April 21, 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.
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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, April
the 21st.
I'm Mark.
I've got my Bible open to 2Samuel.
I've got coffee.
I've got sermon notes.
But most of all, I know thattoday is Dina's birthday.
Happy birthday to my bride.
And it's also Easter Monday.
What is Easter Monday?
Easter Monday is the day we allgo down to the store and buy
(01:14):
Easter chocolate at half off.
And if that isn't a reason tohave a national holiday, I don't
know what is.
But...
With all of that said, it'sstill time to pour that cup of
coffee.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
Yesterday was Easter Sunday.
That is a day in which I'malways going to try to talk some
(01:35):
about the resurrection becausewe have folks who are visiting
and they are thinking about theresurrection.
I want to take advantage of thatmoment.
But it also fit very well withthe preaching theme, the
questions Jesus asked.
As the congregation voted, Luke18.8 came up.
Will a son of man find faithupon the earth?
And those two ideas, believingin the resurrection, believing
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in the resurrection all the waythrough your life, believing in
the resurrection until Jesusreturns, those came together, I
thought, in a really good way.
Let me just say this, and I saythis, it seems like, every week
on the podcast.
You can't say everything in asermon.
But what I really wanted to talkabout is wrong ideas from Luke
(02:18):
chapter 18, because Luke 18seems to feed the idea, at least
in some people's mind, thatPersistence in prayer means
beating on heaven's door untilGod finally relents.
There is this idea that if wepersist in prayer, we just keep
banging on the Lord untilfinally He'll turn loose of what
(02:39):
it is that we think that weneed.
And while I want to say veryclearly, it is not wrong to
persist in prayer.
And we have some examples ofthat in Scripture.
I want to say again, it's notwrong to persist in prayer.
If you email me or you come andsay to me, hey, I thought
persisting in prayer issomething the Bible teaches.
I'm going to say, you didn'tlisten very carefully.
(02:59):
Not wrong to persist in prayer.
However...
If you are persisting in prayerbecause you think that that is
about pounding on God and themore you beat on the Lord or on
heaven's door, the more likelyGod is to finally give up and
give you what you want, yourthinking about prayer is
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seriously messed up and that isnot what Luke 18 is teaching.
The text of Luke 18 is teachingexactly the opposite.
This is not how God operates.
The woman in Luke 18 does haveto annoy and persist and beat on
the door until finally thecrabby, grouchy judge says, all
(03:42):
right, this woman's just drivingme nuts.
I'm going to give her what shewants just to get rid of her.
That, Jesus says, is not how Godoperates.
He is good and kind, and Hewants to bless us.
You don't have to pester Him todeath.
You just have to trust that Hewants what is best for us.
(04:03):
That is a huge key in praying.
Make sure you install that intoyour thinking about prayer.
So there's a little bonus noteout of the sermon from Luke 18
in the resurrection, and willthe Son of Man find faith upon
the earth?
Speaking of finding faith, Iwonder how David managed to keep
his faith intact in the middleof a giant rebellion.
(04:27):
Let's turn our Bibles to 2Samuel.
Let's do some daily Biblereading.
Our reading for Monday is 2Samuel chapter 16.
(04:49):
The reading for Monday is 2Samuel 16, the entire chapter.
And this is quite the chapter,isn't it?
The rebellion that Absalom hasput together is now in full
bloom, and David is running forhis life.
Along the way, he meets threemen, or more likely two men, and
then we have the story of thethird man.
I guess I should say that'sAhithophel, who's back with
(05:10):
Absalom.
The two men that David meets isZiba and Shammai.
Ziba comes to him in the firstfour versus he is the chief
steward for Mephibosheth, whoDavid had showed kindness to
back in 2 Samuel 9.
And Mephibosheth is the grandsonof King Saul.
And what Ziba runs out here isthat There's another rebellion
(05:32):
going on that not only do youhave problems with Absalom, but
some people are trying to putthe heir of Saul back on the
throne.
What a day for David.
Just when you think it can't getany worse, somebody shows up and
says, hey, someone else ismaking a run at the throne too.
People think this is a greattime to install the rightful
heir, someone from the house ofSaul.
That seems to me to beenormously unlikely.
(05:55):
I think Ziba is a big fat liarhere.
Why would Mephibosheth think hewould be the king when the
heart's all of Israel have goneafter Absalom, chapter 15, verse
13.
And furthermore, Mephibosheth iscrippled.
He does not have capacity andability in a time when the
physicality of a king to leadinto battle, all the things that
go with that are very, veryimportant.
I see no shot here forMephibosheth.
(06:18):
I think Ziba is a big liar here.
That's just all there is tothat.
And I think David will regretthis decision.
We get more of this story wheneverything is over and David's
trying to clean up all of theremains of of The entire
rebellion.
Which brings us to Shammai,verses 5 to 14.
This is the guy who's screamingat David.
(06:39):
And man of blood, verse 7, couldbe the idea of being murderer.
Worthless man is a rogue.
And then he is saying somethings there that might even be
literally translated man ofBelial.
You're part of the devil.
This is just an incredibleseries of curses.
And yelling at David like thiswhen he's marching out of
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Jerusalem with a bunch of his...
His honor guard and people likeAbishai walking with him seems
like a really dumb thing to do.
Why would you do this, Shammai?
But he does seem to be unhappy.
He's a Benjamite, and this maybe that whole, you don't have
the right to the throne.
Saul was a Benjamite.
(07:20):
You're not of the house of Saul.
That may be playing that songall over again.
And Abishai says, we'll justkill this guy.
We'll just kill this guy.
You have to know that David andhis men are in the mood to kill
somebody, and this guy seemslike a prime candidate to just
take out a little bit of theadrenaline and all the anger and
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the anxiety that we have.
I'll just chop off his head,verse 9.
And please remember, this is notan idle threat.
Abishai can certainly do this,but I'm so impressed with David.
There's some discussion in verse12 about how to exactly
translate that, the Septuagint.
is what the ESV follows.
God will see that I'm beingwronged.
(08:01):
The traditional Hebrew text saysGod will see my iniquity, but
however you're going to renderthat verse, it is clear that
David is accepting his fate.
He sees this as part of hispunishment.
I did wrong.
I get it.
I brought this upon myself, andthis isn't the time to fight
against that.
We're just going to have to takeit.
(08:23):
We're just going to have to takeit.
Which brings us then finally,verse 15, to Absalom and his
retinue.
They officially enter intoJerusalem with Ahithophel, and
they do meet Hushai.
And Hushai, the man that Davidsent back, last week we read
about that, he says, hey, I'mall about it.
I am all about it, verse 18.
I will be loyal...
(08:44):
to the one the Lord has chosen.
You get the double entendrethere?
Who is Hushai loyal to?
To the one the Lord has chosen,David, not the usurper.
But Absalom is so full ofhimself, he can't even imagine
for a moment that anybody is notall about him.
And so then Absalom says toAhithophel, verse 20, what
(09:04):
should we do?
And the answer is, you need togo into your father's
concubines.
And there's a couple reasons forthat, one of which is it
absolutely seals the breakbetween Absalom and David.
You're always a little nervouswhen a son fights against his
father, the king, that they'regoing to make up, and then every
Everybody who was disloyal tothe king is now going to be on
the outs, and this will makecertain that's not going to
happen.
(09:24):
But more importantly, he whoowns the royal harem has the
crown.
The one who owns the harem isthe king.
And that is what Absalom issaying, and he is saying that
very, very publicly.
He does this on the roof, verse22.
And that's the roof whereeverything started.
(09:47):
That's where David was walkingwhen he saw Bathsheba in 2
Samuel 11.
This is where the trouble began.
And as Nathan the prophet toldDavid, this is where the trouble
will take you.
Our reading for Monday is 2Samuel 16.
Welcome to Tuesday.
Tuesday's reading is 2 Samuel17, and the action just keeps
(10:10):
going.
This is an exciting part of theBible to read.
Let me grab some coffee here aswe get underway.
2 Samuel 17 continues thethought out of yesterday's
reading, verse 23, Ahithophel'scounsel is amazing.
He is a very wise person, and itjust seems like there's no way
David is going to be able toovercome Absalom's rebellion.
(10:33):
It came out of nowhere.
Absalom has stolen the hearts ofthe men of Israel, and he's got
Ahithophel.
And Ahithophel gives this greatplan.
And the Bible says it's a greatplan.
The counsel of Ahithophel is theright thing to do.
Go get David while he'sdisorganized before he can
figure out who's on my side,before he can resupply, get his
(10:57):
troops in line.
Go and go now.
But Absalom says, let's talk toHushai too.
Hushai's a smart guy.
Let's get what Hushai has tosay.
And Hushai does exactly whatDavid needed him to do.
He becomes a tool in the handsof the Lord to frustrate the
council of Ahithophel and toundermine Absalom's rebellion.
And he does that by appealing toAbsalom's ego.
(11:22):
Verse 8, you know that yourfather and his mighty men are
like a bear robbed of her cubs.
Think about it.
Think about how angry they are.
You're going to lose.
They're going to beat you.
Valiant men, verse 10, they'regoing to be afraid.
You're not going to look good.
What you really need to do,instead of letting Ahithophel
lead them into battle, no, youneed, verse 11, you need to be
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the one to go.
You go to battle in person.
That's that appeal to his ego.
You'll get the glory.
Everybody will think you'regreat.
Oh, this is the thing to do.
And of course, what David needsmore than anything else is time.
Time.
And that's what Hushai ispushing for.
(12:07):
And the Bible says, verse 14,God is at work.
Look how God is at work.
through individuals, throughpeople.
And that just reinforcessomething that we see over and
(12:28):
over again in the Bible, whichis God works oftentimes behind
the scenes, quietly, throughvery natural kinds of things.
God can certainly do big honkingmiracles like splitting the Red
Sea open.
But lots of times, it's just theright guy in the right place
saying the right thing.
And so, Hushai says, this iswhat we ought to do, and then he
(12:51):
sends word.
It is clear to Hushai that thedecision has not yet been made
as this narrative is unfolding,and David needs to know, they
may come get you.
You've got to get on the otherside of the Jordan River.
Go, go, go.
And then, in one of the Stunningmoments in all of Absalom's
rebellion and the story aboutit.
(13:12):
In verse 23, when Ahithophelsees that his counsel does not
follow, he sat on his donkey,went off home to his own city,
set his house in order, and thenhe hanged himself.
He hanged himself.
Why?
Because he knew the rebellionwould not stand.
David gets time.
David will resupply, get histroops together, organize.
(13:36):
and he'll be able to defeatAbsalom.
So, there's no point.
Ahithophel has cast his lot withthe rebel, and he knows what's
going to happen.
Might as well just get it overwith.
So, David then, verses 24 to 29,does exactly that.
Gets across the river.
He is resupplied.
Some wonderful people show by,verse 22, in Barzillai come out.
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Think about I mean, Davidprobably has hundreds of people
with him, bringing food for allof these folks, providing for
them.
These are huge amounts ofstores.
This is a big burden, and thesepeople are just a huge blessing
to David in an enormouslycritical moment in his life.
Our reading Tuesday, 2 Samuel17.
(14:20):
We'll talk about it more,Westsiders, tonight in our Zoom
call.
We do get to have Zoom tonight.
Looking forward to it.
Last week's Zoom was so rich.
So much good discussion as wetalked about Absalom and what
was wrong with him and what hewas doing.
I expect great discussiontonight in our Zoom call from 2
Samuel 17.
Everybody else, see you on thepodcast tomorrow.
(14:42):
We'll keep pushing forward andwe'll find out what happens to
Absalom.
See you tomorrow.
It is Wednesday.
It is Wednesday, and today weread 2 Samuel 18, verses 1 to
18.
You ready to go to battle?
This is it.
This is it.
David musters his men, sets thecommanders of thousands and
commanders of hundreds overthem, 18 verse 1.
(15:05):
Let's talk a little bit hereabout reading the Bible, and
reading the Bible in a good way.
What we want to focus on here iswhat the writer of 2 Samuel is
focused on, and that is not thebattle.
There is really very littlediscussion of this fight, not
much discussion about it at all.
The lead character here is Joab.
He dominates everything, andthat's clearly the interest the
(15:27):
narrator has.
And I think what really comesthrough in this text is just
sadness.
Sometimes a good question to askabout reading the Bible is, what
is the author trying to do tome?
And I think the author here istrying to make us sad because
this is a civil war.
This is the house of Davidfighting the house of David, and
it's a very, very sad occasion.
But maybe there's just not awhole lot of emphasis on the
(15:48):
battle because we already knowwho's going to win.
Is there any chance a youngupstart with a bunch of excited
young men around him canpossibly triumph over David even
though they outnumber them?
And the answer to that, ofcourse, is there's not a chance.
David and Joab, they are theveterans of many wars, many
battles.
They were vulnerable before, butthey have gathered themselves.
(16:09):
They have planned.
They have supplied.
They are ready.
They even picked thebattlefield.
They're going to fight in thewoods because that mitigates the
force of numbers.
So they just out-tactic andout-maneuver Absalom at every
turn.
And the result of that, ofcourse, is Absalom and his
forces are completely routed.
(16:30):
That begins then verses 1 to 5with David reviewing the troops.
Notice verse 3.
Essentially, they giveAhithophel's counsel, don't go
with us.
Don't go with us.
That's what Ahithophel said toAbsalom.
I'll take care of this.
You need to stay here.
And then the king says, dealgently, verse 5, for my sake
with the young men, Absalom.
David doesn't seem to have a lotof flaws, but if there is any,
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it is that he spoils his sons.
And that is leak So the battle,which happens on the east side
of the Jordan River, is aterrible battle.
It seems, verse 8, that maybemore people died in the woods
just getting lost, or maybe theywere Maybe they were run down
and cut down in the woods whenthey were separated from their
units.
And of course, then Absalom'sdeath is recorded for us.
(17:13):
And what people see here is thatAbsalom is hanging from a branch
by his hair, but it doesn't saythat in the text per se.
Josephus is the one that saysthat, not the Bible.
The terms here are not exactlyclear.
Suspended between heaven andearth, his head caught in the
thick branches of a great oak.
And you may have a marginal notethere that the Hebrew is not
(17:34):
clear.
It's an unusual term.
that doesn't occur anywhere elsein Scripture.
Some of the Hebrew words therethat then go on to describe this
talk about dangling or hanging.
We're not precisely sure whathappened, but he is clearly
powerless and vulnerable, andthis young man says, I saw him,
and Joab says, you should havejust killed him.
I would have given you 10 piecesof silver, which is the annual
(17:56):
pay of a Levite, Judges 17 verse10, and I've given you a belt
that may imply a promotion.
But this young man says, I'm notdoing that, verse 12.
Maybe he had heard about whathappened with the guy who
claimed to put Saul to death,and then he'd heard maybe about
the two guys who killedIsh-bosheth.
I'm not touching somebody fromthe royal house, and that
probably seems like a reallygood idea.
(18:17):
But Joab doesn't care.
Joab does not care.
And there is much controversyabout what Joab does here and
why he does that.
My guess is Joab is intenselyloyal to David, and he knows the
best way to protect the king isto cut the head of the rebellion
off, and he does that.
He kills Absalom.
(18:38):
End of story.
And so the writer tells us then,as we come to the end of our
reading today, that Absalom diesand he has two monuments.
One, his tomb, and this othermonument that he had set up for
himself, verse 18, in the pillarthat is in the king's valley.
And setting up your own monumentjust seems crass and vain, and
that seems a great end toAbsalom's career because that is
(19:00):
exactly who he was.
His rebellion is a completefailure.
He fought not just againstDavid.
He fought against God'sanointed, and there was no way
that would ever succeed.
Our reading for Wednesday, 2Samuel 18, 1-18.
It is Thursday, and our readingtoday is 2 Samuel 18, verses
(19:22):
19-33, and this is maybe...
some of the saddest passages inall of the Word of God.
Really a rough end here.
We get a couple of guys who wantto run and tell the news.
Ahimehaz, verse 19, wants totell David the news, thinking
he'll be happy about theoutcome.
That does not seem like a goodidea.
We have that expression, don'tkill the messenger, and I wonder
(19:43):
if Joab is concerned he's goingto get killed when David hears
what's happening.
So a Cushite says, I'll go.
The Cushite is from Ethiopia.
And even to this day, Ethiopiaproduces famous marathon runners
on the world stage and in theOlympics, for example.
But these two guys both end uprunning, and maybe Ahimehaz took
(20:04):
a different route.
There's a lot of speculationabout some of that, but I'm
impressed here that they getthere, and what really bothers
me is that David has misplacedconcern.
Verse 29, the king said, is itwell with the young men in
Absalom?
How about asking about the menwho just fought and risk their
lives for you and for yourcrown.
(20:25):
How about asking about Joab?
How's the battle going?
Oh, no, no.
We got to talk about Absalom,the loser who started this whole
big mess.
So I'm not very impressed withDavid right here.
And then he just falls apart.
He just starts weeping andcrying and carrying on.
Verse 33, like I said, one ofthe saddest verses in all the
(20:48):
Bible.
O my son Absalom, my son, my sonAbsalom, would I had died
instead of you, O Absalom, myson, my son.
I wonder if some of that weepingcomes because David knows he is
the one that brought so much ofthis trouble upon his own house.
Tomorrow's reading awaits.
(21:08):
Tomorrow's Friday, and we're inthe Psalms.
When we rejoin the story nextweek, we'll see that Joab has to
be a friend to David again, ifyou count him as a friend for
killing Absalom.
He'll have to help David onceagain, and that'll be in 2
Samuel 19.
But as I said, that's next week.
Tomorrow, we're going to thePsalms, and we're going to talk
about Ahithophel, because Jesusmakes use of the Ahithophel
(21:32):
Psalm to talk about JudasIscariot.
See you tomorrow in the Psalms.
Our reading for Thursday, 2Samuel 18, verses 19 to 33.
Welcome to Friday, and ourreading today is Psalm 41, and
then we will go to the NewTestament and read John 13,
verses 12 to 30.
Let's start with Psalm 41, andwe'll start in an unusual place,
(21:56):
the last verse.
Verse 13, Blessed be the Lord,the God of Israel, from
everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and amen.
This doesn't really belong tothe 41st Psalm.
It belongs to the entiresection, which is called Book 1.
There are five books in thePsalms, and the first book is
composed of the first 41 psalms.
Each of those books will endwith a doxology of praise like
(22:19):
is contained here in verse 13.
So really all we're dealing withis 41, 1 to 12 as far as this
psalm is concerned, and it is...
It is a psalm of lament.
This is written during a timewhen David was under great
strain and great difficulty.
It may be during the time ofAbsalom's rebellion.
And what follows here is thatDavid says, I know the kind of
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person that you will help, Lord.
You help the kind of person whohelps others.
Blessed, verse 1, is the one whoconsiders the poor.
Remember, being poor in David'sday is not exactly the same as
being poor in our day.
This isn't just somebody who'sbelow the poverty line
arbitrarily set by the CensusBureau.
This is somebody who is weak inThere are no government aid
programs.
There's no welfare.
(23:01):
There's no unemployment checks.
This is a person who's gettingrun over by life.
David says, There does seem tobe some illness going on here.
(23:21):
Maybe...
Maybe sick of heart, notentirely sure what's going on.
But I need your help, verse 4.
And my enemies are just pouringthe gossip on me.
We've seen this so often withDavid.
He's always concerned about thehard things that people are
saying behind his back.
And some of them seem to besaying, we just want this guy to
die.
He's sick.
We hope that he will die.
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And that brings us to verses 9and 10.
Even my close friend in whom Itrusted who ate my bread has
lifted his heel against me.
You, O Lord, be gracious to meand raise me up that I may repay
them.
So there is a clear allusionmaybe to Ahithophel, maybe to
Joab.
Some have wondered if he'stalking about Joab.
But as we turn to John chapter13 in a moment, we'll see very,
(24:04):
very clearly Jesus knows whothat's talking about.
Jesus will lift this text up.
up as he often does and makeapplication of that to his
situation and his circumstances.
So let's do that.
Let's go look at John chapter13.
So our reading in the NewTestament as we make application
of the Old Testament is Johnchapter 13, verses 12 to 30.
(24:25):
And this is John's account ofthe Last Supper.
Lots going on here.
Jesus washes the disciples'feet, which does mean that he
washes Judas Iscariot's feet.
Think about that.
And the key verse that we'relooking at here is verse 18.
I'm not speaking of all of you.
I know whom I have chosen.
The scripture will be fulfilled.
He who ate my bread has liftedhis heel against me.
(24:49):
turning his back and maybekicking against him.
It may come from horses andlivestock animals like that.
And the quotation from Psalm41.9 that Jesus is using here
is, It picks up all the pain andthe hurt that David is feeling
because Ahithophel betrayed himto Absalom, and his enemies were
mocking him, maybe even as wesaw in Psalm 41, mocking him
(25:11):
when he was sick.
So David is again a type or amodel of the Messiah, and it's
important to see that David'sgreatness does not keep him from
suffering, does not keep him inany way, does not exempt him
from the trials of this life.
But Jesus uses that to say, inthe greatest possible sense,
nobody will will ever be morebetrayed than I am betrayed by
(25:33):
Judas Iscariot.
Judas becomes the fulfillment ofPsalm 41.
I love reading that and seeingJesus use that.
Like I said, lift it up to thehighest level.
You want to know the best,fullest example of Psalm 41,
Jesus says?
It's me and what's happening tome.
(25:56):
That concludes the podcast forthe week, of course.
Thank you so much for listening,reading the Bible with me, and
considering some ideas from thesermon last Sunday.
I hope that you're sharing thepodcast with others and
encouraging them to listen.
Hope you've left a rating orreview.
You know all that stuff.
I say that at the end of everypodcast every week.
I do.
I do really appreciate the folkswho let me know.
(26:18):
The podcast is helping them.
So until next week when we'llopen our Bibles together, I'm
Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven, and Iwant you to come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (26:37):
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
(27:01):
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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, April
the 21st.
I'm Mark.
I've got my Bible open to 2Samuel.
I've got coffee.
I've got sermon notes.
But most of all, I know thattoday is Dina's birthday.
Happy birthday to my bride.
And it's also Easter Monday.
What is Easter Monday?
Easter Monday is the day we allgo down to the store and buy
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Easter chocolate at half off.
And if that isn't a reason tohave a national holiday, I don't
know what is.
But...
With all of that said, it'sstill time to pour that cup of
coffee.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
Yesterday was Easter Sunday.
That is a day in which I'malways going to try to talk some
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about the resurrection becausewe have folks who are visiting
and they are thinking about theresurrection.
I want to take advantage of thatmoment.
But it also fit very well withthe preaching theme, the
questions Jesus asked.
As the congregation voted, Luke18.8 came up.
Will a son of man find faithupon the earth?
And those two ideas, believingin the resurrection, believing
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in the resurrection all the waythrough your life, believing in
the resurrection until Jesusreturns, those came together, I
thought, in a really good way.
Let me just say this, and I saythis, it seems like, every week
on the podcast.
You can't say everything in asermon.
But what I really wanted to talkabout is wrong ideas from Luke
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chapter 18, because Luke 18seems to feed the idea, at least
in some people's mind, thatPersistence in prayer means
beating on heaven's door untilGod finally relents.
There is this idea that if wepersist in prayer, we just keep
banging on the Lord untilfinally He'll turn loose of what
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it is that we think that weneed.
And while I want to say veryclearly, it is not wrong to
persist in prayer.
And we have some examples ofthat in Scripture.
I want to say again, it's notwrong to persist in prayer.
If you email me or you come andsay to me, hey, I thought
persisting in prayer issomething the Bible teaches.
I'm going to say, you didn'tlisten very carefully.
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Not wrong to persist in prayer.
However...
If you are persisting in prayerbecause you think that that is
about pounding on God and themore you beat on the Lord or on
heaven's door, the more likelyGod is to finally give up and
give you what you want, yourthinking about prayer is
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seriously messed up and that isnot what Luke 18 is teaching.
The text of Luke 18 is teachingexactly the opposite.
This is not how God operates.
The woman in Luke 18 does haveto annoy and persist and beat on
the door until finally thecrabby, grouchy judge says, all
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right, this woman's just drivingme nuts.
I'm going to give her what shewants just to get rid of her.
That, Jesus says, is not how Godoperates.
He is good and kind, and Hewants to bless us.
You don't have to pester Him todeath.
You just have to trust that Hewants what is best for us.
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That is a huge key in praying.
Make sure you install that intoyour thinking about prayer.
So there's a little bonus noteout of the sermon from Luke 18
in the resurrection, and willthe Son of Man find faith upon
the earth?
Speaking of finding faith, Iwonder how David managed to keep
his faith intact in the middleof a giant rebellion.
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Let's turn our Bibles to 2Samuel.
Let's do some daily Biblereading.
Our reading for Monday is 2Samuel chapter 16.
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The reading for Monday is 2Samuel 16, the entire chapter.
And this is quite the chapter,isn't it?
The rebellion that Absalom hasput together is now in full
bloom, and David is running forhis life.
Along the way, he meets threemen, or more likely two men, and
then we have the story of thethird man.
I guess I should say that'sAhithophel, who's back with
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Absalom.
The two men that David meets isZiba and Shammai.
Ziba comes to him in the firstfour versus he is the chief
steward for Mephibosheth, whoDavid had showed kindness to
back in 2 Samuel 9.
And Mephibosheth is the grandsonof King Saul.
And what Ziba runs out here isthat There's another rebellion
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going on that not only do youhave problems with Absalom, but
some people are trying to putthe heir of Saul back on the
throne.
What a day for David.
Just when you think it can't getany worse, somebody shows up and
says, hey, someone else ismaking a run at the throne too.
People think this is a greattime to install the rightful
heir, someone from the house ofSaul.
That seems to me to beenormously unlikely.
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I think Ziba is a big fat liarhere.
Why would Mephibosheth think hewould be the king when the
heart's all of Israel have goneafter Absalom, chapter 15, verse
13.
And furthermore, Mephibosheth iscrippled.
He does not have capacity andability in a time when the
physicality of a king to leadinto battle, all the things that
go with that are very, veryimportant.
I see no shot here forMephibosheth.
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I think Ziba is a big liar here.
That's just all there is tothat.
And I think David will regretthis decision.
We get more of this story wheneverything is over and David's
trying to clean up all of theremains of of The entire
rebellion.
Which brings us to Shammai,verses 5 to 14.
This is the guy who's screamingat David.
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And man of blood, verse 7, couldbe the idea of being murderer.
Worthless man is a rogue.
And then he is saying somethings there that might even be
literally translated man ofBelial.
You're part of the devil.
This is just an incredibleseries of curses.
And yelling at David like thiswhen he's marching out of
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Jerusalem with a bunch of his...
His honor guard and people likeAbishai walking with him seems
like a really dumb thing to do.
Why would you do this, Shammai?
But he does seem to be unhappy.
He's a Benjamite, and this maybe that whole, you don't have
the right to the throne.
Saul was a Benjamite.
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You're not of the house of Saul.
That may be playing that songall over again.
And Abishai says, we'll justkill this guy.
We'll just kill this guy.
You have to know that David andhis men are in the mood to kill
somebody, and this guy seemslike a prime candidate to just
take out a little bit of theadrenaline and all the anger and
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the anxiety that we have.
I'll just chop off his head,verse 9.
And please remember, this is notan idle threat.
Abishai can certainly do this,but I'm so impressed with David.
There's some discussion in verse12 about how to exactly
translate that, the Septuagint.
is what the ESV follows.
God will see that I'm beingwronged.
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The traditional Hebrew text saysGod will see my iniquity, but
however you're going to renderthat verse, it is clear that
David is accepting his fate.
He sees this as part of hispunishment.
I did wrong.
I get it.
I brought this upon myself, andthis isn't the time to fight
against that.
We're just going to have to takeit.
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We're just going to have to takeit.
Which brings us then finally,verse 15, to Absalom and his
retinue.
They officially enter intoJerusalem with Ahithophel, and
they do meet Hushai.
And Hushai, the man that Davidsent back, last week we read
about that, he says, hey, I'mall about it.
I am all about it, verse 18.
I will be loyal...
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to the one the Lord has chosen.
You get the double entendrethere?
Who is Hushai loyal to?
To the one the Lord has chosen,David, not the usurper.
But Absalom is so full ofhimself, he can't even imagine
for a moment that anybody is notall about him.
And so then Absalom says toAhithophel, verse 20, what
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should we do?
And the answer is, you need togo into your father's
concubines.
And there's a couple reasons forthat, one of which is it
absolutely seals the breakbetween Absalom and David.
You're always a little nervouswhen a son fights against his
father, the king, that they'regoing to make up, and then every
Everybody who was disloyal tothe king is now going to be on
the outs, and this will makecertain that's not going to
happen.
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But more importantly, he whoowns the royal harem has the
crown.
The one who owns the harem isthe king.
And that is what Absalom issaying, and he is saying that
very, very publicly.
He does this on the roof, verse22.
And that's the roof whereeverything started.
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That's where David was walkingwhen he saw Bathsheba in 2
Samuel 11.
This is where the trouble began.
And as Nathan the prophet toldDavid, this is where the trouble
will take you.
Our reading for Monday is 2Samuel 16.
Welcome to Tuesday.
Tuesday's reading is 2 Samuel17, and the action just keeps
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going.
This is an exciting part of theBible to read.
Let me grab some coffee here aswe get underway.
2 Samuel 17 continues thethought out of yesterday's
reading, verse 23, Ahithophel'scounsel is amazing.
He is a very wise person, and itjust seems like there's no way
David is going to be able toovercome Absalom's rebellion.
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It came out of nowhere.
Absalom has stolen the hearts ofthe men of Israel, and he's got
Ahithophel.
And Ahithophel gives this greatplan.
And the Bible says it's a greatplan.
The counsel of Ahithophel is theright thing to do.
Go get David while he'sdisorganized before he can
figure out who's on my side,before he can resupply, get his
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troops in line.
Go and go now.
But Absalom says, let's talk toHushai too.
Hushai's a smart guy.
Let's get what Hushai has tosay.
And Hushai does exactly whatDavid needed him to do.
He becomes a tool in the handsof the Lord to frustrate the
council of Ahithophel and toundermine Absalom's rebellion.
And he does that by appealing toAbsalom's ego.
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Verse 8, you know that yourfather and his mighty men are
like a bear robbed of her cubs.
Think about it.
Think about how angry they are.
You're going to lose.
They're going to beat you.
Valiant men, verse 10, they'regoing to be afraid.
You're not going to look good.
What you really need to do,instead of letting Ahithophel
lead them into battle, no, youneed, verse 11, you need to be
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the one to go.
You go to battle in person.
That's that appeal to his ego.
You'll get the glory.
Everybody will think you'regreat.
Oh, this is the thing to do.
And of course, what David needsmore than anything else is time.
Time.
And that's what Hushai ispushing for.
(12:07):
And the Bible says, verse 14,God is at work.
Look how God is at work.
through individuals, throughpeople.
And that just reinforcessomething that we see over and
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over again in the Bible, whichis God works oftentimes behind
the scenes, quietly, throughvery natural kinds of things.
God can certainly do big honkingmiracles like splitting the Red
Sea open.
But lots of times, it's just theright guy in the right place
saying the right thing.
And so, Hushai says, this iswhat we ought to do, and then he
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sends word.
It is clear to Hushai that thedecision has not yet been made
as this narrative is unfolding,and David needs to know, they
may come get you.
You've got to get on the otherside of the Jordan River.
Go, go, go.
And then, in one of the Stunningmoments in all of Absalom's
rebellion and the story aboutit.
(13:12):
In verse 23, when Ahithophelsees that his counsel does not
follow, he sat on his donkey,went off home to his own city,
set his house in order, and thenhe hanged himself.
He hanged himself.
Why?
Because he knew the rebellionwould not stand.
David gets time.
David will resupply, get histroops together, organize.
(13:36):
and he'll be able to defeatAbsalom.
So, there's no point.
Ahithophel has cast his lot withthe rebel, and he knows what's
going to happen.
Might as well just get it overwith.
So, David then, verses 24 to 29,does exactly that.
Gets across the river.
He is resupplied.
Some wonderful people show by,verse 22, in Barzillai come out.
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Think about I mean, Davidprobably has hundreds of people
with him, bringing food for allof these folks, providing for
them.
These are huge amounts ofstores.
This is a big burden, and thesepeople are just a huge blessing
to David in an enormouslycritical moment in his life.
Our reading Tuesday, 2 Samuel17.
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We'll talk about it more,Westsiders, tonight in our Zoom
call.
We do get to have Zoom tonight.
Looking forward to it.
Last week's Zoom was so rich.
So much good discussion as wetalked about Absalom and what
was wrong with him and what hewas doing.
I expect great discussiontonight in our Zoom call from 2
Samuel 17.
Everybody else, see you on thepodcast tomorrow.
(14:42):
We'll keep pushing forward andwe'll find out what happens to
Absalom.
See you tomorrow.
It is Wednesday.
It is Wednesday, and today weread 2 Samuel 18, verses 1 to
18.
You ready to go to battle?
This is it.
This is it.
David musters his men, sets thecommanders of thousands and
commanders of hundreds overthem, 18 verse 1.
(15:05):
Let's talk a little bit hereabout reading the Bible, and
reading the Bible in a good way.
What we want to focus on here iswhat the writer of 2 Samuel is
focused on, and that is not thebattle.
There is really very littlediscussion of this fight, not
much discussion about it at all.
The lead character here is Joab.
He dominates everything, andthat's clearly the interest the
(15:27):
narrator has.
And I think what really comesthrough in this text is just
sadness.
Sometimes a good question to askabout reading the Bible is, what
is the author trying to do tome?
And I think the author here istrying to make us sad because
this is a civil war.
This is the house of Davidfighting the house of David, and
it's a very, very sad occasion.
But maybe there's just not awhole lot of emphasis on the
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battle because we already knowwho's going to win.
Is there any chance a youngupstart with a bunch of excited
young men around him canpossibly triumph over David even
though they outnumber them?
And the answer to that, ofcourse, is there's not a chance.
David and Joab, they are theveterans of many wars, many
battles.
They were vulnerable before, butthey have gathered themselves.
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They have planned.
They have supplied.
They are ready.
They even picked thebattlefield.
They're going to fight in thewoods because that mitigates the
force of numbers.
So they just out-tactic andout-maneuver Absalom at every
turn.
And the result of that, ofcourse, is Absalom and his
forces are completely routed.
(16:30):
That begins then verses 1 to 5with David reviewing the troops.
Notice verse 3.
Essentially, they giveAhithophel's counsel, don't go
with us.
Don't go with us.
That's what Ahithophel said toAbsalom.
I'll take care of this.
You need to stay here.
And then the king says, dealgently, verse 5, for my sake
with the young men, Absalom.
David doesn't seem to have a lotof flaws, but if there is any,
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it is that he spoils his sons.
And that is leak So the battle,which happens on the east side
of the Jordan River, is aterrible battle.
It seems, verse 8, that maybemore people died in the woods
just getting lost, or maybe theywere Maybe they were run down
and cut down in the woods whenthey were separated from their
units.
And of course, then Absalom'sdeath is recorded for us.
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And what people see here is thatAbsalom is hanging from a branch
by his hair, but it doesn't saythat in the text per se.
Josephus is the one that saysthat, not the Bible.
The terms here are not exactlyclear.
Suspended between heaven andearth, his head caught in the
thick branches of a great oak.
And you may have a marginal notethere that the Hebrew is not
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clear.
It's an unusual term.
that doesn't occur anywhere elsein Scripture.
Some of the Hebrew words therethat then go on to describe this
talk about dangling or hanging.
We're not precisely sure whathappened, but he is clearly
powerless and vulnerable, andthis young man says, I saw him,
and Joab says, you should havejust killed him.
I would have given you 10 piecesof silver, which is the annual
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pay of a Levite, Judges 17 verse10, and I've given you a belt
that may imply a promotion.
But this young man says, I'm notdoing that, verse 12.
Maybe he had heard about whathappened with the guy who
claimed to put Saul to death,and then he'd heard maybe about
the two guys who killedIsh-bosheth.
I'm not touching somebody fromthe royal house, and that
probably seems like a reallygood idea.
(18:17):
But Joab doesn't care.
Joab does not care.
And there is much controversyabout what Joab does here and
why he does that.
My guess is Joab is intenselyloyal to David, and he knows the
best way to protect the king isto cut the head of the rebellion
off, and he does that.
He kills Absalom.
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End of story.
And so the writer tells us then,as we come to the end of our
reading today, that Absalom diesand he has two monuments.
One, his tomb, and this othermonument that he had set up for
himself, verse 18, in the pillarthat is in the king's valley.
And setting up your own monumentjust seems crass and vain, and
that seems a great end toAbsalom's career because that is
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exactly who he was.
His rebellion is a completefailure.
He fought not just againstDavid.
He fought against God'sanointed, and there was no way
that would ever succeed.
Our reading for Wednesday, 2Samuel 18, 1-18.
It is Thursday, and our readingtoday is 2 Samuel 18, verses
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19-33, and this is maybe...
some of the saddest passages inall of the Word of God.
Really a rough end here.
We get a couple of guys who wantto run and tell the news.
Ahimehaz, verse 19, wants totell David the news, thinking
he'll be happy about theoutcome.
That does not seem like a goodidea.
We have that expression, don'tkill the messenger, and I wonder
(19:43):
if Joab is concerned he's goingto get killed when David hears
what's happening.
So a Cushite says, I'll go.
The Cushite is from Ethiopia.
And even to this day, Ethiopiaproduces famous marathon runners
on the world stage and in theOlympics, for example.
But these two guys both end uprunning, and maybe Ahimehaz took
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a different route.
There's a lot of speculationabout some of that, but I'm
impressed here that they getthere, and what really bothers
me is that David has misplacedconcern.
Verse 29, the king said, is itwell with the young men in
Absalom?
How about asking about the menwho just fought and risk their
lives for you and for yourcrown.
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How about asking about Joab?
How's the battle going?
Oh, no, no.
We got to talk about Absalom,the loser who started this whole
big mess.
So I'm not very impressed withDavid right here.
And then he just falls apart.
He just starts weeping andcrying and carrying on.
Verse 33, like I said, one ofthe saddest verses in all the
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Bible.
O my son Absalom, my son, my sonAbsalom, would I had died
instead of you, O Absalom, myson, my son.
I wonder if some of that weepingcomes because David knows he is
the one that brought so much ofthis trouble upon his own house.
Tomorrow's reading awaits.
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Tomorrow's Friday, and we're inthe Psalms.
When we rejoin the story nextweek, we'll see that Joab has to
be a friend to David again, ifyou count him as a friend for
killing Absalom.
He'll have to help David onceagain, and that'll be in 2
Samuel 19.
But as I said, that's next week.
Tomorrow, we're going to thePsalms, and we're going to talk
about Ahithophel, because Jesusmakes use of the Ahithophel
(21:32):
Psalm to talk about JudasIscariot.
See you tomorrow in the Psalms.
Our reading for Thursday, 2Samuel 18, verses 19 to 33.
Welcome to Friday, and ourreading today is Psalm 41, and
then we will go to the NewTestament and read John 13,
verses 12 to 30.
Let's start with Psalm 41, andwe'll start in an unusual place,
(21:56):
the last verse.
Verse 13, Blessed be the Lord,the God of Israel, from
everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and amen.
This doesn't really belong tothe 41st Psalm.
It belongs to the entiresection, which is called Book 1.
There are five books in thePsalms, and the first book is
composed of the first 41 psalms.
Each of those books will endwith a doxology of praise like
(22:19):
is contained here in verse 13.
So really all we're dealing withis 41, 1 to 12 as far as this
psalm is concerned, and it is...
It is a psalm of lament.
This is written during a timewhen David was under great
strain and great difficulty.
It may be during the time ofAbsalom's rebellion.
And what follows here is thatDavid says, I know the kind of
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person that you will help, Lord.
You help the kind of person whohelps others.
Blessed, verse 1, is the one whoconsiders the poor.
Remember, being poor in David'sday is not exactly the same as
being poor in our day.
This isn't just somebody who'sbelow the poverty line
arbitrarily set by the CensusBureau.
This is somebody who is weak inThere are no government aid
programs.
There's no welfare.
(23:01):
There's no unemployment checks.
This is a person who's gettingrun over by life.
David says, There does seem tobe some illness going on here.
(23:21):
Maybe...
Maybe sick of heart, notentirely sure what's going on.
But I need your help, verse 4.
And my enemies are just pouringthe gossip on me.
We've seen this so often withDavid.
He's always concerned about thehard things that people are
saying behind his back.
And some of them seem to besaying, we just want this guy to
die.
He's sick.
We hope that he will die.
(23:42):
And that brings us to verses 9and 10.
Even my close friend in whom Itrusted who ate my bread has
lifted his heel against me.
You, O Lord, be gracious to meand raise me up that I may repay
them.
So there is a clear allusionmaybe to Ahithophel, maybe to
Joab.
Some have wondered if he'stalking about Joab.
But as we turn to John chapter13 in a moment, we'll see very,
(24:04):
very clearly Jesus knows whothat's talking about.
Jesus will lift this text up.
up as he often does and makeapplication of that to his
situation and his circumstances.
So let's do that.
Let's go look at John chapter13.
So our reading in the NewTestament as we make application
of the Old Testament is Johnchapter 13, verses 12 to 30.
(24:25):
And this is John's account ofthe Last Supper.
Lots going on here.
Jesus washes the disciples'feet, which does mean that he
washes Judas Iscariot's feet.
Think about that.
And the key verse that we'relooking at here is verse 18.
I'm not speaking of all of you.
I know whom I have chosen.
The scripture will be fulfilled.
He who ate my bread has liftedhis heel against me.
(24:49):
turning his back and maybekicking against him.
It may come from horses andlivestock animals like that.
And the quotation from Psalm41.9 that Jesus is using here
is, It picks up all the pain andthe hurt that David is feeling
because Ahithophel betrayed himto Absalom, and his enemies were
mocking him, maybe even as wesaw in Psalm 41, mocking him
(25:11):
when he was sick.
So David is again a type or amodel of the Messiah, and it's
important to see that David'sgreatness does not keep him from
suffering, does not keep him inany way, does not exempt him
from the trials of this life.
But Jesus uses that to say, inthe greatest possible sense,
nobody will will ever be morebetrayed than I am betrayed by
(25:33):
Judas Iscariot.
Judas becomes the fulfillment ofPsalm 41.
I love reading that and seeingJesus use that.
Like I said, lift it up to thehighest level.
You want to know the best,fullest example of Psalm 41,
Jesus says?
It's me and what's happening tome.
(25:56):
That concludes the podcast forthe week, of course.
Thank you so much for listening,reading the Bible with me, and
considering some ideas from thesermon last Sunday.
I hope that you're sharing thepodcast with others and
encouraging them to listen.
Hope you've left a rating orreview.
You know all that stuff.
I say that at the end of everypodcast every week.
I do.
I do really appreciate the folkswho let me know.
(26:18):
The podcast is helping them.
So until next week when we'llopen our Bibles together, I'm
Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven, and Iwant you to come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (26:37):
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
(27:01):
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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