Defeating the Tempter like Jesus

Hello and welcome to the West Side Church's special Monday Morning coffee podcast. On this podcast, our preacher Mark Roberts will help you get your week started right with a look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through each other and better work the applications into our daily lives . Mark will then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for , and he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time. So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday morning coffee with

Mark .

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee podcast for Monday, July the 24th. This is the Monday after Youth lectures weekend. What a weekend. So great, so great. If you have not listened to those lessons, you weren't at Westside, you need to go listen to those tremendous opportunity to learn how to be more like Jesus. Be like, Christ, I'm holding coffee. I've got some Bible reading notes, but I am still thinking about everything that happened this weekend and I wanna say an extra word or two about the sermon that I got to preach. Let's get started. So I did talk about being like Christ in beating the tempter and I do like thinking in terms of beating the devil, not beating temptation in this nebulous kind of way, but thinking about the devil being personally there because he is and we need to take him seriously and we need to beat the devil in the same way that Jesus beat the devil. And talked a little bit about that yesterday. I'm gonna add to the conversation yesterday. I really love that stuff about memorizing some passages. I I think that's a huge, huge help. But I'm gonna add to that we can, we can make the boat go faster if , if you haven't heard the sermon, go listen in the sermon, you'll know what I mean by that. You can make the boat go faster by stopping this business of, I am the exception. I'm the exception. That's why we fall into temptation because we say, you know, everybody else shouldn't be doing that, but I'm strong enough, I can sustain it. Or I , you know, the Bible doesn't say in 16 inch giant red letters don't be doing that. So, you know, I I , I've kind of found a a weasel loophole here and I can weasel my way through it. Stop it, stop it. Notice in Luke four , in Matthew four , that Jesus quotes from God's rule book for Israel, that is God's rule book for people, for human beings. Jesus does not say to the devil, I don't have to play by those rules. I'm Jesus, I'm the son of God. I'm deity. Jesus plays by our rules. He does not say I'm the exception to the rules. He beats the devil playing by the rules. If Jesus doesn't claim an exception, you and I shouldn't be claiming an exception. Stop saying you are the exception. As soon as you quit with that, you're gonna go a long ways towards beating the tempter like Jesus did. There you go, that hope that'll help you out of that sermon. Let's think a little bit about daily Bible reading. So our reading for Monday is Jeremiah chapter 26 verses one to eight. And I would say this, I don't think I'm happy with my placement of this material here in the reading schedule. I think I would want this to be in front of Jeremiah chapter 36, what we read on Thursday and Friday of last week. It's just very difficult to construct a timeline of Jeremiah's life. I think maybe that chapter 36 stuff comes a little bit later in his preaching. Maybe this is a little bit earlier in his preaching. I don't know . You read along and and see where you think that is. It is clear that Jeremiah's preaching has not been well received and this chapter really highlights how some of that is working. So our reading, as I said, is verses one to eight. Watch the emphasis on listening. Verse four, if you'll not listen, verse five, listen to the words of my prophets though you have not listened and there is a heavy emphasis here on the idea of speaking all of the word of God. Verse two, do not hold back a word. I probably should have given a date in verse one in the beginning of the reign of joka . That's 6 0 9. 6 0 9, the beginning of the reign of Jo Hoka , the son of Josiah. That's a good thing to write out beside the passage and the sermon here that Jeremiah is preaching could be something like that. Jeremiah seven, the temple sermon. So Jeremiah is told, help these people turn verse three from their evil ways. Preach or I will make this house. Verse six, like Shiloh, we talked about that in Jeremiah chapter seven, Shiloh is where the tabernacle was and it was destroyed in First Samuel. In First Samuel, the fourth chapter, the family of Eli was there. Judgment fell upon the Israelites, judgment fell upon the house of Eli and the Philistines destroy Shiloh and apparently destroy the tabernacle. And they do. We know that they took the Ark of the Covenant, they took the Ark of the Covenant captive. There's uh , that whole story is recounted there in first Samuel. So Jeremiah is preaching. Don't think because you have the temple here that God can't bring judgment. God will bring judgment even if his house, even if the worship center is here like he did on Shiloh. And some of the people verse seven seem maybe, maybe I'm thinking maybe they could be listening. No. Verse eight, they listen and they say you shall die. Now we're starting to see why Jeremiah is so desperate in his preaching. Now we're starting to see why judgment has to fall. These people will not listen. They are not interested in the truth and we get a strong sense of the people's immunity to the preaching of the word of God. More of this in tomorrow's reading, what's going to happen to a prophet who is so unpopular in his preaching? I'll see you tomorrow. Welcome to Tuesday, grab you some coffee. Let's work on Jeremiah the 26th chapter verses nine to 15 In does seem like the people are all against Jeremiah. I'm gonna say more about that as we work down through this chapter. I'm glad we're reading it in small bits so we can kind of really soak in that and and make note of everything that's going on. But clearly these people are immune to the indictment for their sin that Jeremiah brings. They are certain that Jeremiah is wrong for ever thinking that God could bring judgment upon them like happened to Shiloh . Don't even talk about that. We don't want to hear you say anything about that. And in verse 10, notice that the temple and the palace are situated next to each other. I'm thinking about second Kings 11. There's some discussion of that. There's really not anything in the Bible about this construction of this new gate , but they are close together and Jeremiah mounts a defense at the end of our reading in verses 12 to 15. Jeremiah says in verse 12, Hey, I was sent by God. Then he says in verse 13, I'm only trying to help, but particularly he says in verses 14 and 15, killing me won't change anything. In fact, if you kill me then my innocent blood will just cry out for justice. Notice again the emphasis on being faithful to God speak all these words. Verse 15, this is what God told me to say. Verse two, Jeremiah is a faithful prophet who is being met by unfaithful people. Reminds me of something that our guide said when we were in Israel back in June and as he was recounting some of the crazy and terrible things that have gone on, there's just been so many wars and and just all kinds of terrible things have happened there. He said, this is a holy land inhabited by unholy people. That is so true and it is absolutely true here in Jeremiah chapter 26. These are unholy people. What's going to happen to a holy prophet when he's in the hands of unholy people that we'll see tomorrow on Wednesday. It's Wednesday and we're reading Jeremiah the 26th chapter verses 16 to 24. Tonight Jerry King will be with us talking about inspiration and will help us in the case for Christianity by considering the inspiration of the Bible.

Hi, I'm Jerry King . I regularly preach for the Twin Creeks church in Allen, but on Wednesday evening it is my privilege to be speaking in the West Side Summer series as they consider the case for Christianity. I will be speaking on the inspiration of the Bible by faith. We accept the Bible as the inspired word of God supernaturally revealed to a special group of men who were moved by the Holy Spirit. That is what the Bible emphatically declares itself to be and that is what God calls upon us to believe that it is. But please understand that despite what many in our culture claim, God does not require us to accept the Bible as his word by some kind of leap of faith with no evidence at all, but rather by reasoned faith based on very clear evidences. I want to share those evidences with you In a world that increasingly scoffs at any notion that the Bible is the word of God, we need to be able to defend our confidence that it is. I hope to see you Wednesday evening as we study the inspiration of the Bible.

I'm excited about Jerry being with us and I know that you will give him your full attention this evening. Before we get to church tonight, let's work through Jeremiah of the 26th chapter verses 16 to 24. That's our reading for today. And this really is a dramatic scene. This text really should get a lot more attention, a lot more airplay because it's one of the most exciting places. In one of the most exciting scenes in all of the Bible, there's this courtroom going on and Jeremiah's life is at stake. What's gonna happen? So in verse 16, some people say, we gotta listen to this guy, we gotta listen to this guy. He has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. And then some people cite the precedent of Micah of Moche in verse 18, this is the Micah from the book of Micah and there's some quoting here. Micah three verse 12 and two Kings 19 talks about Hezekiah and how Hezekiah listened to the prophets. Hezekiah did not have Micah murdered. So here this is a good place to remember, said a lot of things in the first two days of the podcast here about these people are immune to the preaching of Jeremiah. They don't want to hear the preaching of the truth. Somebody, there are some people here who have good hearts, who are trying to do what's right. Maybe that's why Jeremiah persists so long and why God is so patient because there are some people here who seem like they have some interest in righteousness and doing what is right. That said, as soon as that case is made, verse 19, did Hezekiah, king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? No, no, we can't do this. We're gonna bring great disaster upon ourselves. Somebody jumps up verse 20 and says, you know what, there was another guy, here's the counter argument. There's another guy, Uriah, the son of Shamiah . Now he's not known from any other source, okay? His hometown that's given here. Curious Jeem is probably located in the Judean Hills only a few miles away from Jerusalem. So hey hometown boy, everybody remember about him. Anybody remember about him? He preached like Jeremiah and King Jaho and he chased him off. He ends up in Egypt. King Jaho verse 22, sent men to Egypt. They brought him home and murdered him. Yeah, yeah, we killed that guy and nothing bad has happened to us. God didn't get us. We kill that guy cuz we didn't like his preaching. We're gonna kill Jeremiah as well. Then in verse 24 says, the hand of a hi and the son of Shahan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death. I thank God for Shahan and I thank that for a hi and the son of Shahan . I thank God for him as a preacher of the gospel. This text just just moves me almost to tears. How many preachers have been in difficult and terrible situations? Maybe their life wasn't on the line, but their livelihood, their wellbeing, their family, sense of wellbeing, all of those things are at risk because they're preaching the truth and somebody says, we ought fire this guy and get him outta here. And sometimes there's no a hiku to help that brother out. Somebody needs to step up and say, this is the word of God. We need to submit to the word of God. We need to repent. We need to do what's right. We're not firing the preacher, we're not getting rid of the word of God. We're gonna do what is right. A heke may his tribe increase. And I would say particularly the listeners of this podcast, if you're thinking, I can't be a Jeremiah, I can't fill the pulpit, I can't do teaching and preaching thing, that's okay. Do fill your place in the body. Do what you can do. Maybe you could be an A hi and you could stay the hand of evil people who try to thwart the preaching of God's word. We need Jeremiah's and we need , uh, combs . Wow, what a powerful reading this is today. We'll continue in the book of Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 29. Tomorrow we're in Jeremiah's writing in a letter. I'll see you tomorrow in Jeremiah chapter 29. Welcome to Thursday and today we're in Jeremiah the 29th chapter. As Jeremiah progresses during the time of captivity and destruction, as the Babylonians continue to invade and to deport the people of Judah, remember in 6 0 5, that's the first time the Babylonians arrive. They make Judah into a vassal state under their control. Take Daniel and his friends other captives back, other hostages back to Babylon, train them in Babylonian service and make sure everybody knows you all serve the king of Babylon, which of course means you're sending tribute, you're sending taxes back to Babylon. In 5 97 there was another rebellion. Once again, the Jews choose poorly, they rebel. Don't listen to Jeremiah. And so the Babylonians show up in force and take a bunch of people. They deport thousands of people as slaves back to Babylon. And so we're getting some information now, what's God's word to the exiles in Babylon? Jeremiah chapter 29, verses one to 15 records that Jeremiah wrote a letter, wrote a letter to them, and God's word here is very different than what people wanted to hear. Jeremiah says, don't make plans to rebel and don't make plans to be comfortable there. You can get unpacked, you're gonna be there for a while. So as we read down, we see this letter is sent by the hand of Ellis , verse three, the son of Chaffin and Gamara , the son of Hillah whom Kayah , king of Judas sent to Babylon. So these men in all likelihood seems to be the son sons of the same shahan who was one of Josiah's officials and who participated in all of the finding of the book of the law and second kings 22. So these are, these seem to be some trustworthy men. And so the exiles are written verse four, and they are told verse five, build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat produce. You need to get married. Verse six, you need to verse seven, seek the welfare of the place where you are and Babylonian documents well suggest and give good evidence that many of the Judean exiles settled in the region. There's an area there close to a canal to the river known as the key bar in the Bible. They rebuilt that area and they settled down there and established themselves a community identity. They settled into the land and worked for the piece of Babylon. As Jeremiah says here in verse seven, there are false prophets. We've seen some of that already. Hannah N in chapter 28, there's false prophets who are saying, don't, don't unpack. We're all coming home soon. No, that's a lie. That's a lie. I know what I'm doing. Verse 11, I have plans for you. Now that verse is terribly misquoted. People quote Jeremiah 29, verse 11 say , God has a great plan for me and and God has great plans for us. Yes, plans to be redeemed in Jesus Christ. But Jeremiah 29 11 is not speaking to you that God's got a great plan for your business or for you to get married or to go to college and get a degree. Jeremiah 29 11 is not speaking to you unless you are an exile in Babylon. But God says, I have plans for you. You're coming home in 70 years. 70 years. Verse 10. Think about that. That would be hard to hear if you're an exile, if you're an adult in Babylon. 70 years is way longer than any of those people are going to live. That would mean I'm gonna die in captivity. Maybe my children , uh, I mean probably not . They'd be, if you had a five-year-old kid, a kid would be 75. That's gonna be two old to travel. So now we're thinking about grandchildren and great grandchildren. They're the ones who will get back someday . But me and my family, we are never going home. Think how discouraging that would be. But the answer to that discouragement is found in verse 13. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. What do the exiles need to do? They need to repent and return to the Lord with all their heart. Notice how Jeremiah's message really hasn't changed. It's the same message, it's been the same message. All long. Do what's right. Serve the Lord with all your heart. That's the message. We'll get more of. Jeremiah chapter 29 Tomorrow, I'll see you on Friday. Hey, it's Friday. You made it to the end of the weekend . Today we read Jeremiah the 29 chapter verses 16 to 23. Just a couple of quick notes here outta Jeremiah the 29 chapter, it becomes very apparent that the people in Jerusalem, verse 16 are saying The exiles are the problem. The people who went into captivity, you bunch, you are the wicked ones. That's why you're in Babylon. And we are not. We are so much better than you. You guys are the evil ones. This sounds a lot like what's in Jeremiah chapter 24. Jeremiah has a parable there of good figs and bad figs and it's exactly the opposite of what everybody's thinking. People think the people in Jerusalem who did not get deported, who were not taken into captivity, they must be the good figs. No, they're the problem. God has, if you will, providentially removed the remnant out of Jerusalem, kind of put them in the fridge, stored them in Babylonian exile until he can deal with the problem people who are still in Jerusalem. So that's very different than what people would expect. Novar 17, those folks in Jerusalem, they're not the righteous people. I'm gonna send them. I'm gonna send on them sword and famine and pestilence, and we read that expression so many times. Sword, famine and pestilence or war, famine and pestilence. Depending upon what translation you have, maybe somewhere in that phrase we just get lost and forget the kind of terror and suffering and the horrors of what that would be like. Siege warfare and the Babylonians invading and all that goes with that. We're gonna read the book of Lamentations and we're gonna get a really good up close look at that. But don't, don't in any way minimize the judgment that God says he's going to put on these people. They're the vile figs. Verse 24 verse 17, reminding us again of Jeremiah the 24th chapter in what Jeremiah preaches there. They didn't pay attention to my words. Verse 19. They wouldn't listen. That's just over and over again in Jeremiah not listening to God and, and again, not listening to God here doesn't mean it didn't get in their ears. What it means is it didn't affect their hearts, it didn't affect their lives. They didn't serve the Lord. Maybe one more note, verse 22, gonna make them like Zetta Chi and Ahab, whom the King of Babylon roasted in the fire reminds you of Daniel Sha Shadrach Meshack and AB Bendigo, didn't it? Yeah. That was a thing that actually happened. The judgment of God fell on those who were wicked. That concludes our Bible reading for the week. Thank you for listening. If you love the Monday Morning Coffee podcast, we would love for you to subscribe or to rate follow and especially to give us a review on iTunes or whatever app you listen on or, and in addition to, the best thing to do is to tell somebody about the podcast. Give them that good word so it will help them stay in their daily Bible reading. I sure do appreciate you reading the Bible with me and listening to the podcast. Until next week, I hope your Friday is wonderful and the Lord will be with you today all day. I will see you on Monday. We'll be in Jeremiah the 27th chapter. I'll see you on Monday with a cup of coffee.

Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ Podcast. Monday morning copy with Mark. For more information about Westside, you can connect with us through our website, just christians com and our Facebook page. Our music is from upbeat iso , that's upbeat with two PS U P P B E A T , where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others and we look forward to seeing you again with a cup of coffee. Of course, on next Monday.