00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:18 Abraham's Deception Revisited

01:43 God's Faithfulness Despite Sin

04:01 The Birth of Isaac

04:56 Hagar and Ishmael's Departure

08:32 God's Promise to Ishmael

10:45 The Sacrifice of Isaac

14:59 Abraham's Faith in Resurrection

16:08 The Barren Womb and Resurrection Power

17:28 Abraham's Test of Faith

19:17 Transition to the New Testament

19:27 Understanding Judgment in Matthew 7

20:52 God's Good Gifts and Prayer

22:56 The Golden Rule and Its Context

24:19 Warnings and True Faith

28:22 Concluding Thoughts and Prayer

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 the Daily Bible

Podcast, the eighth edition, according

2

to Pastor Mark, the eighth edition.

3

'cause it's January 8th.

4

Let's make a smooth transition into

our daily Bible reading for today.

5

How am I gonna do that?

6

I'm not, let's just jump into Genesis 20.

7

Genesis 20.

8

This is, fascinating.

9

We are into a story about Abraham and

Alec and we've already seen something

10

like this happen back in Genesis 12.

11

So yeah, some deja vu when

you are reading this probably.

12

And you're gonna get some

more later on in Genesis.

13

That's right.

14

That's right.

15

So why do you think.

16

This repeats for, why do you think we

have a similar story as we did before?

17

Yeah.

18

So Abraham goes to Aek and

says, Sarah is not his wife.

19

He is her brother.

20

Why, why does this happen again?

21

I think you can probably

relate in your own life to.

22

Frankly, the foolishness of sin.

23

Mm-hmm.

24

And how we are so often enticed

back by the same things that

25

caused us problems before.

26

I know for myself, definitely

sin has power and we.

27

Sometimes when we're not, when

we're not faithful, we're not

28

careful, we're not diligent.

29

We can fall to the exact same thing again.

30

And this is just to demonstrate

that Abraham is indeed a sinful guy.

31

Mm-hmm.

32

And I think Moses, as he writes

Genesis is helping us see that sin

33

is foolish and frankly Abraham is.

34

Foolish despite the fact that

he really should know better.

35

Yeah, and kinda like we mentioned in

the last episode with Lot God saves

36

people, whether it's Abraham or Lot,

or us, in spite of ourselves, even

37

though that we're sinful, that we don't

make the right decisions even after.

38

Being in a relationship with God, we

still sin and fall short, but God is

39

so faithful to, to save us, and that's

what he does here in this situation.

40

Even though it's Abraham gets

himself in this mess, AB Bialek

41

ends up taking Sarah into his home.

42

God gets them out of this situation.

43

Despite Abraham's sin.

44

Yeah.

45

What a kindness of God.

46

Definitely.

47

What a kindness of God that he is

willing to forgive us when we make

48

the same mistake a second time.

49

Mm-hmm.

50

The salvation that God provides

is not contingent on us, never

51

making the same mistake twice.

52

But instead we see here that

God is actually very gracious.

53

I think there's also an

incredible contrast here that.

54

Moses wants us to see between Abraham,

God's chosen person, God's chosen man.

55

Mm-hmm.

56

And this kind of random guy, a bialek.

57

Yeah.

58

And Abraham is deceitful and doesn't

trust the Lord, but a bialek, it says in

59

verse five that he's quoted as saying,

in the integrity of my heart, in the

60

innocence of my hands, I have done this.

61

Meaning.

62

Mm-hmm.

63

He is not, and God agrees with him.

64

He is not.

65

Gotten married effectively to Sarah.

66

Let me put it.

67

That way.

68

Yeah.

69

And God agrees with him.

70

Yeah.

71

Mm-hmm.

72

Isn't that amazing?

73

And it is, I think, really

helpful to see the contrast there.

74

But man, what a good thing that

God is in his kindness willing to

75

keep ab bialek from sin, right?

76

He's willing to help.

77

When there's really no

reason that he ought to help.

78

Mm-hmm.

79

But he's willing to help ab Bialek

and ultimately he's willing to protect

80

Abraham and Sarah and the promise of

the son that they will soon receive.

81

Right.

82

Because if Ab Bialek and Sarah do

get together, then we wouldn't know

83

in Chapter 21 when Isaac's born,

we wouldn't know if AEK was his

84

father or if Abraham was his father.

85

Right.

86

It would actually maybe seem

like Aek was his father.

87

Maybe Abraham was the

problem this whole time.

88

So God is making sure it's.

89

Very clear and evident that Isaac

is the son of Abraham and Sarah, and

90

making sure that he shows himself

to be faithful to his promises.

91

Yeah.

92

And let's get to chapter 21, where

we actually see the fulfillment, the

93

incredible fulfillment of that promise.

94

They actually get a baby.

95

Mm-hmm.

96

Against all odds?

97

Yeah.

98

Against everything that

worldly is going against them.

99

God fulfills his promise.

100

What?

101

What an incredibly good thing.

102

And they name their son Isaac.

103

Which, what does that mean?

104

It means that he laughs and

that's a callback to Sarah

105

laughing when God told her mm-hmm.

106

That she was gonna bear.

107

Mm-hmm.

108

A sun and then we have some more

laughing that happens later on in

109

this passage, but it's probably

a different type of laughing.

110

Is that right?

111

Yeah, I think so.

112

I think we see.

113

A lot of irony in Isaac's

name as someone who laughs.

114

I think at this point he's named

that because they're joyful,

115

they're thankful and I think they

are also calling back to when they

116

both laughed as you already said.

117

But then, yeah, there's

more laughter that happens.

118

In this passage and that laughter

is, I'm gonna go out on a limb a

119

little bit and suggest that that

laughter is Hagar and Ishmael.

120

Really trying to usurp

Isaac as the promised one.

121

Now there's lots to be said there.

122

There's different interpretations on

this, but I think that suggestion of

123

him laughing is not just like some

sort of funny joke that was said,

124

but you can see the response of

Sarah as a result of that laughter.

125

And I'm gonna contend that

that laughter is actually.

126

Their attempt to undo mm-hmm.

127

What is promised to Isaac.

128

Now, does that mean that

their response is right?

129

Is what Sarah suggests a

morally good thing to do?

130

What do you think?

131

I, that's really tough.

132

That's really it's tough, especially

when there's not really any comment

133

from the narrator on what Sarah did.

134

And what does she do?

135

Just to refresh her memory.

136

So, yeah, so Sarah tells

Abraham, Hey, get this.

137

Get this lady and her son outta here,

they're making fun of me and Isaac.

138

They're as you'd say, maybe trying to

take back what they would see as the

139

rightful place, as the child of promise.

140

And so she sends 'em packing

and I don't know, right?

141

Because God has compassion

on Hagar, right?

142

He.

143

Rescues her.

144

He saves their lives when

they're out wandering.

145

But yeah, there's not really

a verdict on what Sarah did.

146

Yeah.

147

And in fact, God even tells Abraham

to do what Sarah says to do.

148

Mm-hmm.

149

And that's to throw Hagar and Ishmael out.

150

I think at the very least we

can agree that this is a messy.

151

Bad situation.

152

Yeah.

153

And usually those messy

situations are the result of sin.

154

Yeah.

155

And that's very much the case here, right?

156

Because why?

157

Why are Hagar and Ishmael around?

158

Ultimately 'cause they didn't trust

Abraham and Sarah didn't trust in

159

the promise that God gave them.

160

And so the reason that this is even

a problem is because of their sin.

161

Mm-hmm.

162

And I think we can so often assume

that a sin just ends with that sin.

163

Mm.

164

But.

165

Sin never ends well, there is never

ever a point where any sin ends.

166

Well, yeah, we don't sin

in a vacuum either, right?

167

Yeah.

168

There's always consequences.

169

There's always downstream effects,

whether it's making that sin easier in

170

the future for us or whether there's

consequences of that sin later on.

171

And that's a helpful way to

resist temptation, right?

172

Is to remember even though God might

forgive me, my sin won't just end.

173

That's right there.

174

There might be consequences later on.

175

And some sort of impact.

176

That's right.

177

I think just to put it simply,

I think every sin will produce

178

more sin in the future.

179

At the worst, at the best, it

will produce a greater temptation

180

than you would've otherwise faced.

181

Mm-hmm.

182

That has to be overcome.

183

So that's what's going on here.

184

They have a messy situation that

is a product of their sin and

185

God is gracious in this, but.

186

Wouldn't it be nice to have

avoided this altogether?

187

And I think we can say the same thing

for our lives when we look back at

188

sins that we've committed and we look

back at the consequences of those sins.

189

So we see this situation

happen with Ishmael and.

190

Hagar.

191

Mm-hmm.

192

But God is also kind to them.

193

Yeah.

194

And what specifically does he do

to be kind to them as they get

195

thrown out of Abraham's house?

196

Yeah.

197

Which that's a, this is a crazy thing

that God shows so much kindness to

198

Hagar and Ishmael because like we said,

they're not the result of something.

199

Good that was done.

200

They're actually, the reason they're

in this story is because of distrust

201

in God on Sarah and Abraham's part,

but then God still decides to bless.

202

Even Ishmael's descendants.

203

Mm-hmm.

204

And to make him into a great nation.

205

And he shows compassion on Sarah

and her or on Hagar and her son.

206

And I think something a lot of

Christians might not know is

207

that the Prophet Muhammad is,

and there's no direct evidence of

208

this, at least as far as I know.

209

Maybe somebody can.

210

Let me know if there is otherwise,

but as far as I know, there's

211

no actual evidence of this.

212

But the claim is this, the prophet

Muhammad is in the direct lineage of

213

Ishmael, and at the very least you can

see the nations that come from Ishmael

214

and God does fulfill this promise.

215

Mm-hmm.

216

There are, nations that are very much

directly related to Ishmael and are big

217

and are important and I think arguably.

218

Even to this day, the Muslim faith, I

think is rightly attributed to Ishmael.

219

What do you think?

220

Yeah, I think it, it makes sense

when you see what's said about his

221

descendants and even just the idea of.

222

The, in genesis, there's

a lot of contrast mm-hmm.

223

Between the, going back to Genesis

three, the seed of the woman and the

224

seed of the serpent, the offspring of the

woman, and the offspring of the serpent.

225

So there's almost a good guise and

bad guys situation throughout Genesis.

226

Yep.

227

Starting with Cain and Abel.

228

Yep.

229

And you see this conflict and this

tension throughout the rest of the book.

230

And I think this is one example of that.

231

Yep, that's right.

232

That's right.

233

Alright.

234

There's a section here

with the treaty on Abe.

235

We are going to pass it over.

236

Not that you should pass it over in

your daily Bible reading and not that

237

we're the angel of the Lord either.

238

But we are going to pass over.

239

The one thing about this section

that I would note is that it's

240

a callback to the land promise.

241

God doesn't want us to forget that

he's not just promised Abraham

242

offspring, but he's promised him land.

243

And that's what's so

important about this section.

244

Is it showing more of God's faithfulness,

reminding us of the narrative flow of

245

Genesis, which is God's faithfulness

to his promises, to Abraham.

246

Alright.

247

Genesis 22.

248

All right, pastor Mark and I would like

to spend 45 minutes on this chapter,

249

but unfortunately we might not be able

to record another episode if we do.

250

So we're gonna try to keep this

as brief as we can, but what are

251

your big takeaways from chapter 22?

252

Pastor Mark?

253

There are so many.

254

It's tough, but I think

this is my favorite.

255

Chapter in Genesis.

256

Oh, I thought you were gonna

say in the Bible it's gonna

257

really not quite the Bible.

258

You're not quite in the

Bible, but in Genesis.

259

So more You like this

more than Genesis one?

260

I think so.

261

You like this more than Genesis?

262

I think so because, because it

is, there's so much in here that

263

looks forward Yes to Christ.

264

And what an incredible account this is.

265

So what happens in Genesis 22?

266

This is the sacrifice of Isaac.

267

The attempted sacrifice

of Isaac, because mm-hmm.

268

What we're gonna see in here is

God working, he is working to save.

269

Man, there are so many

good things in here.

270

What I think is incredible is

this is a test of Abraham's faith.

271

This is an extreme test

of Abraham's faith.

272

We are not tested like this.

273

Maybe there's.

274

Parallels, maybe there's some

close equivalencies, but this

275

is an extreme test of his faith.

276

This is Isaac who was

born to them in old age.

277

Mm-hmm.

278

Incredible circumstances.

279

And then God calls them, calls Abraham to

go and sacrifice Isaac to go and kill him.

280

And abraham rises early in the morning,

saddles his donkey and goes and

281

does it well, and that's a testament

obviously, to Abraham's faith.

282

Right?

283

Yeah, I know a phrase that some parents

use with their kids about obedience is

284

all the way right away with a happy heart.

285

There's three things to it,

but the idea is right away.

286

Yes.

287

Right.

288

Abraham goes right away

in the morning, yes.

289

And Abraham does that.

290

He goes right away in the morning.

291

He doesn't hesitate.

292

You don't see him wavering.

293

You don't see him talking

to Sarah about it.

294

He just says I need to do this.

295

God asked me to do it.

296

One of the things I think is amazing

is that Isaac identifies the lack of.

297

An offering, right?

298

Mm-hmm.

299

Isaac is trained by his dad.

300

Yeah.

301

On how to worship the Lord.

302

We don't do sacrifices in our day, but

Abraham is sacrificing the Lord and

303

Isaac knows that all the components

of sacrifice are there except for the

304

actual thing that will be sacrificed.

305

Mm-hmm.

306

I think that's a testament to

Abraham and his faithfulness to teach

307

Isaac and also good that Isaac can

identify that missing component.

308

Why is that important?

309

The missing component to that?

310

Yes.

311

Well, because even when Isaac

asks about it, Abraham says

312

something really interesting.

313

He says, God will provide for himself

the lamb for a burn offering my son.

314

Now this is one of the coolest

sentences in this chapter.

315

Why is that?

316

Pastor Mark, you just

pun it right back to me.

317

That's my job.

318

My job is to set you up to,

to be the star of the show.

319

This is loaded with the foretelling

of when God will provide.

320

The lamb, not just a lamb, but the lamb.

321

And in fact, he'll

provide it in this place.

322

This place is where they will

build the temple, and this

323

will be the future Jerusalem.

324

And so where the pastor mark's

getting that from is from verse two.

325

In verse two, it says,

go to the land of Mariah.

326

And that word, Mariah.

327

It shows up in two Chronicles chapter

three when they're building the temple.

328

That's where David builds the temple where

all of those sacrifices are gonna be made.

329

And the temple mount we know is where

Jesus, the only son of his father carries.

330

His.

331

And if you notice here, Isaac,

he's carrying the wood up

332

to the top of the mountain.

333

Jesus carries his wooden cross

up the mountain and he is

334

sacrificed in the place of us.

335

That's right.

336

That's right.

337

And on the third day.

338

On the third day, right in verse four,

on the third day, Abraham lifted up his

339

eyes and saw the place far off, right?

340

There's just so many rich

illusions to what's going to

341

happen here many years later.

342

Yeah.

343

God, the father.

344

Abraham the father.

345

Yes.

346

Jesus the Son.

347

Mm-hmm.

348

Isaac, the son.

349

Incredible.

350

Yeah, absolutely incredible.

351

And there's not just allusions

to the substitutionary sacrifice

352

of Christ, but that third day

also shows us some allusions that

353

point forward to resurrection.

354

Mm-hmm.

355

Yeah, and I think, you could

tell me if you think otherwise.

356

But what I think we see evidenced

here is that Abraham actually believes

357

in the resurrection power of God.

358

I think that's evidence from Hebrews, but

I think even in this narrative account,

359

you can see that Abraham is convinced

that God is gonna resurrect Isaac.

360

He doesn't quite know how, yeah, he

doesn't quite know what the function

361

of God's power is going to take,

but he's convinced that God is gonna

362

fulfill his promise to make his.

363

Family, a great nation, and he knows

that's gonna be done through Isaac.

364

And if he is to kill Isaac, then

he knows and he trusts that God is

365

going to use resurrection power.

366

I think part of the reason he is

confident in this belief is that he's

367

already seen that in his own life.

368

Now you might be wondering,

what do you mean?

369

What do you mean?

370

Yeah, I don't see any empty

news in Genesis one through 19.

371

There's no resurrection, at least

as we may initially think of it.

372

But consider Sarah.

373

Proverbs 30 16 says,

Sheol the barren womb.

374

The barren womb, she.

375

The barren womb equi

equated, right the land.

376

Would you mind explain?

377

Never satisfied with water.

378

Water.

379

She, for our listeners, why

don't you, but let me finish.

380

Verse 16, the land never

satisfied with water and the fire.

381

That never says enough.

382

So I think there's an

equivalence between barrenness.

383

And death.

384

What do you wanna add?

385

Anything?

386

Yeah.

387

So SHEEO is the place of the dead in the

Old Testament, that's the word for it.

388

It could be the, just the holding

place that we all go and we die.

389

Or it could be the more of the realm of

death, which is apart from God's goodness.

390

And so what Pastor Mark is saying is

that they're equating those two things.

391

The writer of Proverbs 30 is saying.

392

A barren womb is like

the place of the dead.

393

That's right.

394

And Abraham, in a way that we might

not today equates those two things.

395

Sarah equates those two things.

396

And so in some sense, and the

apostle Paul does too, right?

397

That's right.

398

In Romans four he says that

Abraham is as good as dead.

399

Yeah.

400

And so God has already brought

life from the dead deadness

401

of Abraham and Sarah, and he's

brought life that Isaac from their.

402

He's resurrected Isaac in a sense.

403

He's That's right.

404

He's given them new life.

405

So Abraham has already seen in his

estimation, the resurrection power of God.

406

Of what?

407

And so he, he sees this

command from God and assumes.

408

That God is going to use that same

power again to continue to provide

409

for his promise, which is amazing.

410

That is, again, we go back to

this being such an incredible

411

test of Abraham's faith.

412

And his faith is.

413

Proven true.

414

Amongst many other times in Genesis where

we see it falter here is an incredible

415

testimony of his faith holding True.

416

Yeah.

417

And that's confirmed in Hebrews 11, right?

418

Hebrews 11, 17 through 20 is the 19.

419

Those are the verses that were pulling

from to, to see these illusions that

420

we think Moses is making in Genesis.

421

Yeah.

422

And it's through Abraham's faith in God's

resurrecting power that he's blessed.

423

Mm-hmm.

424

It's through our faith in

God's resurrecting power

425

that we are blessed, right?

426

We know that it's Christ who's resurrected

and that's the pinnacle of God's work.

427

But it's through the, that faith in the

resurrection, in God's ability and his.

428

Actual carrying out of that ability

that we have a blessing and that

429

blessing is even greater than the

blessing that was promised to Abraham.

430

Exactly.

431

Yeah.

432

And Paul makes that connection.

433

Romans four, Romans five,

the ending of Romans four.

434

He talks about the resurrection.

435

It doesn't seem like it fits.

436

He's been talking about

Christ's death the whole time.

437

He just throws in the resurrection

and then That's right.

438

Romans five is all about the benefits

of a new relationship with God because

439

of Jesus and because of faith in Jesus.

440

Yeah.

441

And so just an incredible chapter,

just an incredible, incredible chapter.

442

What a blessing from God that

he has given us this account.

443

Alright.

444

Onto the New Testament.

445

Yes.

446

Let's do it.

447

Are you satisfied?

448

It wasn't 45 minutes?

449

No, but it was pretty good.

450

Alright.

451

We are in Matthew seven

in the New Testament.

452

Well, you know, I think I've figured

out how I can avoid the judgment

453

of gone as long as I don't judge.

454

Yeah.

455

I won't be judged.

456

Right.

457

I was actually thinking about getting

this tattooed, only God can judge

458

me, or something along those lines.

459

Mm-hmm.

460

Why would that not be a

good idea, pastor Mark?

461

Talk me out of it.

462

Well, it's, it's just

totally taking this out of.

463

Context.

464

And often this passage is

wildly taken out of context.

465

Verse five, right?

466

First, take the log out of your own eye

and then you will seek clearly to take

467

the speck out of your brother's eye.

468

We ought to love, we what?

469

We ought to love our brothers

and sisters in Christ.

470

And part of that is making.

471

Making judgment calls.

472

Is this judgment in the sense

of God's final judgment?

473

No, we're not necessarily making that

final judgment, but we do need, and

474

we're called here, right, to take

the log out of our own eye, then

475

we'll see clearly and be able to.

476

Help our brother.

477

Exactly.

478

Yeah.

479

The purpose of this passage is

not to tell us not to make any

480

judgements at all, but rather to

help us lovingly help each other.

481

And we need that.

482

We need that.

483

We need our brothers and sisters in

Christ to help us in our Christian faith.

484

It is part of God's sanct sanctifying

plan that we are part of a church, we

485

are part of a community where this sort

of thing can happen and be carried out.

486

Alright, well I also see here

that I can just ask God for

487

anything and he'll give it to me.

488

Verse seven, right?

489

Ask.

490

And it will be given to you.

491

Absolutely right?

492

Yep.

493

I've been praying for

a Ferrari for the past.

494

No, that's not what this past is about.

495

Right.

496

So what is this passage about then?

497

It feels very open-ended, right?

498

Ask and it'll be given.

499

See, you'll find knocking.

500

You'll be open.

501

It just, it seems like

whatever you want will happen.

502

I think the key filter for does this

mean I can ask God for a Ferrari?

503

Does it mean I can ask God for anything?

504

The idea here is that

God gives good gifts.

505

We see that repeated in verses

or in verse 10 and 11, right?

506

That God gives good gifts to his children.

507

And so anything that's good for

you, God will give it to you.

508

God doesn't hold back

anything good from you.

509

Now, here's the thing.

510

The difference between something that's

good, a good gift means that it has to

511

be the right time for me to have it.

512

It has to be the right

context for me to have it.

513

There can be a thing that's good

in a vacuum that might not be

514

good for me to have right now.

515

It would actually be bad for me to have.

516

Let's use the example of a Ferrari right

now, because maybe I would drive it

517

irresponsibly and get speeding tickets

and that wouldn't be good for me.

518

So that would be I can't see

that happening quite with you.

519

Maybe not.

520

Maybe not.

521

Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?

522

No, I have not.

523

So I, I don't know.

524

I just don't, I don't see

that in your future, even if

525

you were to have a Ferrari.

526

So it has to be something else.

527

It has to be another reason why

God has an answer to your prayer.

528

Yeah.

529

About your Ferrari.

530

So, and sometimes right?

531

God doesn't answer prayers because

he wants us to keep praying.

532

He wants us to build our

persistence in prayer.

533

He wants us to build our trust in him.

534

Yeah.

535

So there's many reasons why God doesn't

give us things, but the core that we can

536

always come back to is that if it would be

good for us at this time, in this moment.

537

We can trust that God will give it to

us, and if he's withholding it, then we

538

know that it's not good for me right now.

539

Yeah, and we can have a lot of confidence

when we pray because of that truth, right?

540

We can ask boldly for things that

maybe God won't give us because

541

we know he's going to filter those

things because he's going to give us

542

answers to those prayers based on his

criteria and not our own criteria.

543

Another criteria look at

that smooth transition.

544

Wow.

545

That a lot of people

use is the golden rule.

546

You should be a podcaster.

547

Golden rule.

548

The golden rule.

549

Maybe the best known verse in all

of the Bible except the second half.

550

That's what you were telling me earlier.

551

Yeah.

552

There's verse 12, right?

553

Everybody knows this.

554

What, whatever you wish that others

would do to you do also to them.

555

But there's a phrase that

nobody else seems to remember,

556

which is for this is the law.

557

And the prophets.

558

Nobody remembers that.

559

Why not?

560

Why not?

561

Yeah.

562

I can't imagine why people wouldn't

want to tie this to God and his word.

563

But no, I think it's such an

important caveat here because it

564

helps us see that, we love others

best when we love God most, right?

565

Mm-hmm.

566

Our relationship with God is

gonna help us love other people.

567

So the best way we can love

each other, and we see this with

568

the greatest commandment that

Jesus gives, is by loving God.

569

That's right.

570

And I think it's fascinating that this

callback to the law and the prophets.

571

It shows that we worship the same God

that was around in the Old Testament.

572

Yes.

573

So often we want to

separate these two things.

574

Right.

575

And I think a lot of people turn to

this verse when they're trying to come

576

up with the kind of warm, squishy, God

that isn't of the Old Testament they're

577

missing this very clear direct call

back to the law and the prophets and

578

the God of the Old Testament, which

is the same God of the New Testament.

579

The gate is wide and the way is easy.

580

That leads to destruction.

581

Also not very well known.

582

Nobody follows up the

golden rule with that.

583

Definitely not.

584

It would be wise, it would be

wise for us to heed that warning.

585

Alright, verse 15.

586

Talks about the tree and its fruit.

587

Verse 19, every tree that does

not bear good fruit is cut

588

down and thrown into the fire.

589

What kind of warning is that?

590

I think it's a really sobering warning,

and I think the warnings in the

591

Bible are really important, right?

592

Warnings in the Bible are often in

guardrails, even for genuine Christians

593

to help keep us on the right path.

594

And in this case it's warning us to

protect us from false profits, right?

595

Mm-hmm.

596

That's the context of this.

597

Yeah, and we also see a very

clear delineation that there are

598

Christians and non-Christians, right?

599

There's good trees and bad trees.

600

There's not a blend of the two.

601

There's not a halfway point.

602

I think you can see this throughout all

of the Sermon on the Mount very clearly.

603

But here's just a great place

where it's very clear that we are

604

either of Christ or of the flesh.

605

We are of the world, right?

606

We are either a good tree that bears

good fruit or a bad tree that bears.

607

Bad fruit.

608

And then, and that makes this really, this

next section really interesting, right?

609

Yes.

610

Because it seems like there's

people who are bearing good fruit

611

that God says I never knew you.

612

Right?

613

This is one of the scariest

passages in the Bible.

614

There's people who seem convinced

that they're bearing good fruit.

615

And if we looked at them, we would

say, man, that's a great Christian.

616

Yeah.

617

But unfortunately, and very

sadly, that is not the case.

618

Why is that?

619

Yeah, it's because these people

are hoping in what they did.

620

They say, Lord, Lord, do we

not prophesy in your name?

621

Do we not cast out demons in your name?

622

Do we not do many mighty

works in your name?

623

What do you hear missing from that?

624

You hear any sort of.

625

Humility.

626

You're missing any sort of

trust in the work of Christ.

627

They are counting on the things that

they did in the Lord's name, and I

628

think this is very clearly somebody

who knows the Christian God, right?

629

I think we could apply this perhaps

to a Buddhist or to somebody else,

630

but I think this person recognizes.

631

God, they recognize God as the true God.

632

And they're saying, I did

these things in your name.

633

Mm-hmm.

634

Not in the name of Buddha, not in

somebody else's name, but in your name.

635

And then the terrifying thing is God

replies and says, I never knew you depart

636

from me, you workers of lawlessness.

637

That's terrifying.

638

That's terrifying.

639

And it should be terrifying to us.

640

But also, don't just be

purely terrified by this.

641

Remember that if you are somebody who.

642

Professes salvation because of the

work of Christ on the cross, then this

643

is not something that you're gonna

hear if you do rely on your mighty

644

works and that you're casting out

demons and prophesying in his name.

645

This is something you

should be worried about.

646

But if you believe, as we've been

talking about in the, you have the

647

faith of Abraham that believes in

the resurrection power of God and

648

what he did through Jesus, this is

not something that we will hear.

649

But this last section of the Sermon on the

mount right here again, I think what Jesus

650

is really focusing on is he's focusing

on outward fake religion versus inward.

651

Heart religion.

652

Right.

653

And in this mini parable, there's two

people, they both hear God's word.

654

They both did their DBR.

655

They both heard the same sermons.

656

They both know the Bible.

657

But the, their response to it

is the differentiating factor.

658

Yeah.

659

And then some of the

most amazing words in.

660

Matthew, at least in my estimation,

is that when Jesus finished saying

661

these things in verse 28, the crowds

were astonished at his teachings.

662

For, he was teaching them as one who

had authority and not as describes.

663

Man, we should be astonished

when we read this.

664

Yeah, we should be astonished.

665

Not in the sense that we've

never read this before and

666

we're like, whoa, what is this?

667

But we should be amazed at the

authority of that Jesus has.

668

Alright, let me pray for us.

669

We promised a shorter episode

and failed to deliver that,

670

so thanks for bearing with us.

671

Let me pray for us as we wrap up another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

672

Lord, thank you for your word.

673

Thank you that you are a God

who has resurrection power.

674

What a hope that we have in you because of

who you are and the power that you have.

675

Thank you that you raised

Jesus from the dead.

676

Thank you.

677

That Jesus Christ can be our

hope, can be our salvation.

678

And Lord, thank you that we can have

the faith like Abraham that will

679

give us by your grace and mercy, the

blessings that you have promised.

680

In Jesus name I pray.

681

Amen.

682

Alright, see you all tomorrow.

683

Edward: Thank you for listening to another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

684

We’re grateful you chose to

spend time with us today.

685

This podcast is a ministry of

Compass Bible Church in North Texas.

686

You can learn more about our

church at compassntx.org.

687

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we’d appreciate it if you’d consider

688

leaving a review, rating the show,

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689

We hope you’ll join us again

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690

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