Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches special Monday Morning Coffee podcast on this podcast, our preacher Mark Roberts will help you get your week started right. With 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.

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee podcast for Monday, July the 29th. I'm Mark. I've got some great coffee going here and maybe I'm a little bit tired because I did youth lectures two weeks in a row two weeks ago. Did the West Side Youth lectures this last weekend was in Conway, Arkansas at the Highway 65 Church doing their youth lectures. Talk about blessed getting to work with young people two weekends in a row. That's just crazy. Great, but maybe, maybe I'll need two cups of coffee this morning to get the motor started. You get some coffee, you get your Bible open to John chapter eight. Can't give you notes of course about the sermon yesterday 'cause I didn't preach at West Side . So it's all about daily Bible reading right now. Let's dive in. Our reading for today is in John chapter eight, verses 21 to 30. And this continues the discussion. Let's pick up out of Friday's reading the discussion of who is Jesus, where has he come from? Jesus has been talking about that. Jesus continues to press that and we're gonna get some more of that stupid remark business. So verse 21, I'm going away. You're gonna dine your sins. I'm going, you can't come there. And the Jews, the Jews here, that's the crowd and the sin here that Jesus keeps highlighting is the sin of unbelief. Failure to accept him as the Messiah. They ignore everything. Verse 22 that Jesus has said. And just focus on that last bit where I'm going. You cannot come and they get that very wooden, hyper, literal interpretation. You're gonna kill yourself. Is that what you're talking about? Jesus says, of course not. That's not what I'm about. He references again, verse 24. You have to believe in me. John just keeps putting that in front of us. That's what this gospel is all about. So they ask, who are you? And the end of verse 25 is difficult, textually very difficult to translate this, be a number of different translations. That's the kind of thing that when you see that you're reading out two translations. I hope every day you see different translations, you immediately say, Hmm , gotta look into that. Something's going on with that. Scholars aren't agreed with how to work with that Es v's . Pretty good here. Just what I've been telling you from the beginning. New American standard has, what have I been saying all along? NLT is a little bit different here. The one I have always claimed to be the Christian standard Bible, exactly what I've been telling you from the very beginning. So there's some translational issues there that are hard to work with, but I think it's clear that Jesus is driving for his identity and for them to accept his identity. And he pushes that again in verse 27. In verse 28. They didn't understand Verse 27. So he says verse 28, you will understand when I'm lifted up. What does he mean by that? Does he mean that as they crucify him? Suddenly everyone's gonna say, oh look, it's the Messiah on the cross. No, of course that's not what Jesus means there. Jesus means that the cross will reveal who he is. That's one of the functions of the cross. But not that they will understand that as they are crucifying him, but that someday the full force of what they have done will hit them. And I'm thinking about Acts chapter two. Of course Peter preaches the gospel and it hits 'em like a ton of bricks. That's who that was. That's what we have done. This reading then , uh, closes out. Verse 29 sent me, he who is who sent me is with me sent is such a big emphasis in John chapter eight. We're gonna get more of that going into chapter nine. Notice verse 16, verse 18, verse 26. It's about Jesus. He is the cent one . He is the one that the Father has sent. See you tomorrow. We'll continue in John chapter eight. Welcome to Tuesday. Today we're reading John eight verses 31 to 38. And I would remind you Westsiders, we will have the zoom call tonight, be in prayer and Bible study on zoom tonight at seven. And that's always a great chance for us to catch up a little bit, to talk a little bit to pray together and especially to talk about this text. And you may have some questions about this text because in verse 31, Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, so we have some believing Jews here. But then if you look at verse 37, he says, I know that you're the offspring of Abraham, yet you said to kill me because my word finds no place in you. Wait, wait, wait. I thought these were believing Jews. What's going on here? What's happening? Want to explore that a little bit further. I'll just say this, it's possible that this is fickle faith, that it's coming and going kind of faith. And we've seen some of that, for example, in John chapter six already might be two different groups. Is there a transition after verse 32? Is there a transition after verse 36? Need to think a little bit here about what's going on. We do have some belief in verse 31. And of course that's what the gospel of John is going for. But are they gonna abide? That's verse 31. That's the test of real faith. Will you abide? And to do that, you have to know the truth. Verse 30 true verse 30, true, yes. Verse 30. True. There you go. You will know the truth. Verse 32. And the truth will set you free. Real faith accepts the consequences and costs. And part of that would be to recognize that the former life was slavery. And the Jews refuse that completely. We have never been enslaved to anyone. Now that passage will draw a lot of fire, particularly because at that very moment there are Roman soldiers standing on every corner. And and so people think about, Hey, you're, you're clearly under the oppressive boot of the Romans. You've, you've been invaded by Babylon, you've been invaded by Egypt. There . There's lots of times where the Jews, the time between the testaments, between Malachi and Matthew, there was Syrians all over everywhere. How can you say we've never been enslaved to anyone? And the answer to that may be here that these people mean we've never been in spiritual slavery. We are the people of God. We, we, we don't need to be set free by your truth. Jesus. We are always free. And that may be where they are with that. So then Jesus says, you are a slave to sin. Truly, truly. I say to you, verse 34, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. And that's a very good translation. The idea is constantly doing sin. Uh, it's a present continuative. You continue to live in sin. And so Jesus is identifying here that only real freedom is going to be found in him. Verse 36. And it's not about lineage verse 37, but it's instead about your heart. Do you believe in Jesus? That's where Jesus is going with this. And that's what we'll talk about tonight more in zoom. See you then. Uh, for the rest of you , uh, sometimes people will email and say, Hey, I wanna be in on that zoom call that that's really, that's really a congregational thing. Talk about the congregation folks here at West Side who are sick or who are in need and so forth. That's really just something for this family. I would love to to make that bigger, but I i I , I don't know really know how to do that without it just getting really unwieldy and difficult. So everybody else see you tomorrow as we continue to read in John chapter eight. Welcome to Wednesday. Today our reading is in John chapter eight verses 39 to 47 . And because it is Wednesday, we'll continue our su special summer series on the parables with Brother Paul Hammonds. We support Brother Paul in the work in Graham , Texas out going towards West Texas. He'll be speaking tonight on the parable of the sower. And since that really is the template for all of Jesus's parables, I know that you're interested in hearing what brother Paul will have to say tonight. Let's pick up the thought then in verse 39. Jesus is continuing to work with people who are struggling with whether or not they're going to believe in him. And I have said it a dozen times, I'll say it a dozen more times, John means to put you and me in that audience. Where are we with Jesus? We are watching Jesus. We're seeing Jesus. We're standing beside Peter and John eyewitnesses to Jesus. Will we believe these folks are struggling to believe and notice it's their preconceptions and they're feeling that they've got religion all taken care of The t's dotted and the i's crossed. Oh boy. More coffee. Huh? The i's dotted and the T's crossed and they don't need Jesus. Abraham is our father. Verse 39. We are good. I don't , I don't know what you're talking about Jesus, but I'm all good to the Jew. Abraham is it? He's number one. He's the best. And if I'm in Abraham's family, I'm gonna be all good. And of course people today they'll say, my family's always been members here. Oh this church has a good name and I'm part of this church. People like to rely on pedigree. Jesus talks about the heart. Jesus talks about loving him. Look at the criteria. Verse 42, if God were your father, you would love me. That's what Abraham did. That's what true disciples do. And because they don't love Jesus because they're not really of God. What does verse 43 say? It's you can't. Why do you not understand what I say? It's because you cannot bear to hear my word. That is a wonderful translation right there. You can't bear to hear what I have to say. I'm thinking a little bit here about what goes on in verse 41. We are not born of sexual immorality. I think that's a slur on Jesus' biography. I think people are still talking about that whole Mary Joseph thing and don't understand about the virgin birth. So they have their own pride in their own heritage. They have some things they've heard about Jesus. And so all of that combines, Jesus says, for them to be unwilling to hear what he says, you are of your father, the devil. You don't want to do God's will. This is the very opposite of chapter seven in verse 17. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God. They don't want to do God's will as a result. They're not going to do God's will. They're gonna do the will of the devil. And I love the uncomfortable silence after verse 46. Come on, come on. Just charge me. I , I This is it. Jump in, jump in. Nobody can say anything. And just look at verse 46. Who would be willing to stand in front of an audience and say, anybody here know of any sins? Oh come on. Charge me. Just go ahead, speak up. None of us would do that. We all know there would be a long line of people who would say, I saw him do this. I saw her do that. I heard her say this, I know this about him. Only God can say what Jesus says in verse 46. And then there is the profound challenge of verse 47. Do we want to hear the words of God? Do we want to abide in Christ? Do we want to do God's will or do we want to do our own will? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason you don't hear them is you're not of God. See, tomorrow we'll continue with this challenging chapter. It's Thursday and today we read John chapter eight verses 48 to 59. And and the tone is just really ramping up here. There's a ton of personal abuse here. Verse 40, eight's the only place where Jesus is ever charged with being a Samaritan. There are people here who are spinning Jesus' words in the most unnatural and forced possible way so that they can trump up some kind of charge against him. Act like what he says is absurd and impossible. We are a long, long ways from John chapter four where a Samaritan woman's going into town and saying, this guy, there's something about him. There's something special. I think this person could be the Messiah. People are streaming out to hear Jesus talk. And Jesus has been several days with the Samaritans and there's a tremendous reception of Jesus and the word of God there. Instead we've got, you have a demon. It's just, it's just outrageous. And by the end of this section, people are picking up rocks and they're ready to throw them at Jesus. So Jesus says, it's God's approval that matters. Verse 50, not your approval. And then verse 51, if anyone keeps my words, he will never see death. What man could possibly make a claim like that? And again, it's about remain, keep, obey all of those ideas. So then verse 53, are you greater than our father Abraham? I do think John works a greater than theme in John chapter four. Jesus is greater than Jacob who dug that well and gave them water in John chapter six, Jesus is greater than Moses who gave them manna. Now John chapter eight, Jesus is greater than Abraham in the force at the end of verse 30 53 is, who do you make yourself out to be? That's the force of the Greek there. The English standard version is a wonderful translation of that just who are you making yourself out as? And Jesus says, I don't make myself anything. I don't make myself into anything. God is going to glorify me. The Father will glorify me. Verse 54, you don't understand that because you don't want to understand that. We saw that in yesterday's reading and now Jesus calls them liars to their face. Abraham rejoice to see my day. Verse 56 . Uh , Abraham saw it in promise here in the promise child Isaac and in the promises of God that he believed in. And so again, very, very harsh interpretation. Verse 57, clearly Jesus doesn't mean Abraham saw me , uh, that that's outrageous, but they spin what Jesus says in that direction to try to make Jesus look foolish. Jesus says, before Abraham was, I am. There's the claim to deity. There's the claim to the I am of the Old Testament, not the I was. No, I am. And so blasphemers are to be stoned. Verse 59, they get the point. But Jesus, Jesus escapes and Jesus will continue to escape 'cause it's not yet his hour. Wow. By the time you get to the end of John chapter eight, it's rough. The tension is there. And there's no surprise when Jesus will return to Jerusalem and they are engineering his death. We get to the end of John chapter eight and it's clear they're ready to kill Jesus. Now they are ready to do this. Now that's how sharp this controversy has become. Tomorrow Jesus does something absolutely amazing, which illustrates in an incredible way what he said earlier in John chapter eight. See tomorrow. Welcome to Friday and a new chapter in John's gospel. Today we begin reading in John chapter nine, and I must tell you, I am ready to start a new chapter. That business in chapter eight. That's rough. Those people don't want to get it and it just gets ugly. Let's see something better than that. And I do mean see something. That's what's going to happen in John chapter nine. I would wanna say this, I love this podcast. Gives me an opportunity to give you some helpful notes like this. Chapter eight, anticipates chapter nine in John eight. In verse 12, Jesus says, there I am the light of the world. And he'll say that again in our reading today in John chapter nine. In verse five, the healing of the man born blind illustrates that Jesus gives light. He is the light of the world. Then at the end of the chapter in verse 35, John 9 35, Jesus goes looking for this blind guy and he finds him, which sets up and anticipates the teaching of the good shepherd. In John chapter 10, the good shepherd goes and looks for his sheep. And then chapter 10 sets up chapter 11, because the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. And what does Jesus do in chapter 11? He raises lashers from the dad , which of course coalesces the opposition to Jesus and causes them to begin working on their plan to murder Jesus. So this is very much structured. John is not just randomly recording some things that happen during the life of Jesus. This is all working together to make some very significant points. So let's get into our reading today. John chapter nine, verse one. He passed by, he saw man blind from birth. I love that Jesus sees him. He can't see Jesus and Jesus stops. There's a lot of concern here on the part of the disciples about sin causing every kind of suffering. And while sin certainly is responsible for all of the suffering and grief in this world that is collectively and generally, it is not possible to make specific connections between one person and their problems, their adversity, their difficulty and say you must be a bad person. That's the problem in the Book of Job. That is what job's friends prosecute against him and that he resists so much. And I would say this, they're really concerned about the theological causes of what's happened to this man. Jesus is a lot more concerned about what we're gonna do about this. Verse three, the works of God will be displayed here. And so the key verse is verse five, key verse, I am the light as long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. And so he makes a mud Pac . Don't know why Jesus did that. Don't just a bunch of speculation about that. We just don't know. But Jesus says, then verse seven, go wash in the pool of slo . Notice John makes an explanation. Here's one of those parentheses, which means scent . That's a huge emphasis in John's gospel. Jesus is the scent one. He sends this man now to the scent pool, the pool that means scent. And I posted some stuff last week about the pool of slo , huge pool. And there was this stepped road that led from there up to the temple. And I posted some pictures of that and some artist renditions of that. Dean and I have been blessed and had the opportunity to be there and see some of that excavation that's going on and and to see that road that they're excavating that went up to the temple. Now it's a really incredible site to see that the pool of Stallone , by the way, is what the spring empties into from Hezekiah's Tunnel. The Han Spring, Hezekiah's Min build that tunnel, dig that tunnel through solid rock in a really big hurry because these Syria army's coming and it drains into, it fills up the pool Ofone. So sending is being highlighted, which means sent verse seven. That's not somebody digging out etymology from some dusty lexicon and making some big play on a Greek word. And the author doesn't intend for us to do . No. John stops the music and says, Hey, does everybody know what the pool of slo do you know what that means? That means sent . And so he is sent and he comes back and he has been healed. And then you get a lot of people testifying. Wow, I don't know if that's really you. And he says, it is me. And there's lots of people discussing this miracle, which helps us as we watch it, understand this is a genuine miracle. We get the testimony of people who know this man. Finally, lemme just say this, keep your eye on the blind man's faith because in verse 11 he says, the man called Jesus just watch his faith grow. Many years ago, I heard Brother Brent Lewis preach a wonderful sermon on the steps to belief and the nails and the coffin of the unbeliever. And he preached it right outta John chapter nine. And you get a good look at it right there. Well, there you go. That's our reading for today. I kind of wanna keep going with that, don't you , John? Chapter eight. I was I , I was pretty much done with all the ugliness towards Jesus. But now in John chapter nine, Jesus has healed this man. He's super excited about it and I wanna see where that's gonna go. We'll, we'll pick up right there on Monday. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. Of course, if it's helping you tell other people about it, post it on social media, point people to it, and of course, leave us a rating or review so that more folks can find the podcast until Monday. Then when we'll open our Bibles together. Again, I'm Mark Roberts and I wanna go to heaven and I want you to come to, I'll see you Sunday at West Side . I'll be home and preaching. Can't wait for that. And I'll see you podcast listeners right here on Monday with a cup of coffee.

Thanks for listening to the Westside church of Christ podcast. Monday morning coffee with mark . For more information about west side , you can connect with us through our website, just christians.com and our Facebook page. Our music is from upbeat.is that's upbeat with two P'S UPP , 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 company coffee, of course, on next Monday.