00:00 Introduction and Welcome

01:24 Is “Son of God” Just Cultural Language? Context vs. “You Have Said So”

03:20 Progressive Revelation: How the Old & New Testaments Interpret Each Other

04:26 “Picky-Choosy” Accusation: Competing Narratives & Honest Hermeneutics

07:55 Praying for the Christian Witness & Her Muslim Coworker

08:48 Leviticus 24: Lampstand, Bread of the Presence, and Blasphemy Laws

11:01 Death Penalty, Blasphemy Today, and Defining What Blasphemy Is

14:55 Killing vs. Murder: Justice, War, Self-Defense, and Modern Death Penalty

16:09 Leviticus 25: Sabbath Year & Year of Jubilee (and Why Israel Didn’t Do It)

17:59 Neighbor Love in Practice: Loans, Workers, and Belonging to God

19:07 Mark 1: Jesus’ Authority, Healing Ministry, and the Priority of Prayer

20:41 Cleansing the Leper: Jesus’ Compassion and “Contagious Cleanliness”

22:01 Final Prayer

22:37 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

Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

2

It is me, pastor Rod, but I'm not alone.

3

Don't get scared.

4

Pastor Peach is here.

5

I just wanna jump into the question.

6

I'm here because there's so much

to talk about, so thank you.

7

And you're not being held hostage.

8

Can you confirm this?

9

I am not being held hostage.

10

Well, let me reread the question

that we had yesterday and then I'll.

11

Jump you guys into question two of this

text this is from a friend in California

12

whose coworker is a Muslim, and he

writes this, he says in the middle of the

13

podcast that he's importing New Testament

theology onto the Old Testament, which

14

is very odd to me, he says, but more

importantly, he talks about understanding

15

people's culture in colloquial

language of the times, et cetera.

16

When referencing Jesus

saying, you have said so, but.

17

Does he forget to apply those

same values to Son of God?

18

The title that Jesus so often uses,

which was also a metaphor or a

19

term of respect used at the time.

20

Why so picky choosy about

what fits their narrative.

21

If he's gonna be honest about

understanding of past people and how

22

they presented and understood things, why

is it so hard for him to be consistent?

23

Okay, so yesterday we picked

up on the first part of this.

24

By the way, thanks for sending us in.

25

Man, I am.

26

Right.

27

We love people, we love Christians

most 'cause those are our people.

28

But we also love the loss and we

love that, that she is interacting

29

with her Muslim coworker, and she's

pursuing him with a love of Christ.

30

This is commendable.

31

But we also wanted to deal with some

of the questions that, that he sent in.

32

Yesterday we talked a little bit

about the tone that we sensed in

33

the conversation today, we're gonna

talk a little more of the content.

34

So let's go to paragraph two, where

he says, more importantly, he talks

35

about understanding people's culture

and colloquial language of the time

36

when referencing Jesus saying, you

have said so, but does he forget to

37

apply those same values to Son of God?

38

So.

39

Is it the same when Jesus says, you

have said so, and we say, well, that's

40

the way that they said, you bet.

41

Or, you know, whatever

we said the last time.

42

Is it the same when we go

to the term son of God?

43

Are you being inconsistent?

44

I think that's really the idea

here you're being inconsistent

45

with the way that you apply.

46

The cultural lens and where you

make concessions or where you're

47

more generous to say, well,

that's probably not what he means.

48

It's not meant to be literal.

49

He's meaning to be metaphorical.

50

No I think those two statements

are apples and oranges.

51

When you look at Son of God, and I tried

to talk about this yesterday you're

52

dealing with a term and a phrase that

to the Jewish people, and that's what's

53

important for us to understand here.

54

This is a book, the Bible is, that's

about the his, the people of Israel.

55

So we have to read it through

the lens of the people of Israel.

56

We have to understand the people of

Israel and the Jewish people, not

57

just Middle Eastern people in general

at the time, but for the Jewish

58

people, the term his son of God held.

59

Extreme messianic significance

to say you have said so.

60

There's nothing laden to that other

than saying this is the normal way that

61

people would say, yes, I'm affirming

what you just said, but for Jesus

62

to embrace the term son of God, and

again, contextually in the midst of

63

everything else that he was doing with

regards to his claims to deity this

64

was a massive thing that he was doing.

65

And so it's a hermeneutical thing.

66

When we look at it and we look at

the context and we look at everything

67

else to go, no there's good reason

for us to say son of God held

68

weight versus, yeah, you're right.

69

You said.

70

So that's what it's, so if we were

looking at these two terms on an

71

island, you have said so and son of God.

72

I think he has a point, right?

73

Because you would say, well, yeah,

you're picking this one versus that one,

74

and I would a hundred percent agree.

75

I think the most important thing that

you're saying here is context, yes.

76

Is king when it comes to

understanding what is being meant

77

by a certain phrase or term.

78

For sure.

79

Okay.

80

That said, then, when you look at the Old

Testament and it uses Son of God, you said

81

it often conveys Messianic significance.

82

Mm-hmm.

83

Are we doing damage?

84

Are we in, are we inconsistent When we

look at a term like that from the Old

85

Testament or even son of man, Daniel

chapter seven, are we inconsistent?

86

Do you see any inconsistency

between using the Old Testament

87

to inform the new or vice versa?

88

No, because again, our conviction

as Christians is that the.

89

Old Testament the author of the

Old Testament is the same author

90

as the author of the New Testament,

and that is the Spirit of God.

91

And so as we read it, we read

it, understanding what's known as

92

progressive revelation, that God is

revealing more and more about who

93

he is and his plan for redemptive

history over the course of time.

94

And that means as we read the

New Testament, that's going

95

to help us understand more of

what God was indicating in.

96

And talking about in some

of these Old Testament text.

97

And so when we see Jesus step into things,

you even referenced something a few days

98

ago when it said that the scriptures

might be fulfilled, Jesus said this Jesus

99

is doing this on purpose, and we need to

understand that and see that is part and

100

parcel because this is one narrative.

101

We break it down into two testaments.

102

But this is one story

from beginning to end.

103

When he says, why are you being so picky,

choosy about what fits your narrative?

104

Yeah.

105

How do you respond to something like that?

106

Do you feel like there's any sense

in where, oh, I could see why you

107

think that is there a charitable

way to hear that and say, come on,

108

you're just not being fair here.

109

Yeah.

110

And let me go back to a

conversation again that I had

111

with a Muslim a couple weeks ago.

112

At the end of the day, we both

looked at each other and he said, you

113

know, this is what the Quran says.

114

And I said that, that's great,

but I don't believe in the Quran.

115

I don't believe it's authoritative.

116

Yeah.

117

And I said, this is what the Bible says.

118

And he said, okay, but I don't.

119

That's great.

120

I don't believe what the Bible says.

121

I don't believe it.

122

Right.

123

So at the end of the day, he's

right in that it is our narrative.

124

But the question is which narrative's?

125

Right.

126

Okay.

127

And the law of non-contradiction

would say that both of our

128

narratives can't be right.

129

One is right, one is wrong.

130

And so then it's a matter of our

convictions, which we would, as

131

Christians maybe say, are our faith.

132

Informing how we understand the

scriptures and we're going to interpret

133

the scriptures through our understanding

that is guided by our faith in God,

134

our faith, that God has revealed

himself through these 66 books and

135

that there's a continuity in them.

136

It is the narrative.

137

It is the narrative of Christianity,

and it's the narrative that we have

138

embraced as followers of Christ, and it's

gonna be different than the narrative

139

that he has as a Muslim because we

are, we have competing truth claims.

140

And again, I would say both of

those truth claims can't be true.

141

One's right, one's wrong.

142

I would add to that too, that when

Christians read the Bible we don't get to

143

say, I like this verse, I want this one

to be the one that we build our life upon.

144

Right?

145

We're not free to do that.

146

I know some people give evidence to the

contrary, and they're not good teachers,

147

they're not good students of the word.

148

Anyone who approaches any book, if

you're gonna be honest, you're gonna

149

say, what does the author intend

to say by what they're saying?

150

We call this method, the

grammatical historical approach.

151

Yep.

152

Christianity.

153

Banks on this, but

we're not the only ones.

154

A good literary reader, a good, someone

who teaches English is gonna use a

155

similar method when they approach

John Steinbeck's East of Eden.

156

They're gonna look at the grammatical,

historical nature of the book and

157

say, what is he saying by the grammar?

158

And historically, what did it

mean at that point in time?

159

You're looking at culture

and you're saying, how did

160

he intend to be understood?

161

We do the same thing with scripture,

and so when we interpret it we're not

162

trying to say, I like this one better.

163

I, this is a better verse to me.

164

I like John three 16, we're gonna,

let's just build a church on

165

that one if we're being honest.

166

And I, and to the ex furthest

extent that we can do that.

167

Mm-hmm.

168

I grant that we, none of us know

ourselves well enough to say, I'm

169

being perfectly objective here.

170

Mm-hmm.

171

But we do intend to do that.

172

Our hardest to be honest and

authentic before the text

173

to say, what does this say?

174

And how do I know?

175

I'm looking at grammar, I'm looking

at history, and I'm putting those

176

two pieces together to inform my

understanding of what the original

177

author meant to the original audience.

178

So I would say we're not being.

179

Picky choosy friend.

180

We are being faithful to what

he's saying and we're saying,

181

how do we best understand the

text based on what's said here?

182

And that is the art and

science of hermeneutics, right?

183

That's ex of Jesus.

184

We're drawing information out

of the text, and that's why

185

we bank on Son of God, right?

186

And son of man, Daniel chapter

seven gives us reason to do that.

187

Daniel seven.

188

13, 14.

189

Yeah.

190

14, I believe.

191

Yeah.

192

That's what son of man's a loaded

term as well, just like son of God.

193

So we take scripture at face value

and we take it authoritatively and

194

absolutely according to it, genre.

195

And that's why we focus

on some of these things.

196

Amen.

197

Anything you'd add to that?

198

No, I would say I agree.

199

I appreciate that the explanation of

some of the science of hermeneutics

200

that you were just given too.

201

That's a big part of what informs our,

again, our narrative as well is the

202

way that we interpret the scriptures

is not unique to Christianity.

203

To your point, that's the way

everybody interprets anything

204

that they're gonna come to.

205

Right.

206

Unless you wanna be.

207

Postmodern.

208

Right.

209

In which case it means

whatever you want it to mean.

210

Well, before we jump into the text,

would you do us a favor of praying

211

for our friend and her friend?

212

Yep.

213

God, we do pray right now that you

would help our sister in Christ

214

to be a light and to be a clear

evidence of somebody who loves.

215

Well and loves the lost Well,

and somebody who is convinced in

216

her heart of her faith in Christ.

217

We know that she is, but that you'd

give her the wisdom and the words

218

to say in these conversations.

219

And God, we do pray for her

friend, her coworker here.

220

We pray that you would grant him.

221

Lord, just a patience to be able to.

222

Truly interact with the gospel,

the good news that you would enable

223

him to read the text and that you

would even grant him faith in, in

224

repentance, that you would lead him

to a place of wanting to follow Jesus.

225

Truly.

226

Follow Jesus.

227

The Jesus that we find in the scriptures,

the Jesus that we know of in the Bible.

228

And so God, we trust that you're able

to do that, and we ask that you would,

229

and we pray this in Jesus' name.

230

Amen.

231

Amen.

232

We love you guys.

233

Let's jump in from there to Leviticus

24 and 25, Leviticus 24 and 25.

234

More instructions for the tabernacle

initially with the lamp stands, which

235

again, I just love that the lampstands

are there for what purpose, to give light.

236

Because God is a God of light.

237

And I think there's significance there

as to why the lampstands are gonna be

238

present in the tabernacle, because it

reminds us that God is a God of light.

239

The bread that's gonna be listed

there is going to be 12 loaves

240

because there's one representative

from each of the tribes of Israel

241

and his communion with each of them.

242

Yes.

243

I love that.

244

Yes.

245

So special.

246

Yeah.

247

Yeah.

248

And so the 12 loaves are

gonna be there on the the.

249

Table four.

250

The bread that he le

leaves and it's prohibited.

251

It says they shall be for

Aaron and his sons, and they

252

shall eat it in a holy place.

253

And yet we're gonna find out a little

bit later on in the story that.

254

David, you're not gonna

address that right now.

255

I'll just wet the appetites.

256

Oh, okay.

257

Unless you feel like we need

to address it right now.

258

I, well, I, all you need to know

is first Samuel 21 and Matthew 12.

259

There it is.

260

'cause there's some issues here.

261

Yep.

262

And we're gonna have to deal with those.

263

We'll get there.

264

Here we go.

265

We'll get there.

266

Punishments for blasphemy the stoning.

267

This is, by the way, the charge

that's gonna be brought against Jesus

268

because of his claim to being God,

by the way, that's an apologetic.

269

For why we hold to the fact that

Jesus didn't indeed claim to be God,

270

because that's why he was crucified.

271

That's why his enemies

nailed him to the cross.

272

That's why his enemies brought him to

Pilate, is because of his claim to be God.

273

And so the charge of

blasphemy resulted in death.

274

And that's what we see in chapter 24.

275

And then we get into a lot of, here's

the, here's what justice looks like.

276

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

277

Whoever takes a human life by

their life shall be forfeit.

278

Whoever takes an animal's life.

279

There's all these rules and

regulations that are given here.

280

Which we're gonna talk a little bit,

well, I guess this is retroactive.

281

We did talk on Sunday a little bit about

the fact that it's okay for us to seek

282

justice as Christians, that there are.

283

Times where it's appropriate for

us to seek justice because it's

284

upholding what God would say is good.

285

So just because we read Peter's saying

we can't repay evil for evil, or reviling

286

for reviling, or just because we read

about wanting to suffer in such a way that

287

people ask us for a reason, for the hope

that's in us, doesn't mean that at the

288

same time we can't pursue means of earthly

justice, even as God here is prescribing

289

means of earthly justice to his people.

290

Speaking of earthly justice, a few

questions come to mind that I would love

291

for you to interact with here First.

292

The death penalty is

prescribed for blasphemy.

293

We don't do that today, at

least not to my knowledge.

294

Are you doing this in your office?

295

No.

296

Okay.

297

Okay, so the first question is, why

don't we, this is clearly a moral issue.

298

This is a moral law.

299

You don't say bad things about

the Lord, and yet we haven't

300

put anyone to death yet.

301

Maybe we start this Sunday.

302

Secondly.

303

Speaking of the death penalty.

304

Yeah.

305

It seems here in verses 17 to

23 that Moses talks about both.

306

He uses the word kill but it

seems like he's speaking about

307

murder in some sense, and that he's

talking about killing in another.

308

I'd like for you to talk not only about

the death penalty for blasphemy, but

309

also the death penalty as we understand

it today, whether and when there's a

310

difference between killing and murder.

311

Sure.

312

Let's talk about blasphemy when

we get into the New Testament.

313

Again, Jesus is gonna say

something interesting.

314

He's gonna say, all sins may be

forgiven, man, except for one.

315

And that is the blasphemy of the

Spirit, that one cannot be forgiven.

316

But in the New Testament, there

is not a continuation of the.

317

Call for that Jesus doesn't say and

take the person that blasphemes and

318

take them out and stone them to death.

319

Yeah.

320

In fact, even when Jesus blasphemes,

they don't turn around and stone him

321

right away in the eyes of the Jews.

322

They don't now they're gonna

do it with Stephen later on.

323

And so it's not completely unheard of.

324

Right.

325

But it seems like even by the

New Testament times, they weren't

326

doing it as regularly as they

were back in the Old Testament.

327

And then when we get into the era of

the church age, we're dealing with a.

328

A different relationship with

God the name Yahweh, for example.

329

The Jews couldn't

pronounce the name Yahweh.

330

They had to pronounce the name as Jehovah.

331

There was a different austerity

about it, and there was a

332

different level, of accessibility.

333

And so the idea of what was blasphemy,

even the Old Testament versus what

334

is blasphemy today because of our

relationship with Christ, we have a

335

much of different relationship with

God than the Jewish people ever had.

336

So our closeness our proximity, the

forgiveness the spirit dwelling within

337

us, I think is a lot of what even prevents

and protects us as Christians from even

338

committing blasphemy to begin with.

339

So blasphemy is still a level 10, clearly.

340

Here it's a level 10 sin.

341

Yes.

342

We would still say you should not do that.

343

Yes.

344

Define blasphemy as.

345

We should understand it

today clearly for them.

346

Yeah.

347

Back then, they all had an

agreed upon understanding.

348

Mm-hmm.

349

They just knew when it was taking place.

350

Mm-hmm.

351

Today our language is often

so filthy and so coarse.

352

When are we crossing the line?

353

Are we allowed to use.

354

Euphemisms instead of God.

355

So if you say, gosh, yeah.

356

And instead of saying, oh my, whatever.

357

Yeah.

358

Or something like that.

359

Is that blasphemy?

360

Is blasphemy something technical?

361

Yeah.

362

Right.

363

Have to say a certain phrase?

364

Or is it more flexible in language?

365

How would you talk about that?

366

So blasphemy.

367

The concept behind the word is

to take that which is exalted and

368

make it lowly to make it common.

369

And that is what the problem at the

heart of blasphemy is it's taking God

370

who is to be exalted and held in an

exalted state and treating him as common,

371

treating him as something that's not God.

372

Dragging his name through the

mud, dragging his name through the

373

mud, when it comes to our words,

can we blaspheme with our words?

374

I sure you can blaspheme with your words.

375

It's is it saying gosh or

darn in place of another word?

376

I would go to what Jesus says, man.

377

The heart of the issue is a heart issue.

378

It's what's going on in your heart

when you're saying these things.

379

If the heart problem.

380

If you're expressing the same thoughts

with your heart as you are, if you use

381

the actual profan profane words, then

you probably shouldn't use the, those

382

profane words is all cussing blasphemy?

383

I don't think I would go so far as to say

all cussing is blasphemy, but I think we

384

can still blaspheme God with our words.

385

I still think we can treat

God who is high and exalted.

386

We one of our distinctives,

we have a high view of God.

387

We wanna maintain a high view

of God, we can speak about

388

God in a way that demeans him.

389

If we use his name in vain, I would

say that that is a form of blasphemy.

390

If we turn the name of God into a curse

word I'd say that's a form of blasphemy

391

and we need to be on guard against

that because it is a level temp thing.

392

Okay.

393

When Moses here, thank you for that.

394

When Moses here talks about killing, and

he, I think he's talking about murder

395

for sure, at least in one of these here.

396

But he doesn't use murder.

397

He seems to equate the terminology.

398

Would you distinguish

between killing and murder?

399

Whe when and whether they're

appropriate or different.

400

Yeah, I think wartime is gonna be

one form of killing that takes place.

401

You've got a soldier that's going out

and representing his country and fighting

402

in a battle if he kills somebody.

403

I wouldn't qualify that as murder

within the rules of war, so to speak.

404

If somebody comes in and breaks

into your home and you kill

405

that person in defense of your.

406

Your family.

407

I don't think that's murder.

408

I think that's different.

409

I would qualify that

as killing not murder.

410

So I do think there's a difference there.

411

I think murder is the intentional

taking of another's life without the

412

ne, without unlawful being necessary.

413

Un yeah.

414

Unlawfully.

415

Yeah.

416

Yeah.

417

That's a really helpful

clarification because we're

418

dealing with this even today.

419

People who encourage the death penalty

for, I think sometimes seemingly

420

good reasons, they'll say, well, the

scripture says you shall not murder.

421

And we would say, well,

hold on a second here.

422

Let's define that.

423

And I think you're right,

unlawful taking of human life.

424

So many complexities here.

425

And I just wanna point you guys to the

attention how Leviticus is still relevant.

426

Yeah.

427

We're talking about things that

are really relevant for today.

428

Yeah.

429

And yet we're, we're reading

from an ancient book.

430

Leviticus has a lot to tell us.

431

Thanks for indulging me

on some of those things.

432

Let's hit to chapter 25.

433

Yeah.

434

Chapter 25 a really cool chapter

talking about the, something that

435

Israel actually never did, and that

is to observe what's known as the

436

Sabbath year and even the year jubilee.

437

So the Sabbath year was every six

years they were to let the land rest.

438

They weren't to farm the land, cultivate

the land, and God was gonna provide enough

439

food the year before to last three years.

440

Why three years?

441

Well, because if they were gonna

let the land lay fallow for a year,

442

it was probably gonna take another

two years after that for them

443

to get food, to be able to have.

444

Produce that was gonna bear

fruit for them to survive.

445

So this is what they were commanded to do.

446

Now, they weren't gonna do this, and the

reason we know they weren't gonna do this

447

is because during the exile they were

gonna be exiled for 70 years because they

448

were gonna be exiled for the number of

Sabbath years that they had neglected.

449

And the land was gonna lie.

450

Re lie at rest or lie fall

fallow for those times.

451

The Sabbath year though, every

seven of them, you would have

452

what's called the Year of Jubilee.

453

And this was meant to be a time when

all of those that were enslaved or

454

all of the property that had been

exchanged was gonna be returned.

455

They were gonna be set free or

they were gonna be returned.

456

There was exceptions to that rule, but

generally speaking you were gonna return

457

things to those who originally held the

property and held the ownership of it.

458

Part of that, I think as we get into the

promised land is God wanted tribal land.

459

Stay within tribes.

460

He didn't want the people to lose their

allotment, their inheritance in the land.

461

And so God is gonna provide for this.

462

But again, I don't know that

we have any examples of this

463

taking place in Israel's history.

464

Yeah, I was gonna bring that up.

465

There's no evidence that

they've ever done this.

466

Yeah.

467

Which is a shame because this

seems like a really cool thing.

468

I'd love to have seen or at least

written or heard about it taking

469

place and what, how it worked out.

470

'cause it seems so.

471

I don't know.

472

Idealistic.

473

I love that God at least

set this vision for them.

474

That doesn't seem like

they've ever carried it out.

475

Ever The year of Jubilee

or the Sabbath year.

476

Yeah.

477

Which is a shame, a shame for them.

478

'cause God gives it to

them for their good.

479

He, it's a blessing that's meant to serve

them, and yet they probably never did it.

480

Yeah.

481

What a bummer.

482

Yeah.

483

Later on in chapter 25, there's more

on loving our neighbor loving their

484

brother even in how they give loans that

they're not supposed to exact interest,

485

but they're supposed to fear God.

486

How they interact with those that

they hire into their service.

487

They're not supposed to treat their

employees ruthlessly, it says there in

488

verse 43, but you shall fear the Lord.

489

And so the fear of God was

supposed to overflow into

490

how they treated one another.

491

And that goes back to Jesus saying,

the greatest commandment is love God

492

with all your heart, soul, and mind.

493

And the second is like it love

your neighbor as yourself.

494

And so the.

495

Law Leviticus is reinforcing

those things for us there.

496

Yeah.

497

The chapter closes with

something spectacular here or

498

interesting, maybe not spectacular.

499

It says, for it is to me that the

people of Israel are servants.

500

And you'll see a number

there next to your ESV.

501

It says slaves.

502

Yeah.

503

Israel was slave to God.

504

They were his subjects,

they were his servants.

505

And I appreciate that because it doesn't

change in the New Testament here.

506

Right.

507

We are too formerly slaves

us in and now we're slaves to

508

Christ, slaves to righteousness.

509

So interesting language, and

I know that's laden with.

510

Connotations that we're

not trying to communicate.

511

Right, but it suffice it to say,

we are, we belong to another.

512

That's a good way to put it.

513

Yeah.

514

Roman six uses that language.

515

If you're wondering where does it say

I'm a slave to God, Roman six does.

516

It says we've been set free from sin

in order to become slaves of God.

517

So Mark chapter one, verses.

518

23 through 45.

519

Jesus is gonna continue his ministry here.

520

He's teaching, he is healing.

521

There's a situation with

somebody in the Sabbath.

522

Jesus is going to cast demons out.

523

And then Jesus is gonna

end up with a long night.

524

He's gonna be at Peter's

mother-in-law's house and he's

525

gonna be healing people that are.

526

Coming to him because people are

recognizing something significant about

527

Jesus and he's up late into the night.

528

He's healing all of these people.

529

And then he gets up and I

think we point this out every

530

year, but it's so significant.

531

He gets up early in the morning because

he needs to spend time with the Father.

532

And that's such a good reminder to us.

533

It's an example to us that if our Savior

needed that time with his father, then

534

we need that time with the Lord as well.

535

And so Jesus does this in the morning.

536

Doesn't have to be in the morning

whenever it is that you've got your

537

quiet time, you've got your time

for daily Bible reading prayer.

538

Spending time there that's

something that you are doing

539

because your savior has done it too.

540

And so if, again, if Christ

needed it, we needed it as well.

541

And this is where Jesus says to

his disciples, you know what?

542

We need to go on from here because

I have been called to preach.

543

That's why I've come out.

544

So a lot of times we think of all

the reasons why Jesus was sent.

545

And yet here he says very explicitly

that part of the reason he was sent

546

for these three years of earthly

ministry was to proclaim the good

547

news of the gospel of the kingdom.

548

Yeah, that section about his prayer time.

549

I just wanna note here what you see in

that little section is that Jesus gained

550

clarity about his priority, clarity, about

his mission and conviction to go forward.

551

He knew what he was doing.

552

He knew where he was going,

all because he prayed.

553

That convicts me all the time.

554

Every time I read that,

I'm like, oh, okay.

555

I need to pray more.

556

I need to pray better.

557

Yeah.

558

I wanna get better at this.

559

So if you're gonna pray for your

pastors, pray that we pray better.

560

Yes.

561

Hm, yes.

562

And then chapter one ends here with

the cleansing of a leper, which

563

we've spent some time in Leviticus.

564

One of the benefits, I know we're not

doing the chronological plan anymore as

565

much as we love that, but one benefit

to spending time in the Old Testament

566

and now the New Testament, is you've

got some background here that I think

567

gives some extra weight to what we see.

568

Jesus goes to this leper, and if

you'll notice, he reaches out and

569

touches him in order to clean him.

570

Or to heal him.

571

And remember, we, we've read

about it in Leviticus, that the

572

lepers were not to be touched.

573

The lepers were contagious.

574

They were to be outcast from society.

575

And so Jesus touches this man to heal him.

576

He didn't have to do that.

577

He could have spoken it.

578

He could have done

whatever he wanted to do.

579

He could have danced a jig and the guy

could have been cleansed of his leprosy.

580

But Jesus reached out and

touches him because he's

581

compassionate and he's loving.

582

And he shows that he's got

the power over disease.

583

Disease, doesn't have the power over him.

584

Yeah, I like the way

that one author put this.

585

He says that Jesus has a

contagious cleanliness.

586

Hmm.

587

Which is unlike anyone

else in all human history.

588

Obviously Jesus is unique because

he is Son of God, son of man.

589

But notice also Jesus effectively

trades places with the leper.

590

The leper, as you just read, would have

to be unclean sitting outside of the city.

591

But we see here in verse 45 that because

his leper went out and told everybody

592

about his healing, Jesus could no longer

openly enter a town, but he went out.

593

In desolate places.

594

Yeah, that's, and so Jesus cool

changes places with the leper

595

all because he touched him.

596

Ugh.

597

Who could not love that savior?

598

That's a good observation.

599

For sure.

600

Let's pray.

601

God, that is the question.

602

Who could not love Christ?

603

And we certainly wanna be those

that love him and love him well.

604

And so we pray that we would be a church

that's known for our love for Jesus,

605

and that would show up in how we live,

how we read your word and how we pray.

606

God, we wanna be a praying church.

607

We wanna be a church that

is committed to that.

608

That doesn't just outsource our

relationship with you to our reading time

609

or our study time, or whatever it is.

610

But we wanna be a church

that communicates with you.

611

And so help us to do that faithfully.

612

We pray this all in Jesus' name.

613

Amen.

614

Well guys, we hope you're

having a great week.

615

Keep you in your Bibles.

616

It'll make it even better if you do, and

we'll catch you again tomorrow for another

617

edition in the Daily Bible Podcast.

618

See you then.

619

Bye.

620

Edward: Thank you for listening to another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

621

We’re grateful you chose to

spend time with us today.

622

This podcast is a ministry of

Compass Bible Church in North Texas.

623

You can learn more about our

church at compassntx.org.

624

If this podcast has been helpful,

we’d appreciate it if you’d consider

625

leaving a review, rating the show,

or sharing it with someone else.

626

We hope you’ll join us again

tomorrow for another episode

627

of the Daily Bible Podcast.