Paul Washer: Encouragement in the Midst of COVID-19

[Music] welcome to the g3 podcast today will be a special recording of the g3 podcast as I'm joined by my friend paul Washer as we're discussing the challenges of this kovat night team pandemic and the challenges that face the church today and so welcome to the g3 podcast paul Washer thank you it's privileged as we think about this pandemic certainly we can have absolute confidence that God is in complete control at all times as we think about human history and divine providence and divine sovereignty but yet as we think about this present kovat night teen pandemic we're all forced at this very moment at this juncture in time in a very unique season of social distancing it's a really paused and to consider the frailty of human life to really think about the priorities of life and and yet it may be that during this time that there's someone that's an unbeliever that might be watching this very conversation or listening to this conversation and yet they find themselves discouraged they find themselves broken and they see that they've sinned against God and they find that that they're really out of juncture in life that they've never faced before and and they're looking at their own eternal destiny so what would you say to an individual that finds themselves understanding that they've sinned against God but yet they don't really understand how to be reconciled to God so how would you speak the good news to them well I would not give them an easy or a pat answer I would seek to explain to them who God is and who man is and what God has done for us in in Christ Jesus at a time like this we're prone to want to provide comfort and that's exactly you know what we should do but there is no peace when sin is in the equation and so I would sit down and talk to someone not about you know why is this happening or because that that's beyond my realm I would share with them the gospel of Jesus Christ it would begin with who is God that God is holy and God is just and that is good news for mankind because if God was something like to Hitler if he was unjust unholy and yet omnipotent it would be terrifying but he's just he's faithful he's compassionate but that he's also righteous and being righteous that presents a great problem the goodness of God presents one of the greatest problems to men because men are not good so what does a good God do with men who are not and God cannot simply overlook sin the Bible says that God is love it's what he is it's an attribute God cannot cease to be loved any more than he can cease to be just but at the same time he can't cease to be just any more than he can cease to be loved and so the Justice of God looks at the sin of mankind and there's alienation there's judgment leading to condemnation now the question is in the whole book of Romans is basically about this one thing how can a man who is not good be righteous before God and be acceptable to God in Paul in Romans chapter 1 and and on in 2 3 and 4 talks about our good works are the things that we fall back on that's the first thing mankind is going to fall back on because of self idolatry we think that if we have more good works than bad works or we haven't done some atrocious thing that God somehow is going to accept us and Paul disproves that totally in his first three chapters of Romans that mankind has sinned against God and it doesn't matter the quality or the quantity of sin we have sinned and were separated from God and that there is nothing mankind can do there's nothing the individual can do to set themselves right with God but God has done the impossible he has done what the individual cannot do he has done a work of redemption that he planned out before even the foundation of the world before the fall of Adam and that is this that God and his son would become a man and he would live the perfect life that we could not live and then he would go to the cross and he would die under the penalties for all our transgressions against God and in doing that he satisfies the demands of God's justice and may it correct makes it possible for a holy and righteous God to demonstrate compassion to man but that's just in the person of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of Christ is God's approbation his approval his demonstration that what Christ did on that tree was sufficient for our salvation I've been serving the Lord for 35 years done many many things if I died today I would go to heaven for the same reason the thief on the cross went to heaven Jesus Christ died for sinners my life adds nothing to his work of salvation if someone becomes a Christian today they go to heaven for the same reason I go to heaven or some martyr goes to heaven it's because Jesus Christ died for sinners and what must we do we must recognize our guilt recognize our total inability and trust exclusively in the person and work of Jesus Christ as we think about the person work of Christ we also think about how God governs and as he guides human history how can the church during these very dark days find encouragement as it pertains to God's character and God's will well that's a great question and let me read a passage of scripture to you that in all my life and my times of trouble I have gone to this passage and let me find it here it's in it's in the Book of Daniel chapter 11 it's talking about some people would say the Antichrist other people would say Antiochus Epiphanes it really doesn't matter but there's an evil man that has arisen in history who is causing great damage to the people of God it says by smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the Covenant then he goes on to say and this is the part that we need but the people who know their God will display strength and take action and you see here here's what it comes down to people look at this virus and they have no peace even the Christian people they have no peace because their fundamental jen is not biblical their fundamental question is what is what's going on what is God doing what is what's going on and I see this all the time in almost every trial our flesh wants an answer why and that shows actually idolatry you see you see we don't need to know what's going on we don't need to know what's God's doing we don't need to know that the profound wisdom of God behind all of this or the purpose and when we start speculating in these things we've come dangerously close to saying things about God that aren't true so I don't need to know what God is doing if I know who God is if I know who God is that he is omniscient he's all-wise he's omnipotent he's sovereign over there's not a maverick molecule as RC sproule used to say in the universe then I don't need to know what's going on I don't need to calculate things and I don't need to write out theories I just need to trust in the character of my god there's an illustration that I use often times when I was in Peru you know people always ask me how did you survive in the jungle how did you survive in all these different places that was so dangerous and the first thing I point out is I'm a farm boy from Illinois I'm not a military man and I don't know anything about all those places I survived because of the Peruvians who were around me who knew what they were doing but there was one man in particular that demonstrated an exceptional character he cared for me he watched over me he guided me he was faithful in everything now if that man walked in my office right now and said Paul give me the keys to your old Jeep I would throw him the keys and then you might respond well you know you gave him your keys but you don't know what he's gonna do with your car my answer would be I don't need to know what he's gonna do with my car because I know who he is I know his character and I know whatever he's doing it will be right hmm yeah that does bring us great comfort to know that God absolutely governs all things so that that statement that sprawl would often state you know that maverick molecule that's a wonderful reminder that God is in control of everything at all times now in recent days even yesterday we've been hearing from health officials that this pandemic is not yet at a point of peak as far as the spread of the disease the models indicate that at a low number some 80,000 may perish as a result of this disease at the high number some estimates indicate maybe 200,000 in America alone and so our world our culture is fascinated by self-preservation but yet at the same time gripped by the fear of death so how how can we find great comfort and encouragement in the doctrine of Jesus's resurrection well he lives you see this is the great difference between Christianity and every other religion on the face of the earth as a matter of fact sometimes students will talk to me about all the religions and how do we study them all and everything and I say basically you're you need to understand there's only two religions in the world and and these two religions are divided by two primary ideologies outside of Christianity it is a works works based religion if you do this and this and this and you don't do that and that and that you may get in when your weight on the scale the other thing is is that its principle driven you save yourself by following some ethic or morality now Christianity is is different in two ways that are completely opposite to what I just described first of all although Christianity has an ethic to it and a morality it is secondary we are not saved by our ability to carry out some religious scheme to follow some book that's it's not what we're saying that's not how we're say we're saved by following a person by trusting in a person did everything for us and and the thing about it is is that resurrection demonstrates that that person was no ordinary man but that he was declared with power he wasn't made the Son of God through the resurrection but the resurrection declared him with power it validated that he was the son of God and also according to Romans chapter 4 it validated his work of redemption on our behalf that his work was sufficient for our salvation it satisfied the demands of justice that were against us and so the resurrection is is everything when one of the things and I don't need to go any farther than the mirror to to make corrections I've discovered it throughout my years in preaching when I've compared my preaching to for example the book of Acts that I did not put enough emphasis on the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his ascension you see what we need to understand is he became flesh and right now he is the god man in glorified flesh sitting upon a throne and he represents us before God and he is our elder brother he has all the power of God he is fully and completely God in the fullest sense of the term and yet he understands our weakness I have a very difficult heart disorder alright you know if I get this they tell me I need to probably go buy flowers and lay down in the yard how can I have hope I have hope because he has risen you see he's taken death someone asked me one time they said when when it happened to you that heart attack what what was the thing that was going through your mind and I said well first of all it happened so fast but second of all there was this idea I said I used to I used to like to do Taekwondo and different kind of fighting and I said it was an idea that a man that was infinitely larger and stronger than me pinned me to the floor and was just mocking me there was absolutely nothing I could do and to think that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ took that man I'm personifying dead took it and strangled it to death the death of death and the death of Christ as the old Puritans used to say and and and so that is our hope it's the it's the resurrection and it's not just I'm going to go to glory that that's not all the resurrection means the resurrection means two different things for two different groups of people for four people who do not believe it means that this one that was crucified by men is going to judge the world but for those of us who believe no matter what we go through here on earth it is filtered through his sovereign will it is his will when we can trust in them in Hebrews 11 the writer describes those who have gone before us those who have died in the faith that they persevered in the faith in other words that they kept the faith but yet it also speaks about that they were longing for specifically Abraham the writer to the Hebrews states that he was looking to the city whose maker and builder is God so how can we find great comfort and encouragement as believers as we read Hebrews 11 thinking about maybe even the possibility of death during this pandemic whether we first of all we're so different than Abraham what Abraham could only look forward to has been revealed to us in the New Testament we see Jesus in a way that that does so much more than than motivate or inspire it exhilarates so so we have that to carry us through the sufferings of this life and then the other thing is you know I'm known as a as a as a pretty hard creature sometimes but you know when I'm preaching to when the elders at our church asked me to preach or something like that my most common thing is the love of God and the grace of God so many believers and and and I could include myself in this I have to fight this you know we look in the mirror of God's Word and we see so many failures so many failures I mean I do at least I just want to talk about anybody else just me you know everyone looks spiritual in a pulpit but so many failures and and it almost you know behind us also is the whispering the liar the slander and we we may not say it this way but so many believers I found had this idea that the first thing they're going to see when they walk into heaven is Jesus seated upon a throne with a scowl on his face because of all their failures Jesus did not shed his blood on Calvary so that at your first meeting all you would see or receive as a scolding the Puritans were fond of saying that so many of them have said it that if I had recorded it there wouldn't be enough books in the world that that Christ will be more fond more happy to see you then you will be to see him and you can see we need to be very very careful if we're in Christ first of all let me say this there's only one hero in this story there's only one hero in this story the rest of us are a mess when we really are and and we've been given entrance into glory because of our elder brother who is triumph in every one of our failures and this is the reason he died to save people like me and and so have a hope a great hope that grace is so much greater than anything that you and I could ever imagine every preacher when he preaches on grace ought to do as I've often read Spurgeon whenever he preaches on grace or preaches on the cross he will give an apology before he begins to preach because he says I have not comprehended it as well as I should not even the tenth part and what I've comprehended I cannot speak to you so this sermon is going to be a failure and that's true so as we navigate this pandemic and as we watch people suffer loss as we watch people suffer loss financially and physically as we watch the the world suffer and yet the world looks at the church and sees the church suffer during this pandemic how should the church how should the people of God respond to suffering differently than the general population of this world we have a home look III know what it's like to suffer and I don't want to suffer anybody who would want to suffer well they need counseling but suffering is part of life and and in that suffering we have a sense of the Word of God a sense a conscience sense of the presence of God but then we have this hope that endures then this too will pass you know one of the things one guy would always say you know the Bible many times says you know and it came to pass it will pass and that all through our Road he will be faithful hope hope but that hope I meet so many Christians with what I would call a vain hope because it's not based on Scripture let me give an example say there's a man who's just tore up in the church because his wife has left him and every day comes for counseling to the pastor he's distraught he's tore apart and then one day he comes and and he's just full of joy and the pastor says what happened and he said well last night I had a dream that my wife came back to me and so now I'm just so full of joy you see that that's what we would call a vain hope why his his hope and life is not God's character God's will his hope is that his unmet expectation will finally be met and so our hope is not that we're not going to suffer our hope is not that this is not going to touch us in any way our hope is that whatever touches us it cannot take us out of the Masters home whatever touches us is filtered through sovereignty that nothing can separate us from the love of God it's very interesting that in Romans 8 Paul says neither life nor death now you would think he would put death first because death is the scary one but I can tell you this sometimes it's it's easier to die than it is to live but even in those times when life is so hard he's with us he's faithful he'll bring us through and that's our hope one of the things that has caused me to have great respect for you and for heart cry in general through the years was believe it or not it wasn't the sermon that's titled the most shocking youth sermon I have grown to respect you as a preacher and as you know as far as heart cry is concerned an organization that comes alongside the church and here's the reason because of your commitment to God's church and yes you preach the truth and yes you're a faithful preacher but yet you guys have a firm commitment to the church and as we think about the definition of the church itself the ekklesia the called out assembly during this pandemic were unable to assemble and yet I have friends and in places like the Andes Mountains that have sent me word that they're huddled up in little homes worshiping and I have friends over in Africa that are doing the very same thing and then here we are at this juncture and we're unable to assemble with our church and we miss one another and we're doing everything we can with technology just like this to meet together to have conversations to pray to preach the word through livestream and what-have-you but it's not the same so how would you encourage the church during these moments when we as a church by the very nature of the definition were to be assembling but we're not able to so how would you encourage the church well first of all you know the church needs to be very careful you know we know that we in this world we're a strange bird we know that that the world doesn't necessarily have a fondness for us but we need to be very careful about you know when we're told that we should not congregate that it is some conspiracy to shut us out to destroy Christianity in America Romans 13 is very very clear and I think that wisdom also dictates that that we take this time and and we do what the government says I do believe that with all my heart I know you know I'll get a lot of flack for it but but Romans 13 is there and if the government had told me you can't meet because we hate Christianity that would be different but it's telling us that we need to it knows a lot about what's going on medically and we need to listen to it and so I think this is a necessary thing that we must do now the thing about it is is is how do we respond are we resilient you know we've been given you know we're not living in the Puritan days ring was this you know in the time of Jonathan Edwards another thing many people who lived in rural communities didn't go to church for a month and a half two months in the winter you didn't travel five miles in a wagon when there was four feet of snow on the ground and so Christians have always had to go through things like this and I think we should do our part to try to make sure that this this virus is contained now something was very interesting is a friend of mine who works with me he heard a conversation in the grocery store yesterday or the day before to people who didn't go to church they don't we don't go to the bottom of the church they said but but this is wrong churches should be allowed to meet and there seems to be like when things like this happened there's this super spirituality that is actually very superficial that starts to spring up but you know here's my question what can we do at this tone you know when I had my heart attack and I went for at least a year or more without a public ministry a lot of my friends and I was literally shut up in a home and a lot of my friends would write me and say you know we feel so bad that you've you know been shut shut away from public ministry and I said yes but I'd have been shut up to God I've been shut into from and I literally spent in that time sometimes 8 10 12 hours a day studying the scripture and working on things with regard to the gospel that I wanted to understand and this is an opportunity for us to do that we have a Bible all of us and we have the Holy Spirit both individually and as a community and we can use the means that God has given us with technology to do the best that we can I would suggest that this gives us an opportunity to stop living in disobedience in so many areas so many people tell me you know I don't have time to study my Bible well congratulations you have time now I don't have time to pray you can pray or especially I don't have time to disciple my children or to spend time with my children will you do now so take advantage of this time the best that you can in the most biblical way you can spend it a lot of time in the word a lot of time in the prayer a lot of time with your family talking about scripture I'm talking about eternal things use this as an opportunity last night with my children but once again sat down and said you know in no way did I want to instill fear in them you know don't do that don't don't use this to do something like that but to in a in a biblical fashion and and was you know with sobriety and with seriousness children do you realize that the death is a reality and many people are suffering and that we need to live our lives as servants and live our lives for the benefit of the glory of God and for the benefit of humanity you see the Bible is very clear about the warnings you know to God's people in God's church about false teachers so what words of encouragement or wisdom would you say young believers were just the church in general to be careful about what they're listening to and who they're listening to during these days it's very difficult to prepare for a trial and you're in the midst of a trial you prepare long before the trial comes and there are certain things we're commanded to do as Christians study the word to pray but one of the most overlooked is to be in to be a vital member of a biblical local church now if we have young people out there right now who have not obeyed that command and they're not vital members sitting under godly elders and godly preaching then at this moment there's very little that we can do for them God has put correct protecting parameters around us that that I being you know I'm 58 now and Paul the agent that I that I need and and so you know first of all you should have been in a local church with godly pastors if you're not then then sinesses this virus is over get yourself in a godly local church and under godly elders but in the time being recognized this is the preacher preaching Scripture does it appear that his motives are for the benefit of the people or for the benefit of self is he giving himself away or is he asking you to do something for him in his ministry I recently have been privy to some of these prosperity preachers and some of the atrocities some of the things that they have been saying in the midst of this this virus just exposes that they're wolves in sheep's clothing demanding money demanding people to not you know keep giving you're not faithful and all these different things and I'm a true servant of God if he's a servant of Christ he'll be a servant of those who are listening to him and he will be preaching exposition he will be talking about what does the scripture say not pulling out a few little nurses and making a suit that promotes his special interest so we're living in strange days in our culture but we're also living in in such a time in history where our culture celebrates the freedom to kill babies but at the very same time which shut down the entire economy to bring people to a place of social distancing in order to save people who are outside of the womb and as we think about the days leading up to this upcoming presidential election and the confusing times that we're living in the uncertain days surrounding a pandemic how does this present pandemic open up opportunities for the church to share the hope and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ well I think that first of all we need to be very careful that we do not go beyond Scripture you know so many people have contacted me or I've heard people say you know this is the judgment of God upon the West the prophets many many times declared judgment that something was the judgment of God but we're talking about people who receive direct revelation from God we have scripture we have the scripture so what do I know from Scripture can i paul Washer drive my car to washington which is about four hours away and stand before the gates and declare this is the judgment of God upon the ungodly well I haven't received the dream I haven't seen the vision and you know the Scriptures do not specifically mention Washington DC what do I know from Scripture I know this that God is all sovereign number one number two I know from Scripture that God judges Nations I do know that and he could judge his Nations because they suppress the truth in unrighteousness and as a result of suppressing the truth in unrighteousness they open up a Pandora's box of immorality and with immorality never forget this immorality always breeds violence and the degrading of human life so these are the things I know biblically also this this thing that is happening we also need to recognize that it does expose hypocrisy I mean there are court cases right now battling to either give back or gain new rights for for abortionists here in Virginia we had the terrible thing before this broke out of the conversation about you know once babies are born simply allowing them to die peacefully and so we look at the hypocrisy of what's going on now should the government and should Americans and people around the world be fighting for the lives of every individual in this in this virus absolutely and I have to applaud I just heard that there were many many doctors in Europe that have died trying to fight this virus in clinics and all kinds of things and it's appropriate but taking nothing away from that look at the democracy look at the hypocrisy that that we we we slaughter millions of babies you know it's like I remember someone said one time you know we will whistle and sing a tune we'll see a little bird dying on that's died on the side of the side of the road and will lament but we'll whistle while we walk by a slaughterhouse and and and that's true but but with regard to humanity man and so our immorality has given way to violence and that's what self-centeredness always does when you make yourself God then no one else really truly matters and so these are things that we can biblically point out yet at the same time never forget when people are scared the gospel of Jesus Christ is called good news for a reason and even though we must Bo's sin in that good news we must talk about judgment it must always end in good news I'll always tell young Christians that you know they walk around feeling condemned their walk around with so many things going through their brain and I'll tell them you know how you can discern the voice of God in the voice of the devil not that I believe that God speaks to people today audibly but they say how and I say God may speak a very very hard word to you but it will always end in repent return to me it's the same way in the gospel that's the message we ought to say repent and return to the Lord he is gracious the devil when he exposes sin he just leaves you with condemnation and tells you the run away from God there is no hope so we need to be saying to people there is hope and what is that hope it's the thing that gives me hope personally is something I've experienced I have hope because Jesus Christ is risen and we need to maintain a balance and again Josh this is real important you know when someone gets in a trial they've neglected the Bible for say--let's years or months they get in a trial and then they just start running through scripts or trying to find an answer and it doesn't work that way in the same way with how can we be a witness now you you'll be a good witness if you've spent the last several years of your life meditating on the scriptures sitting under good preaching and and obeying God with regard to prayer but if you're looking for a quick fix of finding a tract that will tell you everything you need to say to somebody you will not be an adequate witness well paul Washer thank you for joining us for this episode of the G 3 podcast may God bless you and continue to use you in heart cry and the coming days to strengthen local churches for the glory of God well god bless you and thank you for this opportunity [Music]

Channel: G3 Conference

Views: 214,168

Rating: 4.8968172 out of 5

Keywords: Paul Washer, G3 Conference, COVID-19, Josh Buice

Id: G8eio9QYrqA

Length: 35min 22sec (2122 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 02 2020