Episode 1 - The Gospel

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What’s up, guys!

I am Josh with Shepherd’s Cast and I want to welcome you to the podcast where I talk to you about the things that I find important. My content is meant to inform, educate, puzzle, or be funny. If it does something other than what I’ve just said, then Soli Deo Gloria, we will just call it providence. All of what I say is read from blog posts that I have written and can be found on my website with the link in the show notes.

So, anyway, yeah, let’s go!

Alright, So… Who am I…

Besides sick, so, hold on, pause - when will I get the opportunity to kick off my first podcast other than when I’m sick with COVID? And the answer is providentially never, so strap in for some nasally, predestined rambling with the coughing to a bare minimum and first time jitters to an all-time high. Unpause.

This will be an introduction episode in which I tell you about who I am and what to expect from my podcast.

Originally, Shepherd’s Cast was meant as a way for me to share the things that I study and read from the Bible with others in a way that hid my true identity. It was not because I was scared to be wrong, however, that is a part of it, rather it was because I wanted all glory to go to God rather than to myself. It started on Facebook with short verse explanations that later exploded into two-a-day posts. And I started an instagram, a blog, and a twitter all alongside the Facebook page. And these were incredibly time consuming to do with a regular, full-time job. Since I didn’t really have any help, as I didn’t ask for it, I had to cut a few things from my schedule. Prayerfully, I stopped writing these explanations so often and reassessed my goals with my page. One of these changes, as you may have noticed, is that the “identity secrecy” is no longer as big of an issue for me as it was originally, though the goal of giving all glory to God has not changed. Hence the revealing of my name.

I decided to jump back into Shepherd’s Cast by making memes but as fun as that was, it didn’t fulfill my conviction of sharing the gospel and doing something edifying for the church, which for me was through some form of writing mediary. Whenever I think about this I often refer back to a quote by C.S. Lewis in which he says “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.” Likewise the fulfillment of knowledge of God, in my own conviction, is that it is incomplete without the sharing of that knowledge. Therefore, by the standard set by C.S. Lewis, the consummation of my knowledge of God is the sharing of it. I do not want to forget the providential goodness that came from the meme game, however. Making memes introduced me to a group of people known as the “Exiled House of Memelords” who have become to me like family. As time goes on I hope to introduce you to my family, them included.

As time went on, some of those in that group suggested that I, instead of writing, do a podcast, so that people can listen to the things I have to say rather than read them. This was partially brought on by my 12 page topical defense of head coverings, but there will be more on that later when I actually read it to you all.

I hope you’re prepared.

But, as someone who has trouble coming up with things to say on the fly, I thought, why don’t I just read you the incredibly time consuming things that I put forth in writing. And, with that, I’ve decided to adopt a collaborative style of conversation into my writing to fit with how I naturally talk. So, when I say something on the podcast that you’re confused about, there’s a 100% chance you can find it written on the blog post that comes out with the podcast. I, however, want to leave myself an excuse for times when there is nothing written to be read: there will be the occasional special episode in which I have people as guests in order to discuss something or explain something rather than having a simply informative piece. I mean, we all love banter, laughs, and friends. The church is meant to be larger than one person and not simply alone, this is why we are called to not forsake the g-, the gathering. However, for your listening pleasure, I will make sure to leave every awkward silence and conversational mistake that rears its ugly head so that you can see that I wasn’t kidding. I suck at thinking on my feet.

But, anyway, some stuff about the actual me rather than the persona I’ve created for everyone online.

I am a Christian first, a Husband second, and a Father third. Building on that, I have an amazing wife who works to better herself daily; I have two amazing kids who are homeschooled; and we have a house full of pets. We have two cats (both devils), two dogs (both angels) and a bunny (who I haven’t decided on) and I am often telling my wife no to new pets. I work from home, doubling as the hot teacher’s assistant whenever I can. But it’s a struggle as half of their 2nd grade year was stuff new to me. Personality descriptors? Well. Probably just sarcastic, which I hope I convey here quite well. I’m fairly certain the only person who ever knows what I really mean about anything is my wife. The rest of you just haven’t taken the class, yet.

Moving on…

I love church history and diving beyond the English to see what the original language has to say. I personally would describe the Greek/Hebrew as rich in meaning, since one word could describe a ton of different things. However, I think most scholars would be more likely to describe it as lacking detail. I hope I can communicate those meanings and historical context accurately to the sharpening of those who are listening whenever they do arise. If anything, you can listen and laugh at my attempts to pronounce Greek and Hebrew words. Because that will happen a lot.

A funny story about this, actually. Uhm. When I was a kid I used to listen to a less formal service, uhm, with the participants… uh… they would be doing bible studies. And they were asking people to read and, of course, the arrogant narcissist that I am, I jumped at the opportunity. Unfortunately for me, I’ve only ever read the name Pilate and, when I stood up in front of at least thirty people, all adults who read their Bible daily, and said “Ponchus Pilate” and a low, raugh - laugh rumbled throughout the crowd I knew that I had stepped out of my lane. Can anyone say church hurt? Not really, I’ve had plenty a vanilla church life…

So…

Confessionally, I’m chewing on the 1689 London Baptist Confession, but I know for sure that I’m a Particular Baptist. Like any good baptist, I think I only really disagree with one thing from the confession, that our children are devils and are not a part of the covenant until regenerate, but the rest is fairly rock-solid. I prefer the term Particular over being called Reformed, or even Calvinist, in that I’m not Presbyterian. Side note, in my podcasts, maybe not this one, but I will absolutely throw shade at my inconsistent spri- sprinkling brethren. And, likewise, I will take all the shade they throw at me. And, one day, when we’re both in heaven, they can finally tell me that they were wrong. Like a good friend of mine likes to say, we Baptists just continued Reforming where they stopped. I think the phrase that best fits us is “Ecclesia Semper Reformanda Est.”

On a real note, I will never claim to have it all figured out. For instance, eschatologically I am optimistic amil. However, I’m often told by my fellow brothers and sisters that I’m just being a coward in refusing to accept the title of postmil. If they keep pressing, I’m probably going to go back to pessimistic amil just to spite them. I hear it’s more Reformed to be that way, anyway. But, like I often tell those who disagree with me on other things, you people can worship God your way and I’ll continue to worship God His way, alright?

In essence, if you’re not a 1689 Baptist, you’ll either find my antics comical or infuriating. So welcome, and I love you.

With all of that now known, I wanted to dedicate this episode to the defining of the gospel rather than simply my myspace “about me” section and with that I employed the help of a couple of familiar voices who I will cite at the end of this podcast. So…

First, let’s take the time to define the gospel.

Like I said before, in order to define the gospel I am going to use the voices of people you may, or may not, have heard before. Personally, I don’t know you, or your life, or who you do or do not listen to. Uhm, personally, I like Reformed Meditations. The guy who runs it seems to be pretty cool for an Anabaptist. But, that’s just my opinion.

Anyway… before we seek for answers from our brothers and sisters elsewhere, I want to paint the picture of a problem that is seen in Exodus. This, I believe, will help us to better understand the reason for the need of the gospel.

Let’s take a moment and set the stage. In Exodus 33, Moses has just asked to see the glory of God. God, of course, tells Moses that this is a problem. God says “ You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” in verse 20. The solution proposed, here, is that God will cover Moses with his hand in order to keep Moses safe. This is, of course, anthropomorphic language in that the writer of Exodus (Ehem, Moses) is giving human characteristics to God. Chances are, God covered Moses with smoke, or some other thing that was objectively referenced to as His hand. Logically speaking, if Moses had seen God’s hand, He wouldn’t be alive.

Fast forward to the actual event and we are met with another, very terrifying problem. Starting in verse six of Exodus 34, God covers Moses with His hand, we read “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.’” All of this before allowing Moses to see His afterglow.

If you do not see the problem here, let me point it out for you. God, in pronouncing His name, states that He will “by no means clear the guilty.” Brothers and sisters, that’s a huge problem. Paul tells us that we are all guilty. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned; this means that we are all guilty. Therefore, how can a just God, who is the embodiment of truth, claim to have both forgiven us when He will “by no means clear the guilty?” The astonishing truth behind the matter is rich with theological implication.

With that question burning in our minds, I want to give the floor to our friends at Exiled House of the Memelords.

**Gospel Clip**

The answer then, my friends, is Jesus Christ.

Just to reiterate the question, how can God be forgiving when He will “by no means clear the guilty?” The answer, brothers and sisters, is that we are covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ death on the cross did not give us a neutral righteousness that reset the counter to zero; He lived a life that fulfilled all righteousness in order that He impute to us a positive righteousness. His death did not give us an infused righteousness, such as the Roman Catholics might suggest, that could be tainted by us in any way - He gave us a perfect, alien righteousness that is other than ourselves - one that we cannot lose, one that we cannot tarnish, one that we do not deserve. Our justification is accounted to us upon our faith in the person of Jesus Christ. Just as justification was accounted to Abraham in Genesis 15:6.

It was His perfect life before the cross, His spotless sacrifice on the cross, and His resurrection. He didn’t simply save you from your sins, as is often the response we get when we ask someone what Jesus did for them. He took upon Himself the full wrath of God for what we deserved. While we were yet strangers, Christ died for us. God saved us from God.

This is good news, indeed.

It is important that we keep this gospel truth at the forefront of our minds daily. Something I learned somewhat early on is that meditating on the gospel constantly can be extremely helpful. It can be a guide when you’re acting and thinking in a manner that is less than humble. It can help you before you approach people and situations. And it can simply help in the process of your continued sanctification. Beyond the benefits of what the gospel has done for you and can do for you, it will push you to worship the triune God of the universe.

Never get bored with hearing the gospel and never think that you’re ready to move beyond it in any way. Yes, we strive to study and learn more about the attributes of God. We desire to meditate on His truths daily. But the gospel is not a one-and-done but an “already, in-progress, not yet” truth. We are justified before God, we are being sanctified daily in the renewing of our mind, and we will be glorified. As the golden chain of Romans 8:30 says, “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

To conclude…

I did not want my first episode, nor my entire future podcast, to be an attempt at reinventing the wheel; as a matter of fact, I thought of reaching out to others to join their podcast before I determined that I should start my own. I felt like there were plenty of other people who had solid, Reformed podcasts and there didn’t need to be another. But a friend helped me to see the error in my thinking - there can never be enough gospel truth proclaimed for people to hear.

With that, I want it to be clear that I want my podcasts to be centered on the truth of the gospel, even if they’re read off of a blog that I’ve previously written. I wanted the gospel to be proclaimed in my first episode, specifically, because I want it to express how I believe it is of first importance. The gospel is what we are about, it is what our message is as Christians, and it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Romans 1:16.

I did not want to come on here and ramble, of course, but I’m sure that’ll be what I end up doing for some episodes. I want this to be different - almost ironic in the sense that if you look up the text for the reading of this episode you will find that it is word-for-word, including the possible non-sense that comes up as I’m struggling to read what I wrote. I sincerely hope… from the bottom of my heart… that I did not miss even one single st- stutter.

I want to thank you for taking the time to hear what I feel is important. I want to give a special thanks to Lee with Reformed Meditations (who is not actually an Anabaptist), Maddie with GrassFed and Graceled (who could be Anabaptist, I don’t really know), and the memers that contributed from Exiled House of the Memelords for their contributions to the gospel explanation you heard earlier. I also want to thank Jesus Wannabeez for the awesome opportunity to use their music in my intro and outro - if you haven’t heard them I would suggest checking them out on Spotify or Facebook. They actually just recently dropped their track on Ephesians 6, which is partially heard at the beginning and end of this podcast.

Some closing thoughts about what you can expect from me in the future...

Longer podcasts will be a rare thing from me unless it’s from a long paper that I’ve written. Those will be considered special episodes. There will probably be a somewhat gap in episodes as, like I mentioned earlier, I do work a regular job and have a family. But in the future you can expect short episodes that explain specific verses, topical explanations that cover specific topics, and some interview episodes. I sincerely hope to cover TULIP in a faithful manner in the future, as well as the 1689 London Baptist Confession. From my previous history I covered TULIP in person before and I definitely did not do it justice as I clearly had no clue what I was talking about and I’m sincerely thankful that it’s not recorded. But I hope to… pay some recompense for that and fix it in a podcast that I can share with those who I murdered TULIP to… So.

The final word for the day comes from the Misspelled Calvanist who can be found @MisspelledCalvanist on Facebook. His memes are somewhat funny if you can get through all of the grammatical mistakes. **Clip**

And, as always, do everything that you do to the glory of God. Forever and ever.

Amen.