00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:24 Super Bowl Winnings and Gambling Discussion

01:18 Biblical Perspective on Gambling

06:33 Leviticus 13: Laws About Leprosy

12:14 Matthew 26: The Last Supper and Betrayal

15:14 Jesus' Prayer and Arrest in Gethsemane

19:18 Conclusion and Prayer

20:05 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 the

dermatologist's favorite edition

3

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

4

I guess.

5

Hello, Leviticus.

6

Yeah, this is an interesting

one today for sure.

7

This is not one that is going

to be as as evident in our miss.

8

We're not dealing with lepers

colonies, but it's something they

9

were facing and something they were

dealing with, and it's in the Bible.

10

It's up next in our Bible

reading, so we're gonna deal

11

with that as well as Matthew 26.

12

But Pastor Rod.

13

Everybody wants to know.

14

They're asking, how much money did you

win on the Super Bowl this past weekend?

15

Dude, I banked.

16

Did you?

17

I've made hundreds of

thousands of dollars.

18

Yeah.

19

Betting and I nailed it.

20

So I am now Who won again?

21

You know that team, that one,

the team, the Seahawks, right?

22

Yeah.

23

Right.

24

Yeah.

25

The Seahawks, they won.

26

Yeah.

27

Actually, I could have remembered that.

28

Yeah.

29

I just didn't want to No, that's fair.

30

That's fair.

31

Clearly we didn't wager on things.

32

Hey, interesting question though.

33

It came up, we were just talking as a

staff together, just for fun playing

34

the lottery, buying a lotto ticket.

35

Doing something like that and then taking

your winnings and giving to the church.

36

Something that's, we would say yes,

no, or yes, with qualifications.

37

We would never, let me put it this

way, we would never encourage you,

38

Hey, we're setting up and tearing down.

39

We could really use a

facility as a church.

40

Hey church, we want you to go out

and everybody play the lottery.

41

That's, you're never gonna hear us ever

say anything even remotely close to that.

42

But what are maybe some of the

complications that we would

43

face with something like that?

44

There's at least a few at the top of

my mind that would be problematic.

45

And the first one is greed.

46

If you're trying to get more money and

you're doing so in a fashion that is

47

not backed by work, you're probably

veering into the territory called greed.

48

Second one would've to do with

stewardship, whether or not it's a right

49

use and a wise use of your money, in which

case you're simply testing the Lord by.

50

Putting your money out there and saying,

Lord, it would be good if you gave me

51

this amount of money and I could use it

for these things and perhaps even give

52

some to the church, wouldn't that be

a good thing you're testing the Lord,

53

which Jesus says you shouldn't do.

54

Scripture says, as a whole,

you shouldn't do that.

55

Both Old and New Testament and the

the stewardship of your wealth is

56

probably not best served by gambling.

57

Now lots of people have debate,

debated this for different reasons.

58

Gambling as testing the Lord in with

a greedy heart is one thing, but

59

gambling and we're just gonna use

a common vernacular just to, for

60

fun, for entertainment purposes.

61

I'm on a cruise with my spouse.

62

We're having a good time.

63

We bet a hundred bucks and

over the course of eight hours.

64

We could have spent that same a

hundred dollars on the dinner,

65

but we decided to do this instead.

66

It's more fun, it's engaging.

67

We had a great time doing the penny

machines and all those things.

68

Is that any different?

69

What would you say to that?

70

I think that the context

is important there.

71

I think, like you said, your

motive is important there.

72

I don't think there's a cross

the board, you can never do this.

73

You can never sit down

and play a hand of poker.

74

You can never, put a coin in a

slot machine and pull the handle.

75

I, I think when it.

76

It grips our hearts when it

becomes something where it's

77

leading to poor stewardship.

78

I think when it becomes something where

it's about the love of money rather

79

than it is, or even just the thrill

and that thrill even becomes an idol

80

in our hearts then we've got a problem.

81

I think one of the other issues with

the lottery, a lot of people talk about

82

how it's perpetuating poverty because

a lot of the people that play it are

83

people that can't afford to play it.

84

Yeah.

85

Well, from the state side especially.

86

Yeah.

87

Yeah.

88

State lottery's, one that.

89

Praise upon people that are vulnerable,

right, who are looking for a leg up on

90

their financial situation, and this is the

easiest way that they can score a buck.

91

Yeah.

92

And scripture speaks to

that, you alluded to it.

93

It's Proverbs 1311 says, wealth

that's gained hastily in other

94

words, it's gained speedily fast.

95

Like winning the lottery will

dwindle, but whoever gathers

96

little by little will increase it.

97

So if you look even, there's plenty of

other passages that we could point to,

98

especially in the book of Proverbs,

about the importance of working and

99

saving and accruing over time and

how much more value there is there

100

because you appreciated that much more.

101

Rather than, Hey I struck a lot of

big and then you're not as wise with

102

how you're gonna spend that money.

103

Not across the board, but

just generally speaking.

104

So that's why you're not gonna hear us

say among other reasons, Hey, go play

105

the lotto 'cause we want a building.

106

If somebody wins the lottery, should they.

107

Give to the church off of

what they live, what they win.

108

I don't know, man.

109

What would you say to that?

110

I wouldn't, we joke about Sure.

111

But just don't tell us.

112

It'd be really hard to

not know that though.

113

It would be hard if, if somebody

was just like John Deere average.

114

Yeah.

115

And suddenly they'd give us

$500,000 and we're like, Hey man.

116

Notice you've been driving

a nicer car lately, right?

117

Notice that you bought a new house, right?

118

You just gave us a lot of money.

119

Should we ask you why, right.

120

Are you part of a drug deal?

121

I, yeah, man, I, so this goes back

to the question, if I can say.

122

With a clear conscience, I can

receive this money because I trust

123

that the way that he got it, what

he wasn't intending to be greedy.

124

It was for funds value and Okay.

125

The Lord gave him a ton of money.

126

All right.

127

Well, I don't necessarily wanna say

no, but there does feel like a check

128

in my soul that says there's something

that's just not quite right about that.

129

And if that's the case, then

why should we encourage anyone

130

to do it in the first place?

131

Yeah.

132

I think so much of it is pernicious.

133

It's similar to drinking.

134

Drinking's not expressly

prohibited in scripture.

135

In fact, in some cases it's encouraged

as long as you don't get drunk.

136

And I think this is some,

somewhere in that same grade

137

territory where you can play it.

138

But as long as you're not, your heart's

not invested in it more than it should be.

139

And only really you

would know that, right?

140

And even then you may not know that

there are lots of people who play this

141

lots or play gambling apps for sports

betting and people to go to Vegas all

142

the time hoping to make their big break.

143

And people all the time

get sucked into it.

144

Like a vortex that's

just pulling you under.

145

And these guys know what they're doing.

146

They're capitalizing on human psychology.

147

And because the whole edifice,

the whole system is predatory,

148

it's hard for me to feel like this

is a good thing in any, right.

149

So even though the money might be purely

gained, it's still blood money in my mind.

150

There's a taintedness to it,

so I'm not saying it's wrong.

151

You hear me?

152

I'm struggling with this because

it feels like it's on the.

153

Edges of, well, it's not wrong, but I

wouldn't say it's necessarily righteous.

154

Right.

155

The heart motive plays such a

big part of it, and yet I know

156

we can be deceived easily.

157

So you can say, well, my heart's clean.

158

I just did this.

159

I'm, I got a clean conscience.

160

Okay.

161

But is there any chance that you're

being deceived by these things?

162

Yeah.

163

And I think that's a possibility.

164

Yeah.

165

Yeah, for sure.

166

And we don't wanna be

complicit in that or.

167

You use?

168

Yeah.

169

To your point, your term, you use

blood money in that too, so Yeah.

170

I'm with you.

171

So all that to say, there it is.

172

We weren't, pastor Rob wasn't gambling or

betting on the Super Bowl this weekend.

173

And I didn't, Nope, I do.

174

I, Kristen and I did place a couple

dollars with 50 bucks actually.

175

We went on a cruise and that's

why the illustration came up.

176

We went into a cruise and we

spent 50 bucks and I think I lost

177

it in a matter of 30 minutes.

178

Yeah.

179

If even that's him.

180

I'm like, you know what,

we're gonna turn around now.

181

We're done.

182

Were you were you wearing your dice shirt?

183

While you did that, man, the

lot is cast in the lap, but it's

184

every decision is from the Lord.

185

You remember that buddy?

186

Yes.

187

That is a biblical verse.

188

Hey, let's jump into Leviticus chapter 13.

189

Just one chapter today.

190

One chapter tomorrow.

191

Today we're dealing with laws about

leprosy or just skin diseases in general.

192

It's not all gonna be about leprosy,

but it is gonna be all about

193

diseases that afflict the skin

and what happens here and these.

194

This is important because of

what was at stake for the nation.

195

They were a nomadic people at this time.

196

They're traveling from area to area.

197

They're living in close quarters with

one another in these communities.

198

We're gonna get to eventually how

the camp was supposed to be arranged.

199

Somebody with a skin disease

could do severe damage to the

200

entire wellbeing of the community.

201

And so the instructions are

given here to make sure.

202

That these people that were afflicted

with these things would go to the priest.

203

And it's interesting that God gave

them a parameter, gave them a way

204

to diagnose the severity of this.

205

If it was something that was just

recoverable, then the person could.

206

Make their offerings,

they'd be acceptable.

207

They'd be brought back in.

208

But if it was truly shown to be

something lepar, then they were

209

unclean and until they could be made

clean and there was a lot of question

210

whether that would ever happen, they

had to live outside of the camp.

211

They had to live outside of the community.

212

We're gonna get to the fact

that Jesus is gonna heal lepers.

213

We've seen that, I think in Matthew.

214

We're gonna see that in Mark

here in a little bit here.

215

And it's just amazing that Jesus did that

by touching them because these people

216

were cast out, they were pariahs from the

entire community because they represented

217

a threat to the community as a whole.

218

And I can't help but read this and

think of the concept of sin that the

219

whole thing with leprosy, and we're

gonna see this in chapter 13 and as

220

well tomorrow, that they were concerned

about is did it go deeper than the skin?

221

Was it something that was an.

222

Internal problem rather than something

that was just an external problem.

223

And if they could tell that this

was something that went deeper

224

than the skin, that was when this

person was a threat, that's when

225

this person had a serious disease.

226

That was a danger to the

community as a whole.

227

And without over

spiritualizing Leviticus 13.

228

I do think one of the applications

for us to think about here is just

229

the danger of sin the danger of

sin in my life, the danger of sin.

230

In my life to the community of

the church that I'm a part of and

231

how damaging that can be to my

brothers and sisters in Christ.

232

And we're not gonna take somebody with sin

and put them outside the community and say

233

you have to say unclean, unclean, unclean.

234

But man, there's a threat there and

that person needs to be cleansed.

235

And the way that cleansing happens

is through the blood of Jesus Christ

236

or through repenting from that sin

and being restored to the community.

237

So, again, I don't wanna oversize

Leviticus 13, but I we're not

238

dealing with a lepers community.

239

I think that's one of the

things we can take away here.

240

I don't think it's over

spiritualizing it at all.

241

In fact, I would argue that the

primary play that God has here

242

is that he's using leprosy.

243

And by the way leprosy has

a more technical term today.

244

We use it in a very specific way to

talk about a certain skin disease

245

or collection of skin diseases.

246

But what we have here is likely

something more, a far broader, and

247

this doesn't mean God was wrong.

248

This just simply means that the

language to use to describe these

249

things was different back then.

250

As we progress as a society,

as we grow and change, we get

251

more and more sophisticated.

252

In certain fields of study,

particularly that of medicine.

253

Medicine obviously has a lot more

language to describe some of these things.

254

So when it says leprosy, it's

using a word that has a general

255

sense of some kind of skin disease.

256

It's not leprosy as we

understand it today.

257

This is likely a collection

of other diseases that would

258

encompass a lot more than what we

understand is leprosy that said.

259

When God speaks to Israel about these

things, remember we're talking about

260

the book concerning the Levites.

261

This is about ritual purity,

about how you approach God.

262

And so physical fitness had

implications for your spiritual fitness.

263

God used their physical person to say, you

see, one person is able to come to me when

264

they're physically appropriate to do so.

265

And you're gonna see more later on

about other parts of your physicality

266

that will make you unclean and

therefore unfit to approach God.

267

This was meant not to say that

there's a certain Class A person or

268

who's only only this kind of person

is good enough to approach God.

269

But it really meant, I think,

to speak to our spiritual state.

270

And therefore, something like

leprosy is highly significant

271

because of its transmit ability.

272

It's easy to infect you

and others around you.

273

It has implications for the community.

274

And if you notice verses 45

through let's call it 46 here.

275

The lepers person who has a disease

shall wear torn clothes and let the hair

276

of his head hang loose, and he shall

cover his upper lip and cry out unclean.

277

Unclean.

278

He shall remain unclean as long

he, as long as he has a disease,

279

he's unclean, shall live alone.

280

His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

281

This is effectively ritualized death.

282

He's mourning the loss of his life

because effectively he's lost it.

283

And this is exactly parallel to sin.

284

This is, I think, why this is here.

285

It's not because God cared

that much about leprosy.

286

He did.

287

He cared about his people.

288

This was meant to protect them and to

guard them from spreading disease easily.

289

But beyond that, the richer meaning

I think I, I can't see a better

290

one than to say sin spreads.

291

It kills, it affects the community.

292

You have to do everything in your power to

make sure that it doesn't infect others.

293

And in fact, because it's

a disease that can be.

294

Fixed apart from some intervention.

295

I think this speaks to our need for

someone to heal us of our own skin

296

disease, our own heart disease rather,

and that ultimately comes to Christ.

297

Leviticus 13 points us to Jesus.

298

Yeah, I love that.

299

13, 12, by the way you mentioned there's

various diseases that are spoken of here.

300

This may be confusing at first, but

he says if the lepers disease breaks

301

out in the skin so that the lepers

disease covers all the skin of the

302

disease person from head to foot,

then the person shall be clean.

303

That seems a little bit.

304

Opposite of what we would expect.

305

He's got this disease all over his body.

306

How is he then clean?

307

And the likelihood is that this is

a, again, about the surface, this

308

isn't something that's internal.

309

It's showing itself more as a pigmentation

change of the coloration of the

310

skin or something like that, that's

brought about by some sort of disease.

311

That's why the person's clean, because

it's not a transmittable disease

312

at that point with that person.

313

So just in case you're going,

wait a minute, if he's got it all

314

over his body, why is he clean?

315

Then that seems like a, an oxymoron.

316

That's why that one is provided.

317

But I agree with you.

318

I think that's a great way to look at

this and see Jesus here in Leviticus 13.

319

Let's go to Matthew chapter 26.

320

Matthew chapter 26 for our New Testament

reading as we pick up in verse 20.

321

And we read on together

through verse five.

322

Four.

323

So Matthew 26, verse 20 through 54.

324

We are in the upper room at

this point with the disciples.

325

Jesus is eating the Passover meal.

326

And again, why that's significant

is because this is going to give

327

us the timeframe because from here

he's going to go out and he's gonna

328

be in the garden of Gethsemane.

329

This is going to be Friday.

330

He's gonna be arrested on Friday.

331

He's going to be tried

early Saturday morning.

332

He's going to spend the

day in, I'm sorry, backup.

333

He's gonna be arrested on Thursday.

334

He's going to be tried early Saturday

morning, he, or Friday morning.

335

He's gonna be crucified on Friday.

336

Spend the grave day in the grave on

Saturday and then rise again on Sunday.

337

But this is the Passover meal and

that's the point that I was just

338

very confusingly making here.

339

And it's a key time marker for us

and understanding what's going on.

340

But Judas fate is sealed

here but woe to the man.

341

To whom or whom the son

of man is betrayed by.

342

It would've been better for

that man had he not been born.

343

And so Judas is going to

be identified by the Lord.

344

I think God and His grace is keeping

the disciples from really understanding

345

everything going on at this point.

346

That's why nobody stands up to stop.

347

Judas.

348

Judas is going to then go

out and do what he is called.

349

What he is.

350

Set in his heart to do.

351

In the upper room we see the

institution of the Lord's Supper, what

352

we, which we observe as communion.

353

And here the Lord breaks the bread and he

pours out the blood of the covenant, which

354

is the wine that they're drinking there.

355

And this is meant to

cause the remembrance.

356

And that's what the Apostle Paul is

gonna pick up on in one Corinthians

357

chapter 11, which is why we read about

it every time we take the Lord's table

358

together as do this in remembrance of me.

359

Just for clarity's sake here.

360

The drink that he's drinking we

assume is not real blood, correct?

361

It's not trans substantiated

into something else.

362

Correct.

363

We don't believe this is

the true flesh of Jesus.

364

This is not his actual

flesh that's being broken.

365

It's not his actual

blood being poured out.

366

There is a Christian line of thinking

that says, when Jesus says, this

367

is my body poured out for you, this

is my blood, that he's actually.

368

Meaning that he's being literalistic.

369

And this actually fits in nicely

with what we were asked about

370

earlier, whether you can take

anything Jesus says at face value.

371

And of course the answer to that

is we take everything Jesus says.

372

Absolutely.

373

How does he mean us to understand that?

374

And Jesus is really good at

using different literary devices

375

to communicate his meaning

When he says, this is my blood.

376

He doesn't mean literally this is

my blood, his blood's in his body.

377

What he's communicating is,

this represents my blood.

378

Mm-hmm.

379

It's probably a really safe way to see

that even though he technically says,

380

he literally says, this is my blood.

381

He doesn't literally mean that.

382

Literally he's meaning this

is symbolic of my blood.

383

And that's why we as Protestant

Christians we, most people

384

believe that it's symbolic.

385

It's not trans substantiated into

the actual blood and body of Jesus.

386

Yeah.

387

After this, Peter's gonna be

with Jesus and he's gonna promise

388

I'm gonna follow you to the end.

389

And Jesus predicts his denial

saying, you're gonna deny me three

390

times before the rooster crows.

391

And then from here they go into the

garden, the garden of Gethsemane.

392

There Jesus is going to pray three

times, and I think that's notable for us.

393

Three times he's gonna go to the heavenly.

394

Father and he's gonna pray that

the cup might pass from him.

395

And that's significant for us because

it shows us something about the Trinity.

396

When Jesus, when the second member of

the Trinity took on human flesh, human

397

nature, he gained or took on a human

will in concert with his divine will.

398

And so you see as part of the God

man in the flesh, these two wills

399

operative right here, you see the human

will of Jesus in the garden praying,

400

not my will, but your will be done.

401

That has created a lot of controversy

in the church over the ages, throughout

402

church history, but I think the garden.

403

Is a very clear depiction here where

we see that in his humanity, Jesus,

404

per he possessed a human will.

405

And yet in his perfection, he always

submitted that will to the Father.

406

And so we see an example of that

even though he's praying three times.

407

This is not Jesus rebelling

against the Father.

408

This is Jesus.

409

Setting an example for us to be

able to pray and even pray about

410

things that we are thinking,

are an inevitable conclusion.

411

I think Jesus knew what was gonna happen

here and yet he still went to the Father.

412

And yet in the end, he was willing

to follow the father's will and to

413

submit himself to the father's will.

414

And so he does that here in the garden.

415

Yeah.

416

We do see that Jesus is here truly

man, and he's also truly God in

417

his manhood and his human humanity.

418

He didn't want to go to the cross

and we would understand why.

419

But in his deity, he did it because

he was a submissive son of the father.

420

Yeah.

421

It's interesting because you're

right, I didn't realize how

422

much blood was spilled for this.

423

I mean, I did.

424

I didn't.

425

But I've been reading lately on church

history, and this has been one of

426

those things that took several hundred

years for the church to agree upon.

427

Now, it doesn't mean that they

were confused, it just meant

428

that finding the right language

to talk about Jesus took time.

429

Yeah.

430

We're entering into new territory.

431

It's like I was saying earlier as

we progress we gain new language

432

to describe things better.

433

If you're a chef.

434

You have a lot more language tools

available to you to talk about

435

how to prepare a certain dish.

436

I only understand low heat, medium

heat, high heat boil, no boil.

437

I understand that for theologians and

for Christians, it's not too dissimilar.

438

You might be a novice Christian and

you take you time to learn some of the

439

language, but the Christian Church grew

in her understanding of who Jesus was.

440

And there's things like this where

you see Jesus really wrestling

441

with what was gonna be next.

442

Now in his di, his divinity.

443

He knew he, he was gonna go to the

cross, but in his humanity, he struggled.

444

And I appreciate that because

it means Jesus was tempted in

445

always as we are yet without sin.

446

And it's because of that, that I can

now take comfort in who my great high

447

priest is and go to him when I, myself

feel weak in the next section here.

448

I think building on that idea, we see

not only his will and his submission of

449

his obedience, but also his self-control

because Judas comes up to betray him.

450

Jesus says to him, friend,

do what you came to do.

451

Judas goes on and betrays him.

452

Peter again is John identifies

and tells us that Peter did.

453

It draws the sword and cuts off the

ear of the servant of the high priest.

454

This is a man named Malki.

455

Jesus is gonna stop this and he

says, do you not think that I can?

456

Appeal to my father who will at once

send me more than 12 legions of angels.

457

But how then should the scripture

be fulfilled that it must be so?

458

So here I think we're seeing that

self-control of the son who was just a

459

moment ago praying, father, if there's

any, will let this cut past for me.

460

Here you see him demonstrating

that self control in that restraint

461

by not calling for the legions of

angels, which he's saying, I could.

462

I could do this.

463

It's at my disposal to do it.

464

But obeying the father is

better in this situation.

465

So I'm gonna tell my urge, I'm

gonna keep my urge submissive

466

to the will of the father here.

467

He also self-consciously in verse

54 says, I'm doing this 'cause

468

I wanna fulfill the scriptures.

469

I'm submitting to the father's

will because this is going to

470

fulfill all that I'm here to do.

471

This is Jesus' self-awareness and

saying, I'm doing what I'm doing

472

because God commends me to do this.

473

He calls me.

474

I'm here on a mission.

475

I'm not just, I'm not just an example.

476

I'm not just providing you a good moral.

477

A good moral guidance to follow after

I am self-aware in my fulfillment of

478

what scripture has called us to do.

479

And I love that because

Jesus is a man of the word.

480

We saw this earlier in Matthew chapter

four, when the devil accosts him.

481

He doesn't respond with,

well, shoot, go away.

482

He responds with the word says, or it is

written is what he says multiple times.

483

I love this.

484

Jesus is a man of the word.

485

Yeah.

486

Well, hey, let's pray and we

will be done with this episode

487

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

488

God, I pray that you would.

489

Keep us from sin that we would have

such a revulsion to sin, that we would

490

think of it like we just read about with

leprosy in Leviticus 13, that she would

491

keep us from entertaining it or thinking

that it's no big deal, that we would

492

see it as something that is dangerous

and that we would be cleansed from it.

493

The only way possible, which is through

the blood of Jesus Christ, whether that's

494

through faith and repentance, and Jesus

for forgiveness for the first time.

495

Or through coming back in repentance

to him as believers, knowing that

496

we need to lay our sin down at the

foot of the cross and find that

497

forgiveness on a regular basis.

498

We want to, even as Pastor Rod was

just saying, men and women of the

499

word as well, just as our savior was.

500

So help us to have that mindset as

well as we study your word day by day.

501

We pray this all in Jesus name.

502

Amen.

503

Keep bringing your Bibles and

tune in again tomorrow for another

504

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

505

Bye y'all.

506

Bye.

507

Edward: Thank you for listening to another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

508

We’re grateful you chose to

spend time with us today.

509

This podcast is a ministry of

Compass Bible Church in North Texas.

510

You can learn more about our

church at compassntx.org.

511

If this podcast has been helpful,

we’d appreciate it if you’d consider

512

leaving a review, rating the show,

or sharing it with someone else.

513

We hope you’ll join us again

tomorrow for another episode

514

of the Daily Bible Podcast.