July 28, 2025 • 22 mins
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Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Coffee podcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think through itfurther and better work the
(00:24):
applications into our dailylives.
Mark will then look forward intothis week's Bible reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee podcast for Monday, July
the 28th.
I'm Mark and I am holding somecoffee here ready to talk with
you about daily Bible readingbecause I cannot talk with you
about yesterday's sermon.
I was in Conway, Arkansas doingtheir youth weekend for the
Highway 65 church.
That's where Sarah and Garrettworship.
(01:13):
It was a joy to be with them.
On my way home now, actually noton my way home now, we came home
yesterday afternoon.
So by the time you're listeningto this, we are home and I'm
glad to be Be home, but it's agreat weekend in Conway.
All that said, today on thepodcast, we've got to move
directly to daily Bible readingbecause I have no sermon notes
for you, but I am eager to seewhat's going on with Ahab in
(01:36):
that battle where we left himlast week on Thursday.
Get your Bible.
It's 1 Kings 22 that we'rereading in today.
Our reading for Monday is 1Kings 22, verses 29 to 53.
We are finishing the book of 1Kings today.
How about that?
Making a lot of progress thisyear.
Sometimes as we read along indaily Bible reading, we don't
(01:58):
really notice how much progresswe've made as we're going along.
But hey, we're done with 1 Kingsafter today's reading.
Remember on Thursday, we readabout Micaiah the prophet,
beginning in about verse 19 of 1Kings 22, saying that Ahab would
fall in this battle and thatIsrael would be utterly
scattered in the battle.
(02:19):
But Ahab and Josaphat go uptogether in the battle.
Maybe Ahab is believing a littlebit of Micaiah since he decides
to disguise himself in verse 30.
And the king of Israel disguisedhimself and went out into
battle.
So the king of Syria then said,Everybody get after the king of
Israel.
And the next thing you know,Jehoshaphat is being attacked,
(02:39):
and Jehoshaphat cries out.
And this is a great place topick up the reading in
Chronicles.
Chronicles, generally speaking,is more interested in the kings
of Judah.
1 Kings is more interested inthe kings in the north, in
Israel.
If you go to 2 Chronicles 18 andverse 31, 2 Chronicles 18 and
verse 31 says, As soon as thecaptains of the chariot saw
(03:01):
Jehoshaphat, they said, it's theking of Israel.
So they turned to fight againsthim and Jehoshaphat cried out
and the Lord helped him.
God drew them away from him.
That's how Jehoshaphat was ableto survive this battle.
Indeed, 2 Chronicles 19 verses1, 2, and 3 tell us that when he
came home, verse 1, returning insafety to his house in
(03:22):
Jerusalem, Jehu, the son ofHananiah the seer, went out to
meet him and said to KingJehoshaphat, Should you help the
wicked and love those who hatethe Lord?
Because of this, wrath has goneout against you from the Lord.
So he is rebuked by the prophetfor this unwise choice of making
an alliance with King Ahab.
But Micaiah has said that Ahabwill die, and the fact that he's
(03:43):
disguised doesn't changeanything.
He is hit, verse 34, by a randomarrow shot, and he bleeds out,
verse 35, in the chariot.
And then we get these reallygory details, verse 38, the dogs
lick up his blood and theprostitutes wash themselves in
it.
And if you're thinking that'spretty disgusting, well, it is
pretty disgusting.
One scholar said, in anadditional indignity to Ahab,
(04:05):
harlots washed in theblood-stained waters probably So
verse 38 is telling us that thisis a wretched time where people
are all caught up in all sortsof ridiculous superstition,
false worship, and idolatry.
So the rest of the acts, verse39 of Ahab and all that he did,
(04:28):
and the ivory house that hebuilt, that palace has been
found.
And it was decorated inside withlarge carved ivory panels, and
it shows a very clear Phoenicianinfluence in its architecture.
Then it says, Ahab, verse 40,slept with his fathers, and in
his eye his son reigned in hisplace.
Did you see how, once again, animportant king, at least from a
(04:51):
secular perspective, has hissecular accomplishments?
And there are many for Ahab.
He had all kinds of buildingprograms, and he reigned a
really long time.
No, all of that is justcompletely glossed over because
the Bible is about yourspiritual standing with the
Lord.
So the kings continue, and Kingsdoes want to talk a little bit
about Jehoshaphat, verses 41 to50.
(05:13):
As I said, you have to go toChronicles to get the full story
about Jehoshaphat, butJehoshaphat reigns here, and he
did, verse 44, make peace withthe king of Israel.
That's probably his primaryaccomplishment, this terrible
alliance that he makes withIsrael.
He also constructs a navy, verse48, and that went nowhere.
(05:34):
The ships, verse 48, werewrecked at Zion Geber.
So, Jehoshaphat doesn't do awhole lot in Kings because Kings
wants to pass on and talk moreabout Israelite kings, kings in
the north.
So we get Ahaziah, verses 51,52, and verse 53, and it's just
like father, like son.
But did you see there, thefather here is Jeroboam.
(06:00):
He walked in the way of hisfather and in the way of his
mother and in the way ofJeroboam, the son of Nebat, who
made Israel to sin, verse 52.
He is like Ahab.
He is like Jezebel.
But even more importantly, he islike Jeroboam, and he is leading
Israel deeper and deeper intosin.
Unfortunately, that trend willcontinue as we start 2 Kings
(06:23):
tomorrow.
But our reading for Monday is 1Kings 22, verses 29 to 53.
Welcome to Tuesday, and today webegin the book of 2 Kings.
Let me get some coffee here.
2 Kings is really just thecontinuation, of course, of 1
Kings.
It begins about 80 years afterthe division of the nation, and
(06:45):
it will carry forward all theway to the end of Israel in 722
BC at the hands of the AssyrianEmpire, and it will go all the
way then to the end of theJudean Kingdom.
I was going to say JudeanEmpire.
There was no Empire of Judah,but it does end Judah as being a
kingdom in 586.
The book will cover the last 12kings of the north and the last
(07:05):
16 of the south, and this is thetime of the prophets, men like
Elijah and Elisha and thewriting prophets Isaiah,
Jeremiah, and others.
The book divides very naturallyinto two pieces.
Chapters 1 to 17, mostly aboutthe decline of the northern
tribes Israel, and then 18 to25, mostly about Judah's
(07:26):
decline.
So when we open the book todayafter the death of Ahab, that's
852 B.C.
852 B.C.
Moab rebels against Israel.
So God is already punishingAhaziah.
Moab is rebelling.
The commercial venture withJehoshaphat was defeated by God.
We read that yesterday.
And now he is ill personally,and he makes a terrible mistake.
(07:49):
He decides that he will inquireof Baal-zebub in verse 2.
He sins to inquire of the idolgod Baal.
And God is deeply offended bythis, and it becomes very clear
very quickly that God God knowsthe secret plans of the king,
verse 6.
And so the king says, hey, whowas this prophet who met you?
And they say, verse 8, he wore,and the ESV has a garment of
(08:14):
hair, but better, he was a hairyman.
If prophets are known forwearing this hairy garment, and
that may be the case, I thinkabout John the Baptist, he seems
to have been known for wearing acertain kind of garment, then
that would not cause the king toknow who this was.
He would just know it's aprophet because he's wearing the
(08:34):
garment of a prophet.
But if Elijah is known by havingquite a head of hair, he's a
hairy man, then that would be acue as to who this is.
And he does know, verse 8, it'sElijah the Tishbite.
So he sends some soldiers to getElijah, and it's important that
we all understand these men havecome to arrest and or kill the
(08:57):
prophet of God.
And that's why there's such aharsh punishment pronounced on
them here.
Maybe they should be thinkingabout 1 Kings 18 and how Elijah
was able to call fire down fromheaven.
You don't treat a prophet badly.
That'll get you into all kindsof trouble, and we want to talk
more about that as we journeyalong in 2 Kings, and I want to
talk more about that next Sundayin the pulpit, but you need to
(09:20):
show respect for a prophet.
And the last captain, verse 13of the third 50, he shows the
right respect, and his life isspared.
But Ahaziah's life is notspared.
Verse 17, he died according tothe word of the Lord.
According to the word of theLord.
How much have we seen about theword of the Lord?
(09:43):
And because Ahaziah doesn't havea son, his brother Jehoram
becomes king.
Unfortunately, There's anotherJehoram reigning in the south.
So we have Jehorams on boththrones, and it is completely
confusing.
Our reading for Tuesday is 2Kings chapter 1.
(10:03):
Westsiders, we have Zoomtonight.
I'll see you on the Zoom Biblestudy call.
The rest of you, I'll see you onthe podcast in the morning.
Our reading for Tuesday again, 2Kings chapter 1.
It is Wednesday.
It is Wednesday, and today...
we will read all of 2 Kingschapter 2.
All of 2 Kings chapter 2 is ourreading for Wednesday, and this
(10:26):
is the end of the ministry ofElijah.
If you watch, you'll see thatthe story is organized by
geography.
Elijah and Elisha go to Bethel,verse 2, then to Jericho, verse
4, and down to the Jordan, verse6.
Then Elisha by himself goes toJordan, verse 13, Jericho, verse
19, and Bethel, verse 23.
So there's a pattern here thatshows, as one scholar noted,
(10:48):
Elisha really did receive thefirstborn share of Elijah's
spirit because Elisha retracesElijah's very steps doing his
mighty works.
And this chapter does fitbetween the stories about these
kings and seems to be answeringthe question, how do we go on
without a great prophet likeElijah?
What will we do now?
He is gone.
(11:08):
And I wonder if Elijah, verse 2,didn't want Elisha to be spared
the pain of seeing him leave.
They are very close, it seems,by now, and it would be
difficult to see your mentor,the one who helped you so much
as you began to step into thatprophetic role.
It would be very hard to see himleave.
And he does ask, verse 9, for adouble portion of Elijah's
(11:30):
powerful spirit.
And that seems to be kind oflike the firstborn son who gets
a double portion of everythingwhen the father passes away.
He wants all of Elijah'spowerful spirit so that he can
do what Elijah did.
And it's fair here to note thisis such a terrible time in
Israel's history.
So many things are going wrongand their kings are just wicked
(11:51):
and evil.
The last chapter we just read,they're trying to kill Elijah
the prophet.
Just a terrible time.
terrible time, he'll needeverything that he can get.
So then in verse 10, Elijahsays, it's a hard thing, but if
you see me as I'm being takenfrom you, then you will receive
this double portion.
And the condition there may bethat he understands what's
(12:13):
happening to Elijah more than hejust sees.
He sees it with the eyes of hisheart more than just visually he
lays eyes on what's going on.
But he does see it, and he doesunderstand, and so verse 14, he
is able to do what Elijah haddone.
It is clear, verse 15, thespirit of Elijah rests upon
Elisha.
And of course, they say, hey,can we go look for him, verse
(12:35):
16?
And that's foolish.
Why would God pluck Elijah upand just pitch him off someplace
where you can't find...
That's just foolishness.
That's just foolishness.
And Elisha knows that it isfoolishness.
But he says, hey, get after it.
Just go look.
And then we'll all know Elijahis nowhere to be found.
Then there is the conclusionhere with a couple of miracles.
(12:58):
And there is the very unusualstory with the bears.
And I would say more about thebears except...
I want to preach about that inthe 9 a.m.
this Sunday, so I will talkabout Elijah and the two bears.
That's what will be the subjectof the 9 a.m.
lesson.
Our reading then for Wednesday,2 Kings chapter 2.
I'm excited to hear ReaganMcClenney tonight as we continue
our series on judges.
Be interesting to see what hedoes with Jephthah and
(13:20):
Jephthah's foolish vow.
See you tonight.
Our reading for Wednesday, 2Kings 2.
It is Thursday, and our readingtoday is 2 Kings chapter 3.
2 Kings chapter 3, the entirechapter, is our reading for
Thursday.
We have to be careful herebecause we have double Jehorams.
We have a Jehoram in the southand a Jehoram in the north.
(13:42):
You have to try to keep track ofall that.
Mostly this is about the Jehoramin the north.
2 Kings 3 verse 1, Jehoram, theson of Ahab, became king over
Israel in Samaria.
He reigned 12 years.
And he is not a good king, buthe does put away the bales.
He puts away the bales, but hedoes And there's a play on words
(14:03):
that's being made here.
Hebrew loves play on words.
He put away, verse 2, the pillarof Baal.
Verse 3, He clung to the sin ofJeroboam, which he made Israel
to sin.
He did not...
put away it.
The ESV has depart, but it's thesame word.
He did not put that away.
And this is about the battlewith the Moabites as they rebel.
Anytime you get a new king,that's a great time for the
(14:25):
vassal kingdoms to say, we'reout of here.
We're not going to pay tributeanymore.
And so Jehoram talks Jehoshaphatinto going to battle with him.
And that brings Elisha theprophet onto the scene.
Verse 11, is there no prophet ofthe Lord here that we can
inquire of?
And Jehoshaphat said, verse 12,the word of the Lord is with
Elisha.
Again, Word of the Lord.
(14:46):
And Elisha comes and says, I gotnothing for you, Jehoram.
No respect for you, no respectfor your family, but I will talk
to Jehoshaphat.
And he asks, verse 15, verypuzzling here for music.
And I wonder if music calmed theprophet here so that he could be
in a state where he could hearwhat the Lord had said.
(15:07):
Just not entirely...
certain exactly why he needs tocall for a musician in verse 15.
And then verse 16 is translatedin different kinds of ways.
The New American Standard andthe New King James have Make it
full of trenches, which meansdig.
Dig trenches.
But the ESV departs from that asa different idea.
I will make this dry stream bedfull of pools.
(15:30):
So you may have heard thispassage used as a great
illustration of faith must work.
They have to dig these trenchesand then God fills them with
water.
ESV kind of takes away thatpreaching point.
Hey, thanks a lot, EnglishStandard Version.
I need the preaching point here.
But it's a different idea, adifferent way of looking at the
Hebrew.
That's way above anything that Ican deal with.
Just have to compare thosedifferent translations and make
(15:51):
some decisions about what wethink would be best.
I think the sense here is clear.
We're going to rely upon theLord.
We're going to ask God to blessus.
And in fact, God does bless themwith water.
And when the Moabites show up,the water looks like blood.
There's a lot of red clay inthis part of Israel.
And so they decide, oh, theymust have just jumped on each
(16:12):
other and killed each other.
Kind of a scene out of Judges.
Gideon comes down and theMidianites attack each other.
and are killing each other.
So the Moabites come rushing in,and that's an absolute disaster.
That's an absolute disaster, andthey're completely defeated
until verse 27.
When the king of Moab took hisoldest son, who was to reign in
(16:32):
his place, and offered him for aburnt offering on the wall, and
there came great wrath againstIsrael.
That's a very difficult passage.
What exactly is that talkingabout?
Who got wrathed?
That's not a word, but it shouldbe.
Why is Israel getting wrath whenthe king of Moab is offering a
human sacrifice?
Well, the idea may be that theinvaders were sickened at this
(16:54):
spectacle and just went home.
The Israelites saw this thinggoing on and said, we're out of
here.
Can't...
can't do anything with peopleact this way and and so the idea
would be that wrath is is horroror being just being full of
revulsion and oh this is sohorrible to see the other idea
is that the Moabites themselvesmay have been indignant at the
cost of this invasion what theking did to try to turn the tide
(17:19):
and so they rallied and drovethem off I'm not so sure of that
I think I like the idea herethat the wrath is probably just
the Israelites saying oh this ishorrible we're we're We're done
with people like this.
And I will give you anarchaeological note.
The famous Moabite stonecontains accounts of Misha
fortifying his northern bordersand throwing off the yoke of
(17:40):
Israel, just like the Bible sayshe did.
So our reading for Thursday is 2Kings chapter 3.
It is Friday.
It's Friday, and today we're inthe Psalms, of course, so we're
reading Psalm 32.
This is a lament, but it is aunique and special kind of
lament.
This is a penitential psalm.
(18:00):
This is a crying out to God forforgiveness of sins.
Not deliverance from enemies.
I need to be delivered from mysins.
It is the second of the sevenpenitential psalms in the And
this psalm, yes, confesses sin,but even more gives thanks to
(18:25):
God for being forgiven, and itinstructs us...
and how we can receive that verysame blessing.
So the theme of the psalm beginsin verses 1 and 2, and here the
psalmist writes about hisjourney from despair to joy,
from separation to blessedness,and he uses three terms for sin.
Transgression, which is usuallyan act of rebellion and
(18:47):
disloyalty.
Sin, oftentimes we talk aboutsin being missing the mark.
That's an intentional thing.
And then Blessed is the managainst whom the Lord counts no
iniquity.
Iniquity is a crooked or wrongact.
And corresponding to those threeterms, he then describes
forgiveness as being forgiven,literally to carry away, to
(19:09):
remove, covered, and that'sgracious atonement, and impute
iniquity.
God justifies us and counts usrighteous iniquity.
even when we are not.
Then he talks a little bit aboutthe experience he had when he
was not repenting, and there'sjust a sense of weariness in
verse 3, a sense of heaviness inverse 4, and a sense of
(19:29):
emptiness at the end of verse 4.
Being in sin, not confessingsin, not using your repenter, to
hearken back to my sermon fromyouth lectures, that just causes
all kinds of anguish and mentaldepression.
Finally then, there is, notfinally, this is in the center
of the psalm, there is theconfession of sin, and then
finally verses 6 to 10, there isan exhortation.
(19:50):
The psalmist has learned fromthis experience.
He's learned how to have joy,and now he talks about this is
what we do.
This is how we follow after God.
You pray, verses 6 and 7.
You follow the appropriate path,verses 8 and 9.
Verse 10, you love those whotrust the Lord.
That's what you need to do.
(20:11):
Be with God's people, thosekinds of ideas.
It's a beautiful psalm.
It's the kind of psalm that youwant to mark in your Bible so
that when you find A reading forFriday, Psalm 32.
(20:37):
That's the podcast for the weekthen.
Certainly do appreciate youlistening to the podcast.
I enjoy doing the podcast and Ihope that it's helping you with
your daily Bible reading andhelping you as you think about
the sermon from Sunday.
I like both parts of that.
Sometimes you preach your heartout on Sunday and you wonder by
Monday morning, is anybody evenstill thinking about that?
Does that move the needle?
Does that cause anything tohappen?
(20:57):
I think the podcast helps uswork it into our lives.
Tell somebody about the podcast.
Leave us a review.
Leave us a rating.
So...
Until Monday, I'm Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven, and Iwant you to come too.
And I will see you again onMonday on the podcast with a cup
of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (21:23):
Thanks for listening to the West Side Church of
Christ podcast, Monday MorningCoffee with 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 Ps,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(21:48):
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 Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Coffee podcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think through itfurther and better work the
(00:24):
applications into our dailylives.
Mark will then look forward intothis week's Bible reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee podcast for Monday, July
the 28th.
I'm Mark and I am holding somecoffee here ready to talk with
you about daily Bible readingbecause I cannot talk with you
about yesterday's sermon.
I was in Conway, Arkansas doingtheir youth weekend for the
Highway 65 church.
That's where Sarah and Garrettworship.
(01:13):
It was a joy to be with them.
On my way home now, actually noton my way home now, we came home
yesterday afternoon.
So by the time you're listeningto this, we are home and I'm
glad to be Be home, but it's agreat weekend in Conway.
All that said, today on thepodcast, we've got to move
directly to daily Bible readingbecause I have no sermon notes
for you, but I am eager to seewhat's going on with Ahab in
(01:36):
that battle where we left himlast week on Thursday.
Get your Bible.
It's 1 Kings 22 that we'rereading in today.
Our reading for Monday is 1Kings 22, verses 29 to 53.
We are finishing the book of 1Kings today.
How about that?
Making a lot of progress thisyear.
Sometimes as we read along indaily Bible reading, we don't
(01:58):
really notice how much progresswe've made as we're going along.
But hey, we're done with 1 Kingsafter today's reading.
Remember on Thursday, we readabout Micaiah the prophet,
beginning in about verse 19 of 1Kings 22, saying that Ahab would
fall in this battle and thatIsrael would be utterly
scattered in the battle.
(02:19):
But Ahab and Josaphat go uptogether in the battle.
Maybe Ahab is believing a littlebit of Micaiah since he decides
to disguise himself in verse 30.
And the king of Israel disguisedhimself and went out into
battle.
So the king of Syria then said,Everybody get after the king of
Israel.
And the next thing you know,Jehoshaphat is being attacked,
(02:39):
and Jehoshaphat cries out.
And this is a great place topick up the reading in
Chronicles.
Chronicles, generally speaking,is more interested in the kings
of Judah.
1 Kings is more interested inthe kings in the north, in
Israel.
If you go to 2 Chronicles 18 andverse 31, 2 Chronicles 18 and
verse 31 says, As soon as thecaptains of the chariot saw
(03:01):
Jehoshaphat, they said, it's theking of Israel.
So they turned to fight againsthim and Jehoshaphat cried out
and the Lord helped him.
God drew them away from him.
That's how Jehoshaphat was ableto survive this battle.
Indeed, 2 Chronicles 19 verses1, 2, and 3 tell us that when he
came home, verse 1, returning insafety to his house in
(03:22):
Jerusalem, Jehu, the son ofHananiah the seer, went out to
meet him and said to KingJehoshaphat, Should you help the
wicked and love those who hatethe Lord?
Because of this, wrath has goneout against you from the Lord.
So he is rebuked by the prophetfor this unwise choice of making
an alliance with King Ahab.
But Micaiah has said that Ahabwill die, and the fact that he's
(03:43):
disguised doesn't changeanything.
He is hit, verse 34, by a randomarrow shot, and he bleeds out,
verse 35, in the chariot.
And then we get these reallygory details, verse 38, the dogs
lick up his blood and theprostitutes wash themselves in
it.
And if you're thinking that'spretty disgusting, well, it is
pretty disgusting.
One scholar said, in anadditional indignity to Ahab,
(04:05):
harlots washed in theblood-stained waters probably So
verse 38 is telling us that thisis a wretched time where people
are all caught up in all sortsof ridiculous superstition,
false worship, and idolatry.
So the rest of the acts, verse39 of Ahab and all that he did,
(04:28):
and the ivory house that hebuilt, that palace has been
found.
And it was decorated inside withlarge carved ivory panels, and
it shows a very clear Phoenicianinfluence in its architecture.
Then it says, Ahab, verse 40,slept with his fathers, and in
his eye his son reigned in hisplace.
Did you see how, once again, animportant king, at least from a
(04:51):
secular perspective, has hissecular accomplishments?
And there are many for Ahab.
He had all kinds of buildingprograms, and he reigned a
really long time.
No, all of that is justcompletely glossed over because
the Bible is about yourspiritual standing with the
Lord.
So the kings continue, and Kingsdoes want to talk a little bit
about Jehoshaphat, verses 41 to50.
(05:13):
As I said, you have to go toChronicles to get the full story
about Jehoshaphat, butJehoshaphat reigns here, and he
did, verse 44, make peace withthe king of Israel.
That's probably his primaryaccomplishment, this terrible
alliance that he makes withIsrael.
He also constructs a navy, verse48, and that went nowhere.
(05:34):
The ships, verse 48, werewrecked at Zion Geber.
So, Jehoshaphat doesn't do awhole lot in Kings because Kings
wants to pass on and talk moreabout Israelite kings, kings in
the north.
So we get Ahaziah, verses 51,52, and verse 53, and it's just
like father, like son.
But did you see there, thefather here is Jeroboam.
(06:00):
He walked in the way of hisfather and in the way of his
mother and in the way ofJeroboam, the son of Nebat, who
made Israel to sin, verse 52.
He is like Ahab.
He is like Jezebel.
But even more importantly, he islike Jeroboam, and he is leading
Israel deeper and deeper intosin.
Unfortunately, that trend willcontinue as we start 2 Kings
(06:23):
tomorrow.
But our reading for Monday is 1Kings 22, verses 29 to 53.
Welcome to Tuesday, and today webegin the book of 2 Kings.
Let me get some coffee here.
2 Kings is really just thecontinuation, of course, of 1
Kings.
It begins about 80 years afterthe division of the nation, and
(06:45):
it will carry forward all theway to the end of Israel in 722
BC at the hands of the AssyrianEmpire, and it will go all the
way then to the end of theJudean Kingdom.
I was going to say JudeanEmpire.
There was no Empire of Judah,but it does end Judah as being a
kingdom in 586.
The book will cover the last 12kings of the north and the last
(07:05):
16 of the south, and this is thetime of the prophets, men like
Elijah and Elisha and thewriting prophets Isaiah,
Jeremiah, and others.
The book divides very naturallyinto two pieces.
Chapters 1 to 17, mostly aboutthe decline of the northern
tribes Israel, and then 18 to25, mostly about Judah's
(07:26):
decline.
So when we open the book todayafter the death of Ahab, that's
852 B.C.
852 B.C.
Moab rebels against Israel.
So God is already punishingAhaziah.
Moab is rebelling.
The commercial venture withJehoshaphat was defeated by God.
We read that yesterday.
And now he is ill personally,and he makes a terrible mistake.
(07:49):
He decides that he will inquireof Baal-zebub in verse 2.
He sins to inquire of the idolgod Baal.
And God is deeply offended bythis, and it becomes very clear
very quickly that God God knowsthe secret plans of the king,
verse 6.
And so the king says, hey, whowas this prophet who met you?
And they say, verse 8, he wore,and the ESV has a garment of
(08:14):
hair, but better, he was a hairyman.
If prophets are known forwearing this hairy garment, and
that may be the case, I thinkabout John the Baptist, he seems
to have been known for wearing acertain kind of garment, then
that would not cause the king toknow who this was.
He would just know it's aprophet because he's wearing the
(08:34):
garment of a prophet.
But if Elijah is known by havingquite a head of hair, he's a
hairy man, then that would be acue as to who this is.
And he does know, verse 8, it'sElijah the Tishbite.
So he sends some soldiers to getElijah, and it's important that
we all understand these men havecome to arrest and or kill the
(08:57):
prophet of God.
And that's why there's such aharsh punishment pronounced on
them here.
Maybe they should be thinkingabout 1 Kings 18 and how Elijah
was able to call fire down fromheaven.
You don't treat a prophet badly.
That'll get you into all kindsof trouble, and we want to talk
more about that as we journeyalong in 2 Kings, and I want to
talk more about that next Sundayin the pulpit, but you need to
(09:20):
show respect for a prophet.
And the last captain, verse 13of the third 50, he shows the
right respect, and his life isspared.
But Ahaziah's life is notspared.
Verse 17, he died according tothe word of the Lord.
According to the word of theLord.
How much have we seen about theword of the Lord?
(09:43):
And because Ahaziah doesn't havea son, his brother Jehoram
becomes king.
Unfortunately, There's anotherJehoram reigning in the south.
So we have Jehorams on boththrones, and it is completely
confusing.
Our reading for Tuesday is 2Kings chapter 1.
(10:03):
Westsiders, we have Zoomtonight.
I'll see you on the Zoom Biblestudy call.
The rest of you, I'll see you onthe podcast in the morning.
Our reading for Tuesday again, 2Kings chapter 1.
It is Wednesday.
It is Wednesday, and today...
we will read all of 2 Kingschapter 2.
All of 2 Kings chapter 2 is ourreading for Wednesday, and this
(10:26):
is the end of the ministry ofElijah.
If you watch, you'll see thatthe story is organized by
geography.
Elijah and Elisha go to Bethel,verse 2, then to Jericho, verse
4, and down to the Jordan, verse6.
Then Elisha by himself goes toJordan, verse 13, Jericho, verse
19, and Bethel, verse 23.
So there's a pattern here thatshows, as one scholar noted,
(10:48):
Elisha really did receive thefirstborn share of Elijah's
spirit because Elisha retracesElijah's very steps doing his
mighty works.
And this chapter does fitbetween the stories about these
kings and seems to be answeringthe question, how do we go on
without a great prophet likeElijah?
What will we do now?
He is gone.
(11:08):
And I wonder if Elijah, verse 2,didn't want Elisha to be spared
the pain of seeing him leave.
They are very close, it seems,by now, and it would be
difficult to see your mentor,the one who helped you so much
as you began to step into thatprophetic role.
It would be very hard to see himleave.
And he does ask, verse 9, for adouble portion of Elijah's
(11:30):
powerful spirit.
And that seems to be kind oflike the firstborn son who gets
a double portion of everythingwhen the father passes away.
He wants all of Elijah'spowerful spirit so that he can
do what Elijah did.
And it's fair here to note thisis such a terrible time in
Israel's history.
So many things are going wrongand their kings are just wicked
(11:51):
and evil.
The last chapter we just read,they're trying to kill Elijah
the prophet.
Just a terrible time.
terrible time, he'll needeverything that he can get.
So then in verse 10, Elijahsays, it's a hard thing, but if
you see me as I'm being takenfrom you, then you will receive
this double portion.
And the condition there may bethat he understands what's
(12:13):
happening to Elijah more than hejust sees.
He sees it with the eyes of hisheart more than just visually he
lays eyes on what's going on.
But he does see it, and he doesunderstand, and so verse 14, he
is able to do what Elijah haddone.
It is clear, verse 15, thespirit of Elijah rests upon
Elisha.
And of course, they say, hey,can we go look for him, verse
(12:35):
16?
And that's foolish.
Why would God pluck Elijah upand just pitch him off someplace
where you can't find...
That's just foolishness.
That's just foolishness.
And Elisha knows that it isfoolishness.
But he says, hey, get after it.
Just go look.
And then we'll all know Elijahis nowhere to be found.
Then there is the conclusionhere with a couple of miracles.
(12:58):
And there is the very unusualstory with the bears.
And I would say more about thebears except...
I want to preach about that inthe 9 a.m.
this Sunday, so I will talkabout Elijah and the two bears.
That's what will be the subjectof the 9 a.m.
lesson.
Our reading then for Wednesday,2 Kings chapter 2.
I'm excited to hear ReaganMcClenney tonight as we continue
our series on judges.
Be interesting to see what hedoes with Jephthah and
(13:20):
Jephthah's foolish vow.
See you tonight.
Our reading for Wednesday, 2Kings 2.
It is Thursday, and our readingtoday is 2 Kings chapter 3.
2 Kings chapter 3, the entirechapter, is our reading for
Thursday.
We have to be careful herebecause we have double Jehorams.
We have a Jehoram in the southand a Jehoram in the north.
(13:42):
You have to try to keep track ofall that.
Mostly this is about the Jehoramin the north.
2 Kings 3 verse 1, Jehoram, theson of Ahab, became king over
Israel in Samaria.
He reigned 12 years.
And he is not a good king, buthe does put away the bales.
He puts away the bales, but hedoes And there's a play on words
(14:03):
that's being made here.
Hebrew loves play on words.
He put away, verse 2, the pillarof Baal.
Verse 3, He clung to the sin ofJeroboam, which he made Israel
to sin.
He did not...
put away it.
The ESV has depart, but it's thesame word.
He did not put that away.
And this is about the battlewith the Moabites as they rebel.
Anytime you get a new king,that's a great time for the
(14:25):
vassal kingdoms to say, we'reout of here.
We're not going to pay tributeanymore.
And so Jehoram talks Jehoshaphatinto going to battle with him.
And that brings Elisha theprophet onto the scene.
Verse 11, is there no prophet ofthe Lord here that we can
inquire of?
And Jehoshaphat said, verse 12,the word of the Lord is with
Elisha.
Again, Word of the Lord.
(14:46):
And Elisha comes and says, I gotnothing for you, Jehoram.
No respect for you, no respectfor your family, but I will talk
to Jehoshaphat.
And he asks, verse 15, verypuzzling here for music.
And I wonder if music calmed theprophet here so that he could be
in a state where he could hearwhat the Lord had said.
(15:07):
Just not entirely...
certain exactly why he needs tocall for a musician in verse 15.
And then verse 16 is translatedin different kinds of ways.
The New American Standard andthe New King James have Make it
full of trenches, which meansdig.
Dig trenches.
But the ESV departs from that asa different idea.
I will make this dry stream bedfull of pools.
(15:30):
So you may have heard thispassage used as a great
illustration of faith must work.
They have to dig these trenchesand then God fills them with
water.
ESV kind of takes away thatpreaching point.
Hey, thanks a lot, EnglishStandard Version.
I need the preaching point here.
But it's a different idea, adifferent way of looking at the
Hebrew.
That's way above anything that Ican deal with.
Just have to compare thosedifferent translations and make
(15:51):
some decisions about what wethink would be best.
I think the sense here is clear.
We're going to rely upon theLord.
We're going to ask God to blessus.
And in fact, God does bless themwith water.
And when the Moabites show up,the water looks like blood.
There's a lot of red clay inthis part of Israel.
And so they decide, oh, theymust have just jumped on each
(16:12):
other and killed each other.
Kind of a scene out of Judges.
Gideon comes down and theMidianites attack each other.
and are killing each other.
So the Moabites come rushing in,and that's an absolute disaster.
That's an absolute disaster, andthey're completely defeated
until verse 27.
When the king of Moab took hisoldest son, who was to reign in
(16:32):
his place, and offered him for aburnt offering on the wall, and
there came great wrath againstIsrael.
That's a very difficult passage.
What exactly is that talkingabout?
Who got wrathed?
That's not a word, but it shouldbe.
Why is Israel getting wrath whenthe king of Moab is offering a
human sacrifice?
Well, the idea may be that theinvaders were sickened at this
(16:54):
spectacle and just went home.
The Israelites saw this thinggoing on and said, we're out of
here.
Can't...
can't do anything with peopleact this way and and so the idea
would be that wrath is is horroror being just being full of
revulsion and oh this is sohorrible to see the other idea
is that the Moabites themselvesmay have been indignant at the
cost of this invasion what theking did to try to turn the tide
(17:19):
and so they rallied and drovethem off I'm not so sure of that
I think I like the idea herethat the wrath is probably just
the Israelites saying oh this ishorrible we're we're We're done
with people like this.
And I will give you anarchaeological note.
The famous Moabite stonecontains accounts of Misha
fortifying his northern bordersand throwing off the yoke of
(17:40):
Israel, just like the Bible sayshe did.
So our reading for Thursday is 2Kings chapter 3.
It is Friday.
It's Friday, and today we're inthe Psalms, of course, so we're
reading Psalm 32.
This is a lament, but it is aunique and special kind of
lament.
This is a penitential psalm.
(18:00):
This is a crying out to God forforgiveness of sins.
Not deliverance from enemies.
I need to be delivered from mysins.
It is the second of the sevenpenitential psalms in the And
this psalm, yes, confesses sin,but even more gives thanks to
(18:25):
God for being forgiven, and itinstructs us...
and how we can receive that verysame blessing.
So the theme of the psalm beginsin verses 1 and 2, and here the
psalmist writes about hisjourney from despair to joy,
from separation to blessedness,and he uses three terms for sin.
Transgression, which is usuallyan act of rebellion and
(18:47):
disloyalty.
Sin, oftentimes we talk aboutsin being missing the mark.
That's an intentional thing.
And then Blessed is the managainst whom the Lord counts no
iniquity.
Iniquity is a crooked or wrongact.
And corresponding to those threeterms, he then describes
forgiveness as being forgiven,literally to carry away, to
(19:09):
remove, covered, and that'sgracious atonement, and impute
iniquity.
God justifies us and counts usrighteous iniquity.
even when we are not.
Then he talks a little bit aboutthe experience he had when he
was not repenting, and there'sjust a sense of weariness in
verse 3, a sense of heaviness inverse 4, and a sense of
(19:29):
emptiness at the end of verse 4.
Being in sin, not confessingsin, not using your repenter, to
hearken back to my sermon fromyouth lectures, that just causes
all kinds of anguish and mentaldepression.
Finally then, there is, notfinally, this is in the center
of the psalm, there is theconfession of sin, and then
finally verses 6 to 10, there isan exhortation.
(19:50):
The psalmist has learned fromthis experience.
He's learned how to have joy,and now he talks about this is
what we do.
This is how we follow after God.
You pray, verses 6 and 7.
You follow the appropriate path,verses 8 and 9.
Verse 10, you love those whotrust the Lord.
That's what you need to do.
(20:11):
Be with God's people, thosekinds of ideas.
It's a beautiful psalm.
It's the kind of psalm that youwant to mark in your Bible so
that when you find A reading forFriday, Psalm 32.
(20:37):
That's the podcast for the weekthen.
Certainly do appreciate youlistening to the podcast.
I enjoy doing the podcast and Ihope that it's helping you with
your daily Bible reading andhelping you as you think about
the sermon from Sunday.
I like both parts of that.
Sometimes you preach your heartout on Sunday and you wonder by
Monday morning, is anybody evenstill thinking about that?
Does that move the needle?
Does that cause anything tohappen?
(20:57):
I think the podcast helps uswork it into our lives.
Tell somebody about the podcast.
Leave us a review.
Leave us a rating.
So...
Until Monday, I'm Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven, and Iwant you to come too.
And I will see you again onMonday on the podcast with a cup
of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (21:23):
Thanks for listening to the West Side Church of
Christ podcast, Monday MorningCoffee with 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 Ps,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(21:48):
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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