Direct Commands, Examples, & Inferences

Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches special Monday Morning Coffee podcast on this podcast, our preacher Mark Roberts will help you get your week started right. With look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through it further 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, August the seventh. I am Mark , and I'm holding a cup of coffee here in my favorite Tigger mug. In fact, that's making me feel pretty Tish. Even on a Monday morning, I have my Bible open to Jeremiah because we're gonna talk about this prophet, and I'm getting to be a little bit more understanding of some of his depression and unhappiness because he just really, really worked with some people who didn't wanna listen very well. I do have sermon notes from yesterday's sermon that was preached to a group of people who listened extremely well, and I'll tell you a little bit about the backstory to that sermon, all of it in the podcast, all of it with a cup of coffee. Let's get started. Yesterday I preached in the Bible authority series that I am doing this year. This is the fourth in that series. And that was different, wasn't it? That was really, really different. If you have not listened to that sermon, you should just shut it down right now and go get that sermon and listen to that sermon, or you'll be completely lost because that was, that was a story sermon, and that is way out of the box for me, and you should know that is way outta my comfort zone. I would have to admit that I am very nervous about that kind of different sort of preaching. How is that going to be received? How are people gonna work with that? Is that going to work? I am very comfortable with the didactic lecture model, three points, bang, bang, bang, logical, reasonable, A leads to B, B leads to C. So we need to do A, B, and c i . I'm all about it. And that model has validity and value. Jesus did that, Peter did that kind of thing, Paul did that kind of preaching. It gets material across in a hurry and to the right audience. It can be a very powerful mechanism to build faith and to urge obedience. Don't let someone tell you that preaching is dead. It is not. Our recent youth lectures proves it . Preaching can be very, very effective. But that three point , and you know I said Jesus, Peter and Paul did the three point , I'm not sure I can identify in every one of Jesus's sermons exactly three points, and Peter and Paul didn't exactly use PowerPoint, but you know where I'm going with that. That's a very much a pulpit kind of sermon sort of thing that we are used to. But Jesus didn't just do that kind of preaching. That is not the only way to teach the word of God. And I want to explore and use the full range of teaching methods that are at , that are at our disposal. And Jesus used stories and I would want to do some of that, and I want to get better at that. And so I hope yesterday's sermon, Nate, in the safety harness, I hope that that story is sticky and that it stays with you and that it is there when someone says, oh, you know, command example, necessary inference, that's just, yeah, yeah, that's just some preacher made all that stuff up or someone is coming at you with Don't be a Pharisee. I hope that story will help you there because the bottom line is we need to do what the boss says. We need to figure out what the boss wants because we want to obey the boss. And Jesus is king of kings and Lord of lords, as I said at the end of that sermon, he is, he's the boss and Bible authority, the quest for Bible authority, the desire to find what the Bible authorizes the question all about. What does the Bible authorize? All of that is simply an attempt to make certain that we are doing what the boss wants us to do. That is the essence of viable authority. Nate had to learn that. I hope that we have learned that as well. Let's turn our attention then to some folks who were really struggling with doing what God wants them to do. I'm in Jeremiah the 34th chapter as we begin our week drawing closer to the Lord through the prophets, find Jeremiah, get some more coffee. Let's start in Jeremiah 34 For Monday's reading. Today we read Jeremiah chapter 34, verses one to 11. I'm gonna try to help us as we begin each week get set contextually and in the timeline for Judea and for the Babylonian invasions and incursions that arrive. It's hard to line up Jeremiah always in exactly the right place. And it's been a little bit since we were in Jeremiah, or I'm sorry, since we were in Second Kings, but here we have Zakiah on the throne and the Babylonians have arrived and they are laying siege to the city. Now, it's hard to get an exact date here, but somewhere around 5 88 probably is what we're looking at here. Some have said January of 5 88. And what underlies all of this material is this important idea set forth by one Bible scholar, what caused Judas slow decay and final collapse. The historian would point to their unwise politics, particularly depending upon Egypt for help. And we can't deny that Judah's leaders made some stupid decisions, but behind their unwise politics was a much more insidious reason. The leaders really didn't believe the word of God during the dramatic rise and fall of empires. In that stormy era, Judah looked for allies instead of looking up for divine assistance, instead of repenting and turning to God, they hardened their hearts against the word and they trusted their own wisdom. That is exactly correct, and that is exactly what goes on during the time of Zakiah . And so there might be something to be said here about how the punishment fits the crime because here there's discussion of burning the city with fire in verse two. And you'll remember that JE burnt the scroll that God sent him in Jeremiah chapter 36, and people were burning their infants in sacrifice to Baal. And I really don't think die in peace, verse five means a whole lot more other than you're just not gonna get killed with the sword. That is a contrast to some of the other kings who actually were killed or executed by the Babylonians or Assyrians, depending on how far you wanna go back in Israel history. But I'm not sure how reassuring that would be. And it does seem that the situation is critical. In verse seven, there's a mention of Laish and e Zika . I got to go to Laish this summer. It's a very widely known archeological dig, and they have a really, really good situation there where you can see a lot about the city. A lot of it's been excavated, a lot's going on. And what makes Laish so famous is that they've dug up the Laish letters and part of letter number four says, we are watching for the signals of Laish for we cannot see a Zika. And that's a letter that was written during this time as the Babylonians poured through the land. So a lakes was still standing, but e Zika had fallen. So part of this reading then takes us to the idea of slavery and the taking back of slaves. And there may be a parallel being set up here between Zakiah and Josiah. Josiah was faithful, Zakiah is not, but Josiah made a covenant with all the people and Zakiah makes a covenant with all the people. But Josiah keeps his covenant two kings, chapter 23 for example. Whereas Zakiah refuses to do that and there's lots of speculation about why they'd released their slaves. You know, aie just coming and that's less mouths to feed in your house. So you kick your slaves out. But I I , I think more than anything, and if it's just about feeding slaves, why do they take them back? I think more than anything, they're trying to gain favor with the Lord. They're trying to gain favor with the Lord. And there is a contrast here in our reading today and in the reading in chapter 35, in Jeremiah 35, we're not reading Jeremiah 35, we're just sampling Jeremiah as we go along. But there are faithful reco bytes in Jeremiah 35 who in the middle of all the troubles and problems, they continue to do what God wants them to do and they continue to fulfill their commitment. Unlike the people in chapter 34, they release their slaves, but verse 11, afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves. They had set free lots for us to think about here, about oppression, exploitation of others, and particularly a failure to do what you say you will do. We'll complete Jeremiah chapter 34 on Tuesday. I will see you tomorrow. It is Tuesday. And today we read Jeremiah 34 verses 12 to 22, effectively finishing this chapter off. And I want to particularly focus on verses 15 and 16 where the Lord retells what happened in verses nine and 10 or what was reported in verses nine and 10. But here notice in verse 15 and 16, there's discussion of repentance and the proclaiming of liberty to his neighbor. Slaves here are called neighbors and then the people's violation, verse 16 is to profane my name. When they take the slaves back, they violate the covenant and that defiles God's name. In fact, in verses 15 and 16, the terms repentance here and then the term turned around or reneged as some translations have. Those are just variations on the same root word, which means to turn. So you turned around and then you turned around from your turning around. If repentance is a 180, but you do another 180, you're right back where you started. 180, 180 is 360, at least I'm pretty sure of that. I'll check with Dina on the math specifically. So God then says, I'm proclaiming liberty. You have failed to proclaim a liberty, you proclaimed it and then you took it back. But I'm gonna proclaim a liberty and it's gonna be a liberty to the sword and famine and pestilence to defeat and destroy them. And there's even a reference then in verse 18 and following to a covenant ceremony where you cut an animal in half, that's done, for example, in Genesis 15 by Abraham, you cut this animal in half and you lay the two pieces and make a walkway between them. You slice that animal in half, lay the two halves , uh uh, facing each other. And then you walk down the middle of that. And what you're saying is, may this happen to me, may I be cut in half if I don't keep my word. And so that ceremony is reenacted with the emphasis that yeah, you're gonna get cut in half like that animal because you have not kept your word. Their dead body shall be food for the birds of the air and the beast of the earth. Verse 20, please be mindful and be remembering that to Jewish people not being buried is just seen as the worst kind of end for someone is truly tragic and truly awful. That would certainly cause people to at least listen to what Jeremiah says and think, oh my, I don't want that to happen to me. That's Tuesday's reading. Tomorrow we get to read in Jeremiah the 33rd chapter. And if you're just wore out on reading bad news and you're gonna be judged and the Babylonians are coming, good news, tomorrow we read one of the greatest passages in the entire Old Testament and it just shines bright with the hope of the new covenant. Can't wait. See you tomorrow. Welcome to Wednesday. It's hump day and today's gonna be a great night at West Side . Brother Tim Jennings is coming and he will talk with us about the resurrection, just the keystone of our faith and something that we absolutely must be ready to establish as we talk with others and help them understand the case for Christianity. Let's think about our Bible reading then in Jeremiah the 33rd chapter. We're gonna read Jeremiah the 33rd chapter verses 14 to 26. And we're just kind of jumping in here because we needed a word of consolation. In fact, this part of the book of Jeremiah is referred to as the book of consolation. And Jeremiah has been in this section of Jeremiah predicting good things to come, the restoration of the people to the land that's covered earlier in this chapter in chapter 33 verses one to nine, there's a discussion of restoration to prosperity In chapter 33 verses 10 to 13, these prophecies relate to Israel's future. And of course a big part of that future would be what about our king? What about the promises that we will have a king from the line of David that's second Samuel seven . And there is heavy discussion of the covenant with David that is found in Second Samuel Thei chapter. So we wanna make sure that we're looking at things through the lens of Second Samuel seven , which of course is ultimately Messianic. And I do think this kingdom that's being talked about here in chapter 33 will be fulfilled in the new kingdom of Jesus, the Christ. It is clear that that kingdom's being talked about in the terms that Old Testament people would understand kings and priest, but that's just the prophet's way of helping them to understand that God would ultimately be faithful to his promises and that God's rule and reign is going to be established. Is that going to look exactly like King David in a physical palace on a physical throne with a physical crown? No. Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world, John 1836. It's not gonna be precisely in exactly that, but it is framed in those kinds of terms because that helps people understand that God isn't done with the Jews, God's not done with what will happen in that land. And God hasn't forgotten what he promised, what he promised David. So two kings, I'm sorry, second Samuel seven, not second King, second Samuel seven is where those promises are found. And you may wanna stop here and just go back and review that chapter. Notice in verse 15 that what God wanted from his kings, what God wanted from the seed of David is to execute justice and righteousness. That's what a king should have been. And those days are coming. Verse four , verse 14, behold the days are coming. When this good thing will happen, Judah will be saved. Jerusalem will dwell securely. This is the promise of Jesus coming. Remember the promise of two Samuel seven is qualified in several places. One kings chapter two and verse four, several places make certain that everyone understood that was not an unconditional promise. Oh, we can have the wickedest kings in the whole wide world and God will never ever remove those kings because they can roll out their genealogy and show that they're related to King David. No, no, no. A thousand times, no. Ultimately the king here is going to have to be removed because the people have become so wicked in order for God to execute his will and do his will. God is going to do some things here in Judah that maybe some of these people weren't prepared for, but God's will is gonna get done. You can't frustrate the will of God. And God is bringing Jesus as the fulfillment of the Second Samuel seven Promise. This is my covenant with David, my servant. That cannot be broken. See, that's always going to be, it's always going to be verse 20 and verse 21 in effect because it's the word of the Lord. And there's even some discussion here about priests and sometimes that causes people some concern. What about all of that? And in , in a real way, Christians are priests first Peter, the second chapter talks about that where Kingdom of Priests, verse five, verse nine, book of Revelation talks a little bit about that kind of thing. And then I I , I think there's a conclusion here in verse 24 about two clans of people, and that's probably Abraham and David. That's probably the great promises to Abraham. Genesis chapter 12, great promises to David that I've referenced several times in two Samuel seven. But look at the note of hope at the end of verse 26, I will restore their fortunes and we'll have mercy upon them. The Babylonians are knocking at the door. A bunch of these people have gone to Babylonian slavery in captivity and a bunch more are gonna go and the city and the temple are going to be burned down. That will cause an awful lot of people to say God has completely forsaken us. God has no interest in us anymore. God is all done with us. And that isn't right, that's not so, God is still faithful to his word. Tomorrow will shift gears a little bit as we go back to the account in Kings and we'll read exactly what was going on in this history. So you tomorrow it is Thursday and today our reading is two Kings chapter 24 verses 10 to 20. We're backing up just a little bit in the history here. It's tough to get all that weaved together. And Jeremiah, sometimes we get a little bit ahead of where we are and then we come back to Kings and we pick up a little bit more of that. I try not to jump you around too much in your reading. I don't like us to have to read one verse and then we go read three verses over here. That's confusing and a little bit hard to do. But in two Kings the 24th chapter, we get the discussion of these last kings, these last kings over Judah. So je Jochem , he's the terrible king that burned the scrolls and he reigned 11 years, man, he's just a miserable king from 6 0 9, some of that who's an Egyptian vassal you remember? And then he became a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon in 6 0 5, and that's when Daniel Shadrach , Meshach and Abednego , they're taken away. He revolts again finally. And in 5 97 the Babylonians show up. And so Je Chen , he's in Second Kings 24 verses 89 . We read this little section here a couple of weeks back. He reigns a whole big long three months. Not very important. He doesn't last very long and he doesn't last very long because Nebuchadnezzar shows up in 5 97. This rebellion has been started and then JE come dies and that's the end of that for him. He doesn't have to face the music, but Je Hoya Chen does in fact have to face the music. He is evil. Verse nine, two Kings 24 verse nine. And the servants of Nez her come to Jerusalem and they besiege the city. So this is the 5 97 invasion of Babylon. There's lots of records outside the Bible of this, notably the Babylonian Chronicle that tells us about this. And if you notice in verse 12, this is the first time that the reign of a king is dated off of the reign of a foreign king. And that really says something about Judah's Day is over. And the archeological records do confirm all the things that are being discussed here in hundreds of receipts for oil, for example, when Earth and Babylon by a German archeologist. And the name Jehan appears on several of those along with the title of the king of Judah. So Jerusalem here is plundered, verse 13, but notice it is not destroyed. And verse 14 gives us a good look at the kind of people who are being taken. Nobles, princes important people, the prophet Ezekiel goes with these as the prophet in captivity. He is the one who will bring the word of God to these people in a very hard place where they really are wondering, does God still love us? And then that takes us to Zeek verse 18, 19 and 20. He of course is the last of the kings and he's just as useless as the ones that came before him. More on Zeek . Tomorrow as we begin in two Kings chapter 25 and the historical record tells us exactly what happened and why what happened to Jerusalem occurred. Another good look at the way the Bible tells us history. See you tomorrow. It is Friday and today we read two Kings chapter 25. This is not an easy chapter to read, but if you have become impatient with God's people because they will not listen to prophets like Jeremiah and do what was right, if you are thinking, wow, Lord, come on, bring the judgment that you keep promising through these prophets. Today's your day because the judgment comes as we look at Second Kings, the 25th chapter, what happened at the end of chapter 24 in our reading yesterday is the large scale deportation in the ransacking of Jerusalem. That's Second Kings 24 90 16. Oh , excuse me, I needed a wig of coffee there. But the story then resumes in verse 18, 19 and 20 with Zakiah , he's made king by the king of Babylon. He's just a puppet king and he is wicked and he is very weak. He is the last king of Judah because after he reigns for about 11 years from about 5 97 to about 5 86, once again Zakiah revolts, that revolt began at about 5 88. And you may be thinking, why would you do such a foolish and stupid thing? And it is because he trusted in Egypt, he trusted in the Egyptians to come and bail him out. Jeremiah the 27 chapter talks about that Ezekiel 17 chapter beginning in verse 13 talks about that don't get involved in international politics, submit to the yoke of Babylon. We read that last week. Zakiah won't do that. And as a result the Babylonians come and bring every sort of destruction. So two Kings 25 just gives us six pieces about the end of Judah in a systematic way. It just records the fate of several key elements in the life of Judah and then in the life of the city of Jerusalem. First the king's fate is recorded in verses four to seven and it is dreadful. The last things Zakiah sees is his children dying and then his eyes are put out. That must have been enormously painful both physically and mentally. He is at fault for this. He's the one that drug his family into this mess with his own foolish decisions. And then there is a failed attempt to escape , uh, which leads to the city being systematically burned versus eight to 12. And what follows then is that the temple itself is burned and all of its treasures are taken into exile in verses 13 to 17. If you've ever wondered how come later on in the book of Daniel the temple treasures are often Babylon. Here you go. This is when they are taken. Then a whole bunch of important people are captured and executed versus 18 to 21, which is Nebuchadnezzar's way of saying, I've had it with you people and I'm not gonna put up with any more rebellion. And then their governor is assassinated and they end up running off to Egypt because they are afraid the Babylonians will show back up with all of their anger and wrath and vent on Jerusalem One more time. That's about verses 22 to 26. The surprising part of our reading today is the very end of the reading and that is in verses 27 to 30 that the king jehoiachin, he is released from prison and treated well in exile. I most certainly did not see that coming, but here is just that little ray of hope that the line of David is not dead and God is still at work. Now the prophet Jeremiah had told Zetia and his court to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. We read a bunch of that last week. There was much discussion about that they wouldn't listen. And as a result, destruction does come exactly as God had promised in some ways. I'll give you a note or two here. It is ironic verse five, that the end of the kingdom comes in the very place where the Israelites first entered into the promised land. And I would note this in verse eight, that this Nebu Dan guy, he seems to have been Nebuchadnezzar's demolition specialist. And notice there is no Judean King to date any of this from now. We have to use Babylonian kings and writings outside of the Bible. The Jewish Talmud tells us that the Babylonians desecrated the temple with a two day feast and then burned it on the third day. And it took two days for the temple to burn down. What a terrible destruction this is. Remember, this is the temple that Solomon built about nine 30 ish, somewhere around there. Now we're in 5 86. This temple's not quite 400 years old. At one time it was easily the most beautiful structure in all of the world. What Solomon constructed was just amazing. And now it is ashes. It is ashes because God's people won't listen to God. But incredibly , there is this ray of hope at the end of our reading today that is worth holding on to . We're gonna read a little bit more about the destruction of Jerusalem as we get started next week, and we're gonna read some in the Prophet Obadiah , gonna read all of the prophet Obadiah because there were some people who weren't sad about the destruction of Jerusalem and we need to think about that. But yes, if it's making you sad to think about Solomon's temple being burned, get ready. We will read the book of Lamentations, which is Jeremiah's writing about these terrible events, lots for us to get into next week as we continue to look at the end of the Judean Kingdom, the end of all that the Old Testament's been working towards for so long. All of it seems to be in ashes and tatters now because God's people wouldn't obey the Lord. Makes you think, doesn't it? And it's supposed to. Thank you very much for listening to the podcast. I hope it's helping you stay in your Bible reading and understand your Bible reading. If you like what you're hearing, we would certainly love for you to subscribe or follow the podcast so it will download automatically on your device. If you need some help with that, please contact us and we'll give you some help, get some help to you so that it'll work just exactly right. And of course, we would love for you to give the podcast a rating or review so that more people will find the podcast. Until next week, then, I hope that your Friday is wonderful and that the Lord will be with you today all day. I will see you on Monday, and yes, I will have a cup of coffee. See you Monday.

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