00:00 Intro

00:07 Tech Temptations and Idolatry

01:10 Hope Beyond Materialism

02:29 Addressing Medications and Mental Health

04:26 Biblical Worldview and Scripture's Sufficiency

10:53 Ezekiel's Teachings on Personal Responsibility

13:38 Lamentation Over the Davidic Dynasty

16:05 God's Response to Israel's Rebellion

17:41 Closing Prayer and Farewell

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

Hey everybody.

3

Hey everybody.

4

Welcome Welcome Welcome back to another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

5

Hello.

6

It is September 1st.

7

Today we are officially in September,

which is also lovingly known by those

8

in the tech world as tech temp because

this is when a lot of the tech companies

9

mostly roll out their new phones.

10

That's the big deal.

11

And so just recently Google

released the Google Pixel 10.

12

Samsung came out with the super

thin foldable apple's got their

13

event scheduled for September 9th.

14

It's just, it's fascinating.

15

It's a Remi reminder of just how

simple and I'm talking to myself

16

here, how simple we can be to

entertain and to captivate, right?

17

It's Hey, look at this new phone.

18

It does this thing.

19

Oh, I want that.

20

Ooh, ah I like that.

21

And then you get that phone and

they're like, oh, let me tell

22

you about next year's phone.

23

And you're like, wait a minute.

24

I just got this one.

25

Why are you already

talking about next one?

26

Yep.

27

And so it's, yeah, it's the, it is

the world of idolatry that we live in.

28

It's not the same idolatry that we're

reading about Ezekiel but we have our own

29

idols and we chase after them regardless.

30

And it's, whether it's a cell

phone or it's a car or it's,

31

clothes that you want, new shoes

that you get new, like new shoes.

32

I appreciate a good pair of new shoes,

but then eventually they get their first

33

stain or scuff mark on 'em and then

it's alright, there, there goes though.

34

Gotta move on from there.

35

Yeah, it's just we're, we have this hunger

in us for something that, that is gonna

36

last, something that's gonna satisfy us.

37

CS Lewis said, if we find in

ourselves desires, I'm paraphrasing

38

here, that desires that can't be

satisfied by anything in this world.

39

It should indicate in us that

we were created for another

40

world, for a different world.

41

And that's a little bit what I

was talking about on Sunday that

42

there's a hope that's gonna be ours.

43

That's what Peter's talking about.

44

That we were to set our

hope fully on the grace.

45

That's to be ours at the

revelation of Jesus Christ.

46

And that involves a lot of mental work.

47

That's a hard thing for us to do

because we do live in the world of

48

the new iPhones and the new cars and

the new shoes and the new this, that

49

and the other thing and the ad world.

50

And you pick up your phone,

social media, it's all over there.

51

And the temptation to chase after

temporal satisfaction when God has said

52

there's something better that's coming.

53

And right now we need

to wait for that now.

54

Those things, like I talked about

on Sunday, are fine as long as

55

what we do with those things is

to remind ourselves, man, what's

56

coming is gonna be so much better.

57

And yeah, new month.

58

Interesting.

59

Just on my mind, because I know the new

iPhone release is coming up and it just.

60

Popped into my mind going, Hey, this

is something that, that should re

61

remind us of how much better Jesus is

than anything this world has to offer.

62

So speaking of your sermon from

yesterday, lots of people were

63

chatting it up about it, I anticipate.

64

Yeah.

65

Yeah.

66

They're asking questions like, oh

no, pastor PJ doesn't this kind

67

of person and that kind of person.

68

True.

69

So let's let's just give you

an opportunity to say a little

70

more about some of these things.

71

Okay.

72

Talk about medications.

73

When it comes to using medications

to supplement our mood or even a DHD,

74

Ritalin, medications like that, that

help improve focus or some of them

75

are downers, some of them are uppers.

76

We've got a whole category of

tranquilizers that are for sleep or yeah.

77

Other things like that.

78

How in general, and granted all these

require a careful touch and specific

79

answer, but in general, how should

Christians think about medications

80

as it relates to mood enhancement or

mood modification, things like that?

81

Yeah, I would say very cautiously.

82

We are called time and

time again in the Bible.

83

In fact, even in the passage I

preached on yesterday to be those

84

that are sober minded and we have

to be careful that we are not.

85

Taking something or pursuing something

that is going to lead us away from that's

86

gonna cause us to lose our control over

our mental faculties and our minds.

87

We're, we talked about our minds

yesterday, that our minds are part

88

of the immaterial, part of the soul,

part of the spiritual part of us.

89

And one of the problems as

Christians that we have to

90

encounter and deal with is that we.

91

Are those created in the image of God who

have spiritual issues that the world looks

92

at Naturalistically, the world looks at

from a physiological sense and tries to

93

treat what is a spiritual, oftentimes, not

always, but what is oftentimes a spiritual

94

problem with an a naturalistic antidote.

95

And those things can they can be bandaids.

96

In other words, they, they can.

97

Feel man this is doing the job.

98

I'm not as anxious as I used to be.

99

I am getting the sleep that

I wasn't getting before.

100

I am, I'm not as depressed as I used to

be, but the problem is a lot of times

101

that will lead us to say, okay, so then

I'm good In our confidence, our hope,

102

our trust becomes the medication or the

pill or that thing that we took and we're

103

not doing the work to say, okay, but why

was I in that position to begin with?

104

What was going on spiritually?

105

What was perhaps the

underlying spiritual cause?

106

That I have now overcome through this

other means that maybe I needed to sit

107

there and this was an opportunity that

the spirit wanted to do, enact some change

108

in me because the pill that I'm taking

is not enacting any spiritual change.

109

It's not capable of doing that.

110

Only the spirit of God can do that.

111

And so we talked yesterday about

biblical worldviews is huge on this.

112

And when we talk about two Peter three,

one, that the Bible is sufficient

113

for all things of life and godliness,

that's really what we're talking about.

114

The Bible helps us.

115

Form a biblical worldview.

116

That is to think biblically, to think

how God wants us to think about any and

117

every situation that we find ourselves in.

118

So we as pastors, recognize that

we're not medical doctors, but

119

we as pastors also recognize.

120

That we know and understand what God has

called us to and how God wants us to think

121

about our bodies as both body and soul

and how we need to approach things when

122

things go wrong with that, especially

when we're struggling with anxiety,

123

sleep issues, depression, even attention

deficit disorder, things like that.

124

Yeah, I was talking to Mark

Axelson, not Mark Cogan Pastor Mark.

125

I was talking to Mark Axelson.

126

He brought up a good point and

he said that sometimes God will

127

give us things that he doesn't

want to necessarily take away.

128

Second Corinthians chapter 12, I thought

of Paul and the thorn in the flesh.

129

And Paul's Lord, please

take this away and.

130

And he said no.

131

He said, no, I'm not gonna do that.

132

I want you to have this because it weakens

you so that you can depend upon me.

133

And so it might be very well that

God gives you these things that

134

for you, you might feel like, oh,

that's a bad thing for me to have.

135

I can't focus, I can't

sleep, or this or that.

136

And those are certainly

things that we don't like.

137

It's possible, and you should

at least ask the question, maybe

138

it's God doing this for my good.

139

And of course if you can't get rid of

it, then certainly you can say without

140

any second thought, then clearly

God wants me to go through this,

141

what he's attempting to do with it.

142

That's a bigger question.

143

At the very least, if you're at

Christ, you can know it's for

144

my good and it's for his glory.

145

So how do I make sure that happens?

146

So I appreciate what mark

Axelson said about that.

147

I thought that was an insightful.

148

Observation then, in fact we don't

think that way as Christians.

149

We're like how do we get rid of it?

150

I have a headache, right?

151

Lemme take the medication.

152

I have a, I have a toothache.

153

Let me go find, lemme go find a

dentist to help deal with that.

154

And he should.

155

I guess that's the starting place.

156

We should deal with things as

we're able to, but we should

157

at least also ask the question.

158

Maybe doesn't, does God want

me to deal with it in that way?

159

Maybe not.

160

Yeah.

161

Yeah.

162

And I know you've been studying a lot

about these things recently as you've

163

been pursuing your doctorate there.

164

Starting to study.

165

Starting to study then

but it's fascinating.

166

Even what you had to say on Friday night,

some of our leaders was really interesting

167

just about how things are changing in

the medical field even about it, that

168

the experts are learning new things.

169

Like they're not talking about

chemical imbalances anymore.

170

Yeah.

171

That was news to me when

you brought that up.

172

I said, oh, I didn't realize

that's not really a thing anymore.

173

Yeah.

174

And even the long-term effectiveness of

things like antidepressants and whether or

175

not it's really doing what they're telling

us it's doing as far as the long-term.

176

Positive impacts on it versus not,

versus the placebo rounds, that

177

people have been getting and things.

178

So it's fascinating.

179

There's so much that we don't know.

180

That's right.

181

But what we do know we have revealed

in scripture and we have as Christians

182

have to be careful not to throw

that out as the blanket cliche.

183

Hey, scripture sufficient.

184

See you later.

185

Go take your problems to somebody else.

186

But we also have to acknowledge at the

same time on the other side of that, that

187

is true, that the Bible is sufficient

for all things for life and godliness.

188

And so it is sufficient for the

per person that's struggling with

189

depression or battling anxiety, or

has the child who has been diagnosed

190

with a learning disability, the Bible.

191

Is sufficient for those things.

192

We can't look at the Bible and say but it

can't help me in this situation over here.

193

There's no situation in our

life in which we could say, the

194

Bible can't help me over here.

195

And sometimes it's harder work to plumb

the pages and to plumb the depths and

196

to plumb the wisdom to say, okay, what

principles does the Bible teach me

197

that I need to be applying over here?

198

But the Bible does have the answers

and does have those situations for us.

199

Yeah, I Amen to that.

200

It's interesting that.

201

Generalized anxiety disorder continues

to rise throughout the years.

202

Over the last 20, 30, 40 years

even, you've seen increases in

203

people's engagement with that.

204

People are now being tested more often.

205

They're using a set of questions

to diagnose whether or not

206

someone has GAD or depression.

207

And we're finding that we are

the most therapized age ever.

208

And we're also the sickest we've ever met.

209

Isn't that interesting?

210

That very, we are, we have more

access and more resources and more

211

diagnosis, diagnosees than we've

ever had, and yet we are also in the

212

worst shape than we've ever been.

213

It's interesting someone has observed that

maybe being part of a first world country,

214

we have to create problems for ourselves.

215

Yeah.

216

And I don't want a blanket statement

and say that's everyone's issue,

217

but I wonder if that's part of it.

218

A lot of times we're anxious about things.

219

To your point earlier.

220

Anxious about things that, maybe

we shouldn't be anxious about.

221

Yeah.

222

We're anxious about a lot of

things and some of them are valid.

223

You can understand, okay, we're anxious

about our family and things like that,

224

but there's times we're anxious about

things where it reveals a deeper concern

225

that is more than just a superficial,

I feel like my heart fluttering.

226

It's more, Lord, am I trusting you

or am I trusting something else?

227

So we live in a fascinating time.

228

We're learning a lot.

229

We still haven't learned half of what

we should learn because God has made

230

things so wonderfully people that is,

that we're still learning how the brain

231

works, where we don't know how SSRIs work.

232

We talked about that

yesterday or Friday rather.

233

And that's that all by itself.

234

That was a lightning strike for me.

235

Yeah.

236

We don't know how it works, so we're

just putting it in people's bodies.

237

Oh, there's so much there.

238

But yes, at the end of the day.

239

We trust God.

240

And I guess we asked

the question on Friday.

241

Let's answer it again.

242

I know we're going a little

long here, but this is worth it.

243

What is scripture sufficient for?

244

People will use that, and we

don't necessarily know what

245

we're saying at the end of that.

246

Sufficient for what?

247

So when we say life and godliness,

is it sufficient to help me

248

change the tire on my car?

249

That, that's not what we mean there.

250

What we mean is it's sufficient to help us

think biblically about every circumstance

251

that we're gonna encounter in life.

252

And if you've got problems with your

marriage, scripture is sufficient.

253

It has guidance for you there.

254

If you've got problems in, your

purity scripture is sufficient,

255

it's gonna have answers there.

256

If you've got problems with

sleep, scripture is sufficient.

257

David is.

258

Is in Psalm chapter three

and Psalm chapter four, he's

259

dealing with sleep there.

260

He's going, Hey, I had to learn

to lie down asleep and trust that

261

the Lord was gonna sustain me.

262

You've got situations where scripture

is speaking to those things,

263

and that's what we mean there.

264

Two Timothy three, 16 and 17, all

scriptures breathe out by God and

265

useful for reproof and for correction,

and for training and righteousness.

266

The man of God may be complete

and equipped for every good work.

267

We believe that scripture is.

268

Is profitable for us.

269

It's not just for Sunday mornings

and for quiet times with your coffee

270

scripture has things to say and speak

into the real life situations that

271

we encounter on a regular basis.

272

That's what we mean when

we say it's sufficient for

273

everything in life and godliness.

274

Yeah.

275

Amen to that and I guess even to the

point about the changing the tire.

276

Scripture may not tell you how

to change a tire, but it tells

277

you how to think about that.

278

Yeah.

279

It tells you how to interpret

the world around you.

280

It tells you how to understand

God, how to love God, how to love

281

people, and it's a meta narrative.

282

It tells us how to look

at everything else.

283

It doesn't tell you about the tires.

284

It doesn't tell you about how to get

a cast around your leg when it, when

285

you break it, it tells you how to think

about those things and how to live

286

faithfully in the midst of those things.

287

Yeah.

288

Yeah.

289

Let's jump into the Bible.

290

We are gonna be in Ezekiel.

291

18, 19, and 20 today,

I believe for our DBR.

292

And as we get into chapter 18, this is

something that we've talked about quite a

293

bit, but the general theme of chapter 18

is the people that are gonna be punished

294

and the people that are gonna die, they're

gonna be punished and they're gonna die

295

for their own sins, their own guilt.

296

They're not gonna die because of

the guilt of previous generations.

297

They're not gonna die because.

298

Their dads did this sin and their

grandfathers did this sin instead,

299

they're gonna die because of

their own guilt and their own sin.

300

And he explains that and walks

through that in the first portion

301

of chapter 18 with some examples

saying, if this is, if man does this

302

and this then he's gonna be okay.

303

If his dad did this, he's not

gonna die for what his dad did.

304

But if he does this, likewise if you've

got a father whose son sins, the father's

305

not gonna die for the sins of the son.

306

Everybody instead is gonna suffer their

own consequences, their own guilt, and

307

their own punishment as a result of that.

308

I think chapter 18 really highlights

the fact that we are all individually

309

responsible for God, the fact that.

310

Something can happen corporately

to people and it can appear

311

indiscriminate in its effects.

312

We'll see that in a couple chapters.

313

Doesn't change the fact that

all of us are individually

314

personally accountable before God.

315

You might be in a situation that you feel

compelled to, to act in a certain way.

316

You might, sometimes we say this,

when you said that, you made me mad.

317

You made me say what I said to you.

318

You made me respond in this way,

and that's certainly not true.

319

The Bible says you are

personally responsible.

320

You might feel antagonized

and instigated by somebody.

321

If someone's poking at you, they're

trying to press your buttons

322

to elicit a response from you.

323

You might feel the inclination very

strongly to say, oh, I'm gonna respond.

324

I'm gonna punch you in the

face, or something like that.

325

But you're never out of

control and you're never.

326

Unaccountable for your actions, right?

327

This is such an important feature of

our relationship to God and one another.

328

We are always accountable for

our actions, and I think that's

329

what Ezekiel's getting at here.

330

Everyone will stand before God

and they'll give it a personal

331

account to him for their lives.

332

That said, put a caveat there, maybe

an asterisk and we'll talk about this

333

when we get there, but there is such

a thing as a corporate responsibility

334

and we'll see that very soon.

335

Yeah, and I also noticed here in verse

20, he said, the soul who sin shall

336

die, the son shall not suffer for the

iniquity of the Father nor the father.

337

Suffer for the iniquity of the son.

338

The righteousness of the righteous

shall be upon himself and the wickedness

339

of the wicked shall be upon himself.

340

I wrote down next to that though the

word gospel because that just made

341

me realize, man, how blessed we are

to have the righteousness of Christ

342

as ours because though this is true

and God does interact this way, and

343

God does deal with things this way.

344

At the same time the gospel is a,

is the one exception clause to this.

345

And that is that, that our sins were put

upon Christ, the righteous one and he

346

did suffer for our guilt, our iniquity,

and instead he gave us his righteousness.

347

There's gospel here in chapter

18 of Ezekiel two that we

348

should be thankful for.

349

Chapter 19.

350

Then we get into as this is titled,

and as it ends a limitation, which

351

is just a song of sorrow, and he's

walking through the various kings.

352

That's what it means by the

princes of Israel there.

353

And this is detailing the collapse of

the Davidic house there towards the end.

354

So verse three, you've got Jehovah

has and Pharaoh Niko is gonna come

355

and take him away in 6 0 9 bc Then Jo

Hoya Chin is gonna come to the throne.

356

Nebuchadnezzar is gonna take him away.

357

Down in verse nine.

358

In 5 97.

359

And really just the downfall of the kings,

the Davidic dynasty from there, which the

360

reason that's a lamentation is because

of what that represented for Israel.

361

This was part of God's

promises to his people.

362

The Davidic Covenant was a huge

deal, and what the destruction

363

of Jerusalem meant beyond the

destruction of the temple was also the

364

destruction of the Davidic dynasty.

365

There was not gonna be a king on the

throne there, and in fact, after Zakiah,

366

there's not a king that's gonna reign

in Jerusalem again as far as the Davidic

367

King until the coming of the Messiah.

368

And we're not there yet.

369

Jesus, we believe is coming back.

370

We believe the millennial

kingdom is gonna be that moment.

371

And so this is a tragic time because this

is a lot of uncertainty for the people

372

there to look at the fact that, man,

this is the end of the Davidic dynasty.

373

What's gonna happen?

374

God still has unfulfilled promises.

375

God, how are you gonna

fulfill these promises?

376

If there's no Jerusalem, there's

no throne, there's no kingdom,

377

there's no dis descendant of David

to sit on the throne anymore.

378

What's that gonna look like?

379

I wanna point to your attention again,

you see yet another opportunity where

380

God highlights the right response through

Ezekiel's pin to actions that are coming.

381

And the response is song, it's a

lamentation is a poem set to music.

382

It's a song.

383

And so God is saying this

is an appropriate response.

384

This is emotionally appropriate

to the kind of tragedy and

385

destruction that's coming.

386

And I wanna draw your attention

then to the way that we still are

387

called to respond to God today.

388

He calls us to sing.

389

He calls us to give of ourselves

personally in our physicality.

390

That is with worship, songs of happiness,

songs of sadness, songs of lament,

391

songs of repentance, and all the above.

392

This is the way God has designed us, and

I think you might be able to say in that

393

culture, that was the way they did things.

394

I don't know if this, I think this is

transcultural, that is, it transcends

395

the cultural moment and God sings over

us according to the prophet of Aniah.

396

Yes, Zephaniah.

397

God sings over us.

398

He's a singing God.

399

He made us in his image and therefore we

are a singing people worship and response.

400

The response of worship is

such a good thing for us.

401

It is good.

402

We should be full throated.

403

It should be part of our emotional

expression, to use music, to our

404

advantage, to love God, and to

respond to all of his decrees.

405

Chapter 20 we find a situation about

5 91 BC here where the elders of

406

Israel come and sit before Ezekiel

and they're gonna inquire of him.

407

They're gonna say, Hey, can you

go and inquire before God for us?

408

And God responds.

409

This is my own paraphrase

here with really.

410

Really?

411

Yeah.

412

That's a good paraphrase.

413

Seriously.

414

Yeah.

415

It's like the NLT right there, right?

416

Yeah.

417

He says, is it to inquire

of me that you come?

418

He says, I will not be inquired of you.

419

This is in verse three.

420

And then he proceeds from that

point forward to, through Ezekiel,

421

give them a rundown in a history of

all of the rebellion, in how many

422

times he had been merciful to them.

423

And yet they continue to rebel.

424

And you see that pattern here.

425

He'll say, yet, for my own

sake, I didn't destroy them yet.

426

For my own sake, I didn't destroy them.

427

And yet then they rebelled.

428

They rebelled.

429

And so finally he's gonna bookend this

chapter there towards the end in verse 31.

430

He's gonna say, and shall I be

inquired of by you after all of this?

431

After all the rebellion?

432

Shall I really be?

433

Really?

434

You're gonna show up here and you're

gonna seek my guidance, my will right

435

now, after all of the times that I

gave you plenty of chances to repent.

436

Yeah.

437

No, it's not gonna happen.

438

And so in the first part of

chapter 20 that's his message.

439

His message is, I'm not answering you.

440

The rest of chapter 20.

441

There he points to the millennial

kingdom and he says again, even still,

442

there's a hope there, there is a future.

443

He will again have mercy for

the sake of his own name.

444

And that's gonna be the

future millennial kingdom.

445

That's gonna be the time when

he will be inquired of, he will

446

be sought by the people and he

will accept their their worship.

447

But first is going to come judgment.

448

And that's how the chapter ends

with this reference to preaching

449

to the southland, preaching against

the south, prophecy against them.

450

Hey, first comes judgment.

451

Yeah, the millennial kingdom's coming.

452

But again, you elders coming

to seek my guidance here.

453

Judgment's coming.

454

That's what I'm telling you right now.

455

All right let's pray and then

we'll be done with another episode

456

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

457

Lord, we are mindful that we are

complex beings as you've created us.

458

And it's hard for us to understand

exactly how everything operates

459

and how everything works.

460

And yet we know what your word says,

and we wanna be those that trust

461

your word as we were talking about

our, that your word is sufficient for

462

all things for life and godliness.

463

And so give us the wisdom and

the discernment to know how to

464

take your word and to apply it to

various circumstances in our lives.

465

And God guard us against.

466

Doing anything that would cause

us to short circuit what you might

467

want to be doing in our lives

spiritually by looking for a physical

468

solution to a spiritual problem.

469

And Lord, we wanna be those that are

humble in this no matter where we're

470

at in this this conversation, we

wanna be gracious towards one another.

471

And ultimately, we wanna see

your will done in our lives.

472

So we pray this all in Jesus' name.

473

Amen.

474

Amen.

475

Keep in your Bibles.

476

Tune in again tomorrow for another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

477

Bye bye.

478

Bernard: Well, thank you for

listening to another episode of

479

the Daily Bible Podcast, folks!

480

We're honored to have you join us.

481

This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

482

You can find out more information

about our Church at compassntx.org.

483

We would love for you to leave a

review, to rate, or to share this

484

podcast on whatever platform you're

listening on, and we hope to see

485

you again tomorrow for another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

486

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

487

PJ: Yeah.

488

I would agree with

everything that you said