November 10, 2025 • 24 mins
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Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to the West Side Church's
special Monday Morning CompanyPodcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think througheach other and better work the
applications into our dailylife.
(00:27):
Mark will then look forward intothis week's final reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday morning coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee Podcast for Monday,
November the 10th.
I'm Mark, and I am ready to talkwith you about the Psalms.
I'm ready to look back atyesterday's sermon.
I'm doing it all while I'mholding a great cup of coffee,
and I don't just mean thecontents this time.
This is the coffee in the mugs,pretty good stuff, no doubt
about that.
But even more, it's in a mugthat I really, really like.
(01:15):
This mug has a bear on it, andit says Yellowstone National
Park.
Holding this mug just bringsback all kinds of tremendous
memories of the trip that Deanand I made to Yellowstone a
couple years back.
I saw somewhere a study thatsays your coffee's better if you
drink it out of a mug that meanssomething to you, and I
subscribe to that 105%.
And I should say, sometimespeople give me a hard time,
Mark.
You always got coffee.
(01:35):
You always talk about coffee,coffee, this, coffee and Bible
reading, coffee, coffee, coffee.
But having a great cup of coffeewith my daily Bible reading
makes me look forward to doingmy daily Bible reading.
It's it will be wonderfulbecause I'm in the Word of God
and I'm doing something that Ireally love, which is yeah,
drinking coffee.
So do things that make yourhabit of daily Bible reading
(01:56):
more enjoyable, and you'll findit easier to stick with that
habit.
So whether that's coffee or teaor diet Mountain Dew, oh my,
please don't drink antifreeze.
If whatever that is that makesit enjoyable, makes you look
forward to it, then do thatbecause we want daily Bible
reading to be something that wewant to do.
We do what we want to do, and Iwant to read the Bible,
(02:20):
especially because I want tohave a great cup of coffee.
So grab your Bible, grab yourcoffee or tea or whatever it is
that you're gonna sip on as wework in the Word of God
together.
Grab your Bible, grab yourcoffee, let's grow together.
Okay, so I'm all fired up aboutdaily Bible reading, but first I
really need to look back onyesterday's sermon.
(02:40):
Yesterday was the last in athree-lesson mini-series on the
five toughest questionspertaining to the crucial
matters of salvation.
And so yesterday, of course,finished that up by talking
about baptism.
And there's a lot more that Ican say about all of that.
There's another question I wantto deal with with baptism,
probably deal with that in the Q⁇ A at the end of this month.
But maybe the thing to say hereis to say something about the
(03:02):
manner and mode of baptism.
That's a key question.
It didn't make the cut, but it'sa big question.
Does it matter how I ambaptized?
Many wonder if the method, themode, whether I'm poured on or
sprinkled or immersed, does thateven really matter?
And the answer to that is yes.
It completely matters because inbaptism, we are participating
(03:25):
in, we are, we are part of afigure of the death, burial, and
resurrection of Jesus.
And they didn't pour a littledirt on Jesus and they didn't
sprinkle a little dirt on Jesus.
He was completely buried.
That's what it means to beburied, is complete.
Uh, you know, Halloween's over,zombie time is done.
Okay, we're putting them all theway in.
And if you go read Romans 6, weare baptized into Christ's death
(03:50):
to arise to walk in newness oflife.
And there's a complicatedargument that could be made here
from the New Testament Greekthat the word baptism actually
just means an immersion, acomplete plunging under, and
that is absolutely so.
But I don't think you have toknow Greek to know that the way
people were baptized in the NewTestament was through immersion.
In Acts chapter 8, verse 37, theEthiopian eunuch and Philip went
(04:11):
down into the water.
And if you're going to bebaptized with New Testament
baptism, you need to follow theNew Testament pattern for
baptism, and that is immersion.
Hope that helps you as you thinkabout your baptism and helps you
as you think and help othersthink about obeying the gospel,
being baptized into Christ.
(04:32):
Well, now we can dive into thePsalms.
(04:56):
Psalm 70 is our reading fortoday.
As you're looking at the 70thPsalm, you may have a note that
you wrote it sometime, or maybeyour study Bible has a note that
this is identical to the 40thPsalm, verses 13 to 17.
And of course, the obviousquestion then is why?
Why is Psalm 70 doubling Psalm40?
And there's a lot of discussionabout that.
(05:16):
There's not really consensus,but most scholars think that
Psalm 40 is the older psalm andthat it may have been used in
worship.
And then Psalm 70 could be theshorter version that people used
in their own personal life or inother worship services.
I like that idea a lot becauseit helps us see that the psalms
are so flexible, they can fit avariety of circumstances and a
(05:37):
variety of needs.
And I really love this idea ofpraying the Psalms, making the
Psalm your own.
Now, I talked a little bit aboutthat last Sunday in the 9 a.m.
hour when I talked aboutsavoring the psalms.
You remember that?
Let's go over those takeawaysfrom that lesson and hold on to
that as we work this week.
First and foremost, we alwaysask what kind of psalm is this.
Then we're going to read thepsalm slowly and prayerfully.
(05:58):
We want to read it out loud, andwe want to feel the psalm.
We want to get the emotions andthe mood of the psalm.
Then let the psalm take you tothe Lord, and then finally, that
business about praying.
If you can, pray the psalm.
Make this your prayer, and thatway you're taking the psalm into
your own heart and into your ownlife.
This is very much a lament, andit won't take you a moment to
(06:21):
see that.
The first three verses are allabout I have enemies who are
coming after me.
And then there's a wonderfullittle note of confidence in
verse four, and then there ismore lament in verse five.
I need your help, God, and Ineed your help immediately.
So let me add just oneadditional hint here.
And if the audio changeddramatically, is because I
realized I had the settings allwrong and was using the wrong
(06:44):
microphone, just the built-inmicrophone on the computer
instead of this good microphone.
So if all of a sudden it got awhole lot louder in your ear, it
that's completely my fault.
That is completely my fault.
Let me add this.
If we're going to talk about thepsalm taking us to God, asking
questions like how does thepsalm describe God, and what is
the psalmist seeking from God,and how does the psalmist praise
(07:05):
God?
That's one of our questions onthe back of our Bible reading
schedule.
I think verse 4 really helps ushere.
May all who seek you rejoice andbe glad in you.
May those who love yoursalvation say evermore, God is
great.
There is so much to be saidabout the goodness of God and
that God wants us to what?
Be glad.
But that's only going to happento a certain kind of person, the
(07:25):
kind of person who rejoices andloves God's salvation.
But it says so much about Godthat He wants you to be
fulfilled, He wants you to becontent.
He wants, in the context of thisPsalm, to deliver, to save, and
to help.
That's the God that we serve,and that is the God that is
being appealed to in Psalm 70.
Our reading for Monday is Psalm70.
(07:48):
It's Tuesday.
It is Tuesday.
And today we're reading the 86thPsalm.
Psalm 86 is our reading forTuesday.
You will find immediately, assoon as you jump into this
Psalm, that it is a lament.
One scholar said this Psalm is aprayer in which the individual
speaker expresses supplicationand complaint to God.
The speaker, the prayer, is ingreat distress and apparently
(08:09):
even in danger.
Note verse 2 and verse 14.
The supplications for mercy andrelief are pressed toward God
with urgency.
That is exactly right.
And it is, according to theheading, a prayer of David,
which we could identifyspecifically when David prayed
this prayer.
One scholar that I have a lot ofrespect for thinks it could have
(08:30):
been during the AbsalomRebellion.
It is a cut-and-paste psalm.
A major characteristic of thispsalm is that it uses a ton of
language found in other psalms,and it's put together, and maybe
that helps us think of David ina time of great suffering and
tribulation.
He's running from Absalom andafraid for his life.
And so he's praying the phrasesthat are deeply embedded in his
(08:54):
heart.
I'll give you an outline here,although laments don't always
necessarily outline perfectlythe idea of hear me, O Lord, in
verses 1 to 7, and then praise,there is none like God, verses 8
to 13, and then the request,save me, O Lord, verses 14 to
17.
And it begins with I am poor andneedy.
That's really an expression ofgodliness.
(09:17):
Often in the Psalms, I am poorand needy is a way of saying, I
don't depend upon riches, Idon't depend upon my
possessions, I depend upon theLord.
You might note Psalm 37, 14,Psalm 70, verse 5, an expression
he's used a lot in the Psalms.
And then David's expression, Iam godly, in verse 2, that's not
egotistical, is not bragging onhimself.
He's just saying, Lord, I'm incovenant relationship with you.
(09:39):
I'm on your side, I'm trying toserve you.
And I really love verse 4,gladden my heart.
Don't we need to pray thatsometimes?
Lord, gladden my heart.
Yesterday, the Psalms talkedabout being glad in the Lord
because we love your salvation.
Rejoicing in God, being happy toserve God is a major theme in
the Psalms.
Gladden my heart.
(10:00):
And as you read along here, Ithink verse 8 probably will
throw some people.
What's the deal here aboutthere's none like you among the
gods?
You have to remember that inDavid's day there's lots of
gods, at least, belief in lotsof gods.
That doesn't mean that there areother gods.
And this psalm is clear there isonly one God.
And the psalmist will go on.
David will say this severaltimes, you alone are God, verse
(10:22):
10, for example.
So he's not getting intopolytheism, but he is announcing
his faith and trust in a worldwhere there are many belief
systems and many gods.
You alone are God, you are theonly one, and I want to know
your way, verse 11.
I'm going to talk about thismore tonight in the Zoom call,
but your way here, the way ofthe Lord, the way of God, teach
(10:44):
me your way, O Lord, dependingon your translation here.
That's not really the Bible.
I've seen it used that way.
I've probably used it that way.
But really, your way is how Goddoes things, the way of God.
How does God do things asopposed to how people do things,
particularly wicked people dothings.
I want to do things in the wayof the Lord.
(11:06):
I want to be like God.
And then verses 14 to 17, Davidfinally gets to talking about
his troubles.
I am impressed that he hasself-discipline even in prayer.
He does not go straight to the,hey, I need some help here.
Yeah, there's a little bit ofthat at the top of the psalm,
but there's a lot more beforeDavid says, Lord, I need some
help.
This is a beautiful psalm.
(11:28):
Can't wait to talk with youabout it tonight in the Zoom
call, Westsiders.
If you're not a Westsider, I'llsee you tomorrow on the podcast.
Just a wonderful song.
Take your time, pray the psalm,savor the psalm.
Our reading for Tuesday, Psalm86.
It is Wednesday, it's hump day.
Let's get on that camel.
Today we are reading in the109th Psalm, Psalm 109.
(11:52):
And I wonder if you've everthought about how to rate the
Psalms with the movie ratingsystem.
Because if you think about that,if you classify Psalms like we
classify movies, this would notbe G-rated.
It would not.
This is a PG 13 Psalm withoutany question because it contains
a very strong imprecation.
David asked God repeatedly andvery, very clearly to destroy
(12:15):
his enemies in the most horribleof fashion.
And that gives us a great chanceto talk a little more about
imprec im what's the answer?
More coffee.
Imprecatory psalms.
There's really not anything hereto help us date this psalm to
know exactly when David wrotethis.
He has a number of times in hislife when he has enemies who are
(12:36):
really getting after him.
So there's plenty of places wecould fit this psalm.
And I think a couple things willhelp us as we deal with the
imprecation here.
First and foremost, it begins,the psalm begins with praise in
verse 1.
And please notice verse 30, Iwill praise him in the midst of
the throng.
This is about God, and this isabout praising God.
This is about what God will do.
(12:56):
I have some ideas, David says,about what I want God to do, but
this is primarily about theaction of God.
So the imprecation begins inverse 6, and it's just a long
series of curses.
That's what an imprecation is.
It's asking God to bringjudgment upon someone.
And I would say from readingverses 1 to 5, we learn a lot
(13:17):
about imprecatory Psalms.
They show us that we have to beright with God first.
David is first and foremost aworshiper of God.
His heart is right with God.
He starts by saying, God, I'mserving you.
And David has searched his ownheart first, and then he can ask
God to deal justly with thosewho are attacking others.
(13:37):
Notably, they are attacking him.
Imprecations come from thosewith clean hands and clean
hearts.
That's important here.
Now, I've talked aboutimprecations both in QA and also
in this podcast.
I don't want to revisit all ofthat except to say that
imprecations are asking God todeal with enemies.
They use large poetic language.
(14:00):
We see that in a lot of ways inthe Psalms.
The Lord is my shepherd, hemakes me lie down.
Nobody even thinks about that.
It's just a lovely pastoralscene, but of course, that's a
figure of speech.
David is not literally, youknow, a sheep.
That's not how that is.
A little coffee here to keepthings going.
And in the same way, I thinkDavid is really wrought up, and
(14:20):
this teaches us some thingsabout we can bring before God
our problems and we can speakhonestly to the Lord, and we can
say honestly to God what we wishwould happen.
But I don't think that in anyway somehow this contradicts
what Jesus says about lovingyour enemies or that we should
tear the imprecatory psalms outof the Bible.
There are imprecations in theNew Testament, by the way.
(14:42):
And so we need to be prettycareful about getting the
scissors out when it comes toGod's word.
We can love our enemies whilepraying for God to judge them if
they will not make changes.
Now, there's more that could besaid about that.
That's a big subject.
This is just a devotional thatwe can take advantage of first
thing in the morning or maybe onyour lunch hour.
Let's move on in the Psalm.
Verse 21 to 31 is his prayer,and he asks God to deal with
(15:06):
these enemies because he isweak.
And once again, verse 22, we getpoor and needy, which, as I said
yesterday, is a way to thinkabout being godly.
I'm just a godly person, but butI'm not strong enough.
I can't do anything.
So verse 26, God, I need you todo something.
And I love verse 27.
I think that's the key toimpregatory psalms.
You need to do this, God.
(15:27):
Let them know that this is yourhand.
You, O Lord, have done it.
What David is really praying forhere is that God will act in a
decisive way so that people willknow the wicked aren't getting
away with it.
Let them see justice.
Let them know that you can'tflaunt God's ways and God's law.
(15:47):
God, you need to act here sothat your name is being upheld.
I think that's a key idea inthis Psalm.
Our reading for Wednesday thenis Psalm 109.
Welcome to Thursday.
Welcome to Thursday.
And today we're reading the140th Psalm.
The 140th Psalm's got snakes init.
Hope that's not a trigger foryou.
(16:08):
I'm not a big fan of snakes.
Mentioned this in Bible classrecently.
Snakes in the Bible almostuniformly bad.
And then, of course, the Lorduses a bronze serpent to heal
the people.
So sometimes snakes show up asbeing kind of a good thing.
Jesus actually complimentssnakes.
Go look for that in the Gospels.
That's probably something mostpeople don't know Jesus ever
said.
Back to the Psalm, Psalm 140.
(16:29):
This is an individual lament, itis a cry for help to God.
And I say often that theheadings are not inspired, but I
would say this (16:38):
this psalm sounds like David.
It is in the style of David.
It looks like David.
It walks like David.
It talks like David.
David wrote the 140th Psalm.
And probably wrote this aboutone of those catastrophic
occurrences, maybe Doag theEdomite killing all the priests,
maybe Absalom's rebellion.
But he is in real trouble herebecause evil people are doing
(17:01):
evil things.
In verses 1 to 5, you have theconspirators.
Then in verses 6 to 11, the helpthat David is seeking from God.
And then there's an affirmationof faith in verses 12 to 13.
And it begins verse 1, deliverme.
But the New American Standardhas rescue.
And I think that's better.
Nobody calls the Coast Guard andasks to be delivered.
(17:21):
You deliver pizza.
You need to be rescued.
And this is a psalm about beingrescued.
Verse 3, by the way, is usedexplicitly in the third chapter
of Romans, Romans 3 and verse13.
And you may have out to themargin there the word sale.
And I get asked about that fromtime to time.
And the answer is we do notknow.
We do not know what salaw meansor what that is.
(17:44):
It seems to be a term meaningpause.
It may be a musical term.
We're just not sure.
It is used for the first timesince Psalm 89.
And why it doesn't occur forthese 50 or so Psalms, we don't
even know that either.
So then David seeks help fromGod in verses 6 to 11.
There's a very personal appeal,verses 6, 7, and 8.
(18:04):
Notice how he looks to the past,verse 7.
You have covered my head in theday of battle.
And then he looks to the future,verse 8.
Based on what you have done,God, I have confidence in what
will be done in the future.
And then there is thisimprecation section here.
These people need to bepunished.
So verse 10, they tried to gethim to fall into their traps.
(18:26):
So you know what?
They need to fall into their owntraps.
They need to be plunged into thepits of destruction.
They have hunted him.
They need to be hunted in turn.
And all the stuff that I saidabout imprecation yesterday, all
of that applies again.
Just use all of that right here.
And then I love thisaffirmation: the Lord will
maintain the cause of theafflicted.
He will execute justice for theneedy.
(18:48):
That is what imprecation isabout.
God, let your hand be seen.
Let all people see that crime,wickedness, evil, sin does not
pay.
Our reading for Thursday, Psalm140.
It's Friday.
It is Friday, and we're readingPsalm 141 to finish the week
out.
Now we always begin by askingwhat kind of psalm it is.
(19:09):
Don't ask that this time.
I'm just kidding.
We have to ask that, but it is amixed psalm.
There is some lament here, somecrying for God's help, but
there's also some wisdom here,how to deal with temptation, how
to deal with evildoers.
So I'm going to move this overin the wisdom category.
This is a teaching psalm.
And there's a lot of repetitionin this psalm.
We always watch for repetitionthat says this is important and
(19:31):
gets emphasis.
So the first stanza here, versesone to five, says some things
about evil and where evil iscoming from.
The raising of hands, noticeverse 2 says that I'm dependent
upon God.
And then evil comes in manyforms.
Look at verse 3 and 4 in thespeech, in your heart, which
then leads to action.
The prayer is widening beyondjust what I say, to what I
(19:54):
think, to what I do.
All of that matters.
Because if we're going to talkabout temptation, we need to
talk about the heart.
That's where everything starts.
If you're really dealing withtemptation, you have to deal
with your heart.
Then the second stanza begins inverse 6.
Verse 6 to 10 is the secondstanza, and this is this
contains some of the mostdifficult passages in the entire
(20:16):
book of Psalms.
When we get down to verse 7,everybody will be scratching
their head, including me.
So let's start with verse 6.
The ESV says, When their judgesare thrown over the cliff, then
they shall hear my words, forthey are pleasant.
Well, there you go.
That seems pretty obvious, isn'tit?
No, there's nothing obviousabout it, but the Hebrew here is
very difficult to translate.
And literally it's somethinglike, when the judges are thrown
(20:39):
down by the side of the rock,then they hear words, my words
are sweet.
That's a rough translation givenby those that know Hebrew a lot
better than I do, and that'scertainly way above my skill
set.
But apparently this means thatwhen David's enemies are
destroyed by being cast againstthe rocks, they will see that
(21:01):
the psalmist was right, therighteousness of David.
Then there is this proverb,verse 7: As when one plows and
breaks up the earth, so shallour bones be scattered at the
mouth of Sheol.
That is very, very hard.
Oftentimes, proverbs areunderstandable in that culture
and in that society, but beyondthat, they may be completely,
(21:21):
completely lost, untranslatable.
You think about the proverbsthat we have.
I've done some work in the bookof Proverbs, and so for example,
our proverb, a rolling stonegathers no moss, means if you if
you're busy and you keep going,then moss doesn't grow on you.
But the same proverb is used inEngland to mean that the busy
(21:42):
person doesn't put down rootsand have any real relationships,
doesn't have any friends becausehe's always doing everything and
going everywhere and doingstuff.
So it means something entirelydifferent there.
Well, this is a proverb fromBible times, and it's just
really hard.
One scholar said, even as thefarmer breaks up the soil and
brings up the rocks, so thebones of the wicked will be
scattered without a decentburial.
(22:02):
And not being buried is a hugeissue in the Old Testament.
Another scholar says, as if onewho plows and makes furrows in
the earth, our bones are plowedand strewn at the mouth of the
home of the dead Sheol.
Probably it seems to be sayingthat the wicked does attack the
righteous.
Maybe, like our phrases, youknow, oh, he got his plow
cleaned.
(22:23):
What does that even mean?
Most people don't even know whata plow is anymore.
But we know, oh, we got his plowcleaned means, you know, he got
beat up.
He got, you know, that team gotabsolutely shellacked.
Well, there's a metaphor rightthere.
They got thoroughly beaten.
Maybe this is saying the wickedare attacking us and we're
thoroughly beaten.
But it ends then with somediscussion of the Lord, my eyes
(22:46):
are towards you, O God, you'remy refuge.
Keep me, let the wicked fall.
I need your help, God, or I'mgoing to end up in all kinds of
trouble, maybe sinful trouble,verses three and four, or even
my life being taken by thewicked.
This is not the easiest psalm.
It takes some thought, it takessome time.
(23:06):
Work with it.
Remember to savor the psalm.
This is this is tough savoring,I guess, but work on it and see
if it doesn't bolster yourconfidence, your faith in God.
And especially, I really likethree and four.
If you're struggling with sin,sit down there in verses three
and four.
Pray that.
Ask God to help you so thatyou'll not fall into temptation.
(23:27):
Our reading for Friday, Psalm141.
That concludes the podcast forthe week.
Thank you so much for listening.
If this podcast has been ablessing to you, I certainly
wish that you'd tell a friendand encourage someone else to
listen to it so that it willhelp them in their walk with
God.
I love reading the Bible withyou, talking about last week's
(23:48):
sermon, getting in the Word ofGod, encouraging you.
It encourages me drinking thatcoffee and doing that daily
Bible reading.
What a wonderful, wonderfulhabit to build.
I'm Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven, and Iwant you to come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (24:11):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website, justChristians.com, and our Facebook
page.
Our music is from Upbeat.io.
That's Upbeat with two P's,U-P-P-P-E-A-T, where creators
(24:36):
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Please share our podcast withothers, and we'll look forward
to seeing you again with a cupof coffee, of course, on next
Monday.
Hello, and welcome to the West Side Church's
special Monday Morning CompanyPodcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think througheach other and better work the
applications into our dailylife.
(00:27):
Mark will then look forward intothis week's final reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday morning coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee Podcast for Monday,
November the 10th.
I'm Mark, and I am ready to talkwith you about the Psalms.
I'm ready to look back atyesterday's sermon.
I'm doing it all while I'mholding a great cup of coffee,
and I don't just mean thecontents this time.
This is the coffee in the mugs,pretty good stuff, no doubt
about that.
But even more, it's in a mugthat I really, really like.
(01:15):
This mug has a bear on it, andit says Yellowstone National
Park.
Holding this mug just bringsback all kinds of tremendous
memories of the trip that Deanand I made to Yellowstone a
couple years back.
I saw somewhere a study thatsays your coffee's better if you
drink it out of a mug that meanssomething to you, and I
subscribe to that 105%.
And I should say, sometimespeople give me a hard time,
Mark.
You always got coffee.
(01:35):
You always talk about coffee,coffee, this, coffee and Bible
reading, coffee, coffee, coffee.
But having a great cup of coffeewith my daily Bible reading
makes me look forward to doingmy daily Bible reading.
It's it will be wonderfulbecause I'm in the Word of God
and I'm doing something that Ireally love, which is yeah,
drinking coffee.
So do things that make yourhabit of daily Bible reading
(01:56):
more enjoyable, and you'll findit easier to stick with that
habit.
So whether that's coffee or teaor diet Mountain Dew, oh my,
please don't drink antifreeze.
If whatever that is that makesit enjoyable, makes you look
forward to it, then do thatbecause we want daily Bible
reading to be something that wewant to do.
We do what we want to do, and Iwant to read the Bible,
(02:20):
especially because I want tohave a great cup of coffee.
So grab your Bible, grab yourcoffee or tea or whatever it is
that you're gonna sip on as wework in the Word of God
together.
Grab your Bible, grab yourcoffee, let's grow together.
Okay, so I'm all fired up aboutdaily Bible reading, but first I
really need to look back onyesterday's sermon.
(02:40):
Yesterday was the last in athree-lesson mini-series on the
five toughest questionspertaining to the crucial
matters of salvation.
And so yesterday, of course,finished that up by talking
about baptism.
And there's a lot more that Ican say about all of that.
There's another question I wantto deal with with baptism,
probably deal with that in the Q⁇ A at the end of this month.
But maybe the thing to say hereis to say something about the
(03:02):
manner and mode of baptism.
That's a key question.
It didn't make the cut, but it'sa big question.
Does it matter how I ambaptized?
Many wonder if the method, themode, whether I'm poured on or
sprinkled or immersed, does thateven really matter?
And the answer to that is yes.
It completely matters because inbaptism, we are participating
(03:25):
in, we are, we are part of afigure of the death, burial, and
resurrection of Jesus.
And they didn't pour a littledirt on Jesus and they didn't
sprinkle a little dirt on Jesus.
He was completely buried.
That's what it means to beburied, is complete.
Uh, you know, Halloween's over,zombie time is done.
Okay, we're putting them all theway in.
And if you go read Romans 6, weare baptized into Christ's death
(03:50):
to arise to walk in newness oflife.
And there's a complicatedargument that could be made here
from the New Testament Greekthat the word baptism actually
just means an immersion, acomplete plunging under, and
that is absolutely so.
But I don't think you have toknow Greek to know that the way
people were baptized in the NewTestament was through immersion.
In Acts chapter 8, verse 37, theEthiopian eunuch and Philip went
(04:11):
down into the water.
And if you're going to bebaptized with New Testament
baptism, you need to follow theNew Testament pattern for
baptism, and that is immersion.
Hope that helps you as you thinkabout your baptism and helps you
as you think and help othersthink about obeying the gospel,
being baptized into Christ.
(04:32):
Well, now we can dive into thePsalms.
(04:56):
Psalm 70 is our reading fortoday.
As you're looking at the 70thPsalm, you may have a note that
you wrote it sometime, or maybeyour study Bible has a note that
this is identical to the 40thPsalm, verses 13 to 17.
And of course, the obviousquestion then is why?
Why is Psalm 70 doubling Psalm40?
And there's a lot of discussionabout that.
(05:16):
There's not really consensus,but most scholars think that
Psalm 40 is the older psalm andthat it may have been used in
worship.
And then Psalm 70 could be theshorter version that people used
in their own personal life or inother worship services.
I like that idea a lot becauseit helps us see that the psalms
are so flexible, they can fit avariety of circumstances and a
(05:37):
variety of needs.
And I really love this idea ofpraying the Psalms, making the
Psalm your own.
Now, I talked a little bit aboutthat last Sunday in the 9 a.m.
hour when I talked aboutsavoring the psalms.
You remember that?
Let's go over those takeawaysfrom that lesson and hold on to
that as we work this week.
First and foremost, we alwaysask what kind of psalm is this.
Then we're going to read thepsalm slowly and prayerfully.
(05:58):
We want to read it out loud, andwe want to feel the psalm.
We want to get the emotions andthe mood of the psalm.
Then let the psalm take you tothe Lord, and then finally, that
business about praying.
If you can, pray the psalm.
Make this your prayer, and thatway you're taking the psalm into
your own heart and into your ownlife.
This is very much a lament, andit won't take you a moment to
(06:21):
see that.
The first three verses are allabout I have enemies who are
coming after me.
And then there's a wonderfullittle note of confidence in
verse four, and then there ismore lament in verse five.
I need your help, God, and Ineed your help immediately.
So let me add just oneadditional hint here.
And if the audio changeddramatically, is because I
realized I had the settings allwrong and was using the wrong
(06:44):
microphone, just the built-inmicrophone on the computer
instead of this good microphone.
So if all of a sudden it got awhole lot louder in your ear, it
that's completely my fault.
That is completely my fault.
Let me add this.
If we're going to talk about thepsalm taking us to God, asking
questions like how does thepsalm describe God, and what is
the psalmist seeking from God,and how does the psalmist praise
(07:05):
God?
That's one of our questions onthe back of our Bible reading
schedule.
I think verse 4 really helps ushere.
May all who seek you rejoice andbe glad in you.
May those who love yoursalvation say evermore, God is
great.
There is so much to be saidabout the goodness of God and
that God wants us to what?
Be glad.
But that's only going to happento a certain kind of person, the
(07:25):
kind of person who rejoices andloves God's salvation.
But it says so much about Godthat He wants you to be
fulfilled, He wants you to becontent.
He wants, in the context of thisPsalm, to deliver, to save, and
to help.
That's the God that we serve,and that is the God that is
being appealed to in Psalm 70.
Our reading for Monday is Psalm70.
(07:48):
It's Tuesday.
It is Tuesday.
And today we're reading the 86thPsalm.
Psalm 86 is our reading forTuesday.
You will find immediately, assoon as you jump into this
Psalm, that it is a lament.
One scholar said this Psalm is aprayer in which the individual
speaker expresses supplicationand complaint to God.
The speaker, the prayer, is ingreat distress and apparently
(08:09):
even in danger.
Note verse 2 and verse 14.
The supplications for mercy andrelief are pressed toward God
with urgency.
That is exactly right.
And it is, according to theheading, a prayer of David,
which we could identifyspecifically when David prayed
this prayer.
One scholar that I have a lot ofrespect for thinks it could have
(08:30):
been during the AbsalomRebellion.
It is a cut-and-paste psalm.
A major characteristic of thispsalm is that it uses a ton of
language found in other psalms,and it's put together, and maybe
that helps us think of David ina time of great suffering and
tribulation.
He's running from Absalom andafraid for his life.
And so he's praying the phrasesthat are deeply embedded in his
(08:54):
heart.
I'll give you an outline here,although laments don't always
necessarily outline perfectlythe idea of hear me, O Lord, in
verses 1 to 7, and then praise,there is none like God, verses 8
to 13, and then the request,save me, O Lord, verses 14 to
17.
And it begins with I am poor andneedy.
That's really an expression ofgodliness.
(09:17):
Often in the Psalms, I am poorand needy is a way of saying, I
don't depend upon riches, Idon't depend upon my
possessions, I depend upon theLord.
You might note Psalm 37, 14,Psalm 70, verse 5, an expression
he's used a lot in the Psalms.
And then David's expression, Iam godly, in verse 2, that's not
egotistical, is not bragging onhimself.
He's just saying, Lord, I'm incovenant relationship with you.
(09:39):
I'm on your side, I'm trying toserve you.
And I really love verse 4,gladden my heart.
Don't we need to pray thatsometimes?
Lord, gladden my heart.
Yesterday, the Psalms talkedabout being glad in the Lord
because we love your salvation.
Rejoicing in God, being happy toserve God is a major theme in
the Psalms.
Gladden my heart.
(10:00):
And as you read along here, Ithink verse 8 probably will
throw some people.
What's the deal here aboutthere's none like you among the
gods?
You have to remember that inDavid's day there's lots of
gods, at least, belief in lotsof gods.
That doesn't mean that there areother gods.
And this psalm is clear there isonly one God.
And the psalmist will go on.
David will say this severaltimes, you alone are God, verse
(10:22):
10, for example.
So he's not getting intopolytheism, but he is announcing
his faith and trust in a worldwhere there are many belief
systems and many gods.
You alone are God, you are theonly one, and I want to know
your way, verse 11.
I'm going to talk about thismore tonight in the Zoom call,
but your way here, the way ofthe Lord, the way of God, teach
(10:44):
me your way, O Lord, dependingon your translation here.
That's not really the Bible.
I've seen it used that way.
I've probably used it that way.
But really, your way is how Goddoes things, the way of God.
How does God do things asopposed to how people do things,
particularly wicked people dothings.
I want to do things in the wayof the Lord.
(11:06):
I want to be like God.
And then verses 14 to 17, Davidfinally gets to talking about
his troubles.
I am impressed that he hasself-discipline even in prayer.
He does not go straight to the,hey, I need some help here.
Yeah, there's a little bit ofthat at the top of the psalm,
but there's a lot more beforeDavid says, Lord, I need some
help.
This is a beautiful psalm.
(11:28):
Can't wait to talk with youabout it tonight in the Zoom
call, Westsiders.
If you're not a Westsider, I'llsee you tomorrow on the podcast.
Just a wonderful song.
Take your time, pray the psalm,savor the psalm.
Our reading for Tuesday, Psalm86.
It is Wednesday, it's hump day.
Let's get on that camel.
Today we are reading in the109th Psalm, Psalm 109.
(11:52):
And I wonder if you've everthought about how to rate the
Psalms with the movie ratingsystem.
Because if you think about that,if you classify Psalms like we
classify movies, this would notbe G-rated.
It would not.
This is a PG 13 Psalm withoutany question because it contains
a very strong imprecation.
David asked God repeatedly andvery, very clearly to destroy
(12:15):
his enemies in the most horribleof fashion.
And that gives us a great chanceto talk a little more about
imprec im what's the answer?
More coffee.
Imprecatory psalms.
There's really not anything hereto help us date this psalm to
know exactly when David wrotethis.
He has a number of times in hislife when he has enemies who are
(12:36):
really getting after him.
So there's plenty of places wecould fit this psalm.
And I think a couple things willhelp us as we deal with the
imprecation here.
First and foremost, it begins,the psalm begins with praise in
verse 1.
And please notice verse 30, Iwill praise him in the midst of
the throng.
This is about God, and this isabout praising God.
This is about what God will do.
(12:56):
I have some ideas, David says,about what I want God to do, but
this is primarily about theaction of God.
So the imprecation begins inverse 6, and it's just a long
series of curses.
That's what an imprecation is.
It's asking God to bringjudgment upon someone.
And I would say from readingverses 1 to 5, we learn a lot
(13:17):
about imprecatory Psalms.
They show us that we have to beright with God first.
David is first and foremost aworshiper of God.
His heart is right with God.
He starts by saying, God, I'mserving you.
And David has searched his ownheart first, and then he can ask
God to deal justly with thosewho are attacking others.
(13:37):
Notably, they are attacking him.
Imprecations come from thosewith clean hands and clean
hearts.
That's important here.
Now, I've talked aboutimprecations both in QA and also
in this podcast.
I don't want to revisit all ofthat except to say that
imprecations are asking God todeal with enemies.
They use large poetic language.
(14:00):
We see that in a lot of ways inthe Psalms.
The Lord is my shepherd, hemakes me lie down.
Nobody even thinks about that.
It's just a lovely pastoralscene, but of course, that's a
figure of speech.
David is not literally, youknow, a sheep.
That's not how that is.
A little coffee here to keepthings going.
And in the same way, I thinkDavid is really wrought up, and
(14:20):
this teaches us some thingsabout we can bring before God
our problems and we can speakhonestly to the Lord, and we can
say honestly to God what we wishwould happen.
But I don't think that in anyway somehow this contradicts
what Jesus says about lovingyour enemies or that we should
tear the imprecatory psalms outof the Bible.
There are imprecations in theNew Testament, by the way.
(14:42):
And so we need to be prettycareful about getting the
scissors out when it comes toGod's word.
We can love our enemies whilepraying for God to judge them if
they will not make changes.
Now, there's more that could besaid about that.
That's a big subject.
This is just a devotional thatwe can take advantage of first
thing in the morning or maybe onyour lunch hour.
Let's move on in the Psalm.
Verse 21 to 31 is his prayer,and he asks God to deal with
(15:06):
these enemies because he isweak.
And once again, verse 22, we getpoor and needy, which, as I said
yesterday, is a way to thinkabout being godly.
I'm just a godly person, but butI'm not strong enough.
I can't do anything.
So verse 26, God, I need you todo something.
And I love verse 27.
I think that's the key toimpregatory psalms.
You need to do this, God.
(15:27):
Let them know that this is yourhand.
You, O Lord, have done it.
What David is really praying forhere is that God will act in a
decisive way so that people willknow the wicked aren't getting
away with it.
Let them see justice.
Let them know that you can'tflaunt God's ways and God's law.
(15:47):
God, you need to act here sothat your name is being upheld.
I think that's a key idea inthis Psalm.
Our reading for Wednesday thenis Psalm 109.
Welcome to Thursday.
Welcome to Thursday.
And today we're reading the140th Psalm.
The 140th Psalm's got snakes init.
Hope that's not a trigger foryou.
(16:08):
I'm not a big fan of snakes.
Mentioned this in Bible classrecently.
Snakes in the Bible almostuniformly bad.
And then, of course, the Lorduses a bronze serpent to heal
the people.
So sometimes snakes show up asbeing kind of a good thing.
Jesus actually complimentssnakes.
Go look for that in the Gospels.
That's probably something mostpeople don't know Jesus ever
said.
Back to the Psalm, Psalm 140.
(16:29):
This is an individual lament, itis a cry for help to God.
And I say often that theheadings are not inspired, but I
would say this (16:38):
this psalm sounds like David.
It is in the style of David.
It looks like David.
It walks like David.
It talks like David.
David wrote the 140th Psalm.
And probably wrote this aboutone of those catastrophic
occurrences, maybe Doag theEdomite killing all the priests,
maybe Absalom's rebellion.
But he is in real trouble herebecause evil people are doing
(17:01):
evil things.
In verses 1 to 5, you have theconspirators.
Then in verses 6 to 11, the helpthat David is seeking from God.
And then there's an affirmationof faith in verses 12 to 13.
And it begins verse 1, deliverme.
But the New American Standardhas rescue.
And I think that's better.
Nobody calls the Coast Guard andasks to be delivered.
(17:21):
You deliver pizza.
You need to be rescued.
And this is a psalm about beingrescued.
Verse 3, by the way, is usedexplicitly in the third chapter
of Romans, Romans 3 and verse13.
And you may have out to themargin there the word sale.
And I get asked about that fromtime to time.
And the answer is we do notknow.
We do not know what salaw meansor what that is.
(17:44):
It seems to be a term meaningpause.
It may be a musical term.
We're just not sure.
It is used for the first timesince Psalm 89.
And why it doesn't occur forthese 50 or so Psalms, we don't
even know that either.
So then David seeks help fromGod in verses 6 to 11.
There's a very personal appeal,verses 6, 7, and 8.
(18:04):
Notice how he looks to the past,verse 7.
You have covered my head in theday of battle.
And then he looks to the future,verse 8.
Based on what you have done,God, I have confidence in what
will be done in the future.
And then there is thisimprecation section here.
These people need to bepunished.
So verse 10, they tried to gethim to fall into their traps.
(18:26):
So you know what?
They need to fall into their owntraps.
They need to be plunged into thepits of destruction.
They have hunted him.
They need to be hunted in turn.
And all the stuff that I saidabout imprecation yesterday, all
of that applies again.
Just use all of that right here.
And then I love thisaffirmation: the Lord will
maintain the cause of theafflicted.
He will execute justice for theneedy.
(18:48):
That is what imprecation isabout.
God, let your hand be seen.
Let all people see that crime,wickedness, evil, sin does not
pay.
Our reading for Thursday, Psalm140.
It's Friday.
It is Friday, and we're readingPsalm 141 to finish the week
out.
Now we always begin by askingwhat kind of psalm it is.
(19:09):
Don't ask that this time.
I'm just kidding.
We have to ask that, but it is amixed psalm.
There is some lament here, somecrying for God's help, but
there's also some wisdom here,how to deal with temptation, how
to deal with evildoers.
So I'm going to move this overin the wisdom category.
This is a teaching psalm.
And there's a lot of repetitionin this psalm.
We always watch for repetitionthat says this is important and
(19:31):
gets emphasis.
So the first stanza here, versesone to five, says some things
about evil and where evil iscoming from.
The raising of hands, noticeverse 2 says that I'm dependent
upon God.
And then evil comes in manyforms.
Look at verse 3 and 4 in thespeech, in your heart, which
then leads to action.
The prayer is widening beyondjust what I say, to what I
(19:54):
think, to what I do.
All of that matters.
Because if we're going to talkabout temptation, we need to
talk about the heart.
That's where everything starts.
If you're really dealing withtemptation, you have to deal
with your heart.
Then the second stanza begins inverse 6.
Verse 6 to 10 is the secondstanza, and this is this
contains some of the mostdifficult passages in the entire
(20:16):
book of Psalms.
When we get down to verse 7,everybody will be scratching
their head, including me.
So let's start with verse 6.
The ESV says, When their judgesare thrown over the cliff, then
they shall hear my words, forthey are pleasant.
Well, there you go.
That seems pretty obvious, isn'tit?
No, there's nothing obviousabout it, but the Hebrew here is
very difficult to translate.
And literally it's somethinglike, when the judges are thrown
(20:39):
down by the side of the rock,then they hear words, my words
are sweet.
That's a rough translation givenby those that know Hebrew a lot
better than I do, and that'scertainly way above my skill
set.
But apparently this means thatwhen David's enemies are
destroyed by being cast againstthe rocks, they will see that
(21:01):
the psalmist was right, therighteousness of David.
Then there is this proverb,verse 7: As when one plows and
breaks up the earth, so shallour bones be scattered at the
mouth of Sheol.
That is very, very hard.
Oftentimes, proverbs areunderstandable in that culture
and in that society, but beyondthat, they may be completely,
(21:21):
completely lost, untranslatable.
You think about the proverbsthat we have.
I've done some work in the bookof Proverbs, and so for example,
our proverb, a rolling stonegathers no moss, means if you if
you're busy and you keep going,then moss doesn't grow on you.
But the same proverb is used inEngland to mean that the busy
(21:42):
person doesn't put down rootsand have any real relationships,
doesn't have any friends becausehe's always doing everything and
going everywhere and doingstuff.
So it means something entirelydifferent there.
Well, this is a proverb fromBible times, and it's just
really hard.
One scholar said, even as thefarmer breaks up the soil and
brings up the rocks, so thebones of the wicked will be
scattered without a decentburial.
(22:02):
And not being buried is a hugeissue in the Old Testament.
Another scholar says, as if onewho plows and makes furrows in
the earth, our bones are plowedand strewn at the mouth of the
home of the dead Sheol.
Probably it seems to be sayingthat the wicked does attack the
righteous.
Maybe, like our phrases, youknow, oh, he got his plow
cleaned.
(22:23):
What does that even mean?
Most people don't even know whata plow is anymore.
But we know, oh, we got his plowcleaned means, you know, he got
beat up.
He got, you know, that team gotabsolutely shellacked.
Well, there's a metaphor rightthere.
They got thoroughly beaten.
Maybe this is saying the wickedare attacking us and we're
thoroughly beaten.
But it ends then with somediscussion of the Lord, my eyes
(22:46):
are towards you, O God, you'remy refuge.
Keep me, let the wicked fall.
I need your help, God, or I'mgoing to end up in all kinds of
trouble, maybe sinful trouble,verses three and four, or even
my life being taken by thewicked.
This is not the easiest psalm.
It takes some thought, it takessome time.
(23:06):
Work with it.
Remember to savor the psalm.
This is this is tough savoring,I guess, but work on it and see
if it doesn't bolster yourconfidence, your faith in God.
And especially, I really likethree and four.
If you're struggling with sin,sit down there in verses three
and four.
Pray that.
Ask God to help you so thatyou'll not fall into temptation.
(23:27):
Our reading for Friday, Psalm141.
That concludes the podcast forthe week.
Thank you so much for listening.
If this podcast has been ablessing to you, I certainly
wish that you'd tell a friendand encourage someone else to
listen to it so that it willhelp them in their walk with
God.
I love reading the Bible withyou, talking about last week's
(23:48):
sermon, getting in the Word ofGod, encouraging you.
It encourages me drinking thatcoffee and doing that daily
Bible reading.
What a wonderful, wonderfulhabit to build.
I'm Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven, and Iwant you to come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (24:11):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website, justChristians.com, and our Facebook
page.
Our music is from Upbeat.io.
That's Upbeat with two P's,U-P-P-P-E-A-T, where creators
(24:36):
can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we'll look forward
to seeing you again with a cupof coffee, of course, on next
Monday.
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