September 29, 2025 • 20 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 (00:05):
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 througheach other and better work the
applications into our dailylife.
(00:27):
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,
September the 29th.
I hope you're ready to thinkabout yesterday's sermon and how
to integrate that moreeffectively into your life, as
well as do some prep for thisweek's daily Bible reading.
It's a little bit different thisweek than what we've been doing.
And all of that will help us tostart the week right with a
(01:13):
sharp spiritual focus.
Grab your Bible, grab yourcoffee.
Let's grow together.
Let's start with a note from thesermon yesterday.
On Sunday, we talked aboutenduring faith, and Jesus'
question, Will the Son of Manfind faith on the earth out of
the Gospel of Luke.
I said in that sermon that thequestion isn't, will God act,
(01:36):
but will we endure?
Will I remain steadfast to theLord?
Now here's one way to build thatkind of endurance,
steadfastness.
We do that by practicing small,everyday faithfulness right now.
Big trials don't usually arriveout of nowhere.
They're faced by people who'vebeen training their hearts in
(01:56):
smaller struggles.
Just like you don't run amarathon without first jogging a
mile, you need to develop deepperseverance before the moment
of persecution, trial, anddifficulty, maybe even
temptation, arrives.
You cultivate perseverance,endurance through daily habits.
Praying when you don't feel likeit, telling the truth when it
costs a little, holding yourtongue when you'd really like to
(02:19):
give somebody a piece of yourmind.
Choosing to worship when itwould be easier to sleep in.
That's the training ground offaith.
Small acts of obedience becomekind of spiritual muscle memory
so that when we need someperseverance, we're not starting
from scratch.
We have a reservoir of endurancewe've been building up all
(02:40):
along.
So here's the challenge for theweek.
Pick one small area offaithfulness that you've been
neglecting and lean into it.
Lean into it.
Maybe that's going to be withdaily Bible reading.
Maybe you're kind of hit andmiss.
How about this week?
Every week, every day, start theday in your daily Bible reading,
listen to the podcast, do yourdaily Bible reading, reflect on
(03:02):
those questions, and then beabout the business of the day,
all the other things, scrollingFacebook and everything else we
want to do.
Let that be your way ofanswering Jesus' question.
Will the Son of Man find faithwith a very confident, yes,
Lord, with me, you will findthat I am enduring.
(03:23):
I certainly like the preachingtheme this year and have enjoyed
it very much.
I've had three of those lessonsin a row now here in September,
and that is the last one for alittle bit.
We'll get kind of back onschedule once a month, is when I
really like to do thesepreaching themed sermons.
So we'll talk more aboutquestions Jesus asks in October,
much later in October.
(03:43):
In fact, next week, a little bitsomething different in the
pulpit, a sermon I hope willhelp our senior saints.
Now, let's think a little bitabout daily Bible reading.
(04:13):
As you look at your daily Biblereading schedule, if you do not
have one of those, go toJustChristians.com.
You can download it there.
Week 39, and this is a week thatwe'll spend some time with
Isaiah and on Thursday withJeremiah, where we'll be reading
some in the prophets this week.
Let's get set with the prophetsthen by thinking a little bit
about who Isaiah is.
Isaiah is considered by many tobe the greatest of all the
(04:36):
prophets, and the New Testamentuses his work, quoting or
alluding to him over 60 times.
He has enormous impact,especially with messianic
prophecy.
He is the dominant propheticvoice from about 750 to 700 B.C.
He counsels kings at criticaltimes and preaches to a nation
that desperately needs to returnto God.
(04:58):
This week's selections fromIsaiah will help us think about
David being the ideal king andthe Messiah being a king like
David.
And there'll be some good news,and I like that in our reading
today in Isaiah chapter 9.
Our reading for Monday is Isaiahchapter 9, verses 1 to 7.
Chapter 9 opens here with goodnews for the lands of Zebulun
(05:21):
and Napdali.
And coming out of the gloom anddarkness of Assyrian invasions
in Israel, this is good news.
Like to hear something good fora change instead of hearing
about how our neighbors to thenorth have been carted off into
captivity.
Now, this text is established inMatthew chapter 4, verses 15 and
16 as being messianic, thatthese would be the lands to be
(05:44):
the first to see the Messiah.
So this is speaking in verylong-distance terms of Galilee
and all the things that will gothere as Jesus begins his
ministry there.
And these verses do speak of warimplements being destroyed,
verses 3, 4, and 5, as adeliverer is coming.
But it is not a great warriorthat comes.
(06:06):
Instead, it is a child, verses 6and 7.
For us unto us a child is born,to a son is given, and the
government shall be upon hisshoulders.
This is the child Emmanuel,predicted and prophesied in
chapter 7 and in verse 14.
And this is Jesus the Christ.
The titles that are applied herecan leave no doubt that the
(06:26):
Messiah will be deity, wonderfulcounselor.
He possesses supernaturalwisdom, mighty God, he's the
divine son, expressing the powerof God, eternal father, he is
unendingly a father unto us.
He is the prince of peace.
He will be a ruler of peace, nota ruler of military might.
(06:47):
And of the increase for seven ofhis government and of peace,
there will be no end.
And on, there it is, the throneof David.
2 Samuel 7 is being referencedthere.
And over his kingdom toestablish it and to uphold it
with justice and righteousnessfrom this time forth and
forevermore.
He will rule endlessly,prosperly, fulfilling the
(07:08):
promise of David in justice andrighteousness.
How is this possible?
The zeal of the Lord will dothis.
God will accomplish this.
God is the one who will installthe Messiah on a throne that
will never be destroyed over akingdom that will never pass
away.
Our reading for Monday, Isaiah9, 1 to 7.
(07:33):
It is Tuesday.
Today is Tuesday, and thereading is Isaiah 37, verses 33
to 38.
Isaiah 37, 33 to 38.
These verses give us theperspective of the prophet
Isaiah on the invasion ofSennacheriv.
We read about this in week 36 in2 Kings 18 and 19.
And the material here is almostword for word, the same as the
(07:56):
account in Kings.
The fact that God saw fit torecord this three times, it's in
Kings, it's here, it's also inthe Book of Chronicles, and
we'll pay some attention to thattonight in the Zoom call.
All that just stresses itsimportance to the reader.
And I think 33 to 38 is not avery long reading.
Maybe we want to read more ofchapter 37 and get the flavor of
(08:18):
the times, and particularlyremember the blasphemy against
God.
This really is God versusSenekarib.
Remember all the things that theRabshaka has to say is how he
taunts the people and says, Oh,your God cannot help you, verse
10.
Don't let your God in whom youtrust deceive you.
(08:39):
There's so much said here aboutGod being impotent and powerless
against Senekarib, and of coursewhat that does is invite God to
teach Sennacherib who really isGod.
When you taunt the Lord likethat, that virtually guarantees
that God will intervene.
And I love here that God doesnot allow the enemy to just go
(08:59):
home.
Verse 36, 185,000 of them staybehind, dead.
And I particularly like thislittle note here in verse 38,
that while Sennacherib wasworshiping in the house of
Nisroch his God, his sons, hisown sons, they murder him.
And I like the note there aboutNizroch.
He's worshiping a God who doesnot save him from assassination
(09:24):
by his own children.
Our reading for Tuesday, Isaiah37, 33 to 38.
Westsiders, I'll see you tonightin the Zoom call, and we'll talk
a little bit about the materialin Kings and Chronicles that
goes along with what we readtoday in Isaiah.
Our reading for Tuesday, Isaiah37, 33 to 38.
(09:46):
It's Wednesday.
It is Wednesday, and today we'rereading Isaiah 55, 1 to 13.
Today's reading takes us to somevery famous verses in Isaiah and
said in their context, I thinkthey're even more meaningful
than when sometimes they're justkind of quoted out of midair.
Chapter 55 really does containan incredible plea from the Lord
for his people.
(10:07):
There is an emphasis here,notice verse 2, in stopping
foolish, false religion that isjust worthless.
It does no good at all.
Instead, come and share in thecovenant of the Messiah that was
made to David.
King David, verse 3, appearsthere.
David's there in verse 3.
The promise again from 2 Samuelchapter 7.
And the Son of David, pleasenotice here, will be a leader
(10:29):
for all nations.
He is for everyone, a witness toall the peoples, and he'll call
a nation, verse 5, that you donot know.
Come to the Lord then, verses 6and 7.
You will find forgiveness.
And that helps us, all thatforgiveness language in verse 7
helps us better understandverses 8 and 9.
(10:50):
Because, and I get it, verses 8and 9 are often quoted to say
that God doesn't do things theway that we do things, and his
thoughts are not our thoughts.
But specifically in thiscontext, people don't forgive
the way God does.
People don't forgive the way theLord does.
And if you think, now come on,Lord, that's never going to
happen.
You just you can't forgivewicked people like us.
(11:13):
Then we get the amazing promisein verse 10 and 11 that my word
will not return empty.
All the things that I'm saying,the Lord says through Isaiah,
installing the Messianic King inthe line of David, all of those
things will come to pass,especially the new covenant,
where people can be forgiven oftheir sins.
(11:36):
Our reading for Wednesday,Isaiah 55, 1 to 13.
Welcome to Thursday.
Welcome to Thursday.
Today we read in the book ofJeremiah.
Jeremiah 33, verses 14 to 26 isour reading for Thursday.
We spent some time with Isaiahthis week.
Now it's time to spend some timewith Jeremiah.
Jeremiah is the last greatprophet.
(11:57):
He is the prophet during thetime when the Judean kingdom
collapses and is carried offwholesale into Babylonian
captivity.
And we're getting some of thatbad news, some of those bad
times here in Jeremiah 33.
For example, verse 1 tells usthat Jeremiah had been arrested
and was still shut up in thecourt of the guard.
His message and his preaching isnot welcome during this time.
(12:19):
He is very ill-treated.
Jeremiah is a tough prophet, buthe is also known as the weeping
prophet.
And that's not just becauseJerusalem gets burned down while
he's on duty.
No, he's weeping before thathappens because nobody listens
to him and nobody wants to dowhat's right.
In the middle of that, we getsome wonderful promises, and
that's our reading today,beginning in verse 14.
(12:41):
The days are coming, declaresthe Lord, when I will fulfill
the promise I made to the houseof Israel and the house of
Judah.
Good news, Jeremiah.
Everything isn't over.
God is not done.
God is not done with his people,and God still has promises that
he will keep.
And those promises are to David,verse 15.
I will cause a righteous branchto spring up for David.
Once again, I've mentioned it, Ithink, every day this week on
(13:03):
the podcast.
This is straight up out of 2Samuel chapter 7.
And part of this has been statedbefore in Jeremiah chapter 23,
verses 5 and 6.
And a lot of this looks to thenew covenant promise that God
delivered to Jeremiah.
And Jeremiah talked about inJeremiah 31, beginning in verse
31.
And we really get the idea herethat the Davidic king will be
(13:23):
the ideal king.
One scholar said the OldTestament expectation regarding
kings emphasizes thecharacteristics of righteousness
and justice.
Jeremiah 22 describes Josiah'sreign in those terms.
He was such a good king, youremember.
The quote goes on to say, thesevirtues are demonstrated
especially in defending theoppressed and saving the poor.
That's what an ideal king willdo.
(13:45):
That's how that was viewedduring this time.
And this Messiah will be the onewho executes justice and
righteousness in the land.
He will be like that.
And this will be an everlastingkingdom, verse 7.
The great promise of 2 Samuel 7,as I've said, is being talked
about here.
Please note, maybe make a notein your Bible, that that promise
(14:06):
is qualified in 1 Kings chapter2 and verse 4, and also in 1
Kings chapter 9.
It is not a blank check.
And we need to understand thatwhen the kings didn't do what's
right, then God took action.
We've seen some of that as we'veread this year, and we've seen
that the Assyrians came and tookaway the northern ten tribes
forever.
They're just gone.
(14:27):
And in fact, we just read thatthe Babylonians came and took
away the Judean tribes, thesouthern kingdom.
They're in Babylonian captivity.
Jeremiah's in the middle of allof that.
Jeremiah's trying to help peopledo what's right and turn back to
God, even though they have nointerest in doing that.
So, verse 21, then also mycovenant with David, my servant,
(14:49):
may be broken.
When could that happen?
I should have read verse 20,when my covenant with day and
night is broken.
This is an everlasting covenant.
You can't stop the word of God.
And I think this is very muchabout the gospel and about what
God is going to do with Jesusthe Son.
That's what we're talking abouthere.
And so I'll multiply theoffspring of David, my servant,
(15:09):
and the Levitical priest whominister to me.
Remember, every Christian is apriest today, not just a certain
class or these people over hereand nobody else.
All of us are Christians in thatnew dispensation that the
Messiah brings.
So, again, verse 25 and 26repeat.
(15:36):
A reading Thursday, Jeremiahchapter 33, verses 14 to 26.
It's Friday.
It is Friday.
And today we're reading in thePsalm.
Psalm 53 is the reading fortoday.
This is an important Psalm, andI know it's an important Psalm
because it is in the Psalmstwice.
(15:58):
This is actually Psalm 14, whichwe read in week 11, with a minor
difference in verse 5 here inPsalm 53, and a minor
difference, the difference inverse 5 from Psalm 14, verses 5
and 6.
Maybe you're wondering why isthis in the Bible twice?
And I think the quick answer tothat is that it appeared in both
(16:20):
collections of songs that areput together.
There are five collections inthe book of Psalms that have
been put together under that onetitle, the Book of Psalms.
And so maybe if you were editinga hymnal and you had sacred
selections, a hymnal that a lotof us grew up with, and then a
hymnal from today, Praise forthe Lord, and you were putting
(16:41):
them together, merging them intoone giant collection of hymns.
There might be some that were inone hymnal that would then also
be in the other hymnal, so theycould appear two times in your
brand new hymnal.
And that may be what's happeninghere in the book of Psalms.
I would say this (16:56):
the difference in Psalm 53.5 and Psalm 14,
verses 5 and 6 may not be just aminor translation issue, a minor
issue.
Verse 5 in chapter 14, Psalm 14stresses that God is with the
righteous.
Psalm 53.5 seems to stress morethat God is ensuring the doom of
the wicked.
(17:16):
And that may be a significantdifference, uh significant
enough difference to include itboth times in the book of
Psalms.
This is a psalm about atheists,and it doesn't exactly deal with
atheists in the way that wemight think.
We think of atheists today,particularly the militant
atheists that have just been allover the airwave since 9-11
announcing that all of theworld's problems are caused by
(17:36):
religion, especiallyChristianity.
So maybe you've heard Dawkins orHitchens, those guys.
Maybe you've read some of thestuff that they've put out.
That's not really where Psalm 53is.
If you notice here, the foolsays in his heart, verse 1,
there is no God.
This isn't somebody making apublic proclamation.
This isn't somebody all overFacebook with his atheism.
This is somebody who's sayingthis inside.
(17:59):
And I think what you're lookingat here is what is often called
practical atheism.
This person might even go to thetemple and continue to worship
God outwardly, but inside hedoes not believe in God.
And that results in corruption,verse 3.
And that is the kind of thingthat makes you into a fool.
Verses 4 and 5 talk about theproblem of opposing God, is that
(18:21):
that is futile.
That's just folly.
There's no value to that at all.
Now he doesn't know God, he hasno knowledge.
Have those who work evil noknowledge, who eat my people up
as they eat bread?
He may know the facts about God,but eating people is not a
reference to cannibalism, but toabuse and to mistreatment.
They give no thought to that.
(18:41):
They abuse people and oppresspeople, and they don't even care
about any of that.
But of course, verse 5, there issome terror that goes with that,
because God will judge and bringthese people down.
Verse 6, oh, that salvation forIsrael would come out of Zion.
There is a prayer here fordeliverance.
And I wonder, some scholars havenoted, this may well have been
(19:02):
written during the Babyloniancaptivity, serving as a reminder
that God had delivered in thepast, and so there is a prayer
for God to deliver yet again.
When God restores the fortunesof his people, let Jacob
rejoice, let Israel be glad.
That fits well because in ourreading, God's people are in
Babylon.
Our reading for Friday, Psalm53.
(19:26):
Thank you so much for listeningto the podcast.
If the podcast is a blessing toyou, please tell a friend and
consider leaving a rating orreview so even more people can
be encouraged by the Word ofGod.
It is truly a joy to open theScriptures with you each day.
I'm Mark Roberts, and I want togo to heaven and I want you to
come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
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
(20:17):
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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 througheach other and better work the
applications into our dailylife.
(00:27):
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,
September the 29th.
I hope you're ready to thinkabout yesterday's sermon and how
to integrate that moreeffectively into your life, as
well as do some prep for thisweek's daily Bible reading.
It's a little bit different thisweek than what we've been doing.
And all of that will help us tostart the week right with a
(01:13):
sharp spiritual focus.
Grab your Bible, grab yourcoffee.
Let's grow together.
Let's start with a note from thesermon yesterday.
On Sunday, we talked aboutenduring faith, and Jesus'
question, Will the Son of Manfind faith on the earth out of
the Gospel of Luke.
I said in that sermon that thequestion isn't, will God act,
(01:36):
but will we endure?
Will I remain steadfast to theLord?
Now here's one way to build thatkind of endurance,
steadfastness.
We do that by practicing small,everyday faithfulness right now.
Big trials don't usually arriveout of nowhere.
They're faced by people who'vebeen training their hearts in
(01:56):
smaller struggles.
Just like you don't run amarathon without first jogging a
mile, you need to develop deepperseverance before the moment
of persecution, trial, anddifficulty, maybe even
temptation, arrives.
You cultivate perseverance,endurance through daily habits.
Praying when you don't feel likeit, telling the truth when it
costs a little, holding yourtongue when you'd really like to
(02:19):
give somebody a piece of yourmind.
Choosing to worship when itwould be easier to sleep in.
That's the training ground offaith.
Small acts of obedience becomekind of spiritual muscle memory
so that when we need someperseverance, we're not starting
from scratch.
We have a reservoir of endurancewe've been building up all
(02:40):
along.
So here's the challenge for theweek.
Pick one small area offaithfulness that you've been
neglecting and lean into it.
Lean into it.
Maybe that's going to be withdaily Bible reading.
Maybe you're kind of hit andmiss.
How about this week?
Every week, every day, start theday in your daily Bible reading,
listen to the podcast, do yourdaily Bible reading, reflect on
(03:02):
those questions, and then beabout the business of the day,
all the other things, scrollingFacebook and everything else we
want to do.
Let that be your way ofanswering Jesus' question.
Will the Son of Man find faithwith a very confident, yes,
Lord, with me, you will findthat I am enduring.
(03:23):
I certainly like the preachingtheme this year and have enjoyed
it very much.
I've had three of those lessonsin a row now here in September,
and that is the last one for alittle bit.
We'll get kind of back onschedule once a month, is when I
really like to do thesepreaching themed sermons.
So we'll talk more aboutquestions Jesus asks in October,
much later in October.
(03:43):
In fact, next week, a little bitsomething different in the
pulpit, a sermon I hope willhelp our senior saints.
Now, let's think a little bitabout daily Bible reading.
(04:13):
As you look at your daily Biblereading schedule, if you do not
have one of those, go toJustChristians.com.
You can download it there.
Week 39, and this is a week thatwe'll spend some time with
Isaiah and on Thursday withJeremiah, where we'll be reading
some in the prophets this week.
Let's get set with the prophetsthen by thinking a little bit
about who Isaiah is.
Isaiah is considered by many tobe the greatest of all the
(04:36):
prophets, and the New Testamentuses his work, quoting or
alluding to him over 60 times.
He has enormous impact,especially with messianic
prophecy.
He is the dominant propheticvoice from about 750 to 700 B.C.
He counsels kings at criticaltimes and preaches to a nation
that desperately needs to returnto God.
(04:58):
This week's selections fromIsaiah will help us think about
David being the ideal king andthe Messiah being a king like
David.
And there'll be some good news,and I like that in our reading
today in Isaiah chapter 9.
Our reading for Monday is Isaiahchapter 9, verses 1 to 7.
Chapter 9 opens here with goodnews for the lands of Zebulun
(05:21):
and Napdali.
And coming out of the gloom anddarkness of Assyrian invasions
in Israel, this is good news.
Like to hear something good fora change instead of hearing
about how our neighbors to thenorth have been carted off into
captivity.
Now, this text is established inMatthew chapter 4, verses 15 and
16 as being messianic, thatthese would be the lands to be
(05:44):
the first to see the Messiah.
So this is speaking in verylong-distance terms of Galilee
and all the things that will gothere as Jesus begins his
ministry there.
And these verses do speak of warimplements being destroyed,
verses 3, 4, and 5, as adeliverer is coming.
But it is not a great warriorthat comes.
(06:06):
Instead, it is a child, verses 6and 7.
For us unto us a child is born,to a son is given, and the
government shall be upon hisshoulders.
This is the child Emmanuel,predicted and prophesied in
chapter 7 and in verse 14.
And this is Jesus the Christ.
The titles that are applied herecan leave no doubt that the
(06:26):
Messiah will be deity, wonderfulcounselor.
He possesses supernaturalwisdom, mighty God, he's the
divine son, expressing the powerof God, eternal father, he is
unendingly a father unto us.
He is the prince of peace.
He will be a ruler of peace, nota ruler of military might.
(06:47):
And of the increase for seven ofhis government and of peace,
there will be no end.
And on, there it is, the throneof David.
2 Samuel 7 is being referencedthere.
And over his kingdom toestablish it and to uphold it
with justice and righteousnessfrom this time forth and
forevermore.
He will rule endlessly,prosperly, fulfilling the
(07:08):
promise of David in justice andrighteousness.
How is this possible?
The zeal of the Lord will dothis.
God will accomplish this.
God is the one who will installthe Messiah on a throne that
will never be destroyed over akingdom that will never pass
away.
Our reading for Monday, Isaiah9, 1 to 7.
(07:33):
It is Tuesday.
Today is Tuesday, and thereading is Isaiah 37, verses 33
to 38.
Isaiah 37, 33 to 38.
These verses give us theperspective of the prophet
Isaiah on the invasion ofSennacheriv.
We read about this in week 36 in2 Kings 18 and 19.
And the material here is almostword for word, the same as the
(07:56):
account in Kings.
The fact that God saw fit torecord this three times, it's in
Kings, it's here, it's also inthe Book of Chronicles, and
we'll pay some attention to thattonight in the Zoom call.
All that just stresses itsimportance to the reader.
And I think 33 to 38 is not avery long reading.
Maybe we want to read more ofchapter 37 and get the flavor of
(08:18):
the times, and particularlyremember the blasphemy against
God.
This really is God versusSenekarib.
Remember all the things that theRabshaka has to say is how he
taunts the people and says, Oh,your God cannot help you, verse
10.
Don't let your God in whom youtrust deceive you.
(08:39):
There's so much said here aboutGod being impotent and powerless
against Senekarib, and of coursewhat that does is invite God to
teach Sennacherib who really isGod.
When you taunt the Lord likethat, that virtually guarantees
that God will intervene.
And I love here that God doesnot allow the enemy to just go
(08:59):
home.
Verse 36, 185,000 of them staybehind, dead.
And I particularly like thislittle note here in verse 38,
that while Sennacherib wasworshiping in the house of
Nisroch his God, his sons, hisown sons, they murder him.
And I like the note there aboutNizroch.
He's worshiping a God who doesnot save him from assassination
(09:24):
by his own children.
Our reading for Tuesday, Isaiah37, 33 to 38.
Westsiders, I'll see you tonightin the Zoom call, and we'll talk
a little bit about the materialin Kings and Chronicles that
goes along with what we readtoday in Isaiah.
Our reading for Tuesday, Isaiah37, 33 to 38.
(09:46):
It's Wednesday.
It is Wednesday, and today we'rereading Isaiah 55, 1 to 13.
Today's reading takes us to somevery famous verses in Isaiah and
said in their context, I thinkthey're even more meaningful
than when sometimes they're justkind of quoted out of midair.
Chapter 55 really does containan incredible plea from the Lord
for his people.
(10:07):
There is an emphasis here,notice verse 2, in stopping
foolish, false religion that isjust worthless.
It does no good at all.
Instead, come and share in thecovenant of the Messiah that was
made to David.
King David, verse 3, appearsthere.
David's there in verse 3.
The promise again from 2 Samuelchapter 7.
And the Son of David, pleasenotice here, will be a leader
(10:29):
for all nations.
He is for everyone, a witness toall the peoples, and he'll call
a nation, verse 5, that you donot know.
Come to the Lord then, verses 6and 7.
You will find forgiveness.
And that helps us, all thatforgiveness language in verse 7
helps us better understandverses 8 and 9.
(10:50):
Because, and I get it, verses 8and 9 are often quoted to say
that God doesn't do things theway that we do things, and his
thoughts are not our thoughts.
But specifically in thiscontext, people don't forgive
the way God does.
People don't forgive the way theLord does.
And if you think, now come on,Lord, that's never going to
happen.
You just you can't forgivewicked people like us.
(11:13):
Then we get the amazing promisein verse 10 and 11 that my word
will not return empty.
All the things that I'm saying,the Lord says through Isaiah,
installing the Messianic King inthe line of David, all of those
things will come to pass,especially the new covenant,
where people can be forgiven oftheir sins.
(11:36):
Our reading for Wednesday,Isaiah 55, 1 to 13.
Welcome to Thursday.
Welcome to Thursday.
Today we read in the book ofJeremiah.
Jeremiah 33, verses 14 to 26 isour reading for Thursday.
We spent some time with Isaiahthis week.
Now it's time to spend some timewith Jeremiah.
Jeremiah is the last greatprophet.
(11:57):
He is the prophet during thetime when the Judean kingdom
collapses and is carried offwholesale into Babylonian
captivity.
And we're getting some of thatbad news, some of those bad
times here in Jeremiah 33.
For example, verse 1 tells usthat Jeremiah had been arrested
and was still shut up in thecourt of the guard.
His message and his preaching isnot welcome during this time.
(12:19):
He is very ill-treated.
Jeremiah is a tough prophet, buthe is also known as the weeping
prophet.
And that's not just becauseJerusalem gets burned down while
he's on duty.
No, he's weeping before thathappens because nobody listens
to him and nobody wants to dowhat's right.
In the middle of that, we getsome wonderful promises, and
that's our reading today,beginning in verse 14.
(12:41):
The days are coming, declaresthe Lord, when I will fulfill
the promise I made to the houseof Israel and the house of
Judah.
Good news, Jeremiah.
Everything isn't over.
God is not done.
God is not done with his people,and God still has promises that
he will keep.
And those promises are to David,verse 15.
I will cause a righteous branchto spring up for David.
Once again, I've mentioned it, Ithink, every day this week on
(13:03):
the podcast.
This is straight up out of 2Samuel chapter 7.
And part of this has been statedbefore in Jeremiah chapter 23,
verses 5 and 6.
And a lot of this looks to thenew covenant promise that God
delivered to Jeremiah.
And Jeremiah talked about inJeremiah 31, beginning in verse
31.
And we really get the idea herethat the Davidic king will be
(13:23):
the ideal king.
One scholar said the OldTestament expectation regarding
kings emphasizes thecharacteristics of righteousness
and justice.
Jeremiah 22 describes Josiah'sreign in those terms.
He was such a good king, youremember.
The quote goes on to say, thesevirtues are demonstrated
especially in defending theoppressed and saving the poor.
That's what an ideal king willdo.
(13:45):
That's how that was viewedduring this time.
And this Messiah will be the onewho executes justice and
righteousness in the land.
He will be like that.
And this will be an everlastingkingdom, verse 7.
The great promise of 2 Samuel 7,as I've said, is being talked
about here.
Please note, maybe make a notein your Bible, that that promise
(14:06):
is qualified in 1 Kings chapter2 and verse 4, and also in 1
Kings chapter 9.
It is not a blank check.
And we need to understand thatwhen the kings didn't do what's
right, then God took action.
We've seen some of that as we'veread this year, and we've seen
that the Assyrians came and tookaway the northern ten tribes
forever.
They're just gone.
(14:27):
And in fact, we just read thatthe Babylonians came and took
away the Judean tribes, thesouthern kingdom.
They're in Babylonian captivity.
Jeremiah's in the middle of allof that.
Jeremiah's trying to help peopledo what's right and turn back to
God, even though they have nointerest in doing that.
So, verse 21, then also mycovenant with David, my servant,
(14:49):
may be broken.
When could that happen?
I should have read verse 20,when my covenant with day and
night is broken.
This is an everlasting covenant.
You can't stop the word of God.
And I think this is very muchabout the gospel and about what
God is going to do with Jesusthe Son.
That's what we're talking abouthere.
And so I'll multiply theoffspring of David, my servant,
(15:09):
and the Levitical priest whominister to me.
Remember, every Christian is apriest today, not just a certain
class or these people over hereand nobody else.
All of us are Christians in thatnew dispensation that the
Messiah brings.
So, again, verse 25 and 26repeat.
(15:36):
A reading Thursday, Jeremiahchapter 33, verses 14 to 26.
It's Friday.
It is Friday.
And today we're reading in thePsalm.
Psalm 53 is the reading fortoday.
This is an important Psalm, andI know it's an important Psalm
because it is in the Psalmstwice.
(15:58):
This is actually Psalm 14, whichwe read in week 11, with a minor
difference in verse 5 here inPsalm 53, and a minor
difference, the difference inverse 5 from Psalm 14, verses 5
and 6.
Maybe you're wondering why isthis in the Bible twice?
And I think the quick answer tothat is that it appeared in both
(16:20):
collections of songs that areput together.
There are five collections inthe book of Psalms that have
been put together under that onetitle, the Book of Psalms.
And so maybe if you were editinga hymnal and you had sacred
selections, a hymnal that a lotof us grew up with, and then a
hymnal from today, Praise forthe Lord, and you were putting
(16:41):
them together, merging them intoone giant collection of hymns.
There might be some that were inone hymnal that would then also
be in the other hymnal, so theycould appear two times in your
brand new hymnal.
And that may be what's happeninghere in the book of Psalms.
I would say this (16:56):
the difference in Psalm 53.5 and Psalm 14,
verses 5 and 6 may not be just aminor translation issue, a minor
issue.
Verse 5 in chapter 14, Psalm 14stresses that God is with the
righteous.
Psalm 53.5 seems to stress morethat God is ensuring the doom of
the wicked.
(17:16):
And that may be a significantdifference, uh significant
enough difference to include itboth times in the book of
Psalms.
This is a psalm about atheists,and it doesn't exactly deal with
atheists in the way that wemight think.
We think of atheists today,particularly the militant
atheists that have just been allover the airwave since 9-11
announcing that all of theworld's problems are caused by
(17:36):
religion, especiallyChristianity.
So maybe you've heard Dawkins orHitchens, those guys.
Maybe you've read some of thestuff that they've put out.
That's not really where Psalm 53is.
If you notice here, the foolsays in his heart, verse 1,
there is no God.
This isn't somebody making apublic proclamation.
This isn't somebody all overFacebook with his atheism.
This is somebody who's sayingthis inside.
(17:59):
And I think what you're lookingat here is what is often called
practical atheism.
This person might even go to thetemple and continue to worship
God outwardly, but inside hedoes not believe in God.
And that results in corruption,verse 3.
And that is the kind of thingthat makes you into a fool.
Verses 4 and 5 talk about theproblem of opposing God, is that
(18:21):
that is futile.
That's just folly.
There's no value to that at all.
Now he doesn't know God, he hasno knowledge.
Have those who work evil noknowledge, who eat my people up
as they eat bread?
He may know the facts about God,but eating people is not a
reference to cannibalism, but toabuse and to mistreatment.
They give no thought to that.
(18:41):
They abuse people and oppresspeople, and they don't even care
about any of that.
But of course, verse 5, there issome terror that goes with that,
because God will judge and bringthese people down.
Verse 6, oh, that salvation forIsrael would come out of Zion.
There is a prayer here fordeliverance.
And I wonder, some scholars havenoted, this may well have been
(19:02):
written during the Babyloniancaptivity, serving as a reminder
that God had delivered in thepast, and so there is a prayer
for God to deliver yet again.
When God restores the fortunesof his people, let Jacob
rejoice, let Israel be glad.
That fits well because in ourreading, God's people are in
Babylon.
Our reading for Friday, Psalm53.
(19:26):
Thank you so much for listeningto the podcast.
If the podcast is a blessing toyou, please tell a friend and
consider leaving a rating orreview so even more people can
be encouraged by the Word ofGod.
It is truly a joy to open theScriptures with you each day.
I'm Mark Roberts, and I want togo to heaven and I want you to
come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
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
(20:17):
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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