December 1, 2025 • 27 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.
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 West Side Church's
special Monday Morning CoffeePodcast.
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 (01:04):
Roasted this coffee, and it's just pretty
spectacular, no question aboutthat at all.
I hope you thought yesterday'ssermon was spectacular.
I do think our reading this weekis spectacular.
So there's plenty of spectacularhappening.
Grab your Bible, grab yourcoffee.
Let's grow together.
(01:25):
Let's think a little bit aboutthat sermon yesterday.
This is the 11th in thepreaching theme series.
The question that you voted asnumber two when Jesus asks from
the cross, My God, my God, whyhave you forsaken me?
This is a very difficultquestion.
And I would pull the curtainback a little bit and let you
(01:46):
take a look at what it's like toprep that kind of thing and get
ready to preach that and ask youfor some additional feedback.
Lots of people going all kindsof places on Sunday.
And I always get lots ofencouragement at West Side, not
really looking for that, justlooking, was it clear, was it
understandable?
Because as I tried to unpackyesterday, it's possible to take
(02:09):
this too far to say some thingsabout Jesus on the cross that
would run aground against otherclear passages of scripture,
notably that Jesus became asinner, that Jesus literally has
the sins of the worldtransferred to him.
That's not true, and as I saidyesterday as well, can lead to
some wrong conclusions aboutwhat happens in our own
(02:31):
salvation.
On the other hand, I think youcan go too far in the other
direction where nothing reallyterrible is happening to Jesus.
He's got this, it's no big deal,came to do this, knew he's going
to do it, bang, cross, it's allgood, no problem.
And that's not the case either.
And so I'm trying to find thatmiddle ground to say we don't
(02:51):
want to take an extreme positionthat attributes some false
things to Jesus.
But at the same time, I want tosay that was inexpressibly and
unfathomably horrible for Jesus.
Something is happening there atthe cross beyond anything that
we can even begin to know.
(03:12):
And we need to think about thatand see that and realize that to
appreciate the cross better.
And if that came across to youacross, can we see what I did
there?
If that came across to you, Iwould like to know.
And yes, if it didn't comeacross, if it was just a muddled
mess, kind of need to know thattoo.
So would appreciate your ideasand your feedback about that
(03:34):
sermon.
Now, let me give you an extrathought here that will get us
started for the week.
Let's have some coffee.
You may have noticed that acouple of times I referenced the
Elijah passage and that peoplesay Jesus is calling for Elijah.
Have you ever thought about whydid they think that?
Is it just because of the wordsin Jesus' mouth, Eli, Eli?
(03:56):
There's more to it than that.
Elijah in Jewish traditions,that's outside of the Bible, is
not just a prophet.
He's the prophet who wasexpected to return and set all
things right.
There's some misunderstanding ofscripture that led to that.
But by Jesus' time, people havedecided Elijah's the one who
will come and start therevolution and fix all the
(04:16):
political problems.
So when Jesus cries out loudly,what the crowd does is hear what
they want to hear, what theythink Jesus is supposed to be
saying, and they don't hear whathe really says.
And I think that is a timelessproblem.
People hear what they want tohear instead of hearing what
Jesus really said.
And that can happen today.
(04:38):
For example, a couple of weeksago in my sermon on the social
gospel and why that will nevergo away.
I talked about how if you selectthe right verses, emphasis the
right verses and only thoseverses, you can stuff the social
gospel in Jesus' mouth and youcan say, I'm hearing what Jesus
says.
Or you can shove John 3.16 inJesus' mouth and say, I hear
(04:59):
Jesus say that faith only savesyou.
The crowd didn't misunderstandbecause they didn't hear Jesus.
I think they misunderstoodbecause they didn't want to hear
what Jesus was really saying.
They didn't want the kind ofMessiah who dies for their sins.
They were looking to hearsomething else.
Surprise, surprise.
That's what they heard.
And I think it's fair to say ifyou want the wrong kind of
(05:22):
Jesus, you will never hear thetrue Jesus.
Hope that helps you.
And like I said, we'd beinterested in your feedback from
that sermon.
Let's think about our Biblereading.
Let's turn our Bibles to thePsalms.
(06:01):
It is part of the Psalms ofAscent.
That's Psalms 120 through 134.
These were the Psalms that wereused by people journeying to
Jerusalem for the annual feast.
They would sing along the way.
And those songs have a lot incommon with royal psalms that
celebrate the king and the songsof Zion that celebrate
Jerusalem.
And this is a celebration ofJerusalem.
It is a hymn of praise.
(06:22):
It would be spoken by a largegroup.
The idea here would be (06:24):
let's learn this together.
Let's all do this together.
It is difficult to date thispsalm, although because it is
about Jerusalem and Jerusalembeing the capital, one wonders
if this was not written afterDavid.
David does capture the city andestablish it as the capital, but
it is not the site of thetemple, of course, until the
(06:45):
time of Solomon.
Couple of pieces to this psalm.
First, the joy of arrival inverses one and two, and this is
the famous verse that could betranslated, I rejoice whenever
they say to me.
And then the idea, verse two, ofwe're here, our feet are
standing inside the city.
Then there is a celebration ofunity, verses three, four, and
five.
Jerusalem is very compact, andyou get a little bit of that in
(07:06):
the ESV, built as a city boundfirmly together.
It is very small.
Uh, as far as cities go today,at least, Dallas Fort Worth is
spread out all over everywhere,but we don't have to put it
behind a wall.
When you have a city wall, thatnecessarily limits the size of
the city.
You don't want to be involved inurban sprawl.
(07:26):
If that means you have to builda big old wall around 50 miles
of city, that's that's notdoable.
So cities in the Bible timeshave a tendency to be rather
compact.
And Jerusalem is the capital.
Verse 5 is getting at that.
And then there is this idea,verses 6, 7, 8, and 9, of unity
and peace because the land andthe nation that they would do
(07:47):
well when the city does well,because it is where God's
presence is.
It's where the temple is.
So what do we make of Psalm 122?
Now, without any doubt, theBible is certainly centered very
tightly on the city ofJerusalem.
It is enormously important.
It's important in the OldTestament, and when we open the
New Testament, guess what?
Yeah, it's still super, superimportant.
(08:08):
And you probably are aware thereare people who would use Psalm
122 and other places, otherparts of the Bible, and make
Jerusalem still theologicallysignificant and important.
Sometimes you hear religiousleaders say, I stand with
Jerusalem, or you'll see thebumper sticker pray for
Jerusalem.
Sometimes in that bumpersticker, the letters in the
(08:28):
middle, USA, are in red, white,and blue.
I I wow, that that blending ofpolitics and religion is so
offensive and so wrong.
Please don't do that.
But you know people who say thatthe city of Jerusalem still has
value and weight in the eyes ofthe Lord.
And this is not a lesson aboutpremillennialism and that set of
(08:51):
doctrines and so forth, but thatcomes from a failure to
understand the promises of God,that they have been fulfilled to
Israel and completely fulfilled.
God owes them nothing.
Joshua 21, 43, for example,failure to understand who is
really part of the true Israelof God.
Romans chapter 2 and verse 28.
Anybody can be an Israelitetoday, a true son of Abraham, a
(09:12):
true daughter of Abraham.
And of course, then there's afailure to understand that
Christianity does not have asingle center, shrine, or
sanctuary where we worship.
So Jerusalem was very, veryimportant.
But I would suggest it is notimportant today.
Yes, it's an incredible place tovisit.
(09:34):
I have been privileged to bethere, and it is awe-inspiring
to see and to think about Jesusbeing there and walking there,
and to see the sights and thethings that are happening there.
But God's presence is not inJerusalem today.
There is no temple there.
It is not the center of allthings for the people of God.
Jesus came, John 1 14.
(09:56):
He is the temple of God, Godamong us, and then the church,
the saved, become the body ofChrist, the household of God,
the temple of God today.
It's a mistake to attribute allof that to a geographical
location today.
So while the psalmist may haveprayed specifically for
Jerusalem, I do not do so, nordo I think we are obligated to
(10:17):
do so.
Instead, I would urge you topray for the unity of God's
people.
Pick up 6, 7, 8, 9 and applythat to the church.
Verse 6, pray the peace of thechurch.
May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within the walls of thechurch.
Look at the concern for othersin verse 8.
Do we have that concern?
I will only do that which makesfor peace before I speak that
(10:39):
word, before I criticize, beforeI make that phone call, before I
jump on somebody, will Ievaluate?
How does this affect our unity?
How does this affect our peace?
I think there's a goodapplication of Psalm 122 to the
church, but I don't think theapplication should be made to
the physical city of Jerusalemtoday.
Our reading for Monday, hopethat's helpful to you.
(11:01):
And our reading for Monday isPsalm 122.
It is Tuesday.
It is Tuesday.
And today we're reading the124th Psalm.
We will have Zoom tonight,Westsiders, looking forward to
talking with you about thisPsalm this evening.
But let's work on it togethernow.
Psalm 124 is the reading forTuesday.
This is a good place to thinkabout what-if scenarios.
(11:22):
Sometimes when we play that gameof what if this, it's very sad
and very depressing.
If only I had studied harder?
What if I hadn't said that harshword?
What if our team had gone for iton fourth down?
Lots of that kind of thing.
But this is another kind ofwhat-if.
What if God wasn't helping us?
What if God wasn't for us?
What if God was for our enemies?
(11:42):
The psalmist David here says, itcertainly is a good thing that
God is on our side, and we wantto thank God for that.
This is part of the Psalm Songsof Ascent, talked about that
yesterday.
And this is written by David,probably reflecting some of the
early perils of his kingdom.
Remember, by the time David isfinally anointed king over the
(12:06):
entire kingdom, Saul had prettymuch messed everything up, and
most of the kingdom actually wasin the hands of the Philistines.
And so in 2 Samuel chapter 5,beginning in about verse 17, we
get the record of Davidreuniting the kingdom and
driving the Philistines out.
It was a tough, tough job, and Ithink this psalm reflects some
of the things that David facedduring that time.
(12:27):
There is lots of repetitiveimagery and phrasing in the
Psalm.
And the key idea, again, is theif-then structure.
If God was not on our side, lookwhat would have happened to us.
And there is a great deal inthis early section of
repetition, and that is foremphasis, not for us to just
skip past.
And then in verse 4, there's theemphasis on water as a
(12:49):
destructive force.
That's a very common image inthe Old Testament.
Lamentations 3, verse 54.
There's plenty of other placeslike that.
Remember what I said when Ipreached from the 65th Psalm.
Water, especially the sea, inthe Bible, generally not great.
Generally not great.
Uncontrollable, out of control,chaos, destruction, all that.
(13:10):
Water, not anybody's favorite,at least not floodwaters, in the
Bible.
And I do think that what you'reseeing here in Psalm 124 is an
important part of what it is tobe truly grateful before the
Lord.
A clear acknowledgement of thedepth of our problems and how
devastating they are, and how wecan't do anything with this is
essential to being trulygrateful.
(13:31):
If we get ourselves in a jam,and then when everything gets
resolved in the good providenceof God, we say, well, you know,
it wasn't that big a deal.
Then where's our incentive toreally praise God?
The praise of God, beginning inverse six, forms a transition
here between the past acts ofGod and now the look in
confidence and hope to thefuture acts of God.
(13:52):
And if you'll look at verseeight, God's presence begins and
ends the Psalms, the name, thisPsalm.
The name of the Lord stands forhis character, particularly as
it is known through his savingacts.
I'll see you on Zoom tonight,Westsiders.
We don't have a whole lot ofthose left during this holiday
season.
So make sure if you can be, bewith us tonight at 7.
(14:13):
If you're not a member of theWestside Church, I'll see you on
the podcast tomorrow, readingfor Tuesday, Psalm 124.
Welcome to Wednesday.
Welcome to Wednesday.
And today we're reading the138th Psalm.
Psalm 138 is the reading forWednesday.
This is a wonderful Thanksgivingpsalm.
This is a psalm that I couldpreach from the Sunday before
Thanksgiving because it is aboutbeing thankful.
(14:36):
Specifically, it is about beingthankful.
Verse 3 for answered prayer.
That's worth thinking aboutmaybe a lot more than we do.
Where would we be if God did nothear and answer our prayers?
This is a psalm of David.
There are many times in David'slife when he is praying, when he
is in lots and lots of trouble.
But don't lose the value of thepsalm because we decide it's
(14:57):
only about kings who are beingchased around by another king or
by Philistines or by theirrebellious son.
No, all of us can be thankfulfor answered prayer.
That's what this psalmcelebrates.
And so I would give an outlinesomething like this: thankful
for answered prayer, verses one,two, and three.
Then answered prayers for kings,verses four, five, and six, and
(15:19):
finally answered prayer in Godworking in our lives, verses
seven and eight.
Notice in verse one this idea ofthe gods, and that's always
troublesome to people, but itshould not be.
The Psalms a couple of timeswill talk about gods, and that
just represents that there arefalse gods around the psalmist
that must be cast down.
That could be the idols of thePhilistines, for example.
(15:40):
Some have tried to tie this toPsalm 82, where there's the
discussion of the council of thegods.
I'm probably not real keen onthat idea, but the key here is
to see that David's victoriesover these armies around him
were God's victories, and Godneeded to get the glory.
In Old Testament times, if youbeat another nation, another
country, that meant your God wasstronger than their God.
(16:01):
The last part of verse 2, by theway, is very difficult in the
Hebrew.
There's a number of differentoptions there.
I think the ESV probably isdoing the best it can with what
you have to work with there.
But then we get this verses 4,5, and 6, where God is not only
greater than the gods of theenemy, he's greater than their
rulers.
And David seems to be veryhumble in what he is saying
here.
(16:21):
I love verse 6.
For though the Lord is high, heregards the lowly, but the
haughty he knows from afar.
David realizes how insignificanthe really is, but God has used
him and blessed him in a greatway.
And then verses 7 and 8 wouldtalk some here about what God is
doing in the psalmist's life.
And I love how this is very realand how God deals with what is
(16:44):
going on.
God is greater than gods, andGod is greater than rulers.
But what makes him truly greatis that he stoops down, he
regards the lowly, verse 6, andhe stretches out his hand
against the enemies and savesthe psalmist.
Because the Lord is fulfillinghis purpose, verse 8, his
steadfast love, the covenantloyalty, that love because he
(17:06):
promised lasts forever.
God never changes, and that is acause for thanksgiving indeed.
Our reading for Wednesday, Psalm138.
Let's go.
It's Thursday, and today we'rereading the 144th Psalm.
This is a longer psalm than someof the other psalms that we have
(17:26):
read, and it is an amazingpsalm.
It is, I have a note in myBible, a mutt psalm.
I hope that's not offensive, aHeinz 57 Psalm, an all-American
psalm.
I know some people don't liketheir dog getting called mutts,
but this psalm is a mix of awhole bunch of different kinds
of psalms.
It's a royal psalm, a lament, ithas praise for God, it's got
(17:48):
some wisdom in it, and it usespieces of all kinds of psalms
all over the rest of the book ofPsalms.
So verse 3 comes out of Psalm 8,verse 4 comes out of Psalm 39
and Psalm 109, verse 9 comesfrom Psalm 33.
There's a lot of stuff in herethat's in other places in the
Psalm, and it's all kind of puttogether, kind of like I said,
(18:09):
makes it into a mutt psalm.
How about that?
I'm not sure anybody's gonna bereal happy that I said that, but
it's out there now.
This is a song about war, and itis the most warlike of all of
the psalms, and that will makesome people very uncomfortable.
The battles in the OldTestament, that bothers people.
But we need to be mindful thatthe Lord gave the Canaanite
(18:31):
peoples time to repent.
Genesis 15 talks about this, andthose people were tremendously
perverse in their idolatry, andthe idolatrous rites that they
practiced and the things thatthey did were sick and immoral
and horrible and needed to bejudged.
And so God is at war with evilthrough these Canaanite battles.
(18:54):
And as one scholar wrote, behindthe idols stood demonic powers
that determined their influence.
Thus, when Israel as a nationgoes into battle against her
neighbor, she's engaged not onlyin a military struggle, but in a
spiritual struggle as well.
Yahweh, the God of Israel, isfighting against the false gods
through her.
So at the same time, God is kingover his people, and one of his
(19:16):
covenant treaty responsibilitiesis to defend them from their
enemies.
No wonder that he not only goesto battle for Israel, but also
uses angelic powers in evennature itself, which is under
his command to fight for Israel.
I think that's exactly correct,and maybe we should make good
application of that to thespiritual battle that we're
still involved in as we fightagainst evil powers and forces
(19:38):
in heavenly places, Ephesianschapter 6.
So this is a mosaic, maybethat's a better word than mutt,
and it's drawn from all kinds ofother psalms, and here's a
little outline.
The Lord is blessed, verses 1and 2.
The psalmist is concerned,verses 3 to 11, and then the
people are happy, verses 12 to15.
(19:59):
And so at the opening here,David praises God for his
ability to make war effectively.
Especially look at verse 4,because human beings are so
fragile and so frail.
Then as he begins to developthose ideas of needing help, it
gets very lamenty here.
The king makes a vow, verse 9,to sing and play in the temple a
song of thanksgiving.
(20:20):
And I've talked before about howwhen you have a Thanksgiving
song, oftentimes that would bepaired with a lament.
In the lament, the psalmistsays, If you'll rescue me, I
will sing your praises.
And then we get that praise songas a song of thanksgiving.
And so verses nine and 10represent that vow.
And of course, here a new songis a victory song.
(20:40):
It's a song of war.
Then you get all these happypeople, verses 12 to 15.
What's the connection here?
Well, the connection is Godrescued them, God fought for
them, God saved them.
And so the conditions of thatand how they live now at peace,
because God fights for them, aresketched out in dramatic
language.
Notice the conclusion of thepsalm.
(21:01):
There's an affirmation of thehappiness of God's people.
Blessed are the people to whomsuch blessings fall.
Blessed are the people whose Godis the Lord.
It's a beatitude, a doublebeatitude.
And of course, blessed heredoesn't mean happy in the
American sense of happiness.
I talk about that all the time.
And somebody still manages tocome out after a sermon or email
me and say, blessed means happy,or if they hear anybody say
(21:24):
that, you bet.
I absolutely don't bet.
But you don't have any tongue incheek.
Somebody will send me a clipwhere somebody is saying,
Blessed means happiness in thevery American way of life,
liberty, in the pursuit ofhappiness.
That's not it, verse 15.
Blessed here is satisfaction andjoy.
It's the contentment that comesbecause you are accepted by God.
And in this context, it comesbecause God fought for his
(21:48):
people and saved them.
The reading for Thursday isPsalm 144.
Welcome to Friday.
Welcome to Friday.
Today's reading is Psalm 145.
The reading for Friday is Psalm145.
This is the last Psalmattributed to David in the book
of Psalms.
It is also the last of eightacrostic psalms.
Acrostic Psalms are those Psalmsthat begin each stanza with the
(22:11):
letter of the Hebrew Bible inorder.
It's kind of an A to Z approachto the subject matter.
Now, this one is not perfect,but it's missing the noon, the
letter N, roughly correspondingto the letter N, although there
is a text from Qumran that hasthat missing verse.
So there's discussion of that,and you may find that in the
bracket here after verse 13.
(22:32):
That's what that's doing there.
It comes from the Septuagint andsome other manuscripts.
Difficult decision for thetranslators.
What are they doing with that?
How are they rating that?
What are they working with that?
But that's why you have thosebrackets there.
It is a hymn of praise, and itis closely related to Psalm 111.
And we do need to think moreabout this kind of song.
I believe we sing a lot of songsthat edify one another, but
(22:55):
there is a place for praiseanthems for singing to God his
praise, his glory, his amazingpower, might, strength, and love
for us.
And so this Psalm breaks down,here's an outline that I'm going
to use here.
Who we praise, the great king,verses one to three, why we
praise the great king, versesfour to nine, who will praise
(23:16):
the great king, verses ten tothirteen, and who is the great
king that we are praising,verses fourteen to twenty one.
So these first three verses, whowe praise, the great king,
fundamentally talk about God asbeing a wonderful and amazing
God, not like other gods, butgreat is the Lord.
His greatness is unsearchable,he is incredible.
(23:38):
And then in verse four, as Davidbegins to think about why we
praise this great king, he says,Our generation, one generation
shall commend your works toanother and shall declare your
mighty acts.
I I couldn't help but think.
What would David what wouldDavid say if he knew that more
than 3,000 years later, peopleare still praising this great
(23:59):
God and they're using the stuffthat David wrote to do that?
What would David think of thispodcast?
Kind of boggles the mind alittle bit, doesn't it?
Then in verses 10 to 13, whowill praise the great king?
And the idea here, of course, isthat everybody should do that.
All your works, verse 10, allyour saints, verse 10, speak of
the glory of your kingdom andtell of your power.
(24:22):
God is great.
By the way, part of verse 13reappears in Daniel chapter 4
and verse 3 in Nebuchadnezzar'sConfession.
I wonder if Daniel had beenpraising God with this psalm,
and Nebuchadnezzar is able topick up on that.
Or he may have even asked Danielto instruct him and to help him
praise the God who answered hisprayer and interpreted his
(24:43):
dream.
Then who is the great king thatwe praise?
Verses 14 to 21.
And the chief observation hereabout this whole section is that
it really stresses thedependability of God.
He helps the inadequate.
Verse 14, he provides food,verses 15 and 16.
I really love verse 18 and 19.
He answers those who pray.
(25:05):
The Lord is near to all who callon him, to all who call on him
in truth.
He fulfills the desires of thosewho fear him, but also hears
their cry and saves them.
We'll go back to something thatI said yesterday about being
blessed.
Look at verse 19.
He fulfills the desire of thosewho fear him.
Don't take that wrong.
Oh, because I go to church,God's supposed to give me
anything I want.
No, if we're the kind of personthat praises God like this Psalm
(25:29):
talks about, that will changeour desires.
And God will want to give us ourdesires because we will want
what God wants to give us.
Does that make sense at all?
I think it does.
And the idea here is that Godwatches over his creation.
And so if he watches over hiscreation, how much more does God
watch over his people?
And that is the very idea thatJesus advances in the Sermon on
(25:52):
the Mount in Matthew chapter 6.
Psalm 145, that's our readingfor Friday.
That's the podcast for the week.
Thank you so much for listening.
I hope it is a help to you.
It is certainly a blessing to meto get to talk to you and work
with you in the Word of God,think a little bit more about
the sermon from Sunday, and justput all that together with a cup
(26:13):
of coffee and have a great weekserving the Lord, drawing closer
to the Lord through his word.
Thanks for listening to thepodcast.
I'm Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven.
I want you to come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (26:35):
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-B-E-A-T, where creators
(27:00):
can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
Hello, and welcome to the West Side Church's
special Monday Morning CoffeePodcast.
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 (01:04):
Roasted this coffee, and it's just pretty
spectacular, no question aboutthat at all.
I hope you thought yesterday'ssermon was spectacular.
I do think our reading this weekis spectacular.
So there's plenty of spectacularhappening.
Grab your Bible, grab yourcoffee.
Let's grow together.
(01:25):
Let's think a little bit aboutthat sermon yesterday.
This is the 11th in thepreaching theme series.
The question that you voted asnumber two when Jesus asks from
the cross, My God, my God, whyhave you forsaken me?
This is a very difficultquestion.
And I would pull the curtainback a little bit and let you
(01:46):
take a look at what it's like toprep that kind of thing and get
ready to preach that and ask youfor some additional feedback.
Lots of people going all kindsof places on Sunday.
And I always get lots ofencouragement at West Side, not
really looking for that, justlooking, was it clear, was it
understandable?
Because as I tried to unpackyesterday, it's possible to take
(02:09):
this too far to say some thingsabout Jesus on the cross that
would run aground against otherclear passages of scripture,
notably that Jesus became asinner, that Jesus literally has
the sins of the worldtransferred to him.
That's not true, and as I saidyesterday as well, can lead to
some wrong conclusions aboutwhat happens in our own
(02:31):
salvation.
On the other hand, I think youcan go too far in the other
direction where nothing reallyterrible is happening to Jesus.
He's got this, it's no big deal,came to do this, knew he's going
to do it, bang, cross, it's allgood, no problem.
And that's not the case either.
And so I'm trying to find thatmiddle ground to say we don't
(02:51):
want to take an extreme positionthat attributes some false
things to Jesus.
But at the same time, I want tosay that was inexpressibly and
unfathomably horrible for Jesus.
Something is happening there atthe cross beyond anything that
we can even begin to know.
(03:12):
And we need to think about thatand see that and realize that to
appreciate the cross better.
And if that came across to youacross, can we see what I did
there?
If that came across to you, Iwould like to know.
And yes, if it didn't comeacross, if it was just a muddled
mess, kind of need to know thattoo.
So would appreciate your ideasand your feedback about that
(03:34):
sermon.
Now, let me give you an extrathought here that will get us
started for the week.
Let's have some coffee.
You may have noticed that acouple of times I referenced the
Elijah passage and that peoplesay Jesus is calling for Elijah.
Have you ever thought about whydid they think that?
Is it just because of the wordsin Jesus' mouth, Eli, Eli?
(03:56):
There's more to it than that.
Elijah in Jewish traditions,that's outside of the Bible, is
not just a prophet.
He's the prophet who wasexpected to return and set all
things right.
There's some misunderstanding ofscripture that led to that.
But by Jesus' time, people havedecided Elijah's the one who
will come and start therevolution and fix all the
(04:16):
political problems.
So when Jesus cries out loudly,what the crowd does is hear what
they want to hear, what theythink Jesus is supposed to be
saying, and they don't hear whathe really says.
And I think that is a timelessproblem.
People hear what they want tohear instead of hearing what
Jesus really said.
And that can happen today.
(04:38):
For example, a couple of weeksago in my sermon on the social
gospel and why that will nevergo away.
I talked about how if you selectthe right verses, emphasis the
right verses and only thoseverses, you can stuff the social
gospel in Jesus' mouth and youcan say, I'm hearing what Jesus
says.
Or you can shove John 3.16 inJesus' mouth and say, I hear
(04:59):
Jesus say that faith only savesyou.
The crowd didn't misunderstandbecause they didn't hear Jesus.
I think they misunderstoodbecause they didn't want to hear
what Jesus was really saying.
They didn't want the kind ofMessiah who dies for their sins.
They were looking to hearsomething else.
Surprise, surprise.
That's what they heard.
And I think it's fair to say ifyou want the wrong kind of
(05:22):
Jesus, you will never hear thetrue Jesus.
Hope that helps you.
And like I said, we'd beinterested in your feedback from
that sermon.
Let's think about our Biblereading.
Let's turn our Bibles to thePsalms.
(06:01):
It is part of the Psalms ofAscent.
That's Psalms 120 through 134.
These were the Psalms that wereused by people journeying to
Jerusalem for the annual feast.
They would sing along the way.
And those songs have a lot incommon with royal psalms that
celebrate the king and the songsof Zion that celebrate
Jerusalem.
And this is a celebration ofJerusalem.
It is a hymn of praise.
(06:22):
It would be spoken by a largegroup.
The idea here would be (06:24):
let's learn this together.
Let's all do this together.
It is difficult to date thispsalm, although because it is
about Jerusalem and Jerusalembeing the capital, one wonders
if this was not written afterDavid.
David does capture the city andestablish it as the capital, but
it is not the site of thetemple, of course, until the
(06:45):
time of Solomon.
Couple of pieces to this psalm.
First, the joy of arrival inverses one and two, and this is
the famous verse that could betranslated, I rejoice whenever
they say to me.
And then the idea, verse two, ofwe're here, our feet are
standing inside the city.
Then there is a celebration ofunity, verses three, four, and
five.
Jerusalem is very compact, andyou get a little bit of that in
(07:06):
the ESV, built as a city boundfirmly together.
It is very small.
Uh, as far as cities go today,at least, Dallas Fort Worth is
spread out all over everywhere,but we don't have to put it
behind a wall.
When you have a city wall, thatnecessarily limits the size of
the city.
You don't want to be involved inurban sprawl.
(07:26):
If that means you have to builda big old wall around 50 miles
of city, that's that's notdoable.
So cities in the Bible timeshave a tendency to be rather
compact.
And Jerusalem is the capital.
Verse 5 is getting at that.
And then there is this idea,verses 6, 7, 8, and 9, of unity
and peace because the land andthe nation that they would do
(07:47):
well when the city does well,because it is where God's
presence is.
It's where the temple is.
So what do we make of Psalm 122?
Now, without any doubt, theBible is certainly centered very
tightly on the city ofJerusalem.
It is enormously important.
It's important in the OldTestament, and when we open the
New Testament, guess what?
Yeah, it's still super, superimportant.
(08:08):
And you probably are aware thereare people who would use Psalm
122 and other places, otherparts of the Bible, and make
Jerusalem still theologicallysignificant and important.
Sometimes you hear religiousleaders say, I stand with
Jerusalem, or you'll see thebumper sticker pray for
Jerusalem.
Sometimes in that bumpersticker, the letters in the
(08:28):
middle, USA, are in red, white,and blue.
I I wow, that that blending ofpolitics and religion is so
offensive and so wrong.
Please don't do that.
But you know people who say thatthe city of Jerusalem still has
value and weight in the eyes ofthe Lord.
And this is not a lesson aboutpremillennialism and that set of
(08:51):
doctrines and so forth, but thatcomes from a failure to
understand the promises of God,that they have been fulfilled to
Israel and completely fulfilled.
God owes them nothing.
Joshua 21, 43, for example,failure to understand who is
really part of the true Israelof God.
Romans chapter 2 and verse 28.
Anybody can be an Israelitetoday, a true son of Abraham, a
(09:12):
true daughter of Abraham.
And of course, then there's afailure to understand that
Christianity does not have asingle center, shrine, or
sanctuary where we worship.
So Jerusalem was very, veryimportant.
But I would suggest it is notimportant today.
Yes, it's an incredible place tovisit.
(09:34):
I have been privileged to bethere, and it is awe-inspiring
to see and to think about Jesusbeing there and walking there,
and to see the sights and thethings that are happening there.
But God's presence is not inJerusalem today.
There is no temple there.
It is not the center of allthings for the people of God.
Jesus came, John 1 14.
(09:56):
He is the temple of God, Godamong us, and then the church,
the saved, become the body ofChrist, the household of God,
the temple of God today.
It's a mistake to attribute allof that to a geographical
location today.
So while the psalmist may haveprayed specifically for
Jerusalem, I do not do so, nordo I think we are obligated to
(10:17):
do so.
Instead, I would urge you topray for the unity of God's
people.
Pick up 6, 7, 8, 9 and applythat to the church.
Verse 6, pray the peace of thechurch.
May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within the walls of thechurch.
Look at the concern for othersin verse 8.
Do we have that concern?
I will only do that which makesfor peace before I speak that
(10:39):
word, before I criticize, beforeI make that phone call, before I
jump on somebody, will Ievaluate?
How does this affect our unity?
How does this affect our peace?
I think there's a goodapplication of Psalm 122 to the
church, but I don't think theapplication should be made to
the physical city of Jerusalemtoday.
Our reading for Monday, hopethat's helpful to you.
(11:01):
And our reading for Monday isPsalm 122.
It is Tuesday.
It is Tuesday.
And today we're reading the124th Psalm.
We will have Zoom tonight,Westsiders, looking forward to
talking with you about thisPsalm this evening.
But let's work on it togethernow.
Psalm 124 is the reading forTuesday.
This is a good place to thinkabout what-if scenarios.
(11:22):
Sometimes when we play that gameof what if this, it's very sad
and very depressing.
If only I had studied harder?
What if I hadn't said that harshword?
What if our team had gone for iton fourth down?
Lots of that kind of thing.
But this is another kind ofwhat-if.
What if God wasn't helping us?
What if God wasn't for us?
What if God was for our enemies?
(11:42):
The psalmist David here says, itcertainly is a good thing that
God is on our side, and we wantto thank God for that.
This is part of the Psalm Songsof Ascent, talked about that
yesterday.
And this is written by David,probably reflecting some of the
early perils of his kingdom.
Remember, by the time David isfinally anointed king over the
(12:06):
entire kingdom, Saul had prettymuch messed everything up, and
most of the kingdom actually wasin the hands of the Philistines.
And so in 2 Samuel chapter 5,beginning in about verse 17, we
get the record of Davidreuniting the kingdom and
driving the Philistines out.
It was a tough, tough job, and Ithink this psalm reflects some
of the things that David facedduring that time.
(12:27):
There is lots of repetitiveimagery and phrasing in the
Psalm.
And the key idea, again, is theif-then structure.
If God was not on our side, lookwhat would have happened to us.
And there is a great deal inthis early section of
repetition, and that is foremphasis, not for us to just
skip past.
And then in verse 4, there's theemphasis on water as a
(12:49):
destructive force.
That's a very common image inthe Old Testament.
Lamentations 3, verse 54.
There's plenty of other placeslike that.
Remember what I said when Ipreached from the 65th Psalm.
Water, especially the sea, inthe Bible, generally not great.
Generally not great.
Uncontrollable, out of control,chaos, destruction, all that.
(13:10):
Water, not anybody's favorite,at least not floodwaters, in the
Bible.
And I do think that what you'reseeing here in Psalm 124 is an
important part of what it is tobe truly grateful before the
Lord.
A clear acknowledgement of thedepth of our problems and how
devastating they are, and how wecan't do anything with this is
essential to being trulygrateful.
(13:31):
If we get ourselves in a jam,and then when everything gets
resolved in the good providenceof God, we say, well, you know,
it wasn't that big a deal.
Then where's our incentive toreally praise God?
The praise of God, beginning inverse six, forms a transition
here between the past acts ofGod and now the look in
confidence and hope to thefuture acts of God.
(13:52):
And if you'll look at verseeight, God's presence begins and
ends the Psalms, the name, thisPsalm.
The name of the Lord stands forhis character, particularly as
it is known through his savingacts.
I'll see you on Zoom tonight,Westsiders.
We don't have a whole lot ofthose left during this holiday
season.
So make sure if you can be, bewith us tonight at 7.
(14:13):
If you're not a member of theWestside Church, I'll see you on
the podcast tomorrow, readingfor Tuesday, Psalm 124.
Welcome to Wednesday.
Welcome to Wednesday.
And today we're reading the138th Psalm.
Psalm 138 is the reading forWednesday.
This is a wonderful Thanksgivingpsalm.
This is a psalm that I couldpreach from the Sunday before
Thanksgiving because it is aboutbeing thankful.
(14:36):
Specifically, it is about beingthankful.
Verse 3 for answered prayer.
That's worth thinking aboutmaybe a lot more than we do.
Where would we be if God did nothear and answer our prayers?
This is a psalm of David.
There are many times in David'slife when he is praying, when he
is in lots and lots of trouble.
But don't lose the value of thepsalm because we decide it's
(14:57):
only about kings who are beingchased around by another king or
by Philistines or by theirrebellious son.
No, all of us can be thankfulfor answered prayer.
That's what this psalmcelebrates.
And so I would give an outlinesomething like this: thankful
for answered prayer, verses one,two, and three.
Then answered prayers for kings,verses four, five, and six, and
(15:19):
finally answered prayer in Godworking in our lives, verses
seven and eight.
Notice in verse one this idea ofthe gods, and that's always
troublesome to people, but itshould not be.
The Psalms a couple of timeswill talk about gods, and that
just represents that there arefalse gods around the psalmist
that must be cast down.
That could be the idols of thePhilistines, for example.
(15:40):
Some have tried to tie this toPsalm 82, where there's the
discussion of the council of thegods.
I'm probably not real keen onthat idea, but the key here is
to see that David's victoriesover these armies around him
were God's victories, and Godneeded to get the glory.
In Old Testament times, if youbeat another nation, another
country, that meant your God wasstronger than their God.
(16:01):
The last part of verse 2, by theway, is very difficult in the
Hebrew.
There's a number of differentoptions there.
I think the ESV probably isdoing the best it can with what
you have to work with there.
But then we get this verses 4,5, and 6, where God is not only
greater than the gods of theenemy, he's greater than their
rulers.
And David seems to be veryhumble in what he is saying
here.
(16:21):
I love verse 6.
For though the Lord is high, heregards the lowly, but the
haughty he knows from afar.
David realizes how insignificanthe really is, but God has used
him and blessed him in a greatway.
And then verses 7 and 8 wouldtalk some here about what God is
doing in the psalmist's life.
And I love how this is very realand how God deals with what is
(16:44):
going on.
God is greater than gods, andGod is greater than rulers.
But what makes him truly greatis that he stoops down, he
regards the lowly, verse 6, andhe stretches out his hand
against the enemies and savesthe psalmist.
Because the Lord is fulfillinghis purpose, verse 8, his
steadfast love, the covenantloyalty, that love because he
(17:06):
promised lasts forever.
God never changes, and that is acause for thanksgiving indeed.
Our reading for Wednesday, Psalm138.
Let's go.
It's Thursday, and today we'rereading the 144th Psalm.
This is a longer psalm than someof the other psalms that we have
(17:26):
read, and it is an amazingpsalm.
It is, I have a note in myBible, a mutt psalm.
I hope that's not offensive, aHeinz 57 Psalm, an all-American
psalm.
I know some people don't liketheir dog getting called mutts,
but this psalm is a mix of awhole bunch of different kinds
of psalms.
It's a royal psalm, a lament, ithas praise for God, it's got
(17:48):
some wisdom in it, and it usespieces of all kinds of psalms
all over the rest of the book ofPsalms.
So verse 3 comes out of Psalm 8,verse 4 comes out of Psalm 39
and Psalm 109, verse 9 comesfrom Psalm 33.
There's a lot of stuff in herethat's in other places in the
Psalm, and it's all kind of puttogether, kind of like I said,
(18:09):
makes it into a mutt psalm.
How about that?
I'm not sure anybody's gonna bereal happy that I said that, but
it's out there now.
This is a song about war, and itis the most warlike of all of
the psalms, and that will makesome people very uncomfortable.
The battles in the OldTestament, that bothers people.
But we need to be mindful thatthe Lord gave the Canaanite
(18:31):
peoples time to repent.
Genesis 15 talks about this, andthose people were tremendously
perverse in their idolatry, andthe idolatrous rites that they
practiced and the things thatthey did were sick and immoral
and horrible and needed to bejudged.
And so God is at war with evilthrough these Canaanite battles.
(18:54):
And as one scholar wrote, behindthe idols stood demonic powers
that determined their influence.
Thus, when Israel as a nationgoes into battle against her
neighbor, she's engaged not onlyin a military struggle, but in a
spiritual struggle as well.
Yahweh, the God of Israel, isfighting against the false gods
through her.
So at the same time, God is kingover his people, and one of his
(19:16):
covenant treaty responsibilitiesis to defend them from their
enemies.
No wonder that he not only goesto battle for Israel, but also
uses angelic powers in evennature itself, which is under
his command to fight for Israel.
I think that's exactly correct,and maybe we should make good
application of that to thespiritual battle that we're
still involved in as we fightagainst evil powers and forces
(19:38):
in heavenly places, Ephesianschapter 6.
So this is a mosaic, maybethat's a better word than mutt,
and it's drawn from all kinds ofother psalms, and here's a
little outline.
The Lord is blessed, verses 1and 2.
The psalmist is concerned,verses 3 to 11, and then the
people are happy, verses 12 to15.
(19:59):
And so at the opening here,David praises God for his
ability to make war effectively.
Especially look at verse 4,because human beings are so
fragile and so frail.
Then as he begins to developthose ideas of needing help, it
gets very lamenty here.
The king makes a vow, verse 9,to sing and play in the temple a
song of thanksgiving.
(20:20):
And I've talked before about howwhen you have a Thanksgiving
song, oftentimes that would bepaired with a lament.
In the lament, the psalmistsays, If you'll rescue me, I
will sing your praises.
And then we get that praise songas a song of thanksgiving.
And so verses nine and 10represent that vow.
And of course, here a new songis a victory song.
(20:40):
It's a song of war.
Then you get all these happypeople, verses 12 to 15.
What's the connection here?
Well, the connection is Godrescued them, God fought for
them, God saved them.
And so the conditions of thatand how they live now at peace,
because God fights for them, aresketched out in dramatic
language.
Notice the conclusion of thepsalm.
(21:01):
There's an affirmation of thehappiness of God's people.
Blessed are the people to whomsuch blessings fall.
Blessed are the people whose Godis the Lord.
It's a beatitude, a doublebeatitude.
And of course, blessed heredoesn't mean happy in the
American sense of happiness.
I talk about that all the time.
And somebody still manages tocome out after a sermon or email
me and say, blessed means happy,or if they hear anybody say
(21:24):
that, you bet.
I absolutely don't bet.
But you don't have any tongue incheek.
Somebody will send me a clipwhere somebody is saying,
Blessed means happiness in thevery American way of life,
liberty, in the pursuit ofhappiness.
That's not it, verse 15.
Blessed here is satisfaction andjoy.
It's the contentment that comesbecause you are accepted by God.
And in this context, it comesbecause God fought for his
(21:48):
people and saved them.
The reading for Thursday isPsalm 144.
Welcome to Friday.
Welcome to Friday.
Today's reading is Psalm 145.
The reading for Friday is Psalm145.
This is the last Psalmattributed to David in the book
of Psalms.
It is also the last of eightacrostic psalms.
Acrostic Psalms are those Psalmsthat begin each stanza with the
(22:11):
letter of the Hebrew Bible inorder.
It's kind of an A to Z approachto the subject matter.
Now, this one is not perfect,but it's missing the noon, the
letter N, roughly correspondingto the letter N, although there
is a text from Qumran that hasthat missing verse.
So there's discussion of that,and you may find that in the
bracket here after verse 13.
(22:32):
That's what that's doing there.
It comes from the Septuagint andsome other manuscripts.
Difficult decision for thetranslators.
What are they doing with that?
How are they rating that?
What are they working with that?
But that's why you have thosebrackets there.
It is a hymn of praise, and itis closely related to Psalm 111.
And we do need to think moreabout this kind of song.
I believe we sing a lot of songsthat edify one another, but
(22:55):
there is a place for praiseanthems for singing to God his
praise, his glory, his amazingpower, might, strength, and love
for us.
And so this Psalm breaks down,here's an outline that I'm going
to use here.
Who we praise, the great king,verses one to three, why we
praise the great king, versesfour to nine, who will praise
(23:16):
the great king, verses ten tothirteen, and who is the great
king that we are praising,verses fourteen to twenty one.
So these first three verses, whowe praise, the great king,
fundamentally talk about God asbeing a wonderful and amazing
God, not like other gods, butgreat is the Lord.
His greatness is unsearchable,he is incredible.
(23:38):
And then in verse four, as Davidbegins to think about why we
praise this great king, he says,Our generation, one generation
shall commend your works toanother and shall declare your
mighty acts.
I I couldn't help but think.
What would David what wouldDavid say if he knew that more
than 3,000 years later, peopleare still praising this great
(23:59):
God and they're using the stuffthat David wrote to do that?
What would David think of thispodcast?
Kind of boggles the mind alittle bit, doesn't it?
Then in verses 10 to 13, whowill praise the great king?
And the idea here, of course, isthat everybody should do that.
All your works, verse 10, allyour saints, verse 10, speak of
the glory of your kingdom andtell of your power.
(24:22):
God is great.
By the way, part of verse 13reappears in Daniel chapter 4
and verse 3 in Nebuchadnezzar'sConfession.
I wonder if Daniel had beenpraising God with this psalm,
and Nebuchadnezzar is able topick up on that.
Or he may have even asked Danielto instruct him and to help him
praise the God who answered hisprayer and interpreted his
(24:43):
dream.
Then who is the great king thatwe praise?
Verses 14 to 21.
And the chief observation hereabout this whole section is that
it really stresses thedependability of God.
He helps the inadequate.
Verse 14, he provides food,verses 15 and 16.
I really love verse 18 and 19.
He answers those who pray.
(25:05):
The Lord is near to all who callon him, to all who call on him
in truth.
He fulfills the desires of thosewho fear him, but also hears
their cry and saves them.
We'll go back to something thatI said yesterday about being
blessed.
Look at verse 19.
He fulfills the desire of thosewho fear him.
Don't take that wrong.
Oh, because I go to church,God's supposed to give me
anything I want.
No, if we're the kind of personthat praises God like this Psalm
(25:29):
talks about, that will changeour desires.
And God will want to give us ourdesires because we will want
what God wants to give us.
Does that make sense at all?
I think it does.
And the idea here is that Godwatches over his creation.
And so if he watches over hiscreation, how much more does God
watch over his people?
And that is the very idea thatJesus advances in the Sermon on
(25:52):
the Mount in Matthew chapter 6.
Psalm 145, that's our readingfor Friday.
That's the podcast for the week.
Thank you so much for listening.
I hope it is a help to you.
It is certainly a blessing to meto get to talk to you and work
with you in the Word of God,think a little bit more about
the sermon from Sunday, and justput all that together with a cup
(26:13):
of coffee and have a great weekserving the Lord, drawing closer
to the Lord through his word.
Thanks for listening to thepodcast.
I'm Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven.
I want you to come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (26:35):
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-B-E-A-T, where creators
(27:00):
can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
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