00:00 Intro

00:33 Student Ministry and Community Groups

02:43 Discussion on Ezekiel 23: Israel and Judah's Sins

05:38 Appropriate Use of Biblical Language

11:46 Ezekiel 24: The Siege of Jerusalem

16:12 Conclusion and Prayer

16:59 Outro and Podcast Information

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

at the Daily Bible Podcast.

3

Hey, pastor Rod, do we still have Bernard?

4

We don't.

5

Bernard's not been on the front end.

6

He's on the back end though, isn't he?

7

I'm still kinda work shopping

where I want him and part of it,

8

I like to keep you on your toes.

9

Okay.

10

So don't get too used to anything.

11

Don't get too used to anything.

12

Yeah.

13

Yeah.

14

I'm learning that lesson today

in quite a few areas actually.

15

Oh yeah.

16

We'll leave that one.

17

Do you care to share unp?

18

No.

19

It's an unspoken.

20

Unspoken.

21

It's an unspoken, that's

totally legitimate.

22

Sometimes you're in your prayer circle and

you say that Hey, I have an unspoken guys.

23

I think that's fair.

24

Okay.

25

Alright.

26

To drop that anytime you want.

27

Yeah.

28

There we go.

29

There we go.

30

Hey, it's it's Wednesday as you're

listening to this, and if you've got

31

students in student ministry, they're

gonna be hearing tonight about the wrath

32

of God in Youth Group, which I don't know

how many youth ministries are out there.

33

Student ministries are out there talking

about God's wrath, but it is such a good.

34

Good thing for your students

to be confronted with.

35

And they're gonna hear that tonight

as they gather for youth Tonight.

36

It's six 30 to eight o'clock at

our normal meeting location where

37

we have church, that's Founders

Classical Academy and Prosper.

38

Six 30 to eight o'clock.

39

We also have adventure clubs,

six 30 to eight o'clock for our.

40

Kids, men group that is gonna be

age, I think it's four if I'm not

41

mistaken there up through fifth grade.

42

And so if they're in that age

range, there's something for them.

43

With Adventure Club, we'd love for you

to take part in our midweek offerings.

44

But beyond that, we also are

a church that is built around

45

the idea of community groups.

46

And community groups are evergreen.

47

And so if you're out there and

you're thinking I'm gonna wait.

48

And jump into community groups

when the season starts back up or

49

when it's, the next series starts.

50

We would encourage you, go ahead and

get plugged in, get connected now.

51

Don't wait.

52

There's no lull that naturally

takes place in, in community groups.

53

It's really a, an evergreen thing that

you can get involved in, get connected to.

54

At any point, we don't typically do

a booth that we set up at church.

55

I know sometimes you'll go to a church

and there's a booth to get connected with

56

groups or take next steps and maybe we'll

have something like that in the future.

57

Right now though, you can find

out information on our brand new

58

website that has been updated for us.

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Thanks to Danny Mayer and him working

with some other people on that.

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But Danny's kind of the

visionary behind that.

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But you can find out more

information on our community groups

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at our website, compass ntx.org,

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and we would love for

you to get connected.

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That's one of the key components of what

it looks like to belong to our church.

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10, connect and serve.

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And that connection piece for

you, if you're an adult at

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least, is community groups.

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So important to get plugged in there.

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Build relationships with other people.

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Talk about the weekend sermon, ask

your questions, answer questions,

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pray together, fellowship together.

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There it's.

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So good.

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It's such a vital component to what it

looks like to be a part of our church,

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and we would love for you to sign up

for a community group and get plugged

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in if you haven't done that yet.

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But yeah, lots of good things going on

right now at our church, and we're excited

78

about how God's continuing to grow it.

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We are in Ezekiel 23 and

24 for our DBR today.

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So we've got two chapters.

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By the way, parents 23 is a little bit of

a intense chapter, so maybe give it a read

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before you turn it over to your kiddos.

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I know some of your kiddos read the

through the Old Testament with us, but

84

chapter 23 is one of those to just.

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Say, okay let mom and dad read

this one first and then we'll see

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about bringing you guys in on this.

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But there's two sisters that

are depicted in chapter 23.

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You've got Oolah and O Holy Ba, and

these two sisters represent Israel

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with oah and Judah with o Holy Ba.

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So we're having to remember back to

our history with the divided kingdom.

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You remember after Solomon we had

the divided monarchy with rebo in the

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south and Jira to the north there,

the northern kingdom being Israel Rebo

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and the Southern Kingdom being Judah.

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And they were divided for a period of

time, and Israel was the first of the

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two kingdoms that was carried into exile.

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And so first Ezekiel through the

Lord is describing the sins of

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Israel, and here he is describing

the situation of their rebellion.

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And he in a very.

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Graphic way depicts this as a

relationship an unholy relationship

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that she has with the Assyrians.

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And he basically says God turns her

over to her lovers, the Assyrians in

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this instance, and the Assyrians are

the ones that come in and take her away

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and take her captive while her sister,

oh, holy God, doesn't learn her lesson.

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But not only flirts with the Assyrians,

but also with the Babylonians.

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And the Babylonians come after.

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Oh, holy bow.

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And that is Judah.

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And so here God is telling the

people of Judah what is coming.

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They already know because

this has been a process.

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Remember Ezekiel's writing

these things from exile.

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So part of this has already taken

place, the deportations and everything.

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And so he is going through and

laying out for the people of the

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Southern kingdom what's coming.

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And it's gonna be that their.

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Lover Babylon is gonna turn

on them and come against them.

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And these two sisters in chapter 23

represent the northern kingdom of Southern

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Kingdom and how they turned away from God

and pursue to other lovers and how God has

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said to them, okay, you can have them, but

in having them, this is gonna bring about

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your own end and your own destruction.

120

As the the chapter 23 continues

from here we see things in it not

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only of the God's pro pronunciation

of judgment, but of his indictment

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against their own responsibility.

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In this he says in verse 30, you

have brought this upon yourself

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because of the way that you've act.

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To the way that you've

you've behaved against him.

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But back in verse 22, he said, behold,

I will stir up against you lovers

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from whom you've turned and discussed.

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So God is saying, I'm doing this, but

you've also brought this on yourself.

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And so this is the dual nature there

between Israel's responsibility,

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Jude's responsibility in God's

sovereignty over these actions,

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in his judgment of them as well.

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And it the indictment is really laid out.

133

Plainly in verse 35, he says,

because you have forgotten me

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and cast me behind your back.

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That's the problem.

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Israel had turned away.

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They'd forgotten the Lord and cast

him behind their back, and he was

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gonna come against them in judgment.

139

When can I use a language

that Ezekiel uses?

140

Didn't we talk about this just recently?

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I feel like it's warranted

again given what we just read.

142

I think it's a fair question.

143

Yeah.

144

I don't think my answers changed.

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I would be very hesitant to u utilize

the language that he uses here.

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Ever at all?

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Yeah.

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In any context, yeah.

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Whatsoever.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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Unless I'm preaching and I'm, if I'm

preaching, you would preach this and

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the word is there, then I'm gonna say

the word because it's in the context.

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I did that recently.

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I can't remember exactly which of the

minor prophets dealt with the same

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word, but we had that conversation.

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And I think I Gomer.

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Yeah.

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Gomer.

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Thank you.

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Duh.

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And I think I said the word in that

context because it's in the scriptures.

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And so quoting the scriptures,

I think it's appropriate in that

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instance because you're quoting,

this is what God's word says.

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This is what the Lord has said.

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But outside of that, I don't think

I would feel comfortable applying

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this language of my own accord.

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I think there's other ways to go

about explaining and describing it.

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Alright.

170

Yeah.

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You disagree?

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No, not necessarily, but potentially.

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Potentially.

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I do.

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And the reason why is because

I believe all of God's word

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is for all of God's people.

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And granted the way that we apply it,

it's skillful and needs qualifications.

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I just can't say that if God

doesn't demonstrate it, then

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somehow it shouldn't be.

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In some way applied.

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In other words, if it's in the Bible,

which is our source for life and for

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godliness, I have to say there's something

in this that I need to take away from it.

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And the application then to me says

this has to be put somewhere in

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the category of if everything that

God does is worthy of emulation and

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praise, this falls into that category.

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And if that's the case, where do I

emulate it and how do I praise it?

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And I recognize that there's.

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Godlike qualities or God level

qualities that I can never replicate

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in his totality because God's God,

and I'm not, he bears omniscience.

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I don't, he bears omnipresence, I

don't, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

191

But again, if everything about God is good

and worthy of praise and emulation to the

192

degree that it's possible for a human to

do, then I think that must be something

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in this that is worthy of my emulation.

194

What and how that's different.

195

Yeah.

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And I think the sentiment

behind it, I think the revulsion

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behind it, I think the.

198

Treating of the, of sin the way that

it's treated and the calling out of

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it is the part that I would say Okay.

200

That, yeah, that applies to us.

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We should feel that, that same disgust.

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That same revulsion.

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But I think that use of the language

here that he uses is his prerogative.

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It's his indictment.

205

It's his judgment that he's calling out.

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You would say it's good though, right?

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What he's saying is good.

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I would yes.

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Therefore, by his, for him, but

I think there are things that are

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good for him that are not good

for us that we shouldn't emulate.

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She okay.

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Yes.

213

There again there's God level

things that belong to God, right?

214

Categorically.

215

He alone gets praise, for instance, right?

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We're not gonna ask for people to

praise us in the same way that we praise

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God, but even then there's a lowercase

P for praise that is appropriate.

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We call that encouragement.

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I could say, man, pastor P, what

a great sermon this last Sunday.

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It was strong.

221

It was cohesive.

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I think people responded

to it really well.

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That kind of praise is appropriate

because it's at human level, and I would

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argue that for every God level quality,

there is a lowercase kind of quality

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that humans appropriately endorse.

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Peter said, I think it's Peter,

or correct me if I'm wrong here.

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We share in the divine nature.

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Now, we understand that not to mean

that we become capital G God, but we

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become God-like by acting in ways that

are consistent with his character.

230

So again I know we're probably

not gonna find the answer in

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between this little conversation.

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Sure.

233

But I can't help but think, okay, if

this is God speaking through the prophet

234

and we have every confidence about

that of that much, I do know we share.

235

Concrete conviction's about, it's

what the application looks like.

236

And I would say if God is

saying this, then it's certainly

237

good for God to say it.

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And there must be a human

level component to this that

239

is appropriate and acceptable.

240

Not that it's everywhere all the time.

241

There must be a time for

this to be appropriate.

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'cause obviously God uses it.

243

But.

244

I, yeah, and I, and by the

way, I'm not giving license.

245

I'm not saying we should start

cussing and, we get cut off

246

and now we're really angry.

247

I'm saying that there is a clearly

a time and place where something

248

like this is appropriate and good.

249

I don't know when that is entirely,

and I don't have the wisdom or the

250

depth of knowledge to know for sure.

251

But I can't shake the fact

that I think it's there.

252

Yeah.

253

I wonder though if there's

something contextually where it

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would be more of a distraction.

255

To the message to in today's

cultural context than it would be

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the shock value that's intended.

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In other words, we've seen the stories

about the cussing pastors and we've

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seen the stories about, that this pastor

did this or said this, and there's

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Instagram reels and there's accounting.

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It's almost like you would, it would

get lost in the sensationalism of it

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rather than in having the punch and

impact that it would have for us to.

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Make the same point using words that

we might otherwise be able to use

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that wouldn't be so sensational that

somebody would hear that word and lose

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everything else of what we're saying.

265

Yeah, that's a fair point.

266

Because of the culture that we live in,

it might come across in the wrong way.

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In fact, people like

yourself and myself would.

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Probably end up talking about and

saying was that an appropriate use?

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And by and large, the people that we

criticize for stuff like this are not

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people that we would say are in our camp.

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They're people that would say clearly

there's other issues besides this.

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Yeah.

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So it makes sense what they're doing.

274

But there are people close to our camp

that we would say, is that the best use?

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Is that the right attempt to using it?

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And that's where I think

there's questions at least.

277

Yeah.

278

Yeah.

279

That's fair.

280

That's fair.

281

Anything else on chapter 23?

282

Sin is bad.

283

It is horrible.

284

God hates it.

285

Yeah.

286

We ought to hate it too.

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Yeah.

288

We should hate it and more than we do.

289

And we should love his holiness.

290

And we're gonna talk

about that this weekend.

291

The positive side of that, that our

motivation to be holy is not just

292

that we hate sin, but it's also that

we love God and we should want to.

293

Not invoke his jealousy.

294

Verse 25, I will direct my

jealousy against you, man.

295

We should want God to direct his

love and affection and compassion

296

and grace and mercy towards us.

297

Not his jealousy and wrath and anger and

judgment and and indictments against us.

298

So yeah, we should love

God and love His holiness.

299

And that means also that, yeah, hate.

300

Yeah.

301

They go together.

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Yeah, they do.

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They need both.

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Yep.

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Yep.

306

Chapter 24, we get into the

siege of Jerusalem in the

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ninth year, the 10th month.

308

So we're dealing with 5 88 bc.

309

By the way, when we see these

time mark markers, they seem

310

to be hearkening back to five.

311

Five 90 sevens, sorry, which is not only

Johan's deportation, but when we think

312

also Ezekiel was probably taken captive.

313

And so that's why these time

markers are given the way they are.

314

So the ninth year, we're

thinking about 5 88 bc.

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We're counting down from 5 97 bc

And so this is the beginning of this

316

30 month long siege of Jerusalem.

317

This is the beginning of the end.

318

And this is going to

be the time that it is.

319

Purged and that's really what chapter

24 is laying out here at the beginning.

320

This pot, you remember back to the

cauldron and the meat and everything else.

321

The pot is gonna be emptied and

God is going to cleanse the pot.

322

Verse 11, set it upon empty upon the coals

that it may become hot and its copper

323

may burn, that its uncles may be melted

in it as it's corrosion is consumed.

324

So you think about the cleansing impact

that heat can have, and that's the.

325

Picture here that all of the

draws, everything is going

326

to be burnt out of this pot.

327

There's not gonna be anything

left in it that's unclean

328

because God is going to empty it.

329

And that's what he's doing with

this final judgment as Babylon comes

330

against his city, against Jerusalem.

331

And it's finally, he says

in verse 14, I'm the Lord.

332

I've spoken.

333

It shall come to pass.

334

I will do it.

335

I will not go back.

336

So there's no there,

there's no retraction.

337

There's no repentance here.

338

And God.

339

Is delivering a message that he is gonna

make clear in the rest of Chapter 24.

340

People should not be weeping and

mourning and grieving over this, and he

341

makes the point in a very painful way.

342

For Ezekiel, and that is

by taking Ezekiel's wife.

343

He takes her life.

344

He takes her out and basically

says to the prophet, you're not

345

allowed to mourn for her loss.

346

You're not allowed to weep for her.

347

And.

348

This is a difficult one and really

the only thing I can come to is

349

that he is using Ezekiel as an

object lesson for the people.

350

This is still part of his revealed

message to the people of Israel.

351

It's not as though God is telling

us if somebody close to us dies, we

352

shouldn't weep or mourn for their loss.

353

But this is the prophet's calling

which is unique and he is.

354

In this saying, Ezekiel, this is yet

another object lesson, just like laying

355

on your side and baking the bread and

everything else that we've talked about.

356

Here's another one.

357

I'm gonna take your wife, and yet

you're not gonna be able to mourn.

358

And already we've seen from

Jeremiah and Ezekiel previously as

359

God said, when people die during

the siege, don't mourn for them.

360

Don't wheat for them.

361

Don't go to the house in mourning because

this is God's judgment being poured out.

362

And I think that's another indicator

of how evil and wicked sin is and how.

363

We can't trifle with his holiness.

364

This is just what God is doing

here and that's what's being

365

communicated in the end of 24 and

is a super helpful clarification.

366

It is not God telling us that

we should not cry, right?

367

If someone were to die in our family,

or someone close to us that we love.

368

This is unique to Ezekiel for two reasons.

369

You mentioned one of them, his calling,

God called him for this specific

370

task and therefore we can be assured

that God strengthened him for it.

371

I don't know about you.

372

I know we've talked about this last year,

perhaps the year before that, of how

373

challenging this would be for anybody.

374

But God enabled him to do this

because he had a specific calling

375

for his time and location.

376

So calling is one thing.

377

The context is the other.

378

Ezekiel is.

379

Uniquely in a specific time in Israel's

history, he's an exilic prophet.

380

He's speaking to the people of

Israel, God's people, and they

381

needed to see this object lesson.

382

God determined and decreed in

his wisdom, which is greater than

383

ours, that this is one of the

best ways for him to reach them.

384

And so he did it.

385

And that's what ought to

give us comfort about this.

386

If God is gonna bring disaster

into your life, recognize that

387

God is making the best decision.

388

Possible.

389

It's not that he's making the best

decision with what he has available,

390

he's making the best decision possible.

391

And that's true not only for Ezekiel's

wife, but also for you and for me.

392

And I think that's probably an application

that we can run with that even if God does

393

allow tragedy and disaster into our lives,

he's doing what's good for his glory and

394

for our benefit, our growth, and holiness,

our love, our ability to serve him with

395

excellence, and we need to trust him.

396

He's a Lord.

397

He's holy.

398

He's making decisions far beyond your

pay grade, and that requires us to

399

humbly submit and trust what he's up to.

400

And that's, isn't that where Job got to

in the very end when he said, you know

401

what, I'm gonna lay my hand over my mouth.

402

I've spoken once.

403

I won't squeak again.

404

I've already said too much

basically is what Job says.

405

And he got the message and you think,

again, job was in a similar situation.

406

God took his kids, he took his friends,

he took in some ways his wife from him.

407

Not in the same way, but yeah.

408

He probably wished that he

took his wife at that point.

409

He may have.

410

He may have.

411

Alright.

412

Let's let's pray in the,

we'll wrap this episode.

413

Lord the word has so many difficult

things and this is another one.

414

And things that, that we can't fully

understand or wrap our minds around

415

things that quite honestly we say I'm

glad that's not us, and yet we need

416

to be so confident in who you are,

that we would be ready if it was us.

417

And so we, we want to have that kind of

faith and we confess that we can grow

418

in that and we can develop more of that.

419

Lord, we also wanna grow and

develop more of a love for you and

420

your holiness and a hatred of sin.

421

Even as we talked about in response

to chapter 23, we want to have just

422

a passion to be more holy ourselves.

423

Because it's gonna draw us near it to you.

424

And so we thank you for your word

and the way your word teaches us

425

and instructs us in these matters.

426

We pray this all in Jesus name, amen.

427

Keep your Bibles tuning again

tomorrow for another edition of

428

the Daily Bible Podcast Fight.

429

Bye.

430

Bernard: Well, thank you for

listening to another episode of

431

the Daily Bible Podcast, folks!

432

We're honored to have you join us.

433

This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

434

You can find out more information

about our Church at compassntx.org.

435

We would love for you to leave a

review, to rate, or to share this

436

podcast on whatever platform you're

listening on, and we hope to see

437

you again tomorrow for another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

438

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

439

PJ: Yeah.

440

I would agree with

everything that you said