Introduction: Recently I was on another flight. My eyes were burning from reading, and so I chose to listen for a while in order to give my eyes a rest. Joe Rogan’s podcast with Chadd Wright appeared on my iPhone’s recommendations on YouTube, and so I listened. I was captivated. Why? Well, for several reasons.

First, Rogan is perhaps being gripped by God. He’s still very much questioning and seeking answers to ultimate matters. That is evident to any honest listener to the conversation here.

Second, Wright is a veteran, a former Navy S.E.A.L., very much a man’s man, who was brought from spiritual death to a state of regeneration by the triune God, and he’s now an ambassador for Christ.

Third, millions upon millions of people have now been exposed to the Gospel via the largest and most listened to podcaster in the world, Joe Rogan.

Fourth, and this is what I wish to emphasize in this short post, is that Wright rightly explains that salvation is 100% of the Lord; it is God’s sovereign effectual grace, not a man-made machination/effort/accomplishment.

I’ve heard countless Gospel presentations in my life, but Wright’s here is so clear, so biblical, so humbling, that I do not know how one might improve upon it. It is genuine, clear, humble, biblical, and altogether pride-crushing. (And that is the key issue.)

Connection: In Mark 2, there is a perfect example from Scripture of what Chadd explains to Joe. Here it is:

¹⁵ And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2, 15-17, ESV)

Question: Did you catch it? Did you see what God taught there? The spiritual dead men (scribes and Pharisees) hated Jesus. Why? Well, Jesus came for sinners, for those who know they’re broken, helpless, and dead in trespasses and sins.

But that’s the opposite of how scribes and Pharisses saw themselves. They viewed themselves as the righteous ones, the ones who had it all together, the ones that those dirty sinners should have aimed to emulate.

Takeaway: What unfolds in this passage from Mark 2 is precisely what Chadd Wright explained so well to Joe Rogan. It’s all of grace, if and when God saves a person. It’s not something the spiritually dead sinner accomplishes via his/her merit or effort.

If a person is born again, he/she is born from above (John 3:3, ESV). It is possible that Joe Rogan is not far from the kingdom of God. Can you imagine the impact that his conversion might have? I thank God for Chadd Wright’s faithfulness and courage when he was on Rogan’s podcast. Indeed it is so: “Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” May God grant us the accuracy and wisdom to admit we’re in the second category.