[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us
[email protected] be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast, Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: So welcome to our Wednesday night Bible study. We've been studying those attributes of God Based on Exodus 34, 6, 7, where he kind of introduces, introduces himself. And so we've got a couple more weeks left and then we'll be through it. But tonight we're going to talk about punishment. And so we're going to talk about, I'm going to start off with the idea of grounded. So how many of you were grounded when you were a kid or a teenager?
So my dad, when it came to discipline, my dad was a much more hands on parent, right? And so I had spankings up until a teenager. So when I was a teenager playing football, my dad's five, 10, I was six, one benching about 325, 330. And so he had to come up with something else which was grounding, right? But he wasn't very good at it. So 116 weeks I failed. When I was a senior high school, I failed math in one of the six weeks. Didn't bother me because I already done the math calculations to know I could fail and still pass, right? But my dad didn't see it that way. And so from Sunday night till Thursday night, my curfew was 9pm and then on Friday night and Saturday night it was 11:30. So my dad said, you're losing an hour for three months. And so my curfew went from being, you know, 9 to 8 and 11:30, 10:30. I grew up in a small town. Sidewalks got rolled up. At about 5, we had a family owned restaurant, a Pizza Hut. And I don't know if any of y'all remember K Ns. They're kind of like Sonics, but they had their own root beer. And that was it, that's all we had. So they all closed. So it really wasn't a very Effective.
It wasn't really an effective grounding that he did at the time. I'm like, well, this isn't necessary because I'm still going to pass math. I've already done all the calculations. You know, I'm going to pass. But he really didn't do it. So do you really think the grounding was necessary to basically adjust your behavior?
Did it? Okay, so those of you that have children now, okay, so if you have children now, how has your attitude toward discipline or punishment, how has that changed since you were a kid or before you had children?
[00:03:22] Speaker C: Well, I'll tell you right now, I don't see myself ever grounding my kids, because if I ground them, that means I don't get to spend time away from them. That's. That's punishing myself as much as them. So for a finite period of time, I'm not. I don't think I'll be doing any grounding.
[00:03:44] Speaker D: When I was pregnant with Audrey, I mean, she's only two, but my uncle was talking with Trey, and Trey's, like, talking about spanking. He's like, oh, no, you don't spank a girl. You take her phone away. You do xyz.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: You. You spank boy.
[00:04:01] Speaker D: You know, like. So I think it. It also is dependent on the child because that grounding didn't hurt you, but he could have found something else that would have hurt you. So I think it, like, not hurt you.
[00:04:15] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:04:17] Speaker D: But. So I really think it depends on the children. Like me and my brother, totally different. What affects him doesn't affect me. I'd be happy to take his crossings and he would have been happy to take mine because we were different.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: I think for our daughter, you could just. I could just give my daughter a look and she would bust into tears and she would be sorry. Our son Cole was a little bit more, Let me say this. A five gallon paint stick from Home Depot or Lowe's is the perfect paddle, right? The gallon ones are too flimsy, but the 5 gallon ones are perfect. But going back to Jimmy's comment, right? So I got grounded till 8. And so the girl I dated, I was at her house and I said, I got to leave. And her dad goes, well, why are you leaving early? And I said, well, I'm grounded. He goes, are you grounded at my house? What are you. You know, because his idea of grounding was that I didn't. I stayed at home.
So what we're going to talk about tonight is this whole idea of punishment. And if you remember the very first week we talked about Exodus 34. And I think it was Brandon who mentioned it was kind of scary because in verse seven, it says that God was going to be visiting the iniquity or the sins of the parents. We're going to carry on to the children. And we made the comment. I think it was Brandon made the comment that that's kind of scary to think of what I do today is going to affect my. My son and my daughter. Right. And so I think what we want to take a look at is how does that verse apply to us today? Or does it even apply to us today? And then we're going to talk more about God's punishment and God's discipline. So let's go to Jeremiah, chapter 31, verses 26, 30. So I'll give you a minute to turn there, or I've put the verse up. So it's Jeremiah 31, 26, 30.
And so Jeremiah writes, at this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them, to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord. And in those days, no longer shall they say, the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. So this phrase right here, the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. That's actually a proverb. It's not in the Book of Proverbs, but it was a proverb that was used commonly by Israel and by the Jews, right? We all know that we eat something sour or we eat something and it just makes your whole mouth pucker or your teeth hurt. So what we see here is that what Jeremiah has seen, or what Jeremiah had in his dream was he had that dream about the future. Specifically, what we're going to see in the New Testament are what we'll see in the New Covenant. And what he realized is that God is going to do something new in Israel, right?
The parents have eaten sour grapes, the children's teeth are set on edge. That goes back to what we read in Exodus 34, that the children are going to suffer because of the iniquities of their parents. But here what Jeremiah says that now in the future, in this future, that he's envisioning this future he's dreamed about. Whoever eats the sour grapes, it's gonna be their teeth who is set on edge. In other words, when we move, when people move to the new covenant, the new promise, this proverb is no longer true, but rather it's going to change where each one is going to be responsible for their own iniquities and not that the children are going to suffer that from the parents. So how's that New Testament, or how's that new covenant going to work? Verse 30, the first part of verse 30. Everyone will die for their own sin. In other words, everyone will carry that versus it, being carried by those that are their parents. Let's go to Ezekiel 18 and let's look at verses one through 20.
All right, beginning with verse one, the word of the Lord came to me. What do you mean by repeating this proverb? Concerning the land of Israel, the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. So once again in Ezekiel, we see that same proverb. And then verse three, as I live, declares the Lord, this proverb shall no more be used by you and Israel. Behold, all souls are mine. The soul of the Father as well as the soul of the Son, is mine. The soul who sins shall die.
If a man is righteous and does what is just and right, if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife, or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry, covers the naked with a garment, does not lend at an interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes, keeps my rules by acting faithfully. He is righteous, he shall surely live, declares the Lord, if he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things, though he himself did none of these things, meaning that the Son will do these, even though the Father didn't, who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor's wife, oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abominations, lends it an interest, takes a profit, shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations, he shall Surely die, and his blood shall be upon himself.
Now suppose this man, the son of the righteous man. Suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done. He sees and does not do likewise. He does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idol of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor's wife, does not oppress anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry, covers the naked with a garment, withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, walks in my statutes. He shall not die for his Father's iniquity, He shall surely live. But as for the Father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what was not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity. Yet you say, why should not the Son suffer for the iniquity of the Father? When the Son has done what is just and right and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The Son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the Father, nor the Father suffer for the iniquity of the Son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself and. And the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. All right, so we read this in Ezekiel, right? And he starts off the same proverb about the grapes and the teeth.
But then notice that he says from there's going to be a time, right? There's going to be a time that you're no longer to use that proverb in Israel. And then he has this main thesis statement, if you will, in verse four, that the one who sins is the one who will. Who will die, right? And then he winds up giving us these multiple stories. So you've got a righteous man and his wicked son. The righteous man keeps all of God's commandments. So then, what's the verdict for that man, the righteous man who's kept all the commandments? What's the verdict against him?
Right. Is that he's going to live. But if this man has a son who turns out bad, who's a violent son who goes against God's commandments? He will be. Depends on your translation. Some say he will die, some say he'll be put to death. But the idea is that he's responsible for himself.
He had a righteous father. But now then there's a second story, right? To where you had a wicked father who was the son of the righteous, but his son is righteous. So in looking, verse 14 through 17, you have a righteous son who had that violent father.
What's the verdict on those two?
Will the son be accountable for what the wicked father had done?
No. Right. What you wind up seeing is that the righteous son's not going to be punished because he has done what is just, he's done what is right, but the one who sins will be the one who will die. So what we see, right? And I bring this out because, you know, oftentimes people will say, well, you know, you're reading the Old Testament and there's a whole different set of rules. And then suddenly you got the new covenant, the New Testament, and there's a new set of rules. I think this is a great example where we're shown how God says, this is how it is today. Now, we could have a whole month of study about that part. Right? But. But this is how it is today. However, there will be a time, there'll be a time that's coming where that no longer applies this whole idea of the children suffering based upon what the parents have done. There's gonna come a time, there's gonna be a new covenant, there's gonna be a new promise, there's gonna be a new day where that's no longer gonna be valid. So you don't see, this is the way it is in the Old Testament. And now suddenly God has.
We have this in the New Testament. God foretold in the Old Testament that that part of what he had with his character is going to change, right? It's going to change when no longer is Israel, it's just the Israelites. You got the Israelites, you got the Gentiles, there's going to be that new covenant where that actually changes. Right.
So this whole idea that we read in Exodus that the iniquity of the fathers are going to be on the children and on the children's children to the third and the fourth generation that no longer has a part in this new covenant that both Jeremiah and Ezekiel is prophesying about. Right. I think that's real important for us to realize that the nature of God from the Old Testament hadn't changed.
And he's changed that part by saying that's no longer going to be true under this new covenant.
[00:16:13] Speaker E: So you think it was that way under the Old Testament?
[00:16:18] Speaker B: I do.
I think we see cases where you take a look at David, Bathsheba, their infant son, paid for the iniquities of David and Bathsheba. I think there are instances where we see, right there's instances where we may see that take place.
[00:16:39] Speaker E: I also say even near the end of Judah. I just read this recently. Near the end of Judah, even though Josiah was righteous, God still destroyed Judah for Manasseh's sins, and Manasseh was his death.
Well, Jeremiah was prophesied during Josiah's reign and Ezekiel, Jacob was prisoner in Babylon. And they were complaining that, hey, God's punishing us and it was our Father zoo ridol.
[00:17:05] Speaker B: I mean, like I said, that's a whole study, right? We could go through and look at those. And we're going to talk a little bit more about. Let's talk a little bit more about punishment and discipline as we move into the New Testament. So let's go to Luke chapter 13 and let's look at verses one through five.
So begin with verse one. There were some present at that very time who told him. Now, this hymn is Jesus, right? There were some present at the very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. So in other words, these people had come to Jesus and told him about these Galileans who, who had died, whom Pilate had died. And he being Jesus answered, do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way?
No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will always likewise perish. So look at these two stories, right? So we have this story where some Galileans lost their life because of Pilate. And then we had some of those who lived in Jerusalem, 18 who were killed because the tower fell on top of them. So what do you think, Jesus? What's the point in.
In these two examples, what's the point that Jesus is making?
What do you think he means when he says, were those Galileans worse sinners than other Galileans? Or were those 18 in Jerusalem worse sinners than everybody else who lives in Jerusalem?
What do you think he's meaning or pointing out there?
[00:19:06] Speaker E: Just because something bad happens to you doesn't mean it's a result of.
I mean, bad things happen to good people.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: Exactly. So I don't know. You know, to me, when you read that and you think that back, I kind of wonder maybe if the tone of those who came to Jesus said that. But notice what Jesus is saying, right. The main point that Jesus is saying is you're going to have to repent. Right. But what he's basically saying is if bad things happen, that doesn't mean that that's a punishment from God. So why. Or let's give some examples that you can think of where people might say, well, that's a punishment from God.
Is there anything that happened that you might think about that or have heard someone say that?
[00:20:01] Speaker C: Well, pretty much any.
Anytime there's like a natural disaster, I mean, the, the starkest image that pops to my mind is when Katrina hit New Orleans.
And you know, I heard a bunch of people saying about how New Orleans was bad. They, you know, that it's.
[00:20:19] Speaker B: That it's a punishment or they're reaping what they sow.
[00:20:22] Speaker C: Yeah, something like that.
But, but it's not, you know, not just from that specific example. I mean, anytime that there's a natural disaster, you can hear people talk a lot.
[00:20:33] Speaker B: I think the two that came to my mind as I was studying this, right. The first is Covid. Did you ever hear anybody say something about COVID being some type of punishment from God? So my dad, at the time of COVID my dad was an elder at a church of probably 85 to 90 people. And they lost six of the older members to Covid.
I mean, they were affected, right?
It wasn't a punishment. Covid wasn't a punishment that God was using on certain people because you had people in the church, I mean, died, right? Another one. And some of you who are probably my contemporaries, age wise, you know, when AIDS first came out, right. A lot of people talked about that that was a punishment from God. And you'll see oftentimes you'll see maybe these events, natural disasters or those type of diseases, people wind up saying that they're punishment. And it seems like oftentimes we seek some explanation or some divine explanation for these things and why do we do that and should we do that? But why do we often want some divine explanation for these events and help people make sense of things or give some closure? Yeah, right.
People want to know, well, why, right?
Why did this cause so many people to lose their lives or why? So I think oftentimes we seek some reasoning for it. When I think what Jesus, what we learn with what Jesus writes in Luke is there's just bad things that sometimes happen, right?
Those people who that tower fell on, they're just, they were kind of in the wrong place at the right time for the tower, the wrong time. You know, So I think we often try to find those divine explanations of things.
[00:22:42] Speaker E: There's a scripture that tells us that at least from our perspective, some things happen by chance.
In Ecclesiastes 9, 11, as I've seen something else on its own, race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong. Nor does food come to the wise or wealth come to the brilliant or favor to the learning. But time and chance happen to them all.
The other side.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I think about the tornadoes who've hit the tornadoes that have hit our area. Oftentimes, you know, when we see these bad things happening, we just can't assume that they're a punishment. And oftentimes, and I apologize because this may sound judgmental, often the people who make it or say that it is a punishment, it's because they've already have that agenda against that particular race or that particular type of people.
[00:23:36] Speaker E: One of the things I've always wondered about is that or all voted once to die.
So there's always a lot of happenstance of when an individual dies or somebody may make it through something like a rehab. A lot of tornado comes there. I've known people that in my opinion were really good people when they were.
They lived, I thought in Christian lives they still got caught in tornadoes when there was other people not living not too far from them. I thought were horrible people, but they made it through. So what was. What was the difference? You know, I think it's. It's. I think it's just sometimes godless half the sense happen or God has a reason for taking that particular off.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: And I think what Jesus is saying in that verse in Luke is these things happen.
So you need to repent. You need to repent. You need to make sure that you are right, that you're in the right state, because there's just these things that happen. Right. I know for me, the plane crash in D.C. where the helicopter hit the plane shook me up really bad because I have been. I have flown into Reagan. I mean, you know, I bet in 2023 I flew into Reagan two or three times a month, right? And I would see those helicopters all over the Potomac. And so it really shook me up. And when I went to D.C. a couple weeks ago, flew into Reagan, but those things just kind of happened. So let's talk about punishment and then consequences.
You know, after David's affair with Bathsheba, we read in 2nd Samuel that God decided that that infant would pay the price for the iniquity between David and Bathsheba. Okay.
There's a lot of. There's a lot of pregnancies that happen unmarried or if there's an affair or whatever.
But infant death's not a natural consequence. And so what I'm kind of saying is at this point, God decided that that was going to be the punishment. Right? When Ananias and Sapphire lied about money, God struck him dead today. Well, actually, I guess it was yesterday. Yesterday was tax day, the 15th. There was a lot of lying about money, but you didn't see anybody get struck dead, probably. And so that's not a natural way to lead to death, right? So we have stories in the Bible where God intercedes and he doles out that punishment.
That's not a natural. That's not necessarily a consequence.
Sometimes the punishment is that we bear the natural consequences of our choices. Okay.
You might choose to be unfaithful to your spouse. Okay. You may choose, and as a consequence of that, it may cost you your marriage. Okay?
It's not God punishing you for cheating on your spouse. It's just a natural consequence of those actions, okay?
You might choose to embezzle money from the company that you work for that might get you fired, might land you in jail. It's not really God punishing you, but rather it's the natural consequences for the choice that you made and a result of those choices. And so I think what I'm trying to say is that, sure, we read of where God interceded and did the punishment, but oftentimes we simply see the punishment due to the consequence of our actions. So what. What are some of the sins that you can think of that have obvious natural consequences?
Speeding right in that. Okay. You know, depending on. I know for those of you went to Harding, you know, you always would slow down through Town Creek and some of those places, right?
You know, I think about, you know, those who, you know, to me, I think some of the logical ones are like, those who steal, right? Those who do something where they break the law and then wind up going to jail. They're in jail as a consequence of their actions. But it's also a punishment, right?
Are there certain things. Are there some sins that really don't have consequences that are quite as obvious?
What do we tell our kids about lying?
At least my dad always told me that you can tell a lie, but eventually, eventually the truth's going to come out. So you might as well just tell me the truth now, because eventually I'm going to find out, right? So we may think we can do things, right? We may Think there are sins that we can do that don't really have any consequences, who aren't really hurting anyone?
I think we need to realize at the end of the day, every sin, everything we do, has some consequences. Even if we think we're doing them in private, ultimately they have a consequence on us. Right? They could lead to addictions. They could lead to things. And so we just have to remember that that sin in itself has consequences in our lives.
Let's talk a little bit about punishment.
So punishment. Do we think punishment is harsh?
I tended to be the disciplinarian when our kids were young. Right? But did that really mean I was harsh?
No, punishment just simply means God is just right. How would you feel about.
If God's nature is holiness and purity, how can his nature allow those ugly things, those wicked things, to exist? Right. You can't have one without the other.
Let's go to Hebrews 12, 4, 11. And here's the big question for the night.
Let's read Hebrews and then we'll move to this question. So Hebrews chapter 12 and beginning with verse 4.
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom His Father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have earthly fathers who discipline us, and we respect them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of our spirits and live for they discipline us for a short time as it seemed best to them. But he disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. But later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. So as we talk about, we often use these words in the same way, right? We actually discipline our children, but oftentimes we call it a punishment. So my question is, are those the same words or do they have different meanings?
What's the difference between the two?
[00:32:35] Speaker E: Punishment, the discipline. To me, discipline is when you're talking.
[00:32:42] Speaker B: To them, you're explaining what's going on and why.
[00:32:45] Speaker E: You know, if they don't understand why they're being punished, but then the punishment Would be being grounded or whatever that.
[00:32:52] Speaker B: Okay. Any other thoughts?
[00:32:55] Speaker E: Punishment can be like you've done something wrong, but discipline. It hit me that the root word of discipline is disciple. It really has nothing inherently to do with doing something wrong, but it's just to make you better.
[00:33:08] Speaker B: Yes.
We discipline our children to make them better human beings. Right?
We discipline. The goal of discipline is to change that behavior or to improve the behavior. So discipline has a goal.
At the end of the day, punishment is an action that in many ways is final. Right.
Thou shalt not murder. You have a murderer. He goes on trial. He is sentenced for life. Right? That is a punishment that has no. He could change. Right. And we all. I mean, you go out and you see what Siegfried's doing at Limestone. You have men in there who have no hope for parole, but who have changed their lives, but yet they're still being punished. Right? So I do think there's a difference between discipline and punishment. Discipline is that whole idea of, I'm going to make something stronger. I like the way it was talking about having that be disciplined. Notice what it says in Hebrews, for it is discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons, right? For what son is there who, father does not discipline? If you are without discipline, then basically you're not a son or a child of God. So why in Hebrews tells us this?
Why does God discipline?
We read it toward the end of Hebrews, in that last verse or two.
[00:35:00] Speaker E: Is he a train for righteousness?
[00:35:03] Speaker B: It is. He does that for our good, so we may share his holiness. Or some versions say train for righteousness. Okay. Now we could have a whole class on how God disciplines, because I don't necessarily understand how he disciplines, you know, but I think when we have to endure something, right? And I know we've talked about this. When we go into a storm, right? When we come out of that storm, oftentimes we're stronger for that. Whatever we've gone through or whatever we've endured, and we hope that that's the case.
Notice in verse 11. Right. That discipline seems really harsh. It seems really hard. But at the end, it yields peace.
And that peace is the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Right? And that's how we wind up coming through. All right, so let's go to second Thessalonians, verses 1 through 10.
And we're going to go through the summary just because I want us get to the application part. So here Paul's imagining that final day when God's going to come. Right?
Ultimately, this picture is a just God. And on this final day, God's people is going to be glorified, and then the wicked is going to be punished. And this is how things look when God is in charge, right?
And my question here is, do we really want to serve and worship a God who didn't punish wickedness?
Right, We've talked about that. We want that justice. So let's look at applications. So let's go to obadiah. Obadiah, verses 1 through 10.
I'm sorry, 10, 11. Because of the violence you have done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. So Obadiah here, he's talking about Edom, right? If we remember, when they came in, when they came in to take over, Edom just stood aside and let them come. So what's the indictment against Edom? Did they participate in the violence that happened to Israel and Judah? Were they part of that? No, it says that they stood aloof, meaning that they let it happen. And I think the application for us is we may choose not to participate in wickedness, but if we don't speak out against wickedness, then we're like the Edomites who just stood aloof.
That I think what it's telling us is one of our roles here is not participating is not enough.
Right?
We must work actively against wickedness when we see it just standing by and being spectators, being aloof. I think what we learn is that's just accepting that behavior.
So let's look at Ezekiel 9:3:6. Now the glory of God of Israel has gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing case at his waist. And the Lord said to him, pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it. And to the others he said, in my hearing, pass through the city after him, and strike your eye shall not spare, and you will show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark, and begin at my sanctuary. So they began with the elders who were before the house. So what we see is God tells them, right, this stuff has gone on to Jerusalem. Jerusalem's been sacked.
People have Been carried off. And they say if there's anyone who is crying because of this, if there is someone who is so touched by the wickedness that they see that they are distraught, put a mark on them. And then he tells a group, now go through the city and kill everyone who does not have a mark.
So what's our lesson? Right? Our lesson is, or what the story is, is if the people are not grieving over the sins of, of the people of Jerusalem, then they're implicated as being those who carried out those sins against the people in Jerusalem. Right?
If we are not distressed when we see wickedness, if wickedness does not upset us, if we do not cry over those who are participating in wickedness, if we do not weep over those souls that are lost because of wickedness, then basically we haven't been given a mark.
And it's an indictment against us because we're implicated, then as those who participate. Remember we talked about how compassion, when we talk about God being compassion, that compassion, it's not just feeling sorry for somebody, rather compassion should drive us to action. And the same thing is true when we see this. So what do you think it means to grieve over wickedness?
Right? Think about as a Christian, to grieve over wickedness should do what?
It should drive us to pray, it should drive us to share the gospel. It should drive us to do those things because we don't want to grieve over wickedness. Okay, so how do we do this? Right? Because we don't want to look like we're accepting the lifestyle of someone who's participating in that wickedness. So how do we work toward a balance of where we have compassion and we don't make it look like we're just overlooking sin.
How do we work toward that balance?
Two things I think in Obadiah, Obadiah tells us we can't ignore it, right? We can't ignore it when we see someone who is sinning, Right?
How does Jesus say we handle it? Through what four letter word love? Right? Jesus says love, he was able to balance, you know, he ate with sinners because of his love towards sinners. How many times in the New Testament do we read where Jesus says, you know, a doctor doesn't treat those who are well, but rather he treats those who are sick. So I think that's important, right?
So let's go to our homework for next week. So next week we're going to talk about forgiveness. And here's the question that I want you to chew on all week and maybe look up some verses, and you can thank the gentleman in the corner.
Him and I talked about this during the class. But do we forgive those who do not ask for forgiveness?
And that's something I've been struggling with probably for the last two months. How do we, you know, do we forgive those who don't ask for our forgiveness? So that's going to be your homework to think about next week. We're going to talk about God's forgiveness and forgiveness on the whole, but we're going to come back and touch on that. All right, let's close with a prayer, and then we'll be dismissed.
Our heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the time that we come together to study from your word. Father, we ask that you be with those among our family who are sick. We ask that you be with those who are struggling through various illnesses. We ask that you be with those who have upcoming surgeries. Father, we want to thank you for those successful surgeries, those successful baby deliveries that have happened this week. Father, we ask that you help us to remember that you are just. Help us to be strong and voice out against wickedness. Help us to grieve for those. But most of all, Father, help us to love them and love them in such a way that we present your gospel message to them. And it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
