Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - March 29, 2021


Ep 393 | Lil Nas X’s Satan Shoes & Why Christians Should Rejoice


Episode Stats


Length

47 minutes

Words per minute

179.20932

Word count

8,445

Sentence count

1

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

12

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

On today's episode of Relatable Happy Monday, we take a look at the controversy surrounding Nike x Lil Nas X's new sneaker collaboration with the company that glorifies satan and the music video that goes with it.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 hey guys welcome to relatable happy monday hope everyone had a wonderful weekend so if you are
00:00:17.320 watching this on youtube you can see that i have a little bit different of a setup it's a temporary
00:00:22.140 setup you might know that i am about to give birth here in a few weeks i don't know exactly when it's
00:00:28.140 going to be but sometime in a few weeks and so um we have given me a temporary setup at home it's a
00:00:36.080 little bit more um convenient so i can spend a little bit more time at home before this baby
00:00:41.880 comes but thank you guys so much who have been following along and who have been praying and who
00:00:46.520 have been encouraging me um and our family i just really appreciate that so much i say all the time
00:00:52.100 that i have the best audience in the world the smartest and most thoughtful audience in the world
00:00:56.440 and i truly believe that that is that is true and so thank you guys for being as wonderful
00:01:01.840 as you are we're very um excited it's a it's a it's a fun time for our family so today we are going to
00:01:09.860 talk about something that i got a ton of messages about over the weekend and that is little nas x i
00:01:16.380 think i have to put the x at the end of it his shoes um that he designed along with the company that is
00:01:23.820 glorifying satan it apparently goes with a music video that is also glorifying satan and i try to
00:01:31.440 not be on social media over the weekends uh for the most part or that's something that i've recently
00:01:37.280 tried to do but when i got instagram or when i opened instagram on sunday night i had a ton of
00:01:43.540 messages from you guys asking me my thoughts on it and i know a lot of conservative commentators
00:01:48.120 have already given their thoughts on it and uh i'm going to not give you the standard analysis of
00:01:57.240 what i think about all of this this turned into a strictly theological episode i was preparing for
00:02:04.160 this last night and we were actually going to go a totally different direction with this episode
00:02:08.200 but then i ended up looking into this story and just thinking about it and thinking it through and
00:02:13.940 thinking about why or how i can make this encouraging and uplifting to talk about something so dark and
00:02:20.240 that's exactly what we're going to do and i don't have time to talk about any of the other stories that
00:02:24.760 i wanted to talk about like i want to talk about so much of the media hypocrisy that we're seeing um
00:02:30.300 when we are looking at a story about the border or the covid vaccine passport there is so much that i
00:02:39.360 want to talk about news wise but when i was preparing for this particular story it ended up
00:02:43.840 just being everything that i wanted to talk about because i truly actually think i know it sounds
00:02:49.340 crazy i actually think this is an encouraging story in light of scripture and something to rejoice over
00:02:55.260 and so that's the angle that we're going to take on it today let me back up in case you have no idea
00:03:00.820 what i'm talking about uh let me tell you how nbc report to this story to kind of set up what this is
00:03:07.800 and why we're talking about it so nbc news says this lil nass x the old town road artist so you
00:03:14.780 guys might remember that i think it was with billy ray cyrus you know old town road that one i won't
00:03:20.700 sing the whole thing for you i'll spare you but it was a very catchy song maybe last summer maybe two
00:03:26.000 summers ago i don't remember i'm old and so my memory is failing me i don't remember when it was but
00:03:31.580 he was singing on the song i think with billy ray cyrus it was really popular i didn't know him from
00:03:37.480 anything else and then a few months later he came out as gay which everyone's all is a big deal 0.96
00:03:41.420 because that's not very um that's not something that typically happens in the world of rap and so
00:03:48.260 he's kind of almost become this like representation for a lot of young people who um who like rap from
00:03:56.180 uh representation of lgbtq and their causes so just fyi some contacts there so anyway uh nbc reports
00:04:06.140 the old town road artist is collaborating with the streetwear company mschf on a pair of satan shoes
00:04:13.480 only 666 pairs of which will be on sale monday so i guess that's today the controversial kicks
00:04:20.520 apparently modified nike air max 97s are decorated with a pentagram pendant and a reference to luke 10 18
00:04:28.880 a bible verse about satan's fall from heaven they will be sold for 1018 dollars the sneakers also
00:04:36.580 contain a drop of human blood in the soul drawn from members of the mschf team the company told
00:04:43.960 nbc news on sunday nike was quick to distance itself from the shoes pointing out that their custom
00:04:48.940 adaptations of existing products uh quote we do not have a relationship with little nas x or mschf nike
00:04:57.240 said in a statement nike did not design or release these shoes and we do not endorse them so this
00:05:02.500 company apparently got the shoes they designed them independently and they just happen to be nike
00:05:07.580 shoes nike didn't actually have anything to do with this the release of the satan shoes coincides
00:05:12.640 with little nas x's latest single montero call me by your name and it's a company music video in the
00:05:18.740 video little little nas x is seduced out of what appears to be the garden of eden falls into hell and 0.88
00:05:24.180 gives the devil a lap dance the music video has been viewed more than 29 million times since its
00:05:29.760 release on friday um so that's what the deal is i haven't watched the music video i've heard
00:05:35.840 descriptions of it or i've i've read descriptions of it i don't think it's something that i necessarily
00:05:41.100 need to see like i get the gist and honestly i hate that i'm even talking about this because
00:05:46.220 since this is obviously they're not trying to hide this like a marketing tactic for the video
00:05:52.780 they like the controversy like the pr company that's representing him this marketing company they
00:05:58.000 they like the controversy because it makes people talk about it i'm talking about it on this podcast
00:06:04.100 but the point of this episode certainly has nothing to do with the shoes themselves
00:06:08.800 but why we as christians can actually look at something like this and say um okay i'm i'm
00:06:16.840 actually i'm excited to see what comes of this and i know that sounds crazy but i've seen a lot of
00:06:22.460 people just say oh my gosh this just means the absolute degradation of our culture which that might be
00:06:29.900 true but it's not a reason for the christian to uh to despair so like i said a lot of people have
00:06:38.300 asked me what i think about this um and yes i i do agree with what a lot of conservative commentators
00:06:44.800 have said that this is certainly not a sign of culture progressing like this is not a sign that
00:06:50.620 we are doing well as a society thinking about what we don't tolerate and then what we do tolerate the
00:06:57.220 things that we glorify versus the things that we just can no longer allow to exist anymore um they're
00:07:03.480 not good like our priorities are obviously out of whack when it comes to the things that we elevate
00:07:09.280 and the things that we try to bring down that's absolutely true but it's honestly it's a little um
00:07:17.260 or i would say a lot comforting and the reasons why is because number one what satan means for evil god
00:07:25.520 can always use for good and really i say number one but really that's the whole point uh that's the
00:07:31.480 whole point of this episode that's everything that i'm going to explain and here's what i mean by that
00:07:35.940 that god has the power to work everything uh according to his will for his glory to draw people to himself
00:07:43.160 most of you probably know the story of joseph he was the favorite son of his father jacob who made him
00:07:49.200 this amazing uh colorful cloak joseph's brothers were super jealous of him uh they hated him because of
00:07:57.160 this and to make matters worse joseph had this dream that all of his brothers bundles of grain
00:08:02.900 were bowing down to his bundle of grain and he went and he told his brothers this and they were
00:08:07.760 like why are you telling us this this is really annoying you're such an annoying little brother 0.90
00:08:12.380 why are you telling us about this dream and then to make matters worse even worse he had another story
00:08:18.040 or he had another dream where the sun and the moon and then 11 stars were bowing down to him
00:08:22.840 and even his dad at this point was like what why are you really saying that we are going to all bow
00:08:30.300 down to you just stop but secretly his dad the bible says wondered if there was actually something
00:08:36.940 to this vision but his brothers did not even want to entertain the idea they were so mad about this that
00:08:42.520 they actually decided that they were going to kill him but then the older brother came along reuben and
00:08:49.060 was like no no no they he heard his the the other brother's plans and they were like don't kill him
00:08:54.300 just throw him into this pit when we see him coming this way um the other brothers did that they threw
00:09:00.900 joseph into the pit uh while reuben was gone they sold him as a slave to a caravan that was on its way
00:09:07.760 to egypt they ended up having to lie to their dad jacob and say that a wild animal killed joseph
00:09:12.760 and jacob was not okay he was like i'm never gonna get over this i am going to mourn the loss of my son
00:09:18.260 forever and ever these were not good people when you think about what i just described and just
00:09:23.820 went down like joseph's brothers were not good people and they had no care or affection apparently
00:09:29.780 for their dad who is now mourning this for the rest of his life but that's just an aside so joseph
00:09:36.140 goes to egypt and lots of things happen he goes through lots of ups lots of downs there are so many
00:09:41.360 good stories in joseph's life that you should read about if you haven't read it in genesis already but
00:09:47.180 through all of these ups and downs of joseph's uh joseph's life he remains faithful to god and god
00:09:52.840 remains faithful to him and ultimately the dreams that he told his family they got them so angry and
00:09:58.740 so annoyed uh come true joseph goes from servant to a leader in egypt and in that position he helps
00:10:06.580 ensure the land of egypt has abundance in the seven years of famine they had endured but it wasn't just
00:10:13.260 egypt who suffered in the famine the famine was worldwide so people were coming from all over to
00:10:18.620 buy grain from joseph in egypt including joseph's brothers and there's a lot that goes down after
00:10:25.360 joseph and his brothers see each other when his brothers come and say hey we need some grain from
00:10:30.540 you because joseph recognizes his brothers but his brothers don't recognize him they're just going to
00:10:35.060 this powerful guy in egypt to try to get food for their families um and then once it is revealed
00:10:42.760 that this is their brother that they're talking to um they are freaking out they're like oh my gosh
00:10:49.840 he's going to do something to us especially later after their father died um and they reunite in all
00:10:56.620 this stuff i don't want to get into all the details of it because it's going to take too much time but the
00:11:00.380 brothers are freaking out that joseph is going to exact some kind of revenge but joseph full of the
00:11:07.620 spirit of god refuses to hold his brothers sins against them and simply says as for you you meant
00:11:14.480 evil for me but god meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they
00:11:20.440 are today you've probably heard that verse if you grew up in the church let me read it to you again
00:11:24.780 so after all of this goes down many years later joseph is elevated to this uh position of leadership
00:11:31.320 under the pharaoh in the land of in the land of egypt his brothers come to him and they're like hey
00:11:36.780 we need food from you dude joseph is like oh my gosh these are my brothers they don't know long story
00:11:42.100 short they reveal that to each other they know each other brothers are scared that joseph is going to
00:11:46.760 do something so just wanted to re-summarize that for clarity and they're like please don't do anything
00:11:51.740 to us i know that we deserve all these bad things to happen to us because we did all these terrible
00:11:56.200 things to you we sold you into slavery and joseph simply responds as for you you meant evil against
00:12:01.120 me but god meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today
00:12:07.980 uh so he says you meant evil against me but god meant it for good jealousy is evil the hate that his
00:12:14.200 brothers felt is evil throwing your brother into a pit selling him into slavery lying to your dad about
00:12:20.400 it for years and years and then having the audacity to come to joseph after he graciously provides food
00:12:26.460 for you and your family and beg him not to punish you uh in return that's evil like that's the work
00:12:33.940 of satan to create rivalry and malice and deceit and cowardice but we see so often throughout scripture
00:12:40.960 that wickedness and sin are actually not satan's end game they're simply these tools that he uses to try
00:12:47.500 to take glory from god that is his goal that is satan's goal to try to take glory from god this
00:12:53.880 luke 10 18 verse uh that's on the satan themed shoes says this and he said to them i saw satan fall like
00:13:02.040 lightning from heaven that's jesus speaking and jesus said to them i saw satan fall like lightning
00:13:08.200 from heaven now here's the thing about this verse and this is going to tie back into the story of
00:13:14.100 joseph this is joseph this is going to tie back into the original point uh that we made that god
00:13:21.300 uses what satan means for evil what satan means for his own honor for his own honor and for the good of
00:13:28.240 those who love him so jesus is saying this in luke 10 18 in response to 72 messengers that he had sent
00:13:33.920 out to heal and preach the gospel those messengers were rejoicing to him that even the demons were
00:13:40.220 subject to them when they were going out and doing these miraculous works and jesus says look
00:13:44.720 i watched as their master was thrown from heaven which i take to mean this is my own subjective
00:13:50.620 interpretation duh you think that you gospel preachers empowered by me jesus don't have authority
00:13:56.680 over them of course you do and then he says that they're not even supposed to rejoice over that though
00:14:01.200 like that's not the most impressive thing the coolest thing he says about this is that these people
00:14:06.060 these 72 messengers are going to heaven so this verse is in the context of jesus telling believers
00:14:11.800 that they have authority over demons that that's a given that jesus has authority over satan and that
00:14:17.840 the real thing to rejoice over is not that as amazing as it is but that this actually means eternal victory
00:14:25.040 and salvation for all of those who believe and isaiah 55 10 through 11 tells us that the word of god does
00:14:31.720 not return void so god will use his word to do his bidding to accomplish that which he wills
00:14:40.060 this verse in particular is about satan's ultimate defeat and what a perfect representation these shoes
00:14:47.900 are of satan's desperate and pathetic attempt for relevance and power so much so that the verse used is
00:14:55.160 about him being an eternal loser and because the word of god does not return void
00:15:00.400 uh we understand that god is going to use this we know that god is going to use this in some way
00:15:08.000 to bring glory to himself and that is what satan hates and this in particular uh this story that we're
00:15:15.840 talking about to this vying for relevance this vying for power and for his own honor and fame and glory
00:15:22.680 is exactly what satan does he wants attention and cheap worship however he can get it isaiah 14
00:15:30.300 tells us that satan was once an angel whose pride whose desire to be like god got him cast out of hell
00:15:36.760 and we see throughout the bible that his goal since then has been to steal god's glory by stirring up as
00:15:43.500 much evil uh preventing as much redemption as possible here's what i mean if there's one thing that satan
00:15:51.940 probably hates i would guess more than anything it's redemption because he can't do it it's not in his
00:15:58.320 wheelhouse he can only destroy he can only tear down he can't rebuild he can't restore he can't
00:16:04.340 renew he can't redeem and what's frustrating for him i'm sure is that where he tries to tear down
00:16:10.640 god somehow manages to build up something good in something new and redemption is exactly what the
00:16:17.960 story of joseph is it's exactly what god is always up to and has always been up to it is god through his
00:16:24.620 great power redeeming that which sinful men tempted by satan try to destroy uh in the story of joseph
00:16:33.020 they meant harm and death and destruction for him they meant for him uh to no longer exist they
00:16:38.460 wanted murder exploitation ruin for him and god just says too bad like i've got plans of my own
00:16:45.080 and guess what i put this caravan god i'm paraphrasing god i put this caravan on its way to egypt
00:16:51.800 for you brothers even made your plot to sell him into slavery which means i was way ahead of you
00:16:58.200 so god foiled the plan before it was even thought about by these people so nothing satan and sinful
00:17:04.800 man plot is a surprise to god god alone is omniscient and omnipotent satan is not so he sees satan god
00:17:13.440 sees satan rubbing his hands together conspiring god already knows exactly how he is going to use satan's
00:17:20.180 wicked plans for the good of those who love him and for his own glory over and over again in scripture
00:17:26.740 we see god seemingly stack the odds against himself purposely using situations that look beyond hope
00:17:32.900 and then swoop in and show up and show off like let's think about some stories in the old testament
00:17:39.300 where this is true where it seems like god could have made things easier or more automatic than he did
00:17:46.460 god could have given abram and sarah for example kids in the prime of their youth he waited until
00:17:53.900 they were old and seemingly barren god could have figured out a way to free his people from egyptian 0.99
00:18:00.600 slavery easily but instead he hardened pharaoh's heart and he opened the red sea he could have just
00:18:07.440 handed canaan into joshua's hands but he fought his people's battles on their behalf instead god could
00:18:14.120 have stopped joseph from being thrown into the pit he could have stopped a lot of bad things from
00:18:19.060 happening to joseph throughout his life but instead he shows his grace and provision to the whole world
00:18:24.080 through joseph in a time of famine god could have protected shadrach meshach and abednego from punishment
00:18:30.240 entirely but instead he stood with them in the fiery furnace and shielded them from the flames to show his
00:18:37.760 own power he could have spared daniel from the king's edict but he allowed him to be thrown into
00:18:44.380 the pit of lions and come out unharmed he could have taken jesus off the cross but instead he watched as
00:18:51.200 his son died a death he didn't deserve to die on our behalf and then raised him from the dead to confirm
00:18:57.540 his power so what we see is that god is going to stop at nothing to bring about redemption for his own
00:19:05.100 glory and there is not a thing anyone can do about it so god is just as in charge right now as he has
00:19:12.880 ever been and his wrath is being stored up this is something we talked about last week his patience is
00:19:18.700 being steadied second peter 3 15 says that we must count the patience of god as salvation so it's not
00:19:25.780 god's apathy it's not god's absence he is being patient not because he doesn't care about evil but
00:19:32.800 because he like he always has is going to seemingly stack all odds against himself until the time is
00:19:39.520 right for him to exact justice once and for all and establish his glory forever and completely
00:19:45.300 galatians 6 7 is clear god will not be mocked in exodus 25 god describes himself as a jealous god
00:19:55.760 jealous for worship jealous for glory he's not going to let satan have the last word so you think
00:20:02.400 god is going to allow any bit of glory to be taken from him because of a pair of shoes and a music
00:20:08.700 video this rapper and everyone who is glorifying satan were already worshiping satan before these
00:20:16.100 shoes came out they're now just being overt about it but the worship was there before i mean the bible
00:20:22.480 is clear about that that everyone who is not in christ whether they know it or not is under the 0.88
00:20:27.740 influence of who ephesians 2 calls the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work
00:20:33.620 in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the
00:20:39.800 desires of the body of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of
00:20:47.000 mankind so they're children of wrath just like we once were who have now been made alive in christ 0.99
00:20:54.480 that ephesians 2 passage goes on to say but god being rich in mercy because of the great love with
00:21:02.120 which he loved us even while we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with christ by grace
00:21:08.640 you have been saved so it is only by god's grace through jesus christ that you and i are not in the
00:21:14.760 exact same place doing the exact same things that someone like this rapper is there are two eternal
00:21:21.880 categories in all of the cosmos according to the bible when it comes to human beings those dead in
00:21:28.020 sin children of wrath following the prince of the power of the air and those alive in christ children 1.00
00:21:33.880 of light following the god who is rich in mercy and these categories and those who fall in them
00:21:40.260 will not be changed one iota because of these shoes in this music video ephesians 1 4 through 5 says this
00:21:48.320 even as god chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless
00:21:56.380 before him in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as son through jesus christ according to
00:22:04.360 the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace so if god wants to use this video
00:22:10.940 and these shoes to bring himself glory and to draw people to himself he will there is nothing no power
00:22:19.420 in heaven on earth or under the earth that can stop him he is going to claim his beloved he is going to
00:22:26.220 pursue the lost sheep he is going to find the lost coin he is going to run after the prodigal son
00:22:32.580 when god sets his sights on someone he will not stop until he has him until that slave to sin
00:22:39.540 becomes a son and an heir until that rebel becomes redeemed there is no obstacle too big for god no
00:22:47.840 sin too much for god to forgive no burden too much for god to carry no slate that he cannot wipe clean
00:22:55.020 nothing he cannot use to call his children to himself and give himself glory those of us who are
00:23:02.660 in christ know we can look back at our own lives and think of all the things satan meant for our
00:23:08.000 destruction the times that we were betrayed or hurt or mistreated or abandoned the sins we almost
00:23:14.120 allowed to consume us the harm and the hurt both inflicted by others and self-inflicted and think
00:23:19.660 that could have totally destroyed me my life could look completely different right now i could have
00:23:24.360 stayed on that path but god but god's redemption his relentless unstoppable commitment to redeeming that
00:23:33.900 which satan wants to use for harm to use instead for his own glory and our good that is the testimony of
00:23:41.460 believers and guess what this is like this is the really great i think encouraging news these testimonies that
00:23:49.400 we have as believers are exactly what god uses to declare victory over sin and satan i wish we had time to
00:23:56.980 dig into all of revelation 12 i think that would take us days and what it all means but let's just
00:24:02.720 look at verse 11 quotes and they believers in christ have conquered him satan by the blood of the lamb and
00:24:11.240 by the word of their testimony for they loved not their lives even unto death let me read that again
00:24:18.040 and they believers in christ have conquered him satan by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their
00:24:25.160 testimony for they loved not their lives even unto death i'm going to link in the description
00:24:32.260 of this podcast episode uh commentary on uh this particular verse from charles spurgeon that is so
00:24:41.100 good i wish i could read the entire thing so i'm going to link it and i encourage you to read it yourself
00:24:46.020 but i am going to read some of it because i think his analysis his application of this verse is so good
00:24:51.480 and so relevant to what we're talking about so this uh this is charles spurgeon they overcame him
00:24:58.960 my version says conquered i use esv but he is quoting from this verse charles spurgeon they overcame him
00:25:06.520 we are never to rest until it is said of us also they overcame him he is satan is a faux man worthy of
00:25:14.480 your steel do you refuse the conflict do you think of turning back you have no armor for your back
00:25:20.420 let me just stop right there because i was reading this last night and i my mind was blown he didn't
00:25:25.700 even cross reference this to ephesians fix six in this commentary but we're going to so let's pause
00:25:30.920 right there he says you have no armor for your back why are you turning around instead of engaging in the
00:25:36.960 fight against sin and the devil when that's what you are called to do you've got no armor for your back
00:25:42.780 what does he mean by that so if we look at ephesians 6 we're told that we are not at war with flesh
00:25:49.300 and blood we're certainly not at war with music videos or shoes we are at war christians with
00:25:55.040 spiritual forces of evil and therefore we are called to take up the whole spiritual armor of god
00:26:00.180 which includes again if you grew up in the church you probably know this already the belt of truth
00:26:05.700 the breastplate of righteousness the shoes of readiness the shield of faith and the helmet of
00:26:11.200 salvation there's no armor for your back you turn around and retreat now you're hit in the back with
00:26:16.500 the very arrows that you are afraid of extinguishing which is exactly why the thing that we're told in
00:26:22.520 ephesians 6 extinguishes the arrows is a shield of faith spurgeon goes on to say quote to cease to fight
00:26:31.060 is to be overcome you have your choice between the two either to gird up the loins of your minds for a
00:26:37.360 lifelong resistance or else be or else to be satan's slaves forever i pray god that you may awake arise
00:26:46.040 and give battle to the foe resolve once for all that by the grace of god you will be numbered with
00:26:53.540 those who overcome the arch enemy now what does this mean because we're not talking about a physical
00:26:59.760 war we're not even talking about a a culture or political war although unfortunately sin does
00:27:05.420 manifest itself in all of these ways but the real struggle the bible says that we're facing is one
00:27:11.220 that is spiritual and therefore the tools that we use are trump cards that we play are spiritual too
00:27:17.820 and what are those trump cards the things that satan just cannot withstand the blood of the lamb
00:27:24.420 the sacrifice of jesus christ which stands in the way of the accuser which is what satan is calling
00:27:30.440 revelation 12 um jesus stands there and says no your accusations are hollow here because my blood paid
00:27:37.860 for their guilt and they are completely forgiven forever god has got them my blood has made your
00:27:44.080 accusations absolutely powerless and meaningless and then to our testimony to jesus's intercession and
00:27:52.660 blood so spurgeon says this about this one trump card the blood of the lamb he says quote the death of
00:27:59.840 christ is the death of sin and the defeat of satan and hence it is the life of our hope and the
00:28:06.060 assurance of his victory so christians all those who have been called by god saved by grace through
00:28:11.400 faith in jesus are bought by the blood of christ and that is our final blow to satan and sin and death
00:28:18.260 let me read you some verses from romans 8 we um we as a group people who listen to this podcast memorized
00:28:26.120 romans 8 together i guess about a year ago now and so maybe if you did that with us these come to mind
00:28:33.220 easily so uh these are verses 28 through 38 and we know that for those who love god all things work
00:28:41.120 together for good for those who are called according to his purpose for those whom he foreknew he also
00:28:47.740 predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many
00:28:53.760 brothers and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified
00:28:59.160 and those whom he justified he also glorified what then shall we say to these things if god is for us
00:29:06.000 who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also
00:29:12.320 with him graciously give us all things who shall bring any charge against god's elect it is god who
00:29:19.060 justifies who is to condemn christ jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised who is at
00:29:26.240 the right hand of god who indeed is interceding from for us uh who shall separate us from the love
00:29:33.980 of christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword
00:29:38.960 no in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for i am sure that neither
00:29:44.520 death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height
00:29:49.460 nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of god in
00:29:54.840 christ jesus our lord when i was writing this last night i was thinking about all the different places
00:29:59.420 where i could try to cut this passage off to make it a little bit shorter so i wouldn't have to read all
00:30:03.380 of it but everything is exactly relevant to what we are talking about so the blood of the lamb has got us
00:30:10.420 covered there is nothing no power that can change that that is the trump card but that's not all
00:30:17.080 revelation 12 11 also says it's the blood of the lamb by which we conquer satan and the power of our
00:30:24.480 testimony to that blood they go hand in hand here's how charles spurgeon explains that saints overcome
00:30:32.140 through the blood of the lamb by their testimony to that blood every believer is to bear witness to the
00:30:38.740 atoning sacrifice and its power to save he has to tell out the doctrine he has to emphasize it by
00:30:44.980 earnest faith in it and he has to support it and prove it by his experience of the effect of it you
00:30:51.420 cannot all speak from the pulpit but you can all speak for jesus's opportunity is given you our main
00:30:58.160 business is to bear witness with the blood in the power of the spirit to this point we can all testify
00:31:04.140 you cannot go into all manner of deep doctrines or curious points but you can tell to all those
00:31:10.940 round about you that there is life in a look at the crucified one you can bear witness to the power
00:31:18.380 of the blood of jesus in your own soul and are you ready for this part this part is super convicting or
00:31:25.060 at least i found it super convicting quote it is written they loved not their lives unto death that's
00:31:31.500 still in that revelation 12 11 verse he says spurgeon says we shall not overcome satan if we are fine
00:31:39.000 gentlemen fond of ease and honor as long as christian people must enjoy the world the devil will suffer 1.00
00:31:45.920 little at their hands some of you hardly dare speak about the blood of christ in any way but the most
00:31:52.800 but in the most godly company and scarcely there you are very retiring you love yourselves too much
00:32:00.620 to get into trouble through your religion surely you cannot be of that noble band that love not their
00:32:08.020 own lives unto death many dare not hold the old doctrine nowadays because they would be thought
00:32:14.680 narrow and bigoted and this would be too galling i mean this is in the 19th century he's saying this
00:32:20.940 they call us old fools it is very likely we are but we are not ashamed to be fools for christ's sake
00:32:28.180 and the truth's sake we shall never give up the doctrine of atoning sacrifice to please modern
00:32:34.060 culture what little reputation we have is as dear to us as another man's character is to him
00:32:39.520 but we will cheerfully let it go in this struggle for the central truth of revelation it will be sweet
00:32:46.960 to be forgotten and lost sight of or to be vilified and abused if the old faith in the substitutionary
00:32:54.600 sacrifice can be kept alive this much we are resolved on we will be true to our convictions concerning the
00:33:02.700 sacrifice of our lord jesus for if we give up this what is there left so how do we push back against
00:33:12.160 darkness how do we and and will believers defeat satan through nothing of our own accord but through
00:33:20.080 the blood of christ and our testimony to that blood so can you testify to how the gospel has transformed
00:33:27.880 your life how god used what was meant for harm for his glory and your good how his sacrifice rescued you
00:33:35.160 a child of wrath and made you a new creation a child of light the bible says that's unbelievably powerful
00:33:42.120 maybe you don't have a platform maybe you feel like there's not much difference you can make as a
00:33:47.880 christian you're unsure of what you've got to bring to the table or you're scared you won't know
00:33:52.620 all of the answers that you're asked when pressed let me remind you that you are chosen as god's
00:33:59.700 redeemed because of what he brings to the table not because of what you bring first corinthians 1 is one
00:34:05.680 of my favorite passages in scripture it tells us that god specifically and purposely chooses that which
00:34:11.960 the world scoffs at and rejects or belittles what seems dumb or lowly or insignificant to the world
00:34:18.700 to display his wisdom and righteousness and power in order that those that the world deems wise and
00:34:25.740 powerful would be made low would be shamed remember romans 8 he equips you you don't equip yourself
00:34:32.380 he equips you remember ephesians 6 he gives you the tools and armor that you need so you were not chosen 0.60
00:34:39.780 because you're special and because you're talented you were chosen because god is gracious and he is
00:34:45.620 absolutely committed to your salvation to your sanctification and to using you and your testimony
00:34:52.500 for his glory you don't have to have a platform or a particular skill set or a personality type
00:35:00.660 to be effective for the kingdom of god god says that the blood of the lamb and your testimony to that
00:35:08.640 blood are the most powerful things in every single realm when it comes to claiming victory in christ
00:35:15.280 and a point that charles spurgeon makes and ephesians 6 makes is that that starts now we push back by
00:35:21.580 waging against sin in our own lives constantly relying on the lord for strength for righteousness
00:35:28.340 for holiness for love to live lives that are completely dedicated to the two great commandments
00:35:34.520 loving god with all of our heart soul mind and strength and loving others as ourselves now i have a little
00:35:43.420 bit more about the application and the practicality of this
00:35:47.900 so what we see through these shoes and this music video is simply this that some who follow satan are not
00:36:00.820 hiding it and while some christians are too afraid to talk about hell and the devil the devil's
00:36:07.320 worshipers are apparently not while christians are too scared to talk about holiness the world is not
00:36:13.540 too scared to flaunt wickedness and the bible says that satan hides himself as an angel of light but in
00:36:18.820 this case he's just out there in the open people aren't scared at all to glorify it that means that
00:36:25.120 christians need to be all the more confident all the more bold in glorifying our god john 8 is a
00:36:32.180 remarkable passage jesus is talking to people specifically jewish people in this case who
00:36:37.860 don't believe that he is the messiah so while they insist that they are children of abraham and
00:36:44.660 therefore um israelites that they are uh children of god himself jesus insists that the people that he's
00:36:52.220 talking to you actually are not children of god because even though they're technically from the
00:36:56.380 line of abraham and are ethnically a part of god's people their actions he is arguing show that they're
00:37:02.460 actually slaves to sin not sons of god his audience is super confused about this it seems like they're
00:37:10.140 like jesus what the heck are you talking about god is our father we're a part of god's chosen people
00:37:15.320 well jesus responds to that argument this way in verses 42 through 47 if god were your father you
00:37:22.220 would love me for i came from god and i am here i came not of my own accord but he sent me you are of
00:37:28.600 your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires he was a murderer from the beginning
00:37:34.580 and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks out of his
00:37:40.620 own character for he is a liar and the father of lies but because i tell the truth you do not believe 0.60
00:37:47.380 me which one of you convicts me of sin if i tell the truth why do you not believe me whoever is of god
00:37:54.300 hears the words of god the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of god this message was
00:38:02.480 spoken to jewish people but this applies to all of those who don't know christ whoever loves christ
00:38:10.440 loves god is his child and hears his words and knows his voice those who do not love christ hate god
00:38:18.260 are satan's children listen to his words know his voice which only spews lies all day every day
00:38:26.180 now that does not mean that everyone who is not a christian by the way is the worst that they could
00:38:32.680 possibly be i think that we can all say that we know lots of people who are not christians who are
00:38:38.160 generous and loving and hospitable and kind and we unfortunately know people who say that they're
00:38:44.240 christians who are none of these things this is not about the severity or the overt wickedness of 0.99
00:38:50.400 people's behavior but rather according to the bible the state of our souls apart from christ
00:38:55.920 but there are some who do not know christ who emulate exactly what we would expect to see from people
00:39:02.760 who follow someone jesus calls the father of lies and we should not be surprised when they become
00:39:08.480 bolder in their worship as culture allows it is absolutely without a doubt disturbing and scary this 1.00
00:39:15.840 is real stuff it's been moving in this direction in this country for a while through the glorification
00:39:20.960 of witchcraft and psychics and mediums for a long time all things that god very clearly tells us in his 0.61
00:39:27.120 word or abominations that we should take no part in they are darkness we have to be on the watch for
00:39:33.180 these things in our own lives and the lives of our kids we don't mess around with darkness ephesians 5 8
00:39:39.040 through 16 is very clear about this quote for at one time you were darkness but now you are light in
00:39:45.780 the lord walk as children of light for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true
00:39:51.840 and try to discern what is pleasing to the lord take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness but
00:39:58.320 instead expose them for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret but when
00:40:04.000 anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible for anything that becomes visible is light
00:40:09.720 therefore it says awake oh sleeper and arise from the dead and christ will shine on you look carefully
00:40:16.660 then how you walk not as why not as unwise but as wise making the best use of the time because the days
00:40:24.180 are evil so why are we talking about this some people might critique this episode saying why are you even
00:40:31.620 bringing attention to this well i think if this is an opportunity to share the gospel if something
00:40:36.700 that's happening in culture is opportunity to point to god's wisdom is an opportunity to show
00:40:42.240 uh light in the midst of darkness to contrast light with darkness and if we're told to expose these
00:40:48.320 things and anything that is made visible can become light then i think that we have a responsibility
00:40:53.200 to look at the darkness in our culture and to compare it to god's goodness and his light and his gospel
00:41:00.880 so we expose darkness not to just to say hey this is dark but to actually show people the light when
00:41:08.660 you've been in darkness and someone turns on the light suddenly that's super annoying like if you're
00:41:13.960 sleeping like this for example this says awake oh sleeper and arise from the dead and christ will
00:41:19.320 shine on you so if you're in darkness and you are in like a dead sleep and someone comes in your room
00:41:24.980 and they turn on the light your reaction is not going to be thank you so much that's exactly how i wanted
00:41:31.460 to be woken up this is really fun and this feels great on my eyes that's not going to be the response
00:41:37.220 you're going to be super annoyed you're going to be like what are you doing you're probably going to
00:41:40.020 be really angry maybe like you'll even throw a pillow or something like that when you're in the
00:41:44.080 darkness for a long time when you're dead asleep and someone turns on the light and wakes you up
00:41:49.140 it hurts so you can't be surprised when people who love darkness and have been in darkness sleeping
00:41:54.820 for so long want to stay in it it's really comfortable the light is annoying it's it's exposing
00:42:00.380 it exposes everything that you don't want to see but once you're there you realize it's so much
00:42:06.940 better to have the lights on it's so much better to be awake truth is so much better than a lie
00:42:11.840 so how do we deal with this we how do we deal with the darkness that we see around us how do we deal
00:42:18.880 with worship and glorification of satan being so overt right in our faces we just double down on the
00:42:27.720 gospel we double down on loving god and loving our neighbor we are all the more outright about what we
00:42:35.480 believe as christians and why we hate darkness and we love the light we don't fear darkness
00:42:42.320 is a lamp afraid of the dark no because it is it's antithesis darkness fails around it it's it's
00:42:49.840 impossible for darkness to stay around light darkness scatters when the light is turned on
00:42:54.820 remember what jesus says in matthew 5 14 through 16 you believers are the light of the world a city set
00:43:02.740 on a hill cannot be hidden nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a stand
00:43:08.500 and it gives light to all in the house in the same way let your light shine before others so that they
00:43:15.540 may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven that's what god is about
00:43:20.900 giving himself glory through us and you and i and our children were placed on this planet at the exact
00:43:28.920 time and the exact place to face exactly what we're facing according to god's perfect purpose for his
00:43:38.200 specific reasons so that means we don't have to worry about um am i equipped or am i prepared for
00:43:46.580 what's to come or i'm scared to have kids in this time those are all understandable fears that i have
00:43:51.540 felt and wrestled with too sometimes i i look at twitter and i turn on the news and i just want to
00:43:57.000 despair at the darkness that seems to be winning but we go back again and again to psalm 37 for example
00:44:04.460 that says do not fret when it seems like evil doers are getting their way when it seems like wickedness
00:44:10.600 is overcoming because one day evil and wickedness will no longer exist and god tells us until then i'm
00:44:18.440 giving you all the equipment that you need i have given you a trump card that is the blood of christ
00:44:23.060 your testimony to that blood and there is nothing that happens here on earth as much as satan tries
00:44:28.380 to use bad things for his glory i am going to take it redeem it something he cannot do and turn it into
00:44:34.820 something for my glory and the good of those who love me even something as small and as petty as what
00:44:42.060 we're seeing with these crazy shoes and music video so that means that we're bold we're happy we're joyful
00:44:48.960 we are thankful we redouble our efforts to through the holy spirit walk closely with the lord and
00:44:56.140 disciple those around us to do the same so try not to despair when we see things like this like the bible
00:45:03.400 thank the lord for giving us so much clarity and so much equipment and so much encouragement through his
00:45:09.380 word and forgiving us as jesus says the holy spirit has our helper jesus actually says it's better that i go
00:45:17.120 that the holy spirit come so all believers can be equipped can be empowered and god is so gracious
00:45:22.180 that he hasn't left us alone for one second that yes jesus says i think it's matthew 10 that i'm sending
00:45:28.180 you out as sheep among wolves or actually it might be the other passage that i was talking about in
00:45:34.360 matthew earlier it might be both passages but i'm having a hard time remembering jesus does say that i'm
00:45:40.340 sending you out as sheep among wolves that we expect persecution that we expect pushback that
00:45:47.320 we expect to be slandered and accused that's what satan does but he says no matter i've got you like
00:45:57.140 my perfect purposes and perfect plans are going to roll out without a hitch and those whom i have chosen
00:46:03.560 to be a part of it will be a part of it and so we are fully equipped to engage with whatever comes our
00:46:09.920 way and we continue to point to god and give him glory knowing knowing that he is going to redeem and
00:46:16.220 restore and to continue to draw people to himself through whatever means he possibly can all right
00:46:21.760 that's all i've got for today like i said i've got a bunch of news to get through but i just i just
00:46:27.900 couldn't resist talking about um talking about the biblical encouragement that i think actually comes
00:46:34.800 from something as demonic satanic and discouraging um as these shoes and uh as this music video so i
00:46:43.120 hope that you leave feeling actually uplifted by all of this and remembering that you've got everything
00:46:49.920 that you could possibly need to face what is ahead of you through christ all right thank you guys so much
00:46:55.500 for listening i'll be back here tomorrow
00:46:56.880 you