:09]  Is it three individuals involved?
[00:19:12]  These things have to be defined.
[00:19:13]  So, what is sin?
[00:19:15]  Who is God?
[00:19:16]  Start there.
[00:19:16]  Who is God?
[00:19:17]  Who is man?
[00:19:18]  Why are we estranged in our relationship from God?
[00:19:21]  What is sin?
[00:19:22]  How does the Bible define sin?
[00:19:24]  What is grace?
[00:19:26]  What is faith?
[00:19:27]  Who is Christ?
[00:19:28]  Tell me about his life, his death, his resurrection, his glorious ascension.
[00:19:33]  Is he ruling?
[00:19:35]  Is he reigning?
[00:19:36]  What does that mean?

=== Why "Jesus Loves You" Fails (08:52) ===

[00:19:38]  From what I've heard again and again, again, from eyewitness first testimony accounts, I've heard that there is not preaching from the Bible.
[00:19:48]  There is not serious preaching from the Bible.
[00:19:51]  And I've gotten some of the pushback, some of the counters from you guys on YouTube or Twitter and some of the comments, and people will say, Well, I was there and there is preaching from the Bible.
[00:20:04]  And then I'll ask individuals, even in private messages, Could you define that?
[00:20:08]  What is preaching from the Bible?
[00:20:11]  Or people say there is preaching of the gospel.
[00:20:13]  You know, a staff member got up and said that, you know, one of the faculty got up and was weeping and crying and visibly shaking and said, You guys, you have no idea how much Jesus loves you.
[00:20:24]  You just don't know.
[00:20:25]  You just don't know the love of God, the depths and heights, the width, the length, how much God loves you.
[00:20:32]  Jesus loves you, and he has an incredible plan for your life.
[00:20:37]  I've heard people say that.
[00:20:38]  The gospel is being preached, Pastor Joel.
[00:20:40]  People are saying, with Fear and trembling that Jesus loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life.
[00:20:47]  If that's the gospel, brothers and sisters, then you and I are damned.
[00:20:53]  And we're all going to hell.
[00:20:55]  Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life is not the gospel.
[00:21:01]  It's not the gospel.
[00:21:03]  The gospel is that you are vile and wretch and that you have committed cosmic treason against the creator of the universe.
[00:21:12]  That God established a covenant of works with Image bearing creatures that he made and that he bestowed his loving benevolence and provision and protection upon.
[00:21:25]  He established a covenant with us and we broke it.
[00:21:30]  And we therefore have rightly earned exactly what God said would happen for covenant breakers, which is that you shall surely die.
[00:21:40]  Jesus died in our place.
[00:21:43]  He took that death.
[00:21:46]  We Get life, new life, and eternal life by grace.
[00:21:52]  It is the gift of God so that no man may boast.
[00:21:55]  It's not our doing.
[00:21:56]  It's not what we deserve.
[00:21:57]  And we receive that gift of God, that grace, through faith by believing in Jesus and not your own Jesus.
[00:22:08]  It's not like going to the mall back in the day.
[00:22:10]  I remember the stores that Build a Bear, right?
[00:22:13]  That was a popular thing.
[00:22:14]  You could go in these little stores in the mall and it was called Build a Bear.
[00:22:17]  And you go in and they give you a teddy bear and you get to design it the way you want, right?
[00:22:21]  You get To embroider certain things on it, pick out a shirt for your teddy bear.
[00:22:24]  What kind of eyes are you going to have?
[00:22:25]  What kind of nose are you going to have?
[00:22:26]  What color are you going to have?
[00:22:27]  What designs, this and that?
[00:22:29]  You don't get to build a Jesus.
[00:22:32]  There is one Jesus.
[00:22:35]  When you build your own Jesus, the problem about having your own version of Jesus is that there's only one Jesus who can actually save.
[00:22:44]  Hippie tree hugging Jesus cannot save you.
[00:22:48]  Socialist Jesus can't save you.
[00:22:51]  Gay affirming Jesus can't save you.
[00:22:55]  Because he's not real.
[00:22:57]  Only the biblical Jesus can save you.
[00:23:00]  And I have heard again and again from testimony after testimony that this Jesus is not being preached.
[00:23:06]  Whenever there is preaching, it's few and far between.
[00:23:10]  Real quick, let me also say this your testimony and the gospel are not the same.
[00:23:16]  A testimony and the gospel is not synonymous.
[00:23:20]  A testimony is what Jesus has done for you.
[00:23:24]  And that's if it's a true testimony.
[00:23:26]  And even that, I think we have great reason to.
[00:23:29]  Be suspicious and ask questions.
[00:23:31]  But let's just assume for a moment, giving the most benefit of the doubt, that the testimonies are in fact true testimonies.
[00:23:38]  Even that is not the gospel.
[00:23:41]  A testimony is the declaration of what Christ has done for you.
[00:23:45]  The gospel is not about your life and what it looks like after the work of Jesus has been applied.
[00:23:53]  No, the gospel is not about your life.
[00:23:56]  The gospel is about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
[00:24:01]  It's his life, his death, his resurrection.
[00:24:05]  So, Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life is not the gospel.
[00:24:10]  And your testimony, if you're a student at Asbury, your testimony is not the gospel.
[00:24:16]  And I say that because I'm getting reports on both sides.
[00:24:19]  I'm hearing some people, you know, staunch defenders of the Asbury revival, and they're saying things like, well, there's been salvations.
[00:24:27]  This is a genuine revival because it bears the marks of revival.
[00:24:30]  And I'll say, well, one of the marks of revival is mass conversions and salvations.
[00:24:35]  There are salvations.
[00:24:36]  And then I've heard descriptions.
[00:24:38]  Of what these salvations look like.
[00:24:40]  And what it looks like is somebody standing up and saying, Jesus loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life.
[00:24:48]  He wants to make you whole.
[00:24:49]  He wants to wash you clean, but not talking about what you need to be washed clean of.
[00:24:55]  What is sin?
[00:24:56]  What is filth?
[00:24:57]  What is grime?
[00:24:58]  Not talking about repentance.
[00:25:00]  Just saying, Jesus wants to make you whole.
[00:25:02]  Jesus wants to fulfill you, satisfy you.
[00:25:05]  Some of you, you're broken, right?
[00:25:07]  When brokenness becomes the word instead of sin.
[00:25:11]  When wholeness becomes the word instead of righteousness and forgiveness for sin, these kinds of things, they get, it's this subtle hijacking.
[00:25:21]  When your testimony becomes the substitute for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
[00:25:27]  So people will stand up and say, Who wants to be made whole?
[00:25:30]  Who wants to be cleansed?
[00:25:31]  God has a plan for this generation.
[00:25:33]  He hasn't forgotten you.
[00:25:34]  He hasn't forsaken you.
[00:25:35]  He's going to use you.
[00:25:36]  This generation is going to be used mightily of the Lord.
[00:25:39]  And if you want to be used by God, if you want to be made whole, if you want to be, Reconciled to God and welcomed in, then I want you to stand.
[00:25:47]  And I've heard this again from eyewitness and earwitness accounts, people who were physically there, that this is being said.
[00:25:55]  And then people stand and then it'll be repeated.
[00:25:58]  It'll say, Hey, some of you, you need to join them in standing.
[00:26:02]  Look at the courage of your friends who stood up.
[00:26:04]  You need to stand with them.
[00:26:06]  They'll stand with them.
[00:26:07]  And then they'll say, Let's give a shout, a shout of joy to the Lord.
[00:26:11]  There's more rejoicing in heaven over one lost sinner.
[00:26:14]  Who comes to salvation, who repents, is what the Bible says, who comes to repentance.
[00:26:19]  And look at all these people.
[00:26:20]  It's far more than one.
[00:26:21]  Look at all these people standing right now.
[00:26:22]  Let's rejoice at this salvation.
[00:26:26]  What's salvation?
[00:26:29]  Romans 1 16.
[00:26:30]  For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe, first to the Jew, then also to the Greek.
[00:26:42]  The gospel is the power of God for salvation.
[00:26:45]  Where the gospel is not preached, there is no.
[00:26:49]  No gospel, no salvation.
[00:26:52]  God saves people through the gospel.
[00:26:55]  Romans 1 16.
[00:26:56]  The gospel is the power of God for salvation.
[00:27:00]  Romans 10 14.
[00:27:02]  How will they believe unless they hear?
[00:27:06]  And how will they hear unless someone preaches?
[00:27:10]  Again, by way of implication, the necessary inference, going back to Romans 1 16, preaches what?
[00:27:16]  The gospel.
[00:27:18]  So, how will they believe unless they hear?
[00:27:19]  How will they hear unless someone preaches the gospel?
[00:27:22]  And how will they preach unless they are sent?
[00:27:24]  For it is written, Blessed are the feet of those who bring good news.
[00:27:29]  Jesus loves you and has a plan for your life is not the gospel.
[00:27:33]  A student's testimony is not the gospel.
[00:27:35]  A desire to go to Brazil is not the gospel.
[00:27:39]  A desire to go to Brazil as a missionary to preach the gospel is not the gospel.
[00:27:44]  You can say all those, I want to go to Brazil to preach the gospel, without actually preaching the gospel right there at Asbury.
[00:27:51]  So without gospel, there can be no salvation.
[00:27:55]  So revival is happening, singing is happening.
[00:27:59]  Prayers are happening, testimonies are happening, but there is virtually no preaching from the Bible.
[00:28:06]  And almost definitively, no true gospel preaching with a biblical definition of God, biblical definition of man, biblical definition of sin, biblical definition of grace, biblical definition of faith, and a biblical description of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ.

=== Conditions for God's Love (03:42) ===

[00:28:30]  Anyone is welcome.
[00:28:32]  Well, sinners are welcome to Christ.
[00:28:34]  He welcomes sinners, but he welcomes sinners on his terms.
[00:28:38]  And there is a condition.
[00:28:40]  The condition is to repent.
[00:28:43]  I appreciate very much what the late, great R.C. Sproul once said.
[00:28:46]  He said, People are always talking about the unconditional love of God.
[00:28:50]  God's love is so unconditional, he has no conditions.
[00:28:54]  Oh, that you might receive the unconditional love of God.
[00:28:58]  Sproul said, God's love is not unconditional.
[00:29:03]  If it's unconditional, then why does he set the condition that you repent?
[00:29:10]  There is a condition to receiving the saving, salvific, fatherly love of God.
[00:29:17]  If you want the fatherly love of God, then he has to adopt you as his son.
[00:29:25]  He has to become your father.
[00:29:27]  And for that to happen, there must be repentance and faith.
[00:29:31]  Turning from sin, repentance, turning to Christ, faith.
[00:29:38]  There is a condition.
[00:29:39]  Now, as a Calvinist, for the record, because some of you might be saying, well, I thought you were reformed.
[00:29:43]  I thought it's all grace.
[00:29:44]  Uh huh.
[00:29:45]  Yeah.
[00:29:45]  God sets conditions for salvation, for his fatherly salvific love.
[00:29:51]  God sets conditions for salvation, and God, in his mercy, meets those conditions.
[00:29:58]  But they must be met.
[00:29:59]  God meets the condition of repentance by granting repentance as a gift, not a work for man to conjure up.
[00:30:08]  But a gift given by God.
[00:30:10]  He meets the condition of faith by granting faith as a gift.
[00:30:14]  And God gives these two gifts of faith and repentance to hearts that He has regenerated by the work and power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:30:22]  He causes our hearts to come alive, gives us new hearts.
[00:30:26]  That's Ezekiel 36, removes the heart of stone, replaces it with a heart of flesh.
[00:30:31]  He puts His law within us and causes us to walk in His statutes.
[00:30:36]  God does it all.
[00:30:37]  God does it all.
[00:30:39]  But there are conditions.
[00:30:40]  God meets those conditions, but there are conditions.
[00:30:43]  And where those conditions are not met, then God has not met those conditions by His grace.
[00:30:50]  In His grace, He has not granted repentance.
[00:30:52]  In His grace, for whatever reason, He has not granted faith.
[00:30:57]  And therefore, that person is not an adopted child of God.
[00:31:02]  And we should not say that that person is a recipient, therefore, of God's saving love, salvific love, fatherly love.
[00:31:11]  That person has a father, but it's not God.
[00:31:14]  John chapter 8, Jesus plainly says that if you don't have God as your father, then you're a chip off the old block.
[00:31:22]  You look just like your true father, the devil.
[00:31:27]  Jesus tells the Pharisees, the scribes, your father's the devil.
[00:31:30]  You look just like him.
[00:31:31]  You're doing what your father does, his typical M.O.
[00:31:36]  He was a murderer from the beginning, and here you are, trying to murder me.
[00:31:40]  You look just like the devil because the devil is your daddy.
[00:31:44]  Children always bear a stark resemblance to their fathers, and so too, spiritually speaking, Those who are not in Christ bear a resemblance to their spiritual father, the devil.
[00:31:57]  We are not all born into this world as children of God.
[00:32:02]  We become children of God through adoption by grace through faith in Christ.
[00:32:07]  So, revival is happening.
[00:32:10]  Prayers are being prayed.
[00:32:11]  Songs are being sung.

=== Preach the Biblical Gospel Now (08:18) ===

[00:32:13]  Testimonies are being shared.
[00:32:14]  But very little, virtually no Bible preaching or particularly gospel, biblical gospel preaching.
[00:32:22]  Anyone is welcome?
[00:32:25]  Well, sinners are welcome.
[00:32:26]  But welcome on Jesus' terms.
[00:32:29]  That's not being clearly defined.
[00:32:32]  Queer students, here's another one.
[00:32:33]  Queer students are being impacted by God's presence.
[00:32:37]  Well, from what I hear, queer students are not just attending and being impacted by God's presence, but there are pictures of queer students leading worship from the stage.
[00:32:50]  Publicly identifying queer students at the school leading worship from the stage.
[00:32:59]  Lastly, students are confessing their sins.
[00:33:03]  Again, my question would be define sin, define confession.
[00:33:09]  I've heard some confession of sin, I've seen some videos of that happening.
[00:33:15]  But in the videos that I've seen of confession of sin, the sin that's being confessed is the sin of cultural appropriation, whiteness, white fragility, systematic racism.
[00:33:30]  I've seen these sins confessed.
[00:33:34]  But I'm not convinced that that's the conviction coming from the Holy Spirit and a work of God.
[00:33:40]  So, I was actually, believe it or not, I was actually more gentle than this, more charitable than this, more cautious than this last week when I talked about the Asbury revival.
[00:33:55]  But it's been a week.
[00:33:56]  We've seen more evidence.
[00:33:57]  Lots of people, including myself, initially said, let's see what happens.
[00:34:01]  Let's wait.
[00:34:03]  Let's observe.
[00:34:05]  Well, I think we can still wait and still observe, but I don't think that we have to wait for years to be able to say these things are not in line with Scripture.
[00:34:16]  Because we have waited long enough to have tangible evidence to be able to say this doesn't align with what the Bible teaches.
[00:34:26]  This doesn't align with what God's Word says.
[00:34:29]  And I understand that this is a hot button issue, it's controversial.
[00:34:33]  People are very opinionated on both sides, including myself.
[00:34:37]  We all have a presupposition.
[00:34:39]  My presupposition is the biblical gospel.
[00:34:45]  People don't get saved apart from hearing with faith.
[00:34:49]  And hearing with faith requires preaching of the gospel, the biblical gospel.
[00:34:54]  And I have yet to see tangible evidence of faithful biblical gospel preaching in this revival at all.
[00:35:03]  And even if I got that, here would be my counter.
[00:35:06]  I'll tell you right now.
[00:35:08]  Even if I heard a faithful proclamation of the biblical gospel, my question would be, why is that 15 minutes out of two weeks, 24 7?
[00:35:21]  I mean, if we were to put a percentage on that and say, here's everything happening in the Asbury revival, make a little pie chart, it would be a sliver of time dedicated to faithful biblical gospel preaching so small it would be undetectable to the human eye.
[00:35:41]  And all the rest would be testimonies, shaking, jumping, singing, praying, even that, praying how, praying what.
[00:35:56]  The guardrails for any work, any true, genuine work of the Holy Spirit, is the Bible preached.
[00:36:04]  The Bible preached.
[00:36:06]  In every historic revival that we have seen, it has been marked by preaching.
[00:36:13]  Not just laughing, shaking, smiling, sharing, singing, but preaching.
[00:36:21]  Preaching and preaching the word of God.
[00:36:26]  Now, some of you may see that even today, I believe, hashtag Jesus is coming soon has been trending.
[00:36:36]  Jesus is coming soon.
[00:36:39]  Now, most of you, if you follow the channel, you know what I think about that.
[00:36:43]  No man knows the day or the hour.
[00:36:45]  People have been saying Jesus is coming soon for approximately 2,000 years.
[00:36:50]  Did you know that just about every generation of Christians, just about every generation of Christians thought that Jesus was going to return in their lifetime?
[00:37:01]  Which means, thus far, every generation of Christians, at least in that regard, in that assessment, has been wrong.
[00:37:09]  Every single one of them.
[00:37:11]  Now, whether or not Jesus is coming back on Thursday or not, Here's the better question.
[00:37:18]  This is what I would love to see trending.
[00:37:20]  Not Jesus is coming soon, but if Jesus is coming soon, or if Jesus chooses to tarry in either regard, how do we prepare for Jesus coming?
[00:37:32]  And I guess what I'm putting together here is I don't think it's a coincidence that you have Jesus is coming soon.
[00:37:39]  And a lot of talk right now, and notably the week leading up to the beginning of the Asbury revival, there was a lot of talk about the signs that Jesus.
[00:37:50]  Christ is coming, and then you have this revival.
[00:37:55]  I think that there's a correlation there.
[00:37:56]  I don't think it's a coincidence.
[00:37:58]  I think that for the average evangelical Christian, and this is virtually universal across denominational lines, for the average, whether you're Reformed or Arminian, whatever it is, continuationist, cessationist, the average evangelical Christian today, I think, has this dispensational pre mill sense that Jesus is going to return rather quickly.
[00:38:21]  In that vein, I think they also just subconsciously assume that everything in the culture and politics is destined by God to get worse and worse until Christ comes.
[00:38:32]  And that shapes your thinking, your assumptions of what we should do to prepare for the coming of Christ.
[00:38:40]  See, if you can't really make a difference in the world, then how do you prepare for the coming of Jesus?
[00:38:47]  Well, a revival.
[00:38:50]  Let's just get together, let's just pray, sing.
[00:38:53]  Share testimonies.
[00:38:56]  All right, let's just kind of splash around and the Holy Spirit, you know, kiddie pool together and just enjoy the presence of God.
[00:39:05]  Right?
[00:39:06]  Or it may even be, well, no, we want people to get saved.
[00:39:10]  You know, I mean, if Jesus is coming back soon, right, then we want to see as many souls plucked from the fire as possible before he returns, before it's too late.
[00:39:20]  And that is good.
[00:39:23]  That would be true.
[00:39:24]  That is biblically correct.
[00:39:25]  But here's my point Jesus is coming soon.
[00:39:31]  Asbury revival, I think there's a correlation between the two, not a coincidence.
[00:39:36]  Even from a dispensational pre mill presupposition, understanding of the return of Christ and what all that entails, and certain reading of the book of Revelation and Matthew 24 and the book of Daniel and all these different things, even assuming those things, why not preach the gospel?
[00:39:58]  If Jesus is coming soon, preach the gospel, preach the biblical gospel.
[00:40:07]  And if Jesus is coming soon, then we don't have time to.
[00:40:11]  For platitudes, generalities, ambiguity.
[00:40:17]  If Jesus is coming soon, then we need more clear gospel preaching than ever before.
[00:40:27]  And that is not what we are seeing as of now.

=== Recession and Urgent Evangelism (01:37) ===

[00:40:31]  Can I be frank with you for just a second, right here at the end?
[00:40:35]  Look, some of you guys, you're financially supporting this ministry, and from the bottom of my heart, I say thank you.
[00:40:41]  I cannot thank you enough.
[00:40:44]  However, some of you, you just can't afford it.
[00:40:48]  In fact, some of you, you shouldn't afford it.
[00:40:51]  Let's be honest.
[00:40:52]  I mean, we're living in Joe Biden's ridiculous economy.
[00:40:56]  Our nation and our totalitarian political elites lost their minds over the last three years due to COVID.
[00:41:05]  We have written checks that we simply cannot cash.
[00:41:09]  It doesn't matter if people change the definition of a recession.
[00:41:13]  We are living in a recession right now, regardless.
[00:41:17]  Some of you are struggling to afford a carton of eggs at the grocery store.
[00:41:22]  You cannot support financially this ministry at this time, nor should you, but you could still help us tremendously.
[00:41:31]  I am asking you, please, if you're willing to do so, take one minute of your time.
[00:41:37]  Leave us a five star review on your favorite podcast platform iTunes, Spotify, whatever that might be.
[00:41:45]  This is the way the system works.
[00:41:47]  We want to be innocent as doves, but shrewd as vipers.
[00:41:51]  We need to be strategic.
[00:41:52]  You leave us a five star review, and our podcast shows up for more people.
[00:41:57]  And the Word of God and courageous theology applied in practical ways to every realm of life gets out there.
[00:42:06]  Help us get it out there.
[00:42:08]  Thanks for tuning in.