00:00 Introduction and Announcements

00:40 Balancing Safety and Faith

01:17 The Spirit vs. The Letter of the Law

03:21 Weather and God's Judgment

03:48 Discussion on Mormon Temples

04:43 Exodus 7 and Pharaoh's Heart

06:14 God's Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

09:59 Theological Reflections on Free Will

12:43 Moses and the Plagues Begin

13:00 The First Three Plagues: Blood, Frogs, and Gnats

13:55 The Fourth Plague: Flies and God's Protection

15:18 Israel's Suffering and God's Judgment

16:49 Debating the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

18:51 The Transfiguration of Jesus

20:06 Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Child

20:51 Faith and the Mustard Seed

22:40 Jesus Predicts His Crucifixion

22:52 Paying the Temple Tax

24:34 Concluding Prayer and Reflections

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Hey everybody.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

3

Hello.

4

It is Saturday and so if you are

catching up with us on all things

5

weather related, we have canceled.

6

Revival winner edition.

7

We have also canceled our Women's

Bible study, and those were not

8

easy decisions that we made.

9

We talked about this a little

bit yesterday in the podcast as

10

far as our rationale behind it.

11

But those were not easy

decisions that we made.

12

We never liked to cancel something that

involves the gathering of the church

13

together, but we thought this was.

14

Prudent and in keeping with what we were

seeing from recommendations from the state

15

officials and local officials as well

as looking around and saying, what are

16

some other churches doing in our area?

17

We want to not stand out one way or the

other on that for unnecessary reasons.

18

So.

19

Be praying for our students.

20

I know it was disappointing

for them, and our ladies too.

21

But know that we are still

monitoring everything.

22

Look for communication today from us as

far as what tomorrow's gonna look like.

23

And we will nonetheless, no matter

what, we will have something for

24

you, whether that's in person or not.

25

We will have something for you

and we will send an email out to

26

you if we're not meeting together.

27

There's gonna be still a sermon.

28

There's gonna still be something

for your kids to focus on as well.

29

Because we do want to

still honor what we're.

30

Part of what we're there to

do, which is to sit under the

31

preaching of the word of God.

32

Even though we can't gather in person,

it's still important that we give

33

ourselves over to the word of God

and that we continue our study and

34

continue to walk together as a church.

35

In that.

36

On the heels of yesterday's podcast,

we had a question about the spirit

37

versus the letter of the law.

38

Does this also fit your

sermon from last week?

39

Gathering together.

40

Yeah.

41

We were laughing a little bit as a

staff that I just preached the sermon.

42

Do not neglect meeting together and then

potentially we're not gonna meet together.

43

And you're like, you know what?

44

We're not gonna meet.

45

Yeah.

46

Yes.

47

Because of the context surrounding it.

48

Right.

49

And that's.

50

Part of what helps us understand the

passage of scripture is to say, okay, what

51

is the context in which we find ourselves

and how then do we interpret this passage?

52

So I think the writer of Hebrews,

if he were here today with

53

us, would evaluate everything.

54

And after he got over the advent of

technology and cars and streaming devices

55

and everything else, I think he'd probably

agree with us that we need to make a wise

56

decision when it comes to the weather

and not put anyone in unnecessary harm.

57

The question I think we

have to ask ourselves is.

58

Are we compromising by

not meeting together?

59

There's bad reasons to not meet together

that have more to do with compromise

60

than what we're doing right now.

61

For example, if it was, Hey, don't meet

together because if you meet together,

62

we're gonna show up and we're gonna

find your church for gathering together.

63

We would say, you know what?

64

That's not a reason for

us not to meet together.

65

Depends on why they're saying, don't meet.

66

'cause this is the whole COVID thing.

67

Right.

68

That's the COVID thing.

69

It is, yeah.

70

And that, and that's true.

71

And that's true.

72

I'm just saying we're not.

73

Neglecting to meet together.

74

We're not saying, Hey, we're

not gonna meet together because

75

we're afraid of the consequences.

76

We're saying we're not gonna meet

together because we want to be wise

77

stewards of the lives of our people and

the lives of those around us as well.

78

And so as we're hearing our governing

officials say, Hey, stay off

79

the road, things like that we're

probably leaning towards, we may

80

not be gathering together on Sunday.

81

So yeah, spirit of the law,

letter of the law, I think this

82

does apply in there as well.

83

Yeah.

84

So we're gonna make a decision at

some point soon, but we're gonna do

85

it with an eye toward honoring Christ.

86

Again, we talked about this yesterday.

87

We're not trying to be safety police

and saying, you can only do what's safe.

88

And certainly we don't wanna put

anyone in unnecessary danger.

89

So we are thinking about it, we're praying

for it, and you know what, we were talking

90

about, the weather changing, maybe God

will open the doors and make it possible.

91

So pray for that.

92

Yep.

93

That would be kind of fun.

94

Yep.

95

Again, check your emails and make sure

that you're there because we will have

96

communication to you on that front.

97

So, yeah.

98

Is this the beginning of God's judgment,

these weather patterns, or is this a pat?

99

Is this global warming?

100

Is this the 11th plague?

101

But now not toward Egypt,

but toward America.

102

This podcast just went somewhere.

103

I was not expecting it to go at all.

104

There was an earthquake yesterday here,

no, Friday up in Utah near Salt Lake City.

105

Wow.

106

Well, okay.

107

That one makes sense.

108

Yeah.

109

I don't know if it took

out the temple or not.

110

No, probably not.

111

They, after they recently, I

don't know if they rebuilt it.

112

I know that when I went there

the last time, taking a short

113

term missionary group there too.

114

Talk to Mormons and shared

the gospel with them.

115

The real one, they were renovating it

and so it was gutted and they were, had

116

all these different scaffoldings on it.

117

It was really kind of cool to see it.

118

Yeah.

119

And if you go across the street to their,

I forget what the building is called,

120

it's one of their, they own that whole

area, so they have several buildings

121

that sit on that same square grid.

122

And one of them, you can see the

temple insides slice in half.

123

They have a, I don't know what

the scale model is, could die.

124

A one 50th Yeah.

125

Scale model where you can

look inside the whole thing.

126

It's quite interesting.

127

I've heard that when.

128

Some of the Mormon temples open up

for the public to come in and see it.

129

Which they do from time.

130

Time before they, yeah, before they anoint

it or, yeah, before they sanctify it.

131

I think that's it.

132

Yes.

133

I've heard they go in and like rip

out all the carpet afterwards too

134

and, oh, I don't know about that.

135

Yeah.

136

Wouldn't be surprised though because they

build it and then the gentiles go in and

137

we define it and then they have to rip

out the carpet and put it in your stuff.

138

Yeah.

139

Yeah.

140

Well anyways, hey, we are in Exodus

seven and eight and Matthew chapter 17.

141

Man, Exodus seven introduces some

difficult concepts for us, because

142

now we're gonna start talking

about who's hardening Pharaoh's

143

heart and who's responsible for

Pharaoh's rebellion against God.

144

And did Pharaoh ever have a real

choice in the matter of whether or not

145

he was going to let God's people go?

146

When Moses and Aaron came in and

said, let my people go, and I think

147

we've kicked this around years

past on the podcast, and I think

148

that the clear thing is we have to.

149

Concede that God has a hand in

the hardening of Pharaoh's heart.

150

In fact, he says, I will

harden Pharaoh's heart.

151

And he, it goes back and forth and there's

times when Pharaoh's doing the action

152

and other times when God is, but we know

that God is ultimately the actor behind

153

it because he says so in verse three.

154

And then in verse five he says this,

the Egyptians shall know that I am

155

the Lord when I stretch out my hand

against Egypt and bring out the

156

people of Israel from among them.

157

So God is after getting glory.

158

And this is Paul's argument in Romans

nine when it comes to Pharaoh that he

159

is, arguing or God is saying I am doing

this in order to win and get the glory

160

over, the leader of Egypt, the most

powerful person in the world at this time.

161

God's saying I win in this circumstance.

162

And so Pharaoh, I'm not gonna

go so far as to say he's pun.

163

He has a very.

164

Real responsibility.

165

He's making the choice in real time

as Moses stands before him to say no.

166

But at the same time, as we've talked

about this mystery of God's sovereignty

167

and man's responsibility, there's

this dance that's taking place in

168

this whole interchange throughout

these next handful of chapters here.

169

Probably the question that would arise

for most people is how is God then good

170

in provoking or hardening pharaoh's heart

such that Pharaoh does exactly what God

171

intends for him to do and what he's doing

in short is sending against the Lord

172

and doing a dis a disservice at minimum.

173

Maybe injustice is a

better term toward Israel.

174

Help us frame that because I know that

that's gonna come up for a lot of people.

175

How is God good if

that's what's happening?

176

If God's the one who's heartening

his heart, can, Pharaoh.

177

Be blamed for that.

178

Yeah.

179

And let, how has God Good and

can Pharaoh be blamed for that?

180

I think we're related.

181

Yeah.

182

Related but different.

183

Let's start with how can

Pharaoh be blamed for that?

184

Pharaoh is a sinner and Pharaoh

has a sin nature and Pharaoh

185

is guilty of the sin that.

186

Deserves the wrath of God no

matter what, even before this.

187

And so God's sovereignty in these

things doesn't make Pharaoh more guilty

188

than he would've been prior to this.

189

This is God's sovereignty

man's responsibility in the

190

dance between these things.

191

Pharaoh was, it doesn't make him

more guilty, meaning he was deserving

192

of God's full wrath as a fallen,

sinful human being from the word go.

193

When you say full wrath,

what do you mean by that?

194

Damnation e eternal eternity

apart from God in hell.

195

Well, you would still say though,

and I've heard you say before, that

196

there are degrees of punishment.

197

Yes.

198

So when you say full wrath, you

don't mean like everyone gets a

199

hundred percent of God's true.

200

Wrath.

201

True.

202

Yeah.

203

You get the number that you get

depending on your acts and life.

204

So he wouldn't be deserving of God's

full wrath in the sense of getting

205

everything God has to throw at him.

206

Fair.

207

Yes.

208

And that's true.

209

That's true.

210

How is God?

211

Good?

212

God is good because God is

the definer of what is good.

213

God is the one that lays out for us

and defines this is what is good.

214

And it's not necessarily always that

we would look at what he's doing and

215

from our perspective be able to say,

I'm gonna define that as good the

216

way that God is defining it as good.

217

But God sees things from a God's eye view

and sees things in total perfection as

218

far as what he's doing, and understands

what is ultimately good for his glory.

219

And that's at the end of

the day, what is most good.

220

That God is glorified and is if

God is glorified from his creation.

221

And this is where the uncomfortableness

of Romans nine comes into this.

222

If God is glorified through those

that are created to be vessels of

223

wrath, prepared for destruction then

that's not ours as the clay is say

224

to the potter, God, that's not okay.

225

That's not fair.

226

Probably the end.

227

Of all of this is not gonna

make people feel warm and fuzzy.

228

True.

229

What do I do with that?

230

Yeah.

231

I get that and I'm with you there

and it probably shouldn't, I don't

232

think we should ever gloat over the

idea that there are those that are.

233

Hardened by God for destruction.

234

I don't think that's what

we're supposed to feel.

235

And I don't think God does either,

even as we read, and I think this is

236

where the passages come in that say

that he doesn't desire that anyone

237

should perish, but he desires that

all should come to eternal life.

238

I think there's this

desire that that's true.

239

That God does desire, that

we should desire that too.

240

So it's not gonna make us feel warm and

fuzzy, but I think we have to, at the

241

end of the day, this is part of where the

fear of God comes in, where we say, God,

242

I can't understand, I can't wrap this up.

243

And no one has ever been

able to understand this.

244

Theologians for the last 2000 years

of church history have written

245

volumes on the relation of God's

sovereignty and man's responsibility.

246

And nobody's ever, at the end

of the day walked away and

247

said, we've solved the argument.

248

We're done.

249

We don't have to worry about this anymore.

250

And I think part of that, of the

not having the warm fuzzies is why

251

this continues to be an ongoing

source of contention and debate

252

within the church is trying to

understand how can we wrap this up.

253

Because I think there's an inherent desire

within us to be able to say, I can resolve

254

the tension between God being good and

totally sovereign in situations like this.

255

And I don't know that we're ever going

to be able to resolve the tension.

256

Doesn't mean we shouldn't try and apply

ourselves like we talked about yesterday,

257

being a good workman, working hard at it.

258

Mm-hmm.

259

But when we can't get there I don't know

that we should be able to get there.

260

It's interesting.

261

One of the things that I take comfort

in is the fact that my experience of

262

everyday life is not robotic, doesn't

feel like I have strings on me.

263

For sure.

264

Doesn't feel like God is

saying, rod, you're going to

265

say this and I'm gonna make you.

266

I don't feel that.

267

Right.

268

I believe that.

269

By faith that God ordains all

things, even the next words that

270

are gonna come out of my mouth.

271

He ordains the end and the beginning,

the first, and he's, he does it all.

272

Yeah, I believe that with

all my heart in scripture.

273

But my experience of how that works is

functionally, I'm free to make decisions.

274

And it is in fact not only functionally

true, but that's theologically true.

275

God says, I'm accountable for my sin.

276

I'm accountable for my decisions.

277

I get to make real, true,

meaningful decisions.

278

And my experience of

that reality is I'm free.

279

I can give a biting word to my wife,

and I don't feel compelled to do that.

280

No one is twisting my hand to do it.

281

I can choose not to, and no one's

twisting my hand not to do that.

282

I choose.

283

Mm-hmm.

284

And to your point, one of the greatest

comforts I have is that experience.

285

And so I'm gonna say it's true that

this is a theological grounding behind

286

all that we're seeing in this episode

between Pharaoh and Moses and Aaron.

287

But Pharaoh was free.

288

He is free.

289

His experience of life was free.

290

He's free to make decisions that at

the end of the day ultimately are

291

God's control under God's ordination.

292

But his experience and his practical

effect is that he's making decisions.

293

He doesn't feel God's constraint.

294

He doesn't feel God jumping into his

soul and saying, you have to do this.

295

How God accomplishes that.

296

I don't know.

297

Yeah, I think you're right.

298

And even as you were talking

there, I was thinking about.

299

It's not as the Pharaoh was a God-fearing,

Cornelius type character before all this.

300

Yeah.

301

He's an enemy.

302

All this happened, right?

303

No he had lived a life

where he was making himself.

304

He was availing himself to be an opposite,

an enemy of God through everything

305

else he was doing up to this point.

306

And so, yeah, I'm with

you there as far as.

307

He was free in that sense.

308

Aren't you comforted by that?

309

Yeah.

310

If you feel free, like you make decisions.

311

It's that whole, it's that, I don't

know if you've ever seen these, it's,

312

it feels like it's a meme at this point.

313

Someone takes a pen and drops it.

314

Can I, did I do that freely

or did God make me do that?

315

Right, right.

316

And the answer is, oh yes.

317

Right.

318

Yes.

319

Yes.

320

It's both of those things.

321

Yeah, you did it freely.

322

If you define freely in a theological

category, but you also did it

323

by God's ordination, there's

no way to get outside of that.

324

If God controls the end from the

beginning, there's just no way to

325

exit theologically from that truth.

326

And I know our mini brothers and

sisters will say, well, yeah, we think.

327

Differently about that.

328

And that's okay.

329

Yeah, we can disagree and we're okay

that you guys are wrong about that.

330

We'd love to have you come to this

side of the tent, but that's okay.

331

You guys live there.

332

We love you still.

333

God has ordained you

to be wrong about that.

334

I'm kidding.

335

I'm kidding.

336

I'm kidding.

337

I shouldn't be like that.

338

Yeah.

339

You know you're right man.

340

And this is so hard to

wrap our minds around.

341

But notice here again, 40 years passed.

342

While Moses was in the wilderness,

Moses went into the wild.

343

In Midian at 40 years old, so now he's 80.

344

And so I think you mentioned

that in a couple of episodes ago.

345

And he's a, before Pharaoh as an

80-year-old man here, and he is

346

telling Pharaoh to do these things.

347

Now Pharaoh's rejecting and saying no.

348

So here come the plagues and we get the

first one at the end of chapter seven.

349

This is gonna be blood and

death in the Nile River.

350

The Nile is gonna be turned to blood.

351

And the.

352

Life in the Nile is gonna die.

353

And it's interesting here because

there must've been some fresh water

354

still available somewhere because the

magicians are able to replicate this.

355

And so they're able to do the same thing.

356

Pharaoh then is going to say,

Nope I'm not listening to you.

357

Then he's, his heart's gonna remain

hardened and he would not listen to them.

358

As the Lord had said, if you

underline things that are repeated,

359

that's something to underline in

this next handful of chapters here,

360

as the Lord had said, again, this

goes back to God's sovereignty.

361

He's saying this is what's gonna

happen, and then this is what happens.

362

As we get through here, chapter

eight, then we get another plague.

363

This time it's gonna be the frogs.

364

Which no, thanks.

365

I'm out on that one.

366

A again the magicians are able to

do these things and Pharaoh is

367

going to harden his heart again.

368

It says there in verse 14 Pharaoh

hardens his own heart this time,

369

as the Lord had said though.

370

So the third plague comes along,

this is the plague of the gnats,

371

and then you get the plague of

the flies for number four here.

372

This is life is.

373

Getting increasingly more and more

miserable with the Egyptians here as God

374

is trying to get them to understand that

he's the one that's in control and is.

375

I don't know, man, I, every time I read

this, I come back to it and say, why

376

does it take them so long to figure out

that God's the one that's in control?

377

They must have just thought that Moses was

some sort of great magician, and I think

378

that's why we read there, that Pharaoh's

magicians can replicate some of this.

379

They must have just thought this

is just this Moses guy and Pharaoh

380

must have had it in his back pocket.

381

If I just take out this Moses guy, I can

put an end to all of this at some point,

382

but this is enough to drive me crazy

just with the gnats at that point in time.

383

Now I going, okay, get outta here.

384

Go.

385

That's like, God sends mosquitoes

to us here in Texas and I'm

386

willing to throw in the towel.

387

Yeah.

388

The first second I see them.

389

Yeah.

390

This is fascinating for so many

reasons, not the least of which

391

what we just talked about, but yeah.

392

Why don't they just.

393

Say, you know what?

394

We're outgunned here.

395

Let's just, let's let this go.

396

One of the things that stands out to me,

and I'm scratching my head on this still.

397

I don't have any strong answers.

398

Maybe you can throw something in here.

399

It's not until plague four

where God sets apart Goshen.

400

Yeah.

401

And true.

402

That's true for all, not all 10 of them.

403

It's true for only a few of the.

404

Of the plagues where God says,

I'm going to protect my people

405

from this particular plague.

406

The first one we encounter here

is the flies plague number four.

407

That tells me then for plagues

one, two, and three, his people

408

had the spillover effect to God's

judgment upon the Egyptians.

409

Now, this is interesting because

they're not under the judgment.

410

They're not the target of God's

wrath being poured out, so why

411

wouldn't he make a distinction?

412

For all the plagues as

opposed to only a few of them.

413

Any thoughts on that?

414

No.

415

Part of me wonders if plague number

four was just Moses saying, Hey, you

416

should be paying attention to what's

going on over in Goshen because these

417

things aren't happening over there.

418

In other words, I wonder if God was.

419

Protecting his people this whole time.

420

But in by number four, that's the one that

Moses is making sure he's pointing that

421

out with Pharaoh to pay attention to that.

422

Well, maybe.

423

But then in plague 10, he makes

them go through something to

424

protect themselves from it.

425

Right.

426

For all of 'em.

427

Israel included.

428

Yeah.

429

Right.

430

Yeah.

431

So it seems to me like that's.

432

The exception is when God protect.

433

So I, yeah, I, your point is well taken.

434

I just think, it seems to me like

he's not protecting them from

435

experiencing some of the, what

I'm calling the spillover effect.

436

They're not the absolute target

of his anger, but they're the.

437

What would you call that?

438

The relative targets?

439

Yeah, the accidental target,

the incidental targets.

440

And I am affirmed in that idea because

again, the plague 10, he says, here's

441

how you're gonna avoid this one.

442

Yeah.

443

'cause you're gonna get this unless

you do these instructions and then

444

you have the Passover, they're

getting friendly fire from God.

445

Something like that.

446

Yeah.

447

Maybe it's because of their

initial response there.

448

When they disbelieve Moses

after Pharaoh said, Hey, we're

449

gonna harden your labor here.

450

Maybe it's the unbelief.

451

In what God had sent Moses and told them.

452

And so there's some of this

judgment that is for Israel

453

because of their unbelief there.

454

I don't know, the text doesn't

say that, but this is one of those

455

things that would cause me to

doubt my pre-trib rapture idea.

456

Interesting.

457

Because if God's willing

to let his people suffer.

458

Yeah.

459

Under his wrath against

their larger neighbor Egypt.

460

It leads me to say, okay, well,

maybe then not that I'm changing my

461

mind, I'm saying this is one that

sticks in my cross saying, huh,

462

if this is for their deliverance.

463

And yet they experience some of

the effects of God's judgment

464

upon the Egyptian neighbors.

465

So, I don't know.

466

I, hold to preach trip convictionally,

but this, it gives me pause.

467

Let me just say that I'm gonna

counter your preacher by saying

468

that this is Israel, not the church.

469

Okay.

470

But with the principle, again, the

spirit of the text tells us that God

471

is in principle willing to let his

people suffer even though his anger and

472

his wrath is targeted to, to others.

473

Yeah, I agree.

474

I agree.

475

And we actually, that, that question came

up in 1 0 1 this past weekend, different

476

views of the trim tribulation in the

rapture, either before mid or post.

477

And we do hold to a pre-trib and

convictionally to a pre-trib rapture, and.

478

In part because of, a couple things.

479

First, the church is not on the scene

anymore after Revelation chapter

480

three until Revelation chapter 19

and the marriage chapter of the Lamb.

481

So the rest of Revelation, you

don't see the church there.

482

There's also the words that Jesus

gives to one of the churches there

483

where he says, I'm gonna keep

you from the hour of tribulation

484

that's coming upon the whole earth.

485

There's never been an hour of tribulation

that's come upon the whole earth.

486

Other than what will be

there at the end time.

487

And because that was a historical church,

we can safely extrapolate that out to be

488

the church at large to say, okay, we, he's

talking to the church, big C here when

489

he says, I'm gonna keep you from this.

490

Not through it, but

from it from that trial.

491

And then we go back also in the Old

Testament where this is referred to as the

492

time of Jacob's trouble, that this appears

to be a time of purging and purification.

493

And even judgment for Israel

as well as the, those in the

494

earth that have rejected God.

495

So those are, just to give you

some reasons why we are pre-trib

496

and why we hold to that position.

497

Even though, to your point, God is

not afraid to let his people suffer.

498

And we see that in, in multiple places.

499

And I think that's a good point

to make here in from this passage.

500

Well, let's jump over

to Matthew chapter 17.

501

In Matthew chapter 17.

502

We didn't hit on this, but

Jesus said something interesting

503

at the end of chapter 16.

504

He said, truly, I say to you, there's

some standing here who will not taste

505

death until they see the son of man

coming in his kingdom and we have to.

506

Understand that that's not referring

to the second Kingdom or second coming,

507

which is what we're waiting for now,

but it has to be something else.

508

And we think that this is why the

Transfiguration follows right on the

509

heels of this, that Jesus is gonna

take some of them, that's Peter, James

510

and John up on the mountain, and he's

gonna be transfigured before them.

511

He's going to appear in the

fullness of his glory before them.

512

And they have this interesting

situation there where

513

they see Moses and Elijah on the

mountain with them, and they hear

514

this voice saying, this is my beloved

son, with whom I'm well pleased.

515

You've got Peter there saying, Lord,

it's good that we're gonna be here.

516

Let's just live here.

517

Let's set up some tents and hang

out up here for a little while.

518

But this is that fullness of the

glory that appears before these three.

519

And this I believe is what he has

in mind at the end of chapter 16.

520

This is the son of man in

the coming of his kingdom.

521

This is him in the fullness

of his glory as the.

522

King as he will return.

523

He's transfigured.

524

They get to witness this in

this interesting incident at the

525

beginning here of chapter 17.

526

After chapter 17 or after this they come

down from the mountain and again, there's

527

kind of a high point and then a low point.

528

And this high point is Jesus has this,

these three disciples up on the mountain,

529

he's transfigured and then they come

down and his other disciples bring to him

530

this child that they're not able to heal.

531

They can't get.

532

This demon to leave this child alone.

533

And Jesus makes this statement says,

faithless and twisted generation,

534

how long am I to be with you?

535

How am I, how long am I to bear with you?

536

Bring him here to me.

537

And then he casts out this

demon from this child.

538

The disciples say, Hey why

weren't we able to do this?

539

And his response is, because

of your little faith.

540

For truly, I say to you, and then he talks

about that the grain of mustard seed.

541

If you have faith like a mustard

seed, you can move a mountain.

542

So Jesus is reminding his

disciples you still need me.

543

You're not quite there yet, and

there's still some growth that needs

544

to be taking place here for you to

be able to do what you will what

545

you think you can do at this point.

546

So in verse 17, he calls

them faithless and twisted.

547

He says, faithless.

548

And then in verse 19, he

says, you have little faith.

549

What is the idea that Jesus

is trying to communicate here?

550

In other words.

551

Do they have no faith?

552

Just a tiny bit of faith because

it seems like if you just have

553

a tiny bit, you can say to this

mountain, go from here to there.

554

Is does he really mean

they don't have any faith?

555

What do you make of that?

556

No, I don't think he's implying

that they don't have any faith.

557

I think he's just identifying the fact

that they don't have faith the way

558

that they think they might have faith,

that their faith is maybe misplaced or

559

their faith is in something that he is

not there to be at this point in time.

560

Yeah, it's interesting 'cause he does

it, it is the negation of the word faith.

561

Tis, you might know the word PTIs.

562

You might have heard your pastor refer

to that before as being the word that

563

undergirds the word trust or faith.

564

It's typically the word that's used.

565

And so here it's a tis

the negation of that.

566

So I agree though.

567

I don't think Jesus is saying

they don't have any faith.

568

I wonder if it's less the quantity

and more the quality of their faith.

569

Sure.

570

They were trying to cast out a demon.

571

And I wonder there's a, there's another

a parallel text here that says that.

572

Jesus says something like, this kind

can only come out by prayer and fasting.

573

Right?

574

It seems to me that his disciples

were leaning not on their faith

575

in him, but on their past success.

576

Yeah.

577

I've been able to do this.

578

Sure.

579

Bring him to me.

580

I got this guys, let me just call

this dude out in the name of Jesus.

581

I command you to something like that.

582

I can imagine.

583

And then nothing happens.

584

And they're like, well, maybe you try.

585

And they go through one another

saying, oh, this is not happening.

586

What's going on?

587

I don't know.

588

Did you do say the right thing?

589

I don't know.

590

Did you say the right thing?

591

So I can imagine them trying to

figure these things out and Jesus

592

says, you guys don't get it.

593

You can't.

594

You can't look at your past success.

595

You can't look at your, you know Right.

596

Use of formulas.

597

And using my name.

598

He said, you gotta have faith in me.

599

This kind comes only by prayer and

fasting as another another variant.

600

But I think that's what the idea is.

601

Not faithless, but not necessarily.

602

Robust a robust faith in Christ.

603

Maybe more faith in what they

were taught to debrief before.

604

Yeah.

605

Well, the chapter ends with another

prediction of his crucifixion.

606

It says that the disciples were

greatly distressed, and so they're

607

not fully understanding it, but

they are understanding enough

608

that this is causing them angst.

609

This is causing them turmoil.

610

And then the chapter concludes with Jesus

saying, Hey, you need to pay your taxes

611

because that there's an argument there.

612

Hey, why does your.

613

Your teacher not pay the tax or

does your teacher not do this?

614

And Jesus makes this statement and

says, Simon, whom do kings take their

615

taxes from their sons or from others?

616

And he answers rightly

and says well from others.

617

And Jesus is his point here is this,

you are the sons of the ultimate king.

618

And so, you really owe nothing to anyone.

619

No tax exempt, right?

620

Tax exempt.

621

But then he goes on and says, in

order not to give an offense to

622

them, go ahead and go to the sie.

623

Jesus does this miracle where he.

624

Call takes a fish outta the sea and

opens it up and there's the tax.

625

That would be great if Jesus was like,

Hey, go to the grocery store, buy that

626

bag of bread off the shelf and open it up

and there's your tax money for this year.

627

That would be nice.

628

But yeah, Jesus is teaching us how to

relate to those governing officials

629

there at the end of chapter 17.

630

Well, this is the temple tax too.

631

This is not Oh, yeah, you're right.

632

Roman tax.

633

This is the temple and

Jesus is the true temple.

634

Yeah.

635

He's the one that brings God's presence.

636

And so he's saying this is.

637

This is outmoded, outdated.

638

This is no more, this is no longer

binding, especially for you who

639

are sons of the king, but in order

to keep the peace, essentially,

640

this is Romans 13, right?

641

As far as it depends upon, you live at

Romans 12, live at peace with everybody.

642

So I think that's what

Jesus is modeling for us.

643

I don't know that he always wants

us to capitulate or to take the hit,

644

but here's a good example of him

doing exactly that to model for us

645

what it looks like to keep the peace.

646

Yeah.

647

Yeah.

648

He makes a similar argument.

649

When we do deal with paying taxes to

Caesar, when he says whose image is on

650

the coin and then he makes that statement

render to Caesar, that which is Caesar's

651

isn't to God that which is God's,

which would imply God owns everything.

652

Right?

653

Right.

654

And so again, you owe God your life.

655

You owe God your life.

656

You go, you owe him your everything.

657

Give Caesar their money.

658

Yeah.

659

But give God your life.

660

Yeah.

661

Well, let's pray.

662

Lord, thanks for another episode where we

were able to unpack your word together.

663

We thank you for the hard things

in your word for us to understand

664

and to think about and to dwell on.

665

I pray that we would not just shrug

them off, but that we would think

666

hard about them, that we would do

our best to try to understand as

667

much as we can about these things.

668

And yet, Lord I pray for humility

for all of us Lord to be able

669

to hold these things loosely.

670

Understanding that you are the possessor

of ultimate truth, that you know how all

671

of these things resolve, how all of them

work, and how all of them fit together.

672

Help us to walk in faith.

673

In that regard, Lord, in you and in what

you have for us to do on each and every

674

day that we walk as we surrender our

lives, even as we were just saying to you,

675

because you are the owner of all things.

676

We pray this all in Jesus' name.

677

Amen.

678

Amen.

679

Keep reading those bibles and tune

in again tomorrow with us for another

680

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

681

See you folks.

682

Bye.

683

Edward: Thank you for listening to another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

684

We’re grateful you chose to

spend time with us today.

685

This podcast is a ministry of

Compass Bible Church in North Texas.

686

You can learn more about our

church at compassntx.org.

687

If this podcast has been helpful,

we’d appreciate it if you’d consider

688

leaving a review, rating the show,

or sharing it with someone else.

689

We hope you’ll join us again

tomorrow for another episode

690

of the Daily Bible Podcast.