Monday Morning Coffee with Mark
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark. A spiritual boost to start the week.
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark
The Precious Blood of Jesus ( The Significance of Blood in Scripture)
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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.
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 a look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through it further and better work the applications into our daily lives. Mark will then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for. And he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time. So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01:Good morning, good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee podcast for Monday, May the 5th. I'm Mark, and I'm ready to talk about daily Bible reading. I'm ready to talk about a sermon yesterday based on a wonderful hymn, and I am ready to do all of that while I'm holding a great cup of Himalayan coffee. Yes, you heard that correctly, Himalayan coffee. I did not know they grow coffee in the Himalayans, but I found that out when last week I attended the SCA Expo in Houston, the Specialty Coffee Association. It's a giant trade show for people who are in the coffee business. They own a coffee shop. They own a commercial roaster They own a cafe and they're serving a lot of coffee. I was able to get a ticket because I am doing some coffee roasting and that got me in the door. And once I was there, there was all kinds of gadgets and equipment and espresso machines and lots and lots of people who grow coffee and who are interested in you buying their coffee and serving it in your coffee shop. And sure enough, as I'm tripping along, there was a booth from some folks in the Himalayans. I could not believe it, but it's pretty good coffee and I'm enjoying that cup this morning as I have my Bible open to 2 Samuel. And as I think a little bit about the sermon yesterday, wow, don't think I have ever before said, let's get started with Himalayan coffee. But whatever you've got, pour that cup. Let's get ready. Let's get set. Let's go. Let's talk a little bit about yesterday's sermon about the blood of Jesus Christ and particularly the hymn, Where Love Ran Red. I have given some thought, as I mentioned yesterday, to how much emphasis the New Testament places on the blood of Jesus. And sometimes people misunderstand that and want to know, what's the deal? Why all this fascination and fixation on blood? So yesterday's sermon gave me an opportunity to talk about that and to work through that hymn because I always want us to sing with understanding to know what it is that we are singing. And I would say this, there is nothing... like being in the auditorium when we work in a psalm together, talk about that song, and then the song leader gets up and we sing it together. Live streaming is no substitute for that. You just can't get that watching it later on the Facebook post. It's just not the same. And if you're trying to use a streaming service to substitute for being physically present in the auditorium, Don't do that. Come to church. Now, let me say a couple of other things here to kind of finish off the thoughts about why we think so much of Jesus's blood and why we talk about that. First, sometimes people ask why Jesus had to die so terribly. And it's a fair question. How about death by firing squad or lethal injection or even something quick like the guillotine? And I think there's a two-part answer to that. First, Jesus is a sacrifice, and sacrificial animals had their lifeblood poured out. The blood symbolized the giving of their lives. So for Jesus to be our sacrifice, there will have to be some kind of correspondence there, some kind of pouring out, and not Just a quick and clean and even, dare I say it, easy death. Revelation 5 and verse 6, if you look at that in your text, in your Bible, picks up Isaiah 53 and talks about the slaughtered lamb. Now, that's not slaughtered like meat is prepared in a butcher shop. That's slaughtered like a sacrifice. And that's the emphasis on that. Jesus' death is a sacrificial death. But then secondly, Jesus' death reminds us just how awful sin really is. There's nothing pretty about the cross. Because there is nothing pretty about sin. Jesus sheds his blood. He gives up his life. He pours out his blood for us. And the hymn, Love Ran Red, makes that point for us in a wonderfully poetic way. It's at the center of who we are. The blood of Jesus is the center of our Christianity. And that is one of the reasons why the supper is so vital and so powerful for Christians. And I hope I hope that yesterday that helped your supper observance, and I hope you haven't forgotten it today because we're all still running on the power of Jesus' blood. Now let's talk about daily Bible reading. It is Monday and our reading for Monday is 2 Samuel chapter 22 verses 1 to 25. Let me say a couple of things as we get underway here in 2 Samuel. Grab a little bit of coffee here. How about that? A little Yeti in the cup from the Himalayans. 2 Samuel chapter 22 is part of this appendices that's at the end of 2 Samuel. And it contains some material that is out of order chronologically. We talked about that last week. And what you're looking at here is material that helps us balance our view of David. That is one slice, the Absalom Rebellion particularly, is one slice of David's reign. He reigned 40 years. There's a lot more to David than just that. The Bible has some specific reasons for reporting so much of that material, but it is certainly not everything to David's life. So this appendices, if you will, helps us see that David was a spiritually-minded man. He was a beloved king in Israel, and he cared deeply about God. No, he was not flawless. I understand about that. You understand about that. He did love the Lord. He was a man after God's own heart. So after a lot of time spent showing David's warts, it's fair if 2 Samuel also shows us some of the good things and says that at bottom, he was a good man who tried to do what is right. Now, 2 Samuel 22 is repeated in Psalm 18, and we're going to read both the psalm and the chapter this week. So you're really going to get an intensive look at this psalm. It is a psalm of thanksgiving with a lot of royal references to it, and it just oozes There's lots of military talk here. There's lots of wilderness talk here. Probably this references the time when Saul is chasing David around in the wilderness. That's a very rocky area. And I love how David doesn't say, I was saved by my own cleverness. I was saved by the rocks and the caves that I hid in. I was saved by God. And I say this a lot when we're reading in the Psalms. Past deliverances give us confidence for the future. And that is working here. David looks in the past, and he says, God took care of me, and I know God's going to continue to take care of me. I love the way that works. And that reminds me to say, if we never give God any credit for doing anything in our lives, we have no past to look to to give us confidence in the future. So make sure that you're not just praying and asking God to do something, but that when God comes through, when God rescues and saves and delivers and blesses, that we want to say, thank you, God, and we want to give God credit for that. I don't think the language here requires a lot of discussion or a lot of clarification. The arrows in verse 15, that's a figure for bolts of lightning. Habakkuk uses that figure there as well. And probably the thing to see in this and to say about this is that God doesn't just mosey over to help a little bit, maybe do some negotiating, see if he can get some kind of compromise worked out. God comes with fire and smoke and weapons blazing, and he smashes and crushes and thunders, and he destroys David's enemies. That's the imagery here. And this last little section then, beginning in verse 21 to 25, is where David says some things about being innocent. And please, please don't get it twisted here. David's not claiming that he is perfect by any stretch of the imagination. What he is saying here is that he is loyal. He is trying to do what is right. He is on God's And I'm using that term loyalty a lot these days, and I love that term because I think it carries more freight than when we just say you're obedient. I think people can be obedient sometimes without being loyal. They haven't given their heart. to what they're working in or what they're doing and so forth. There are people who obey their boss, but they're not very loyal. They talk behind his back. Maybe they're sending resumes out to other companies because they want to go to work somewhere else. There's lots about obedience that can be done without real loyalty. David says, I'm loyal. Look at 2 Samuel 22. Be asking yourself, am I loyal to God? That's our reading for Monday. The reading for Monday, 2 Samuel 22, verses 1-25. Thank you. It is Tuesday. It is Tuesday, and today we're going to finish 2 Samuel 22. We'll read verses 26 all the way to the end of the chapter, verse 51. 2 Samuel 22, verses 26 to 51 is the reading for Tuesday. And I love how David goes from, you saved me because I'm loyal. We read that yesterday in verses 21 to 25. Now, beginning in verse 26, he begins to extend that idea to other people. If you'll act like this, God will be merciful to you. You will save a humble people, verse 28. You are my lamp, then verse 29, you lighten the darkness. So God is saving David. God is saving people who are like David. This is God. His way is perfect, verse 31. The word of the Lord proves true, and he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. Then the imagery returns to some very military talk, some very war kind of figures of speech and metaphors. And we're at a time when people are backing away from that. We don't want to sing onward. That's offensive. That kind of talk is the sort of thing that people don't want to hear. But I want to say very clearly... In the Bible, there's a war going on. That war is between God and the devil, between light and dark, between good and evil. And if that war makes you uncomfortable, get ready to be uncomfortable. It is part of reality, and we are soldiers in that war. We should not shrink back from saying what the Bible says, and we shouldn't be embarrassed about what the Bible says. Maybe I've just spent too much time in the book of Revelation preparing for the meeting that I did last week with the Beaumont Church and where I was talking about how to read Revelation for yourself because of course, there's so much military and battle imagery in the book of Revelation. But it's not just Revelation. We put on the armor of God, Ephesians chapter 6. And then here, notice verse 38, I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, did not turn back until they were consumed. I consumed them. I thrust them through. But then watch how that pairs with the action of God. You, verse 40, you equip me with the strength for battle. You made those who rise against me sink underneath me. You made my enemies, verse 41, turn their backs to me. There's a wonderful connecting together of human activity and divine David always seems to have that put together in his praying. I need you to do something, God, and here's what I'm doing to give you something to work with. I love that about David so much. Let me point out one other important emphasis here, verse 47. We sing that song, by the way. There's a wonderful hymn that uses that line. And I wonder sometimes if we know all that's behind the idea of the Lord lives. The cry, Baal lives, would be heard in the Philistine camp because the cry, Baal is dead, would be part of the seasonal cycle. When winter came and all the plants died and all the crops went brown and leaves fell off the tree and all those kinds of things, the cry went out, Baal is dead. And then in spring, when things budded out and turned green, Baal lives. Baal died in the winter, was reborn in the spring, part of the immorality of the day when the fertility rites of the day were to cause Baal to be reborn. Baal is dead. But here David says, God is alive. God is the living Lord. That's why he makes deliverance possible. Then the psalmist ends here. David ends in verse 51. Great salvation he brings to his king. and show steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever. Steadfast love is that term that we really lack a good English word for. It is chesed in the Hebrew, and I'm probably not saying that right. I hate trying to get off into original languages, but we just don't have a good parallel for that in English. It is the steadfast, faithful love of God that he gives because he promised he would. That is the love of God that David celebrates in 2 Samuel chapter 22. Let's see here. What else should I say? No Zoom tonight, Westsiders. This is the first Tuesday of the month, and the elders will be meeting, so we will not have a Zoom call and a Zoom Bible study this evening. But I'll see everybody on the podcast tomorrow, on Wednesday, when we'll transition over and look at this material as it is recorded for us in the 18th Psalm. Our reading for Tuesday, 2 Samuel chapter 22, verses 26 to 51. Welcome to Wednesday. Our reading today is Psalm 18 verses 1 to 24. The reading for Wednesday, Psalm 18 verses 1 to 24. Hope you're having a great Wednesday or that you have a great Wednesday out in front of you. Get some coffee and let's work on it. And let's start by thinking about the 18th Psalm. This is, of course, virtually identical to the material that we read in 2 Samuel 22. And it's fair to say that if God puts it in the Bible twice, that doesn't mean we ought to skip it the second time we see it. That means it's extra important. There are some minor differences here, probably to be accounted for by noting that this psalm seems to have been edited for use in the temple so that everyone could sing it, everyone could worship with it. And right away, there is a slight difference. Verse 1 says, I love you, O Lord, my strength. And the word for love here is very unusual. It is an emotional term, a term that usually speaks of God's compassion for his people. This is the only place in the Bible where it's used of human love for God. And it speaks of an intimacy in David's relationship with the Lord. And I just love how all of this... Poetic language is powerful and overwhelming and incredible because God takes charge and God comes and delivers. It's just wonderful. And there is a couple of slams here on pagan deities. Verse 4, the cords of death encompassed me and the torrents of destruction assailed me. That may be a reference to the underworld, to Mott, the god of death. And then in verse 16, the ocean was seen by pagans as a sea god. In fact, Baal was believed to have conquered the sea god establishing his dominance as the god of thunder and storm. David takes a shot at both of these false gods, saying Jehovah triumphs over the ocean and is the real god of the storm, the real god of thunder. And then let me just add one other thing. This is not about the experience of Job. This is not answering every question about why good people suffer, why bad things happen to good people. That's outside of this song. It just celebrates God's goodness, God's salvation. I was in need. God delivered me. Psalm 18 is celebrating God for his answer to David's prayer. The reading for Wednesday, Psalm 18, verses 1 to 24. Welcome to Thursday. It says something about that a couple of days ago when we were reading in 2 Samuel 22, but it's just an important idea to make sure that that's in the forefront of our minds. We want to be empowered by God, but we want to be empowered by God. to be cooperating with God in doing all that we can do. And, of course, the key verse here again, verse 46, the Lord lives and blessed be my rock and exalted be the God of my salvation. Only because God is the living Lord is deliverance possible. An idol, the figment of your imagination, cannot deliver. People say foolish things like worship the goddess within or my God would never do this or my God is this. Hey, those are not real gods. which is just a very nice way of me saying they are not alive. They cannot save. We want the real God. We want the living God. We want the God who is our rock. Remember, all of this drives towards the idea of being a person seeking after God's own heart. David glorifies God, not himself. David gives credit to God, not to David. David praises God, not David. That is the idea. is a huge help when we understand that in being like David. The reading for Thursday, 2 Samuel. No, that's not right. The reading for Thursday, Psalm 18, verses 25 to 50. I'll see you tomorrow, and guess what? We're always in the Psalms on Friday, and we'll just continue in the Psalms tomorrow. We're in Psalm 18 today. Just turn the page. See you tomorrow on Friday. We'll be in the 19th Psalm. It is Friday. It is Friday, and today we're reading the 19th Psalm. This is a marvelous psalm, one of my favorites, because it says that God is talking to you, and God is talking to me. Now, usually if someone says, God has spoken to me, we are very suspicious of that, and rightly so. But what the 19th Psalm says is that God is speaking, and that we need to listen. We need to hear His message. He speaks in two ways. First, in verses 1 to 6... He speaks through the power of nature, through the power of creation. That everywhere that you look, you can see, both from the nighttime sky and from the sun above, you can see the sermon of creation. And every man hears that sermon. Every person can see that sermon and deduce from that sermon that there is a God. It's important to remember, everyone can know something of God, but probably more than just using this passage. And I understand... Paul in Romans 1 makes that observation that everybody is culpable before God because we can all discern something of God's nature from creation. But even more than just looking over at the atheist or if we're going to answer questions about the person in the deepest, darkest Amazon who hasn't received a Bible, what about them? And we say some things about they can still know something of God and they should seek God. What we really ought to say out of the first six verses is we ought to tremble before the might and power of God. The more you understand about the stars, the more you understand about our earth, the more you understand about the sun, the more you understand the power and might of Almighty God. We must tremble before our Creator. And then, of course, in verses 7 to 14, the psalm continues to talk about the other way that God speaks to us, which is through revelation, through His law. His law is perfect. It is free from corruption and error. It has a practical effect. It converts the soul. It contains the testimony of God, the divine declaration of what God has done, and it will help the simple. Not the simpleton, not the moron, the person who has no mental capacity, but the person who is humble and who is teachable. They can learn the statutes of the Lord the duties that God gives to us, His commandments, the regulations of life, so that we will have a proper fear or reverence for God because we know the judgments of God, the decisions of the Lord as revealed in His Word. That is, the psalmist says, more precious than gold. Think about that. Somebody offered you a gold bar for your Bible. Well, I'd probably trade them a gold bar for my Bible because I have lots of Bibles. But what if somebody offered you a gold bar for all of your Bibles and you could never read the Bible again and you never have any access to God's Word again? You take that gold bar, you've made a very poor life. God's word, verse 11, keeps us from sin. And then the psalm ends, verses 12, 13, and 14, by talking a little bit more about how God's revelation helps us. It converts the soul. It has a powerful effect so that we won't be involved not just in presumptuous sin, known and evident sin, but even secret sin, sins that we commit when we do not know that we have committed them. David does not say ignorance is bliss. It'll all be fine. He says he wants to be right with God in every possible way. Psalm 19, God is speaking. Are we listening? Our reading for Friday is Psalm 19. That concludes the podcast for the week. Thank you very much for listening, reading the Bible with me, and thinking about Sunday's sermon. If the podcast is helping you, please leave a rating or review and tell folks about the podcast. So until next week, when we'll open our Bibles together again, I'm Mark Roberts. And I want to go to heaven, and I want you to come too. See you on Monday with a cup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ podcast, Monday Morning Coffee with Mark. For more information about Westside, 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 can get free music. Please share our podcast with others, and we look forward to seeing you again, with a cup of coffee, of course, on next Monday.