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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.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Coffee Podcast.
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 Bible 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 (01:00):
DFW Aries experimenting with a little hint
of fall, emphasis little.
Hope your weekend was wonderful,but more importantly, I hope you
had a super start on the firstday of the week.
I hope you had a great start tothe week.
We had a great day yesterday atWestside.
I want to share some additionalthoughts from the sermon
yesterday.
I want to talk about our Biblereading as we're in the New
(01:22):
Testament and the Old Testamentthis week.
How about that?
All of that wrapped up in agreat cup of coffee.
I'm drinking some Guatemalantoday, and it is so smooth.
Just wonderful.
So grab your coffee.
Let's grow together.
Let me say an additional word ortwo about the sermon yesterday
(01:42):
in the 1040.
Yesterday I continued thepreaching theme for the year,
questions Jesus asked, and thequestion came out of Luke 13,
18, what is the kingdom ofheaven like?
Now, I have to say this, thishas really been heavy on my
heart over the last severaldays, and I believe preaching
about the essence of the kingdomyesterday in those two parables
from Luke 13 really opens thedoor to help us see that the
(02:06):
gospel and politics can't mix,won't mix, and must not be
mixed.
One scholar said, God's kingdomis established through means
other than the coercive powerand intrigue usually associated
with the establishment of a neworder, and his dominion
purposely seeks out persons whodo not represent the socially
powerful and privileged.
(02:27):
Yet more and more today, I amseeing political discussion
cloaked in the garb ofChristianity and seeing
Christianity being used as apolitical force.
I hear talk of Christiannationalism or making America a
Christian nation.
Pray tell, what is that?
Where did Jesus ever sayanything about making people be
(02:48):
Christian, overturning societyto force people to kneel to
Christian morality?
Indeed, the other day I openedmy Facebook feed and I got an ad
in the middle of my feed forChristian jewelry, and the item
front and center was a pendantwith the cross, and the cross
had been painted with the starsand stripes of the United States
(03:12):
flag.
The flag and the cross mergedtogether.
We must do better than that.
While I love this country, and Iknow you do too, and while I am
thankful for the freedoms andbenefits it provides, and I know
you are too, Christianity is notabout fixing America, and it is
(03:33):
not about bringing men and womeninto the kingdom through
legislation.
Romans 13 particularly makesclear that the government has a
role, it is God ordained, butthat chapter also makes clear
that the church is not thegovernment, and the government
is not the church, and we needto keep those very separate.
(03:54):
God isn't a republican, Godisn't running for election, and
Christians need to rememberthat.
The parables in Luke 13 are notthe kingdom of God is like a
political action committee.
Jesus did not say, I'm callingyou to revolution, we will
overthrow the government, and wewill install one that is much
more moral than Caesar and thatRoman sin ever were.
(04:15):
Instead, Jesus says, the kingdomis like a mustard seed, it's
like leaven.
It starts small, it worksquietly, but it is unstoppable
in men's and women's hearts.
Let's remember what the kingdomof heaven is truly like.
And we're helped with that inour daily Bible reading this
(04:36):
week.
Grab your Bible.
(04:59):
Let's find Acts chapter 1 in ourBibles and read Acts chapter 1,
verses 15 to 26.
Our reading from Monday, Acts 1,15 to 26.
What we have here is Peter backin a leadership role despite his
terrible failure, the threedenials.
But what I really like here isall of this section, 15 to 26,
is about replacing JudasIscariot, is that Peter uses
(05:21):
scriptural authority for what heis doing.
And that scriptural authoritycomes out of the Psalms, verse
16, brothers, the scripture hadto be fulfilled.
And what Peter's doing here ishe is connecting to the Old
Testament.
It's so important to see Jesusas the prophesied Messiah.
Jesus is not a stopgap measure,he's not something new out of
the blue, he is the fulfillment,the consummation of everything
(05:43):
that the Old Testament waspointing to.
So what David speaks of here, orwhat Peter speaks of here, is
that the things that Davidtalked about in his own life,
the adversity that he underwent,or the crowning by God, all
those things are propheticallyapplicable to Jesus.
They fit David, but in thehighest way, they can really
(06:04):
only fit Jesus.
And in our reading today, theenemies of David, therefore, are
also what?
Yes, they're the enemies ofJesus.
So in verse 16, he says thescripture had to be fulfilled,
and then he talks about the endof Judas as a parenthetical
expression, verses 18 to 19.
That's not part of Peter'sspeech.
And then he says, verse 20, it'swritten in the book of Psalms.
(06:24):
This is Psalm 69, 25, and Psalm108, and we'll read those on
Tuesday and Wednesday,respectively.
So I'll say more about those atthat time.
But what this is about, and bythe way, Psalm 69 is quoted all
the time in the New Testament.
John 15, 25, John 2, 17, Romans15, 3, Romans 11, 9, and 10,
Psalm 69 heavily used in the NewTestament.
(06:44):
And this is just par for thecourse.
The New Testament church, theapostles, preachers, and
teachers, took the Old Testamentand said, look, this is talking
about Jesus in the best way, inthe highest way.
This really is about Jesus.
And I think it's important tonotice that if we were handling
this kind of thing, maybesomeone would just stand up and
say, hey, we need a guy toreplace Judas.
(07:06):
But instead, what happens isthere's a heavy connection to
the Old Testament, and there'spraying.
Verse 24, and they prayed.
So working out of thescriptures, standing on the
scriptures, what does the Biblesay?
And then let's pray about it.
We get some qualifications here,which means nobody today could
ever be an apostle because youhave to be an eyewitness.
(07:27):
And we get two guys put forward,Justice and Matthias.
We don't know anything aboutthem, and we don't know anything
about them after this either.
But the apostleship isreconstituted at 12, and it
comes because Judas is seen asbeing prophetically talked about
in the Psalms.
And tomorrow we'll read thefirst of those Psalms, Psalm 69.
(07:47):
Our reading Monday is Actschapter 1, verses 15 to 26.
It's Tuesday.
It is Tuesday, and today we'rereading the 69th Psalm.
I love this Psalm.
It's a wonderful psalm.
We'll get to talk about thistonight in the Zoom call, and
I'm looking forward to thatalready.
Zoom has really, it's reallybecome kind of a thing.
So many people are coming to theZoom call on Tuesday night, and
(08:08):
we're just learning together andpraying together, reading
together.
It's really been a joy.
This psalm is a lament psalm.
That's where we always beginwith psalms.
What kind of psalm is it?
A cry to God for deliverance.
That's what a lament is.
Save me, O God.
Psalm 69, verse 1.
Wow, you might as well just turnon the flashing neon sign.
Lament, lament, lament.
This is a lament.
And the metaphor here isdrowning.
(08:30):
I'm going under.
I need your help, Lord.
And we may go looking for someplace in David's life to
identify specifically when hefelt this way.
And I think there are many timesthat David could have felt this
way.
It's not significant orimportant that we identify the
exact historical moment thatDavid is writing Psalm 69 about.
What's important is to see whyDavid is writing Psalm 69.
(08:52):
And I think that's in verse 7.
For it is for your sake that Ihave borne reproach, that
dishonor has covered my face.
This is not just I'm suffering,I'm suffering because I'm
righteous.
I'm suffering because I want todo what is right.
And the Psalm really has twostanzas, verses 1 to 13, and
then verses 14 to 30.
And there's a repetition here.
(09:13):
If you look at the secondstanza, verse 14, deliver me
from sinking in the mire, let mebe delivered from my enemies and
from the deep waters.
That's a repetition of what'sbeing said in verses one and
two.
I sink in deep mire, verse two.
I've come into deep waters andthe flood sweeps over me.
So the complaint is beingrenewed right there.
And as I said yesterday, thispsalm is quoted a lot in the New
(09:33):
Testament.
And for example, verse 9, forzeal for your houses consume me,
is quoted and applied to Jesusin John chapter 2, when he
cleanses the temple.
So there's lots of the use ofthis psalm in the New Testament,
but particularly I callattention to verse 21 here.
They gave me poison for food.
For my thirst, they gave me sourwine to drink.
(09:53):
That's a reference to Jesus onthe cross.
And verse 25, may their camp bea desolation.
Notice in yesterday's reading,Peter slightly tweaks that may
his camp be a desolation, hishabitation, his place is what
Peter is saying there.
His place.
We have to replace him becausehis place is empty.
(10:14):
So this is very much therighteous sufferer.
I'm trying to do what's right.
And I guess I should say a wordhere about this section in verse
22 down to verse 28, the sectionwhere Judas appears or
prophetically appears, becausethis is, yes, this is an
imprecation.
And that gives people really atough time sometimes.
I thought we were supposed tolove your enemies.
(10:35):
And what is this calling downthis curse of God upon them
business?
I dealt with that some in QA,and you can go back and listen
to that.
I think that would be helpful toyou.
I would just remind you that inpoetry there's a lot of
exaggeration.
Maybe I think about the coachwho says to the team in the
locker room before they go outfor the football game, he says,
you know, we're going to go outthere, we're going to massacre
(10:55):
them.
It's going to be a bloodbath.
Well, he isn't talking aboutliterally murdering the other
team.
He's just using heavy, big,emphatic language to say we've
got to get after him.
We need to win this ball game.
My daughters, Becca and Sarah,say all my illustrations involve
either sports or dogs, and theyonly say that because that is
(11:16):
true.
Now, in this imprecation, Ithink you are looking at big
poetic exaggeration.
Remember, don't try to dismissthis by saying this is Old
Testament.
In the New Testament, we have tolove our enemies.
There's lots about loving yourenemies in the Old Testament.
That will never fly.
Or David could pray this, wecannot.
We're looking at being likeDavid.
I think the big key toimprecation is the turning over
(11:39):
of enemies to God.
God, if this situation doesn'tchange, we want you to bring
judgment on these evildoers.
And here's the judgment we thinkthey need, painted in the
largest sort of language.
Maybe the best part of thisPsalm is the end, verses 29 to
36, where there's an expressionof confidence.
I know God will save.
I know God will act.
I know God will help and do inthe situation.
(12:01):
More on this tonight in the Zoomcall.
Westsiders, I'll see you thisevening.
If you're not a Westsider, I'llsee you on the podcast tomorrow.
Our reading for Tuesday, Psalm69.
It is Wednesday.
It's Wednesday.
And today we're reading the108th Psalm.
Let me just be fully transparenthere.
I'm kind of thinking maybe,maybe we have a typo.
(12:23):
I think the psalm maybe fortoday should have been Psalm
109.
Psalm 109, verse 8 says, May hisdays be few, may another take
his office.
That's the quotation that we sawin Acts chapter 1 on Monday that
applies to Judas.
So maybe we got a little typohere.
Bible reading schedules are verydifficult to put together.
There's so much logistics andworking out dates and all those
(12:46):
kinds of things.
So much grace to be given hereif there's a little bit of a
mistake.
I'll just work with the 108thPsalm.
I like this Psalm.
It is a little song that has athat has a little secret to it.
And we'll talk about that secrethere and see if that will help
us some.
It is a lament.
If you'll look at verse 6, theprayer there that your beloved
ones may be delivered.
Going into battle here seemslike maybe there's some
(13:08):
difficulties, and the prayer isfor deliverance.
And I think I would summarizethis up: praise from the
confident.
David prays God.
It expresses confidence in God'sgreat love, first five verses,
and then David prays for God'shelp in battle, verses six to
nine, and then says in verses10, 11, 12, and 13, I have great
confidence that with God we willgain the victory.
(13:29):
And the difficulty here in Psalm108, sometimes we don't know the
difficulty that David is in.
Talked about that yesterday, butthis is probably some kind of
difficulty with the Edomites.
And I say that because Psalm 108is not an original Psalm.
It is a combination of Psalm 57,verses 7 to 11.
(13:49):
That's where verses 1 to 5 comefrom.
And then verses 6 to 11 comefrom Psalm 60, from Psalm 60,
verses 5 to 12.
And Psalm 60 has a heading thatrelates it to 2 Samuel 8, a time
when the Edomites rose up andchallenged Israel.
That's a good thing to make anote of in your Bible so that
you have those notes there.
You're reading through thePsalms and you see those things
(14:11):
and you know, hey, this is aboutthe Edomites, and here's how we
know it is about the Edomites,because this is a combo song.
This is a psalm from two otherpsalms being put together in
that way.
So I love the expression, verseone, my heart is steadfast.
And I should say in verse two,awake, oh harp and lyre.
Sometimes we are uncomfortablewith instrumental music being
(14:32):
mentioned in the Psalms.
Don't be uncomfortable aboutthat.
Don't be any more uncomfortablewith that than you are with
animal sacrifices.
That's part of the OldTestament.
It's part of the Old Testamentway of worshiping.
It was ordained of God.
It was ordered by God andauthorized by God.
The Old Testament and people whowant to jump up and say
something about Old Testamentinstrumental music, they're
actually making our argument forus.
It is authorized and commandedby the Lord.
(14:54):
And so if it was to be done aspart of New Testament worship,
we would expect it to beauthorized and commanded by the
Lord.
God clearly knows whatinstrumental music is.
It's all over the Old Testament.
It's nowhere in the NewTestament.
So then, verse 6 as I said,David is praying for God's help
in the battle.
And the keynote of the Psalm is,I need your help.
I need your help.
And there's a reliance here uponthe promises of God.
(15:16):
Verse 7, God has spoken, God haspromised.
We're trusting in what God says.
And then there is this wonderfulexpression of confidence with
God.
We will gain the victory, verses10 through 13.
Our reading then for Wednesday,as best I can tell at least, is
Psalm 108.
Psalm 108 is the reading forWednesday.
(15:38):
It is Thursday.
Let's do this.
It's Thursday, and we're readingActs chapter 2, verses 22 to 36.
This is such an importantreading because we are reading
the very first gospel sermon.
And the heart of that gospelsermon is working right out of
the Old Testament.
Three particular texts, Joelchapter 2, Psalm 16, and Psalm
(15:58):
110, they form the scripturalbasis for Peter's sermon.
I like that a lot.
We ought to preach from theBible like Peter did right here.
And so the sermon begins.
I'm going to back up a littlebit.
We begin our reading in verse22, but I want to start in verse
17.
You can't just parachute intothe middle of a sermon.
Verse 17, these last days itshall be God declares that I
(16:19):
will pour out my spirit on allflesh.
This is the quotation from John,I'm sorry, from Joel chapter 2.
Please remember the last days,everybody seems to think that's
some short period of timeimmediately before the second
coming.
All kinds of crazy things arebreaking loose and world chaos
and wars and on and on and on.
That's never what it means inScripture.
It's never used that way at all.
In the Bible, the last days, 2Timothy 3.1, 2 Peter 3.3,
(16:41):
Hebrews 1.2, is the last periodof history.
It's the Christian era.
The Jewish era, the Jewishperiod, the Mosaical covenant is
tailing off, and the Christianera is beginning.
And all flesh in the OldTestament, well, in the Old
Testament, just a few have theSpirit.
A few people are empowered bythe Spirit of God to do special
(17:04):
things.
I'm thinking about Samson.
The Spirit of the Lord comesupon him all the time and gives
him supernatural strength.
But now Joel says, in the timeof the Messiah, everyone will
have the opportunity to partakeof the Spirit.
And then verses 19 and 20 usesome very heavy apocalyptic
language to describe cataclysmicjudgment.
And this will be deliverance orit will be judgment, depending
(17:26):
upon which side you're on.
So the sermon very quickly getsto the idea of which side are
which side are you on?
Which side do you want to be on?
Verse 21, it shall come to passthat everyone who calls upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved.
If you don't want to get womped,you better get on God's side.
You better call on the name ofthe Lord.
And so our reading today,beginning in verse 22, begins to
(17:47):
answer the question Well, who isthe Lord and how do I call on
him?
And the answer, Peter says, isthe Lord is Jesus of Nazareth,
verse 22.
He's been attested by mightyworks, wonders, and signs.
And he's the one, verse 25, thatDavid spoke of in Psalm 16.
He's the one that David talkedabout that would not stay dead.
(18:12):
Verse 27, you will not abandonmy soul to Hades.
Hades here is the realm of thedead.
Some folks have tried to make alot out of the different words
used in the Bible, Hades, Sheol,all kinds of different wording
for the place of the dead, andthis means hell, and this means
the place of waiting beforestop.
It doesn't mean any of that.
It just means this is where thedead go.
And David cannot, Peter says,have meant in Psalm 16, me,
(18:36):
because he is dead.
He's not mostly dead, he's allthe way dead, and he stayed
dead, but Jesus didn't.
Jesus rose from the dead, sohe's the only one that can
really fit Psalm 16.
And so he begins to moveforward.
Verse 29, I say to you withconfidence, David is dead and
buried.
But he was a prophet, verse 30,and so he spoke of the
(18:58):
resurrection of the Christ,verse 31, and the resurrection
of the Christ to a place ofexaltation at the right hand of
God, verse 33.
Please notice the expressionright hand.
It's what ties these two psalmstogether.
Verse 25.
And now being exalted.
Psalm 110, verse 1, probably themost important psalm in the
(19:19):
Bible.
It's quoted so heavily in theNew Testament and spoken of
Jesus as both priest and king.
Psalm 110, at the right hand.
Sit at my right hand, verse 34.
And so then, of course, thewhole thing comes down to how do
how do we call?
He is the Lord.
I don't want to be against God.
(19:40):
I don't want to be judged.
How can I possibly be saved inthis situation?
How do I call upon the Lord?
Verse 36, let all the house ofIsrael know for certain God has
made him both Lord in Christ,this Jesus whom you crucified.
Verse 37, they said, brothers,what shall we do?
How do you call on the name ofthe Lord?
Verse 38, you repent, and you'rebaptized in the name of Jesus
(20:00):
Christ for the forgiveness ofyour sins.
What a powerful sermon this is.
And it makes use of two greatpsalms, Psalm 16 and Psalm 110.
Tomorrow we read that 16thPsalm.
Our reading for Thursday, Actschapter 2, verses 22 to 36.
It's Friday.
It is Friday, and today we readPsalm 16.
Our reading for Friday is the16th Psalm.
(20:22):
This is a psalm of trust, and Ithink what stands out about this
psalm, of course, is thematerial beginning in verse 8,
which Peter quotes in the sermonin Acts chapter 2.
Let's take a look at the overallpsalm, though, before we deal
with verses 8, 9, and 10.
This is a psalm that reallysays, I take refuge in God.
Watch how every verse in thefirst half of the psalm speaks
(20:43):
of a single-mindedness.
I need you, God, I want to beyour person.
I want, don't want to be withevildoers, I trust you.
There's some difficult Hebrew inverse 2, uncertain here.
You are my Lord, I have no goodapart from you or no good beside
you.
That's hard to translate there.
And you may wonder who are theexcellent ones in verse 3?
(21:05):
That's probably the saints, thegodly people.
Some translations have gloriousones there.
It's probably just the folks whoare serving the Lord.
And then in verse 4, there arepeople who are doing wrong.
They pour out drink offerings ofblood that may be human
sacrifice, and the psalmistwon't even say their name.
I won't talk about those people.
I don't want to be with thosepeople.
I'm not like those people.
(21:25):
For me, he then says, the lines,verse six, have fallen in
excellent places.
This is a land survey.
I have a beautiful inheritance.
Because of God's work here inthe land of promise, I have
received great land.
And then he begins to talk aboutblessing the Lord and trusting
in God and how good it is tohave God as my God.
(21:47):
And so verse 8, 9, 10, 11 reallybring that home with the idea of
the total person, verse 9, myheart is glad, my whole being,
verse 9, my flesh.
Everything about me rejoicesbecause God makes me secure.
And Peter quotes verses 9 and 10there at Pentecost, the next
(22:07):
chapter 2 as we talked about,but it's very clear, this cannot
fit David.
There's no way verse 10 workswith any human being.
Somebody has to fulfill that,that's much more than David, and
that's the Messiah.
Only the Messiah has truly notknown corruption.
But I do like the idea of strongfaith here, that even death will
(22:30):
not end the psalmistrelationship with God.
This is one of the psalms thatdoes contain a hint of the
afterlife.
There are places like that inthe Old Testament.
And then verse 11, you makeknown to me the path of life.
In your presence there is thefullness of joy.
At your right hand are pleasuresforevermore.
Let me just say, I've takenshots at this before, and I'll
take another shot at it now.
That idea that it's eitherholiness or happiness.
(22:53):
God does not want you to behappy.
He wants you to be holy.
I see that posted on Facebookall the time.
It makes me want to pull my hairout.
You make me know to knowfullness of joy.
At your right hand are pleasuresforevermore.
God blesses us with joy and yes,happiness in this life.
It's the only real way to behappy.
There are sinful pleasures.
(23:14):
That's not the way to be trulyhappy, truly joyful, or to know
meaning and purpose.
If you want to be happy, thenyes, you need to be holy.
That's the path to realhappiness, David says, and we
need to hold on to that.
You don't have to be miserablebecause you are a Christian.
Hey, I get it.
Sometimes Christians aremiserable because they're
getting persecuted.
(23:35):
I understand about that.
You understand about that.
But genuine joy, genuinehappiness, real fulfillment in
life, all of that comes where?
It comes from God's right hand.
At your right hand are pleasuresforevermore.
That's the reading then forFriday, Psalm 16.
And that wraps up the podcastfor the week.
(23:55):
Thank you for listening.
Really excited about Sunday,starting a new series and an
important series.
Look forward to seeing you onSunday morning at the West Side
Church of Christ.
If this podcast is a blessing toyou, please tell others about it
and leave a rating and review somore people will be encouraged
by the Word of God.
It is a joy to open thescriptures with you each day.
(24:16):
It makes me happy, and I thinkit does you too.
I'm Mark Roberts, and I want togo to heaven, and I want you to
come too.
See you on Monday with a cup ofcoffee.
SPEAKER_00 (24:32):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
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That's Upbeat with two P's,U-P-P-P-E-A-T, where creators
(24:57):
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Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
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Monday.
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Coffee Podcast.
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 Bible 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 (01:00):
DFW Aries experimenting with a little hint
of fall, emphasis little.
Hope your weekend was wonderful,but more importantly, I hope you
had a super start on the firstday of the week.
I hope you had a great start tothe week.
We had a great day yesterday atWestside.
I want to share some additionalthoughts from the sermon
yesterday.
I want to talk about our Biblereading as we're in the New
(01:22):
Testament and the Old Testamentthis week.
How about that?
All of that wrapped up in agreat cup of coffee.
I'm drinking some Guatemalantoday, and it is so smooth.
Just wonderful.
So grab your coffee.
Let's grow together.
Let me say an additional word ortwo about the sermon yesterday
(01:42):
in the 1040.
Yesterday I continued thepreaching theme for the year,
questions Jesus asked, and thequestion came out of Luke 13,
18, what is the kingdom ofheaven like?
Now, I have to say this, thishas really been heavy on my
heart over the last severaldays, and I believe preaching
about the essence of the kingdomyesterday in those two parables
from Luke 13 really opens thedoor to help us see that the
(02:06):
gospel and politics can't mix,won't mix, and must not be
mixed.
One scholar said, God's kingdomis established through means
other than the coercive powerand intrigue usually associated
with the establishment of a neworder, and his dominion
purposely seeks out persons whodo not represent the socially
powerful and privileged.
(02:27):
Yet more and more today, I amseeing political discussion
cloaked in the garb ofChristianity and seeing
Christianity being used as apolitical force.
I hear talk of Christiannationalism or making America a
Christian nation.
Pray tell, what is that?
Where did Jesus ever sayanything about making people be
(02:48):
Christian, overturning societyto force people to kneel to
Christian morality?
Indeed, the other day I openedmy Facebook feed and I got an ad
in the middle of my feed forChristian jewelry, and the item
front and center was a pendantwith the cross, and the cross
had been painted with the starsand stripes of the United States
(03:12):
flag.
The flag and the cross mergedtogether.
We must do better than that.
While I love this country, and Iknow you do too, and while I am
thankful for the freedoms andbenefits it provides, and I know
you are too, Christianity is notabout fixing America, and it is
(03:33):
not about bringing men and womeninto the kingdom through
legislation.
Romans 13 particularly makesclear that the government has a
role, it is God ordained, butthat chapter also makes clear
that the church is not thegovernment, and the government
is not the church, and we needto keep those very separate.
(03:54):
God isn't a republican, Godisn't running for election, and
Christians need to rememberthat.
The parables in Luke 13 are notthe kingdom of God is like a
political action committee.
Jesus did not say, I'm callingyou to revolution, we will
overthrow the government, and wewill install one that is much
more moral than Caesar and thatRoman sin ever were.
(04:15):
Instead, Jesus says, the kingdomis like a mustard seed, it's
like leaven.
It starts small, it worksquietly, but it is unstoppable
in men's and women's hearts.
Let's remember what the kingdomof heaven is truly like.
And we're helped with that inour daily Bible reading this
(04:36):
week.
Grab your Bible.
(04:59):
Let's find Acts chapter 1 in ourBibles and read Acts chapter 1,
verses 15 to 26.
Our reading from Monday, Acts 1,15 to 26.
What we have here is Peter backin a leadership role despite his
terrible failure, the threedenials.
But what I really like here isall of this section, 15 to 26,
is about replacing JudasIscariot, is that Peter uses
(05:21):
scriptural authority for what heis doing.
And that scriptural authoritycomes out of the Psalms, verse
16, brothers, the scripture hadto be fulfilled.
And what Peter's doing here ishe is connecting to the Old
Testament.
It's so important to see Jesusas the prophesied Messiah.
Jesus is not a stopgap measure,he's not something new out of
the blue, he is the fulfillment,the consummation of everything
(05:43):
that the Old Testament waspointing to.
So what David speaks of here, orwhat Peter speaks of here, is
that the things that Davidtalked about in his own life,
the adversity that he underwent,or the crowning by God, all
those things are propheticallyapplicable to Jesus.
They fit David, but in thehighest way, they can really
(06:04):
only fit Jesus.
And in our reading today, theenemies of David, therefore, are
also what?
Yes, they're the enemies ofJesus.
So in verse 16, he says thescripture had to be fulfilled,
and then he talks about the endof Judas as a parenthetical
expression, verses 18 to 19.
That's not part of Peter'sspeech.
And then he says, verse 20, it'swritten in the book of Psalms.
(06:24):
This is Psalm 69, 25, and Psalm108, and we'll read those on
Tuesday and Wednesday,respectively.
So I'll say more about those atthat time.
But what this is about, and bythe way, Psalm 69 is quoted all
the time in the New Testament.
John 15, 25, John 2, 17, Romans15, 3, Romans 11, 9, and 10,
Psalm 69 heavily used in the NewTestament.
(06:44):
And this is just par for thecourse.
The New Testament church, theapostles, preachers, and
teachers, took the Old Testamentand said, look, this is talking
about Jesus in the best way, inthe highest way.
This really is about Jesus.
And I think it's important tonotice that if we were handling
this kind of thing, maybesomeone would just stand up and
say, hey, we need a guy toreplace Judas.
(07:06):
But instead, what happens isthere's a heavy connection to
the Old Testament, and there'spraying.
Verse 24, and they prayed.
So working out of thescriptures, standing on the
scriptures, what does the Biblesay?
And then let's pray about it.
We get some qualifications here,which means nobody today could
ever be an apostle because youhave to be an eyewitness.
(07:27):
And we get two guys put forward,Justice and Matthias.
We don't know anything aboutthem, and we don't know anything
about them after this either.
But the apostleship isreconstituted at 12, and it
comes because Judas is seen asbeing prophetically talked about
in the Psalms.
And tomorrow we'll read thefirst of those Psalms, Psalm 69.
(07:47):
Our reading Monday is Actschapter 1, verses 15 to 26.
It's Tuesday.
It is Tuesday, and today we'rereading the 69th Psalm.
I love this Psalm.
It's a wonderful psalm.
We'll get to talk about thistonight in the Zoom call, and
I'm looking forward to thatalready.
Zoom has really, it's reallybecome kind of a thing.
So many people are coming to theZoom call on Tuesday night, and
(08:08):
we're just learning together andpraying together, reading
together.
It's really been a joy.
This psalm is a lament psalm.
That's where we always beginwith psalms.
What kind of psalm is it?
A cry to God for deliverance.
That's what a lament is.
Save me, O God.
Psalm 69, verse 1.
Wow, you might as well just turnon the flashing neon sign.
Lament, lament, lament.
This is a lament.
And the metaphor here isdrowning.
(08:30):
I'm going under.
I need your help, Lord.
And we may go looking for someplace in David's life to
identify specifically when hefelt this way.
And I think there are many timesthat David could have felt this
way.
It's not significant orimportant that we identify the
exact historical moment thatDavid is writing Psalm 69 about.
What's important is to see whyDavid is writing Psalm 69.
(08:52):
And I think that's in verse 7.
For it is for your sake that Ihave borne reproach, that
dishonor has covered my face.
This is not just I'm suffering,I'm suffering because I'm
righteous.
I'm suffering because I want todo what is right.
And the Psalm really has twostanzas, verses 1 to 13, and
then verses 14 to 30.
And there's a repetition here.
(09:13):
If you look at the secondstanza, verse 14, deliver me
from sinking in the mire, let mebe delivered from my enemies and
from the deep waters.
That's a repetition of what'sbeing said in verses one and
two.
I sink in deep mire, verse two.
I've come into deep waters andthe flood sweeps over me.
So the complaint is beingrenewed right there.
And as I said yesterday, thispsalm is quoted a lot in the New
(09:33):
Testament.
And for example, verse 9, forzeal for your houses consume me,
is quoted and applied to Jesusin John chapter 2, when he
cleanses the temple.
So there's lots of the use ofthis psalm in the New Testament,
but particularly I callattention to verse 21 here.
They gave me poison for food.
For my thirst, they gave me sourwine to drink.
(09:53):
That's a reference to Jesus onthe cross.
And verse 25, may their camp bea desolation.
Notice in yesterday's reading,Peter slightly tweaks that may
his camp be a desolation, hishabitation, his place is what
Peter is saying there.
His place.
We have to replace him becausehis place is empty.
(10:14):
So this is very much therighteous sufferer.
I'm trying to do what's right.
And I guess I should say a wordhere about this section in verse
22 down to verse 28, the sectionwhere Judas appears or
prophetically appears, becausethis is, yes, this is an
imprecation.
And that gives people really atough time sometimes.
I thought we were supposed tolove your enemies.
(10:35):
And what is this calling downthis curse of God upon them
business?
I dealt with that some in QA,and you can go back and listen
to that.
I think that would be helpful toyou.
I would just remind you that inpoetry there's a lot of
exaggeration.
Maybe I think about the coachwho says to the team in the
locker room before they go outfor the football game, he says,
you know, we're going to go outthere, we're going to massacre
(10:55):
them.
It's going to be a bloodbath.
Well, he isn't talking aboutliterally murdering the other
team.
He's just using heavy, big,emphatic language to say we've
got to get after him.
We need to win this ball game.
My daughters, Becca and Sarah,say all my illustrations involve
either sports or dogs, and theyonly say that because that is
(11:16):
true.
Now, in this imprecation, Ithink you are looking at big
poetic exaggeration.
Remember, don't try to dismissthis by saying this is Old
Testament.
In the New Testament, we have tolove our enemies.
There's lots about loving yourenemies in the Old Testament.
That will never fly.
Or David could pray this, wecannot.
We're looking at being likeDavid.
I think the big key toimprecation is the turning over
(11:39):
of enemies to God.
God, if this situation doesn'tchange, we want you to bring
judgment on these evildoers.
And here's the judgment we thinkthey need, painted in the
largest sort of language.
Maybe the best part of thisPsalm is the end, verses 29 to
36, where there's an expressionof confidence.
I know God will save.
I know God will act.
I know God will help and do inthe situation.
(12:01):
More on this tonight in the Zoomcall.
Westsiders, I'll see you thisevening.
If you're not a Westsider, I'llsee you on the podcast tomorrow.
Our reading for Tuesday, Psalm69.
It is Wednesday.
It's Wednesday.
And today we're reading the108th Psalm.
Let me just be fully transparenthere.
I'm kind of thinking maybe,maybe we have a typo.
(12:23):
I think the psalm maybe fortoday should have been Psalm
109.
Psalm 109, verse 8 says, May hisdays be few, may another take
his office.
That's the quotation that we sawin Acts chapter 1 on Monday that
applies to Judas.
So maybe we got a little typohere.
Bible reading schedules are verydifficult to put together.
There's so much logistics andworking out dates and all those
(12:46):
kinds of things.
So much grace to be given hereif there's a little bit of a
mistake.
I'll just work with the 108thPsalm.
I like this Psalm.
It is a little song that has athat has a little secret to it.
And we'll talk about that secrethere and see if that will help
us some.
It is a lament.
If you'll look at verse 6, theprayer there that your beloved
ones may be delivered.
Going into battle here seemslike maybe there's some
(13:08):
difficulties, and the prayer isfor deliverance.
And I think I would summarizethis up: praise from the
confident.
David prays God.
It expresses confidence in God'sgreat love, first five verses,
and then David prays for God'shelp in battle, verses six to
nine, and then says in verses10, 11, 12, and 13, I have great
confidence that with God we willgain the victory.
(13:29):
And the difficulty here in Psalm108, sometimes we don't know the
difficulty that David is in.
Talked about that yesterday, butthis is probably some kind of
difficulty with the Edomites.
And I say that because Psalm 108is not an original Psalm.
It is a combination of Psalm 57,verses 7 to 11.
(13:49):
That's where verses 1 to 5 comefrom.
And then verses 6 to 11 comefrom Psalm 60, from Psalm 60,
verses 5 to 12.
And Psalm 60 has a heading thatrelates it to 2 Samuel 8, a time
when the Edomites rose up andchallenged Israel.
That's a good thing to make anote of in your Bible so that
you have those notes there.
You're reading through thePsalms and you see those things
(14:11):
and you know, hey, this is aboutthe Edomites, and here's how we
know it is about the Edomites,because this is a combo song.
This is a psalm from two otherpsalms being put together in
that way.
So I love the expression, verseone, my heart is steadfast.
And I should say in verse two,awake, oh harp and lyre.
Sometimes we are uncomfortablewith instrumental music being
(14:32):
mentioned in the Psalms.
Don't be uncomfortable aboutthat.
Don't be any more uncomfortablewith that than you are with
animal sacrifices.
That's part of the OldTestament.
It's part of the Old Testamentway of worshiping.
It was ordained of God.
It was ordered by God andauthorized by God.
The Old Testament and people whowant to jump up and say
something about Old Testamentinstrumental music, they're
actually making our argument forus.
It is authorized and commandedby the Lord.
(14:54):
And so if it was to be done aspart of New Testament worship,
we would expect it to beauthorized and commanded by the
Lord.
God clearly knows whatinstrumental music is.
It's all over the Old Testament.
It's nowhere in the NewTestament.
So then, verse 6 as I said,David is praying for God's help
in the battle.
And the keynote of the Psalm is,I need your help.
I need your help.
And there's a reliance here uponthe promises of God.
(15:16):
Verse 7, God has spoken, God haspromised.
We're trusting in what God says.
And then there is this wonderfulexpression of confidence with
God.
We will gain the victory, verses10 through 13.
Our reading then for Wednesday,as best I can tell at least, is
Psalm 108.
Psalm 108 is the reading forWednesday.
(15:38):
It is Thursday.
Let's do this.
It's Thursday, and we're readingActs chapter 2, verses 22 to 36.
This is such an importantreading because we are reading
the very first gospel sermon.
And the heart of that gospelsermon is working right out of
the Old Testament.
Three particular texts, Joelchapter 2, Psalm 16, and Psalm
(15:58):
110, they form the scripturalbasis for Peter's sermon.
I like that a lot.
We ought to preach from theBible like Peter did right here.
And so the sermon begins.
I'm going to back up a littlebit.
We begin our reading in verse22, but I want to start in verse
17.
You can't just parachute intothe middle of a sermon.
Verse 17, these last days itshall be God declares that I
(16:19):
will pour out my spirit on allflesh.
This is the quotation from John,I'm sorry, from Joel chapter 2.
Please remember the last days,everybody seems to think that's
some short period of timeimmediately before the second
coming.
All kinds of crazy things arebreaking loose and world chaos
and wars and on and on and on.
That's never what it means inScripture.
It's never used that way at all.
In the Bible, the last days, 2Timothy 3.1, 2 Peter 3.3,
(16:41):
Hebrews 1.2, is the last periodof history.
It's the Christian era.
The Jewish era, the Jewishperiod, the Mosaical covenant is
tailing off, and the Christianera is beginning.
And all flesh in the OldTestament, well, in the Old
Testament, just a few have theSpirit.
A few people are empowered bythe Spirit of God to do special
(17:04):
things.
I'm thinking about Samson.
The Spirit of the Lord comesupon him all the time and gives
him supernatural strength.
But now Joel says, in the timeof the Messiah, everyone will
have the opportunity to partakeof the Spirit.
And then verses 19 and 20 usesome very heavy apocalyptic
language to describe cataclysmicjudgment.
And this will be deliverance orit will be judgment, depending
(17:26):
upon which side you're on.
So the sermon very quickly getsto the idea of which side are
which side are you on?
Which side do you want to be on?
Verse 21, it shall come to passthat everyone who calls upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved.
If you don't want to get womped,you better get on God's side.
You better call on the name ofthe Lord.
And so our reading today,beginning in verse 22, begins to
(17:47):
answer the question Well, who isthe Lord and how do I call on
him?
And the answer, Peter says, isthe Lord is Jesus of Nazareth,
verse 22.
He's been attested by mightyworks, wonders, and signs.
And he's the one, verse 25, thatDavid spoke of in Psalm 16.
He's the one that David talkedabout that would not stay dead.
(18:12):
Verse 27, you will not abandonmy soul to Hades.
Hades here is the realm of thedead.
Some folks have tried to make alot out of the different words
used in the Bible, Hades, Sheol,all kinds of different wording
for the place of the dead, andthis means hell, and this means
the place of waiting beforestop.
It doesn't mean any of that.
It just means this is where thedead go.
And David cannot, Peter says,have meant in Psalm 16, me,
(18:36):
because he is dead.
He's not mostly dead, he's allthe way dead, and he stayed
dead, but Jesus didn't.
Jesus rose from the dead, sohe's the only one that can
really fit Psalm 16.
And so he begins to moveforward.
Verse 29, I say to you withconfidence, David is dead and
buried.
But he was a prophet, verse 30,and so he spoke of the
(18:58):
resurrection of the Christ,verse 31, and the resurrection
of the Christ to a place ofexaltation at the right hand of
God, verse 33.
Please notice the expressionright hand.
It's what ties these two psalmstogether.
Verse 25.
And now being exalted.
Psalm 110, verse 1, probably themost important psalm in the
(19:19):
Bible.
It's quoted so heavily in theNew Testament and spoken of
Jesus as both priest and king.
Psalm 110, at the right hand.
Sit at my right hand, verse 34.
And so then, of course, thewhole thing comes down to how do
how do we call?
He is the Lord.
I don't want to be against God.
(19:40):
I don't want to be judged.
How can I possibly be saved inthis situation?
How do I call upon the Lord?
Verse 36, let all the house ofIsrael know for certain God has
made him both Lord in Christ,this Jesus whom you crucified.
Verse 37, they said, brothers,what shall we do?
How do you call on the name ofthe Lord?
Verse 38, you repent, and you'rebaptized in the name of Jesus
(20:00):
Christ for the forgiveness ofyour sins.
What a powerful sermon this is.
And it makes use of two greatpsalms, Psalm 16 and Psalm 110.
Tomorrow we read that 16thPsalm.
Our reading for Thursday, Actschapter 2, verses 22 to 36.
It's Friday.
It is Friday, and today we readPsalm 16.
Our reading for Friday is the16th Psalm.
(20:22):
This is a psalm of trust, and Ithink what stands out about this
psalm, of course, is thematerial beginning in verse 8,
which Peter quotes in the sermonin Acts chapter 2.
Let's take a look at the overallpsalm, though, before we deal
with verses 8, 9, and 10.
This is a psalm that reallysays, I take refuge in God.
Watch how every verse in thefirst half of the psalm speaks
(20:43):
of a single-mindedness.
I need you, God, I want to beyour person.
I want, don't want to be withevildoers, I trust you.
There's some difficult Hebrew inverse 2, uncertain here.
You are my Lord, I have no goodapart from you or no good beside
you.
That's hard to translate there.
And you may wonder who are theexcellent ones in verse 3?
(21:05):
That's probably the saints, thegodly people.
Some translations have gloriousones there.
It's probably just the folks whoare serving the Lord.
And then in verse 4, there arepeople who are doing wrong.
They pour out drink offerings ofblood that may be human
sacrifice, and the psalmistwon't even say their name.
I won't talk about those people.
I don't want to be with thosepeople.
I'm not like those people.
(21:25):
For me, he then says, the lines,verse six, have fallen in
excellent places.
This is a land survey.
I have a beautiful inheritance.
Because of God's work here inthe land of promise, I have
received great land.
And then he begins to talk aboutblessing the Lord and trusting
in God and how good it is tohave God as my God.
(21:47):
And so verse 8, 9, 10, 11 reallybring that home with the idea of
the total person, verse 9, myheart is glad, my whole being,
verse 9, my flesh.
Everything about me rejoicesbecause God makes me secure.
And Peter quotes verses 9 and 10there at Pentecost, the next
(22:07):
chapter 2 as we talked about,but it's very clear, this cannot
fit David.
There's no way verse 10 workswith any human being.
Somebody has to fulfill that,that's much more than David, and
that's the Messiah.
Only the Messiah has truly notknown corruption.
But I do like the idea of strongfaith here, that even death will
(22:30):
not end the psalmistrelationship with God.
This is one of the psalms thatdoes contain a hint of the
afterlife.
There are places like that inthe Old Testament.
And then verse 11, you makeknown to me the path of life.
In your presence there is thefullness of joy.
At your right hand are pleasuresforevermore.
Let me just say, I've takenshots at this before, and I'll
take another shot at it now.
That idea that it's eitherholiness or happiness.
(22:53):
God does not want you to behappy.
He wants you to be holy.
I see that posted on Facebookall the time.
It makes me want to pull my hairout.
You make me know to knowfullness of joy.
At your right hand are pleasuresforevermore.
God blesses us with joy and yes,happiness in this life.
It's the only real way to behappy.
There are sinful pleasures.
(23:14):
That's not the way to be trulyhappy, truly joyful, or to know
meaning and purpose.
If you want to be happy, thenyes, you need to be holy.
That's the path to realhappiness, David says, and we
need to hold on to that.
You don't have to be miserablebecause you are a Christian.
Hey, I get it.
Sometimes Christians aremiserable because they're
getting persecuted.
(23:35):
I understand about that.
You understand about that.
But genuine joy, genuinehappiness, real fulfillment in
life, all of that comes where?
It comes from God's right hand.
At your right hand are pleasuresforevermore.
That's the reading then forFriday, Psalm 16.
And that wraps up the podcastfor the week.
(23:55):
Thank you for listening.
Really excited about Sunday,starting a new series and an
important series.
Look forward to seeing you onSunday morning at the West Side
Church of Christ.
If this podcast is a blessing toyou, please tell others about it
and leave a rating and review somore people will be encouraged
by the Word of God.
It is a joy to open thescriptures with you each day.
(24:16):
It makes me happy, and I thinkit does you too.
I'm Mark Roberts, and I want togo to heaven, and I want you to
come too.
See you on Monday with a cup ofcoffee.
SPEAKER_00 (24:32):
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
(24:57):
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Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
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Monday.
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