Monday Morning Coffee

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We together on Monday morning coffee.

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Good morning, good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee Podcast for the week of June 28th through July the 4th. This is Monday, June 29th, and I'm Mark. I've got some great coffee here. I've got my Bible open and some notes from yesterday's sermon. I am ready to talk about daily Bible reading with you as well. It will be a great week this last week of June. All kinds of things happening. Exciting things are happening. So you know what to do. Grab your Bible, grab your coffee. Let's grow together.

Sermon Notes

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And let's start with some notes from yesterday's sermon preaching through the preaching theme for the year, heaven bound. Really, really love this theme and have enjoyed working with it so very, very much. So yesterday we just talked a lot about what does heaven mean now and getting out of this mentality that heaven is all pie in the sky by and by, and it really doesn't have very much to do with how I'm living right now today. Well, there's the question. How do you keep heaven in front of you on a random Monday? We talked yesterday about rejoicing because our names are written in heaven. But again, what are you doing right now to make sure that you're still thinking about that and centering your life on that? Because of course, life does have a way of crowding heaven out. The alarm clock goes off, and there's emails and text, and the bills have to be paid, and the grass needs mowing. Oh my. Came home last week from the Southside lectures, and Dina had very kindly arranged for someone to mow the grass. A greater gift cannot be given, I'm pretty sure. But there's all kinds of things like that that we have to pay attention to. And before long, we're thinking about everything except eternity, which is why I really appreciate what Paul says in Colossians 3, 1 to 2. Seek the things that are above where Christ is. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Paul doesn't say that heavenly thinking will happen automatically if you're just kind of a spiritual person. No, he says we must set our minds on heaven. That is intentional language and it reflects a decision because nobody accidentally keeps heaven at the center of their lives. We have to intentionally set our minds there. And yesterday we talked about identity, and the world does constantly try to tell us who we are: you're your job, you're your accomplishments, you're your age, your bank account, your social status. And if we aren't careful, we start believing that. So we have to deliberately remind ourselves my identity is not in any of that. My name is written in heaven. I belong to God. We talked about success. Every day the world offers us a competing definition of success that tries to compete with and block out what the Bible says. Get more money, get more recognition, more influence, more stuff, more applause. But Christians intentionally have to keep coming back to Jesus' definition. Success is not gaining the whole world. Success is arriving safely home. Maybe that's one reason why daily Bible reading and prayer, worship, all these things matter so much. They're not just religious exercises, they are ways of resetting our minds. They pull our eyes off the temporary and get them back on the eternal. So here's the question to carry with you today. What are you doing intentionally on purpose to keep heaven in front of you? Because if we don't deliberately set our minds on heaven, the world will gladly set your mind on something else. Maybe a good way to set our minds on heaven is to do some daily Bible reading. Open your Bible to the Gospel of Matthew.

Monday Matthew 19

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Matthew 19 is the reading for Monday. Of course, this chapter has become very famous because it is the place where Jesus has the most extensive discussion and teaching about marriage, divorce, and remarriage. And I suppose it would be helpful here for us to frame that against the backdrop of what happened to John the Baptist. Herod Antipas beheaded him because he taught the truth on marriage, divorce, and remarriage. And that was a very hot button issue in Jesus' day. Sometimes we imagine we're the first people to have discussion about marriage, divorce, and remarriage, and we most certainly are not. And the rabbis had all kinds of opinions, and there does seem to be some kind of attempt here to array Jesus with a tricky question so that he will contradict what many people believe this rabbi taught or that rabbi taught. And I should say this: this is a place, by the way, where Luke and Matthew diverge, and that complicates, of course, getting a timeline of Jesus' life all straightened around. I'm not certain how important that is, or the Holy Spirit would give that to us, but as we try to sequence some things in Jesus' life, it gets a little bit harder from here on in. And I do think verse three, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? I think that's a good question. It's a fair question. Sometimes marriages hit the rocks and there's tough times and all kinds of difficulties. Sometimes people do some unthinkable things and betray their marriage vows. Jesus will talk about that in a moment. So, yes, we don't want to ask that question, but it it does come up. But of course, the motives here are not good. And further, it is clear that they assume there is the right to divorce. We are only asking about the grounds for divorce. And Jesus very helpfully says, let's go back to the way God always wanted it to be. Let's go back to the Genesis plan in Genesis chapter 2 for marriage as God intended. And Jesus in verses 4, 5, and 6 gives four reasons why one should not divorce. First and foremost, God created one man for one woman. Adam and Eve were the only two people, and there weren't any extras or there weren't any spares. I'm leaving you, Eve. I'm gonna go run off with so-and-so. Adam can't say that. There's nobody named so-and-so over there. And then, of course, mates need to cleave to one another, and that's a deep and intimate bonding there. And the man and wife, therefore, are one flesh. You can't divide one. You can't divide one. They're one in mind and spirit, direction, desire to please the Lord and each other together. And then, of course, finally, God has joined them together. They are joined or yoked together. If God joins together, who says, I will unjoin, I will undo the will of God. What a frightening thing to even contemplate. So, of course, they think then that they have Jesus. Oh, well, I can't believe you would say that. Moses said we could get a certificate of divorce. And they are alluding here to Deuteronomy 24 and the if-then legislation, the contingency legislation that goes on there. And Jesus says, that's never what God intended. That comes because of the hardness of your hearts. And I think it's fair to say there is no divorce without somebody having a hard heart. It may be two somebody's having a hard heart, but there's no divorce without some hardness of heart happening. And so Jesus says, divorce for every cause, verse 9, just results in adultery and sexual immorality. It's a violation of Genesis 2. It's a violation of the will of God. And he does go on to say, and we can have long discussion about the textual questions, why part of verse 9 is down in the marginal notes at the bottom of your Bible. It's repeated in Matthew 5. So there's not really any discussion about whether that is a real saying of Jesus. And the textual questions are beyond a podcast, but Jesus says very clearly there's one and only one reason for divorce, and that is sexual immorality on the part of your spouse. And then marrying people who are divorced is absolutely forbidden. And what's interesting to me about that is understanding what Jesus says here really is not that complicated. About 99.999% of divorces are just I was tired of her and I got another, or I was tired of him and I got another. And Jesus says, you can't do that. The marriage covenant is of value and it's powerful and it's binding. God joins you together. And maybe if we're gasping a little bit at that, especially in a society that is so quick with a divorce, notice in verse 10, the disciples say, if I can't get out of the marriage easily, maybe I don't even want to be married. And Jesus says, Yes, this is a tough saying, and you need to think seriously about what marriage is all about. Now don't get lost in verse 11 when Jesus says not all men can receive it. That doesn't mean you can say, Well, you know what, I don't think I'm going to receive that. It's like when Jesus says, let him who has ears to hear, let him hear. He's just saying we need to think very seriously about our responsibilities. That then leads to the rich young ruler. And in Luke, he is called a ruler, and Matthew here twice designates him as being young. Unfortunately, what is a really powerful episode in the life of Jesus usually gets lost in all kinds of discussions. There's always somebody who pops up and wants to say, you know, if you're a real Christian, why don't you sell everything you have, like Jesus said? And let me just say in that direction, that's an absolute resting of the scriptures. There's only one person that Jesus told to do that. He'd not tell you to do that. He'd not tell me to do that. Only one person was told to do that. There are other commands that are specific to one person. Zacchaeus was told to come down out of the tree. I've never had anybody tell me, if you are a real Christian, you'd come down out of the tree. And it obviously, maybe I should add this, obviously, this does not apply to everybody because there are rich people in scripture who are not told to do this. So pretty important to think through how we're using the text. Paul, for example, in 1 Timothy 6, talks to the rich, and he does not say, he says, I need to be generous and they need to be ready to help. How can they be that, by the way, if they've sold everything and they don't have anything to be generous with? But he also does not say to them, Sell everything you have and go follow Jesus. That's a specific command to one person. Now it does help us see that the Jewish thinking of the day that riches equal God's blessing. And so this must have been kind of a gasp moment for the apostles. If this guy has so much, he must be really righteous, and God's just God just blessed him out of ears. And Jesus reveals that he is not a person with a heart for God at all when he asks him to choose between God and riches. That is also very much worth thinking about. One more quick note. Sometimes you'll hear somebody say that there was a gate called the needle's eye, and you had to make a camel get down on all fours on his on his knees and kind of I don't know what camels do, camel their way through this little bitty tiny gate, and that's bogus. There is no evidence for that gate whatsoever. Jesus is just saying that this is extremely difficult to do. And as people who are citizens of the most prosperous country in human history, we need to think very, very carefully about how riches are affecting us. The reading for Monday, Matthew 19.

Tuesday Matthew 20

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It is Tuesday. It is Tuesday, and we will have a Zoom call tonight. Westsiders looking forward to working in Matthew the 20th chapter with you on Zoom tonight. In the beginning of this chapter, there is this marvelous parable, first 16 verses. Here's the parable of the laborers. This parable is only found in Matthew. Let me grab a little coffee here. And it is important, I think, to pick up the tie to chapter 19. Because 1930, many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. That's repeated in 2016. So this is a place where the chapter division just mutilates the text, and we want to hold all of this together. So the parable is about working, and the workday here is 10 to 12 hours from dawn to sundown, would start about six in the morning. And what happens, of course, is that a bunch of guys get hired throughout the day. At the end of the day, everybody gets paid exactly the same. And that, of course, causes the people who've worked the most to be really, really unhappy. There it is, we have labor unrest in the Bible. How about that? And one scholar said the principle in the world is that he who works the longest receives the most pay, and that is just. But in the kingdom of God, the principles of merit and ability can be set aside so that grace can prevail. We so need to hang on to that. I've been a Christian an awful long time, and in heaven I will not receive anything more than someone who was baptized into Christ a month before they passed away. And you know what? I will be delighted with what the Master gives for the time I've spent in the field, just as you will be delighted with what the Master gives you, that heavenly home, for the time that you are in the field working for the Master. It's all grace. That's how God's economy works. Then there is this prediction, verses 17, 18, and 19, where Jesus talks about betrayal, and there is the first mention, he's talking here about his death. There is the first mention here of the Romans and the first mention of crucifixion. Matthew is the only one who indicates the specific nature of Jesus' death. And the chapter concludes then with two episodes. James and John's mother show up and she wants to ask a question and she wants to get a special place for her boys. And this has been a continual problem. You'll remember in chapter 18, verses 1 to 5, there was discussion there about who's greatest in the kingdom. And what she is asking for, of course, is that her boys be close to Jesus, sharing in the prestige and power. Maybe the right hand and left-hand man of the king would be the guy standing right by the king, the prime minister, the kind of important work, all of those sorts of things. And Jesus says, you don't understand what you're asking for at all. To reign with Jesus is to ask to suffer, verse 22, and they don't get that because they don't get that Jesus will suffer. And then the apostles get all bent out of shape, verse 24, and that's not because, oh, James and John, you're just not very spiritually minded, you don't know what the kingdom is about. No, they're just mad that they didn't think of asking for that first. So everybody here is all about earthly status, earthly power. They're all afraid they will miss their place. Jesus says, You've got it all wrong. That's not how my kingdom works at all. And he is, verse 28, the supreme example of service. Jesus had every right to be served, and yet he comes and serves us. This chapter concludes with the second episode, then the healing of the blind men in Jericho. And Mark and Luke mention only one. Matthew gives us two. Mark actually names him, uh names one of them. His name is Bartimaeus, Mark 10, 46. But this is not a contradiction. This is not a contradiction. Mark and Luke can talk about one being healed without contradicting Matthew, who says, there were two guys there. They can focus on one healing, and in fact, Matthew oftentimes gives fuller details on the number of people who are present when Jesus does a miracle. Maybe the thing to pay attention to here is that in verse 34, there is no command there to be silent. The time for silence is past. See you tonight, West Ciders on the Zoom call. Everybody else, I'll see you tomorrow, the reading for Tuesday, Matthew 20. Hey,

Wednesday Matthew 21

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it's Wednesday. It is Wednesday, and we're beginning Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21 is the reading for Wednesday. We're beginning the last week of Jesus' life. Now, I will give you the basic scheme that I use to lay out these events, and I need you to know that that is not wrinkle-free and it is not bulletproof, and there are other ideas about exactly when and where. Sunday, the triumphal entry. Monday, Jesus cleanses the temple. Tuesday, day of questioning and teaching. Wednesday's a blank. We don't know. Thursday, the Passover, out to Gethsemane to pray, then arrested. Friday, trials, Jesus is crucified. Saturday in the tomb. Sunday, resurrection. So that's basically where I will be as we talk about this last week of Jesus' life. And that does begin on Sunday with a triumphal entry. And the key here is to notice that everything is being arranged by Jesus. It is not an accident. It is a very, very deliberate act by Jesus. It's kind of an acted-out parable. Even the animal that he chooses, not a war horse here, but instead the donkey in the cult, verse 7, very, very much just a choice on Jesus' part to make a statement about the kind of king that he is. And this comes straight up out of Zechariah chapter 9. And you should take the time here, pause the podcast, go read Zechariah 9, especially verse 10, because that verse speaks of the nature of the Messianic king and his kingdom. It's a kingdom of gigantic proportions from sea to sea to the ends of the earth. And it's talking about the universal reign and authority of the Messiah. But the real emphasis there is that the Messiah brings peace. The Messiah brings peace. Like I said, Jesus is not riding on a war horse. It is the non-triumphal entry. And Jesus is giving us insight into what kind of Messiah He is and even the kingdom itself. Then Jesus cleanses the temple in verses 12 to 17. And yes, some have asked about the cleansing of the temple in John chapter 2. There is no reason to think that Jesus would not do this more than once. And we get very clear evidence that the temple is not bearing fruit. It is not fulfilling its God-designed purpose. And bearing fruit is important because in verses 18 to 22, Jesus curses a fig tree that doesn't bear fruit. And what you're looking at here, Matthew's combined some material, by the way, for a topical arrangement. What you're looking at, and what the key to all of this is, is that Jesus saw a fig tree, verse 19, that only had leaves. And the key is on fig trees you get figs first. Then you get leaves. So the leaves say, I have figs. So Jesus was drawn to that tree. It looked like it had life, but it had none. Can you see the tie to the temple now? Absolutely. The temple looks like it has spiritual life. It does not. It is a fruitless fig tree. And that's why Jesus condemns it, and the fig tree becomes, becomes an object lesson of exactly that. We're going to get more of how fruitless Judaism has become as we work through this chapter. We get this question about the authority of Jesus. And Jesus says there's only two sources of authority. It's either from heaven or from men. It's a great text. When you talk with people about why we do what we do religiously, it's a great text. Do we do what we do because we have authority from heaven to do that? Or are we leaning on creeds and constitutions and conventions? What men have decided. Beginning in verse 28, then we get three parables in a row that just really bite into the Jewish leadership. And this first parable is only in Matthew, and it is not hard to understand at all. The worst of society, verse 31, will get in before the religious leaders get in because they're not doing the will of God. They're not bearing fruit, are they? Then 33 to 46 has this parable of the vineyard, and that's right out of Isaiah 5. Right out of Isaiah 5, 1 to 7. Stop the podcast. Go read Isaiah 5, 1 to 7. Everybody knows who Jesus is talking about. Verse 33 would be clear to everybody, the crowds and the leaders, what's going on here. And so then in verse 42, Jesus answers, he answers what's happening there by talking about the stone. And that symbolism becomes very important to the New Testament church. It's cited in Acts 4 11, Romans 9 33, 1 Peter 2, verse 6. And when Christians are asked, hey, how come your Jewish Messiah wasn't accepted by the Jewish religious leaders? They use the stone text. He's been rejected, but he becomes, he's exalted by God to become the most important stone. Finally, verse 46. Pay attention to that. Sadly, sadly, the Jewish leadership does exactly what they said, what he said they would do. Yes, they're seeking to arrest him. Just like these tenants who ultimately kill the vineyard owner's son. They are planning, they are planning to kill Jesus. The reading for today, the reading for Wednesday is Matthew chapter 21.

Thursday Matthew 22

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Welcome to Thursday. Welcome to Thursday. And today we read Matthew 22. The reading for Thursday is Matthew the 22nd chapter. This begins with the third of those three parables. We talked about this yesterday. Make a note in your Bible. It all goes together with what Jesus has been doing in Matthew chapter 21. This is a parable of a feast, and there is, by the way, some discussion that this may be the same parable in Luke 14, and that is incorrect. If you read the parable in Luke 14, beginning verse 16, there are a number of striking differences. Spend a moment and do that. You'll see very quickly, these are two different parables. They have some similarities, but they are not the same. The parable is about, the parable is about people spurning a king. Notice verse 6. Poor treatment there of the emissaries and heralds would be just thought of as enormously bad behavior in New Testament times. And what you're looking at is indifference and active hostility. And I think you see lots of that in how the Pharisees are treating Jesus. The parable shifts a little bit then, beginning in verse 11, when you get the man who comes, he does come, but he comes inappropriately dressed. And so this is not the judgment of bad behavior. This is the judgment of someone who's pretending to be a part, pretending to care, and they do not. And you can read after various scholars to see what they say about clothing being provided for the guests and so forth and so on. But I think it's probably best just to see that everybody knew that going to a royal feast required a certain standard of attire. You just don't show up for that kind of thing dressed in your gardening clothes. There you go. I it probably says something to you about gardening. Well, I should add to this, many people try to use this parable to support the idea that we are clothed in Christ's righteousness. And I dealt with that Sunday in the 9 a.m. in QA. There is no textual support, nothing in the Bible that says we wear Christ's righteousness like a robe over our sinful self. That's born out of Calvinism and out of the mistakes that Calvinism makes, the preconceived notions it brings to the Bible. This parable does not support it. Nothing supports it. It's not true. We are not clothed in Christ's righteousness. Then beginning in verse 15, we're in Tuesday now. We're on to Tuesday, and we just get a series of questions. Questions come first with these Herodians and Pharisees. We don't know much about the Herodians, verses 15 and 16, except that they supported Herod in Rome. What are they doing hanging out with the Pharisees? Wow. This business of hating on Jesus makes for some interesting alliances, doesn't it? And I do wonder a little bit here if Jesus isn't poking at the pretense that the Jews had about we're not subject to Rome. You're very subject to Rome, and you know you're subject to Rome, and that's why you don't like paying taxes. Then the Sadducees come and ask a question about the resurrection. Notice verse 23, it is the same day. This is Tuesday, which runs all the way through chapter 26 and verse 5, by the way. And they just have this brilliant hypothetical question which reduces the whole thing of the resurrection into an absurdity. Why it would just be chaos? All these people running around claiming the same woman, just ridiculous, can't believe in any of that. Jesus answers brilliantly, even more brilliantly than their smooth question. He says, verse 29, you're wrong. You know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. I think the answer to most nearly every hypothetical question we get asked is right there in verse 29. Either the question is answered in scripture, and we need to get the scriptures down and we need to get our nose in the book and figure out what the Bible says, or the answer is we're underestimating the power of God. Give you an example of that. People say, what about the person in some part of the world, deepest, darkest Africa, I don't know, the penguins in Antarctica who hasn't heard the gospel. You're underestimating the power of God. God gets the gospel to people who will respond to the gospel. It's what he does bestest. Bestest is not a word. It most certainly should be. Verse 31, I think there you get a strong rebuke. Have you not read that is a rebuke? And then Jesus says, by the way, you Sadducees are wrong on the no resurrection thing, and he proves them wrong on the tense of a verb. It's not, I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I am am the present tense verb. Sometimes people will say, you're so picky, you're cutting it so close, you're finessing it, you're making such a big deal about saying in Ephesians 5.19. Jesus makes a big deal about the word am right there. How about that? And then verses 34 to 40, the Pharisees love to argue about what was the greatest command. Jesus knows what the greatest command is. Sometimes people try to divide this out. Heart means this, soul means this, mind means this. Verse 37. Don't do that. Jesus just means we love God with our whole being. It's a love that takes us over, and that we love the Lord with everything. Finally, then there is the question about Psalm 110 that Jesus is asking. And we dealt with Psalm 110 so much last year. Maybe you have some notes here in your Bible. The Messiah will be David's son. 2 Samuel 7, David is promised an everlasting dynasty. So the Messiah will be his son. But in Jewish thought, the son can never be greater than the Father. Never. It'll never happen. In that society, being old is venerated. Young people are thought of as being young and foolish. The son is not greater than the father. So why then does David call him Lord? How can that be? David calls him Lord or Master, depending upon the translation you have here. Verse 43, how is it then David in spirit calls him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet? This is a quote out of Psalm 110. God the Father said to my Lord the Messiah, would be a paraphrase here. How can God be exalting my son past me? And the answer to that is the Messiah will be divine. That's the only way the Son can be greater than David the Father. The reading for, gracious, I've lost track. The reading for Thursday, that's what it is. It's Thursday, is Matthew chapter 22.

Friday Matthew 23

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It is Friday. It is Friday, and I will say a happy birthday to America, a day early. We don't want to get involved in ridiculous nationalism where we see ourselves as citizens of something other than the kingdom of heaven. Her citizenship is in heaven, Paul says. But we are very grateful for our country and especially the religious freedoms that it affords. Give some thought to that and be thankful to the Lord today and tomorrow. We come to Matthew chapter 23, and if you begin to do some reading here, there will be a considerable amount of conversation and debate about how this fits and where it fits, and I think it is exactly where it's supposed to be. It clearly seems together the previous conflict with the religious leaders with the judgment upon Jerusalem that Jesus is about to pronounce in chapter 24. So Jesus takes on, well, coffee's the answer to that. Jesus takes on the Pharisees here, mentioning, for example, right off the bat, five characteristics. I'm reading from a list one scholar put together, for which the Pharisees, five characteristics for which the Pharisees are rebuked. They are ever-present dangers for Christian leaders. First, they may not practice what they preach, verse 3. Second, they may be unwilling to undertake themselves, what they prescribe for others, verse 4. Thirdly, they may love to show off, verse 5. Fourthly, they may revel in honorific titles and in being paid respect, verses 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Finally, they may misunderstand ministry itself, verses 11 and 12. And you just see all of those things working here. Jesus makes mention of Moses' seat. There was a stone seat at the front of the synagogue for the teacher. But even more, I think they see themselves as the successors to Moses. They are the authorized interpreters of the law of Moses. We'll tell you what the Bible says. You just do what you're told. And verse 4 makes it clear that when you bind your own rules, it just results in spiritual death. And sometimes people say, we need to do the safe thing. We're binding the safe thing. That may not be the safe thing, or being over-conservative may drive people away from the kingdom of God. We can't do that. And here they have these phylacteries. Those were small leather boxes that they put a piece of scripture in, very making a very literal use of Deuteronomy chapter 6 and the emanation of Moses there. Jesus says, you're treating this like a pagan good luck charm. And it's just a big show. It's just a bunch of religious show. And then Jesus really amps it up, beginning in verse 13, all the way through verses 39. Very severe words. I don't think Jesus is angry here. He's flying off the handle. He's just announcing these folks have flat missed it. And everybody is following them, and he's there leading everyone into darkness. You may notice verse 14 is not in your ESV. It's down in the marginal notes. It's not in the best manuscripts. And I always try to say something about this because it freaks people out when a verse is missing from the Bible. But remember, if it's not in the best manuscripts, we don't want it in our Bible. It's just as wrong to write into the Bible as it is to take out of the Bible. So it's probably been adapted out of Mark 12 or Luke chapter 20. It's you go to those places, you can get that saying of Jesus. It just doesn't go here and maybe a scribe wrote it in the column in a marginal note and then it gradually made its way into the column of the text. But again, the standard here is not go check the King James Bible. Oh, it's in the King James Bible, so the ESV is bad. The King James isn't the standard. The standard is what does the best manuscript say? And by the way, I should say this, verse 15, there is evidence that proselytizing went on, that the Pharisees had run around trying to make more, more converts to their school of thought, to their way of doing things. Verse 23 is probably the passage we need to pay the most attention to. There Jesus says that you've not paid attention to the weightier matters of the law. And the idea there is not the harder things to do, but the more central things to do, the real purposes of the law. And so they're straining out this unclean insect. Verse 24, the gnat, and you swallow an unclean camel. I use that as the starting text a couple of weeks ago when I preached a lesson about are we just being too careful? People say you're just picky. You're straining out gnats. You can go back and listen to that lesson on our website. The whitewashing of tombs in verse 27 may refer to marking them so people would not accidentally touch a tomb, or it may just be the beautification of the tomb. And that still goes on today. You go to the cemetery and people have these beautiful, elaborate monuments made of marble, and there's flowers and teddy bears and everything else. It's just so beautiful. It's a marker of death. It's a marker of death. And Jesus says, beautifying the tombs, what you are is you're just like your fathers who murdered those prophets. So judgment will come, verse 32, when time is right. Notice how patient God is. And then Jesus cites Abel and Zechariah. We know who Abel is. Abel is Adam's son. Who's Zechariah? Zechariah is probably the son of Jehoiada, who was killed in the temple in 2 Chronicles, chapter 24, verse 20 to 22. And Second Chronicles is, this is important, the last book of the Bible, the last book of the Old Testament in the Jewish arrangement of the scriptures. So that makes Jesus saying from Genesis to Chronicles, from the beginning of the Old Testament to the end of the Old Testament, and I do think Jesus is sanctioning the books that are in the Hebrew canon there. So there is a final lament in verses 37, 38, and 39, which sets up what we read next week in Matthew chapter 24. What a sad chapter Matthew chapter 23 really is. People who wanted to be religious and may have started with really good motives and who just have lost their way and are actually hindering people from obeying God as well as they themselves are not obeying God. The reading for Friday, Matthew 23. Well, that concludes the podcast for this week. I hope you've had a great week. I appreciate you listening so very much. Got to talk to some people last week at Southside who listened to the podcast. That's a joy. It's always nice to hear from people, even outside the Westside family, who are benefiting from reading the Bible and thinking through the Bible with me on the podcast. Tell others about it. It will help them stay with their daily Bible reading. I'm Mark Roberts, and I want to go to heaven, and I want you to come too. I look forward to seeing you on Monday with a cup of coffee.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ podcast, Monday Morning Coffee 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. 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.