May 19, 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, May
the 19th.
I'm Mark, and I have got sermonnotes from yesterday.
We talked a lot about the thiefon the cross, and I am holding
notes to help us in our Biblereading for this week.
And yes, I have a cup of coffee.
Usually I say I have a great cupof coffee.
Let's tell the truth.
Nobody has a great cup of coffee100% of the time, and I am not
(01:14):
the exception to that rule.
This is kind of a mediocre cupof coffee, but it'll have to do.
You pour that cup of coffee.
I hope that it's a great one foryou.
You pour it because let's getready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
Yesterday was not the most warmand fuzzy day at Westside, was
it?
In the 9 o'clock hour, I talkedabout persecution and what we're
(01:35):
going to do if we're persecuted.
And then talked about thisdifficult text in Luke chapter
23 with the thief on the cross.
And I think what I want you tohold on to is that last stuff
that I said right at the end, atthe conclusion and the
invitation about how this justsays so much of grace and mercy
(02:00):
and how much Jesus wants you tobe saved.
It is very disappointing to methat the thief on the cross has
become a theologicalbattleground instead of a place
where a tax that brings forwardhope and mercy and grace and
says our God is amazing andwonderful and will save anybody
(02:23):
who will turn to Him.
And our turning, as I pointedout extensively yesterday, is a
little bit different than theturning the thief on the cross
did, people under the oldcovenant did.
But our turning says, I trustyou.
I can't do this, and I know youcan.
I...
I am trusting you.
I'm giving you my loyalty and myallegiance.
(02:45):
I'm not going to go it on myown.
I trust in you.
And what the thief on the crosssays is that when we do that, we
can be saved.
No matter how sinful, we can besaved.
And I hope that sermon filledyou with that kind of hope.
I certainly want that sermon todirect you to what turning means
(03:07):
in the New Covenant.
And that includes repentance,and that includes baptism, and
that includes continuing to giveour loyalty and allegiance to
Jesus and walking with Him.
But the keynote in all of this,here's where the emphasis needs
to be.
The boldface, the big letterssay, Jesus wants to save you.
And I hope you got that out ofyesterday's sermon.
(03:30):
Let's think about Bible readingnow.
Get your Bible over toChronicles.
Chronicles.
We're going to talk about 1Chronicles 22.
(03:58):
Our reading for Monday is 1Chronicles chapter 22.
This gives me a goodopportunity, particularly
because I think Chronicles ispretty close to some of the
material in 1 Kings 1 and 2.
This gives me a good opportunityto say a little bit here about
the book of Chronicles.
You may have wondered at somepoint, why do we have Kings and
(04:19):
Chronicles?
They are so much the same.
Let's just get one or get theother, and let's just move on.
But they are written at verydifferent times into very
different audiences.
Kings was written about 550 to560 BC during the time of the
Babylonian exile, and it is allabout showing why we are in
(04:39):
exile, how we Israel failed.
Chronicles was written after theexile was over, 450 to 440 BC,
somewhere around in there.
And it is written to inspirehope and faith in God who lets
his people come home.
And so there's a verydifferent...
on the same history coming outof Kings and coming out of
(05:01):
Chronicles.
And I'll just say this aboutChronicles.
Chronicles has a couple ofdistinctive emphasis.
One is lots on David andSolomon, 29 chapters in all.
And while certainly notwhitewashing that history, it
deals much more favorably withthose kings.
For example, there is no accountof the adultery of David in
Chronicles.
(05:22):
And wicked King Manasseh, who isdescribed as a terribly evil
king in 2 Kings 21, inChronicles, his repentance and
return to God is recorded there.
Mostly, second distinctive here,there's a focus on Judea.
The distinctive of theChronicles is that mostly it
wants to talk about the southernkingdom.
(05:44):
And then there is this hugethird distinctive here, emphasis
on restoration.
Samuel and Kings acknowledgethat God had to deal with the
wickedness of God's kings and ofIsrael's kings, I should say,
and the people and had to punishthem.
Chronicles focuses on the wayhome, how to be restored, how to
(06:05):
go back and serve God again.
It is about lifting the peopleof God's hopes as they return
home from Babylonian captivity.
There's lots in Chronicles, Ishould say as well, about proper
worship and treating Godcorrectly because Because...
Because as 1 Kings documents, wedidn't do that, and that's how
(06:26):
come we ended up in Babylon.
So this is what it ought to looklike.
And so having said that, youunderstand the emphasis in 1
Chronicles chapter 22 veryeasily.
David wants to talk to Solomonabout this temple and that it
has to be done right.
And really, 1 Chronicles 22.1goes with the reading in 1
Chronicles chapter 21, which isthe whole business of David's
(06:47):
census bringing pestilence onthe land and all things that go
with that.
So really, our reading is 1Chronicles 22.2.
through verse 19, and I thinkthe key verse is verse 5.
The house that is to be builtfor the Lord must be exceedingly
magnificent of fame and glorythroughout all the lands.
God is special.
God's house must be treated asspecial.
And so this whole topic, thiswhole chapter is about the topic
(07:10):
of preparation and provision.
The term make preparation orprovide occurs five times, and
there is lots of discussionabout what David has set aside.
I've been preaching in Kingsabout the temple, so some of
this will be very familiar toyou if you're there in the 9
a.m.
or if you've gone back andlistened to the 9 a.m.
One of the reasons Solomon'sable to construct this house so
quickly, relatively speaking,takes seven years, is because
(07:33):
David has made so much provisionfor it, and that is all
documented here in thisparticular chapter.
Notice as well, please, verses7, 8, 9, and 10, once again,
touching the promises of thecovenant that God made to David
in 2 Samuel 7.
That's just a keystone of theOld Testament and of the house
of David.
And I've said several times, butI want to make sure that
(07:55):
everybody has this.
I don't think verse 8, you haveshed much blood, somehow is a
knock on David.
David fought those wars at God'scommand.
I think it just says it wasn'tthe time to build the temple.
In fact, verse 18, when Davidcommands the leaders of Israel
to help Solomon, he even says,has not God given you peace on
(08:15):
every side?
How did God do that?
He did that through David.
David's place was to secure theempire, and then Solomon could
build the temple in anatmosphere of peace and safety,
which is exactly what it says inverse 9.
The chapter ends then, as Imentioned a moment ago, with
David charging the leaders tohelp Solomon, verses 17, 18, and
19, especially because—and thisis a little bit of an unusual
(08:38):
note—verse 5 says, David says,you know what?
Solomon's a little wet behindthe ears.
He didn't know what to do, soyou all will need to help him.
A reading for Monday then, 1Chronicles 22.
Welcome to Tuesday.
Today we begin reading in 1Kings.
1 Kings 1 verses 1 to 27 is ourreading for Tuesday.
(08:59):
A couple of things here as weget into Kings, and I talked a
little bit about this yesterdayas we talked about Chronicles
and Kings and the differences.
I really think Kings has acouple of big ideas.
One about worship, usually howGod's people failed to worship
correctly.
And then secondly, it's aboutthe Word.
There will be the rise of theprophetic voice in the book of
(09:20):
Kings.
We've had some prophets before,Nathan the prophet, Gad the
prophet, but they have been onthe king's side.
Now we will have prophets whoare the adversary of the king
because the king isn't doingright and he's there to instruct
the king or he's there toadmonish the king, call the
people to repentance, really seea lot of the prophets in 1
Kings.
(09:40):
And then I think this is a lotabout weakness here.
The story of Kings is aboutleaders who ignore those
prophets, and the result is thekingdom just crashes and burns
spectacularly and trulyterribly.
More and more, I think the bookof Kings sets us up to see what
it is to live for the Lord andto honor God, particularly in
(10:03):
worship.
And that means this is not ahistory book.
It's not recording everythingthat ever happened in Israel or
Judah.
It is recording the history ofthese people from God's vantage
point to help God's people knowwhat God God thought of this.
So always, always, always,always, always be asking, what
is God doing?
That's our first question in ourreading schedule.
(10:24):
What does God think of this?
What's God's verdict?
What is God's verdict on theseactions?
We need to see this through theeyes of the Lord.
And so we begin in 1 Kings inthe first four verses.
David is sick and he is old.
Some of this we get a littlewiggly with because here they're
putting a woman in bed with himand that's hard for us to get a
(10:45):
hold of.
But that would be a common kindof thing.
Abishag will come up later.
She will become important later.
I think that's why she's beingnamed here.
But mostly, I think the firstfour verses here are just trying
to say to us, David is veryweak, which is why Adonijah can
make a run at the throne.
And that's what he tries to doin verses 5 to 10.
(11:05):
He seems to be about 35 yearsold.
He is now, as best we can tell,the eldest surviving son of
David, which means...
Yes, he should be the heirapparent.
He does act remarkably likeAbsalom in this text.
And verse 6 stands out to us,"...his father had never at any
time displeased him by asking,Why have you done thus and so?"
(11:27):
We talked some as we werereading through 2 Samuel that
David is a terrible father.
In 1 Kings 1 verse 6 doesnothing to change that
impression.
Somebody needs to take Adonijahdown a peg or two, and that
seems to never have happened,and so he decides he will make a
run at the throne.
What should be very clear hereis that he knows better than
(11:49):
this.
Adonijah must know that it isnot God's will for him to be the
king.
1 Chronicles 22, 9 and 10 talksabout, we read that yesterday,
didn't we?
David saying Solomon is the one,and 1 Chronicles 28, which we
read last week, Solomon is theone.
He should know that this is notthe will of God.
(12:10):
However, he decides, I don'tcare.
I'm going to do what I want todo.
I want to be king.
And the fact that he does notinvite Solomon or Bathsheba or
David to any of this crowningceremony business shows he knows
better than to do what he isdoing here.
Interestingly, verse 7, Joab,who never guesses wrong
(12:31):
politically...
Guess is wrong today.
What an absolute disaster.
And please pay attention inverses 11 and 12 because Nathan
here talks to Bathsheba and heis urgent because what will
happen to Bathsheba and Solomonif Adonijah is installed on the
throne successfully?
That's right.
He will massacre the rest of thefamily.
That will be the only way he canhold the throne.
(12:52):
People will be saying, no, no,no, no, no, no.
It's supposed to be Solomon.
He will have to kill Solomon andNathan knows it and Bathsheba
knows it.
Now Solomon is young here.
Verse 17, he's probablysomewhere around 20.
But Bathsheba knows this is bigtrouble, and she'd better do
(13:12):
something about it.
So she goes to see King David.
And while she's talking, boom,here comes the prophet.
Verse 22, they've timed this outjust right, and they drop this
in the king's lap.
And maybe I'm thinking David'stoo old and enfeebled, kind of
on his way to senility.
He's not going to get it.
This little plot by Bathshebaand Nathan won't work.
(13:35):
David isn't going to get it.
He can't do anything about it.
Well, guess what?
Adonijah underestimated daddy.
More of that tomorrow.
Today, we have 1 Kings 1-27 asthe reading for Tuesday.
And yes, Westsiders, see youtonight in the Zoom prayer and
Bible study call.
See you on Zoom.
See the rest of you tomorrow onthe podcast.
(13:57):
The reading for Tuesday, 1 Kings1-27.
It is Wednesday.
It is Wednesday, and today we'refinishing 1 Kings 1, and we are
finishing the mini-rebellion ofAdonijah.
I said yesterday that Adonijahhas badly underestimated daddy,
and that is entirely the case.
King David, verse 28, answered,"'Call Bathsheba to me,' and
(14:20):
then the king begins to makeplans decisively.'" I've read
David's life many, many times,as I'm sure that you have.
I'm not sure I've ever noticedbefore how quick David is to
make decisions in a criticalmoment.
Instead of hemming and hawingand chewing on his fingernails
and calling for more counsel andthinking, in a moment of crisis,
(14:44):
David can decide what to do in aflash.
He immediately begins to takeaction.
action that will short outAdonijah's rebellion and install
Solomon as king.
And so we read down throughthis.
Notice the emphasis on the Lord,the God of Israel.
Verse 30 is, I swore to you bythe Lord God of Israel.
Over and over again, this islots and lots about God, what
(15:06):
God is doing.
We get Zadok the priest involvedhere.
We get Nathan the prophetinvolved here.
They go down to Gihon, verse 33.
That is actually outside thecity of David.
The Jerusalem has grown Greatbig, but right now it's just
this small area, but that'swhere a well is.
(15:27):
People would naturally gatherthere.
It's in the Kidron Valley, so itwould echo and the shouting and
all the trumpets and all thatbusiness would really sound and
people yelling, verse 39, longlive King Solomon, would
resonate.
And so, of course, the nextthing you know, Adonijah and the
people with him, including Joab,verse 41, they hear the sounds
(15:49):
of the coronation of Solomon.
Again, This is about Davidtaking action decisively.
There is a time to thinkcarefully.
There is a time to pray.
There's a time to call moreadvisors in and get more advice
about what to do.
But in some circumstances,you've got to act.
And David is just a master ofthat.
(16:10):
He knows.
can do something in the middleof an emergency rather than let
the emergency overtake him.
So Jonathan comes, verse 43.
Obviously, this is not KingSaul's son, Jonathan.
And he relays all of the badnews.
They have put Solomon on thethrone.
Adonijah, while you were downhere thinking about being on the
(16:31):
throne and trying to make a runat the throne, somebody is
sitting in that chair already.
And verse 49 is one of myfavorite verses in 1 Kings
because it's so funny.
All the guests of Adonijahtrembled and rose and each went
his own way.
Talk about being in the wrongplace at the wrong time.
Nobody wants to be standing atthe party for the usurper when
(16:54):
the actual king has beeninstalled on the throne.
I think about that wheneverthere's a national election.
And of course, both parties willhave a big victory celebration
going on.
And as the returns come inthroughout the night, it becomes
clear one candidate is going tobe the winner and the other is
not.
And so that victory party, whichbecomes kind of like a morgue,
(17:18):
kind of like a funeral,gradually people drift out of
there and nobody wants to staybecause we lost.
And that's what's happening inverse 49.
And maybe the best part of allof this is that all's well here
because Solomon is a man ofpeace and he does not take his
brother's life.
So verses 51 to 53 show us thatSolomon can be magnanimous,
(17:42):
really like that, feel goodabout that.
Solomon seems like he's theright person to sit on the
throne.
1 Kings 1, 28 to 53, that's ourreading for Wednesday.
It is Thursday, it is Thursday,and our reading today is 1 Kings
2, verses 1 to 12.
This is David's charge toSolomon, and the key idea here
(18:04):
is the establishment ofSolomon's kingdom.
Just make sure that you'reunderlining in your Bible the
word established.
So for example, verse 4, thatthe Lord may establish his word.
Establish is important here.
So Solomon, verse 12, sat on thethrone of David his father.
His kingdom was firmlyestablished.
That will be the idea in 1 Kingschapter 2, which of course makes
(18:28):
sense considering we just had anelder brother make a run for the
throne and Solomon did not puthim to death.
So there's some pieces that arestill moving here and some
things that need to get settleddown.
So David charges Solomon here.
here.
And we read some of this as weread in 1 Chronicles chapter 28
last week.
(18:49):
But again, we get an emphasis onspiritual success and on what it
takes to be a success before theLord.
Verse 3 is just such a powerful,powerful passage.
The key to success is God's law.
God's king must walk after God,and God's word is not mysterious
and unknowable.
(19:10):
All of these terms suggest thetotality of God's word, that
Solomon is to keep all of God'sword, obey His commandments,
Verse 3 is something that all ofus should just write deeply on
our hearts and know that truesuccess before God is predicated
upon us doing the things thatDavid is talking about here in
(19:30):
verse 3.
We need to keep his statutes,commandments, rules,
testimonies.
We need to walk in his ways.
That's what we must do if we areto be the people of God today.
And then there is this businessabout some things that need to
be tidied up.
Some things that need to betidied up in verses 5 to 9.
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Joab has so much blood on hishands.
That has to be handled.
Barzillai, who helped David somuch during the rebellion of
Absalom, he must be welltreated.
And then Shemai, Shemaibeginning verse 8, he has to be
taken care of.
And the emphasis there is onthat curse.
Shemai curses David withgrievous curses.
(20:12):
That's a violation of the law ofGod, Exodus 22-28.
And we need to be mindful thatin this day, in David and
Solomon's day, curses matter.
Curses matter.
I think today, if somebody...
You have some kind ofaltercation in the grocery store
parking lot.
You see a parking space, and youpull in, and you're climbing out
(20:34):
of your car, and you thinkeverything's good, and somebody
starts screaming at you, Hey,that was my space.
I was going to get that space.
And you're completely innocent.
Wait, I didn't even see you.
And they say, I curse you.
We wouldn't give a lot ofthought to that.
But in the Old Testament,cursing somebody is serious
business.
It is to call down condemnationfrom God.
It is to invoke God'sdispleasure upon someone.
(20:56):
And David doesn't appreciatethat Shammai did that, and he
needs to be dealt with.
He must be dealt with.
Bring his gray head down withblood to Sheol.
Sheol is just the grave.
That just means that's David'sway of saying he needs to die.
So then David dies, verses 10,11, and 12, and Solomon is on
the throne, and his kingdom isfirmly established.
(21:17):
And we'll get some more detailsabout how that happens in our
reading in 1 Kings 2 next week,but tomorrow we turn to the
Psalms.
Our reading for Thursday, 1Kings chapter 2, verses 1 to 12.
It is Friday.
It is Friday.
You made it through the week,and we're going to start the day
with Psalm 72.
(21:37):
Psalm 72 is the reading forFriday.
This is a royal psalm.
We always talk about what kindof psalm a psalm is so that we
can understand its setting andcontext.
This is a royal psalm.
It is about the king, and it isidentified in the There are only
two Psalms that are explicitlygiven to Solomon, this one and
(22:00):
Psalm 127.
However, it is possible for thatheading to be for Solomon and
not by Solomon.
And that, in many ways, seemsprobably to be the case because
this is about the king.
It has a different style thanDavid, by the way, so probably
not a Davidic song and David.
Probably not a messianic song.
There is no place in the NewTestament that directly quotes
(22:22):
Psalm 72 and applies it toJesus.
Anytime we're dealing with amessianic, I'm sorry, with a
royal psalm, we're going to golooking for some kind of
connection to Jesus.
And verses 17 and 18 have largelanguage for any human to
fulfill.
So maybe there's a shadow thereor a hint of things to come with
the Messiah.
But again, no place in the NewTestament explicitly ties this
(22:46):
to Jesus the Christ.
It's all about the king.
It's all about Solomon.
Verses 1 to 5, may God givejustice through the king.
Look at the concern for the poorhere.
Look at the concern for socialjustice here.
I think that's something thatsometimes we've pushed back
against.
We've seen people abuse thesocial justice system in our
country today.
(23:07):
It's very easy to say everybodyjust ought to get a job and take
care of themselves.
We need to think very carefullyabout how concerned God is for
people who are being run over,people who are being oppressed,
people who are being treatedunfairly.
We need rulers who are likethis, who defend the cause of
the poor, who deliver thechildren of the needy, who crush
the oppressor.
(23:27):
That is what God is looking forin a leader who is seeking after
his heart.
Then the prayer in verses 5 to 8is that may God give life
through the king.
And I think verse 5 is reallyjust a way of saying,"'O king,
live forever, or long live theking.'" And verse 6 is the
baseball field verse, this ideaof mown grass.
(23:48):
When Sarah and I visit baseballparks, the first thing that we
want to do is we just want tosee the field.
We'll just go up any tunnel,whether it's our tunnel or not,
to get a look at the field.
And lots of times it's early,and they've just mowed the grass
for the game, and they'rewatering it, and the baseball
field smells amazing.
And I'm sure that's what thewriter of this psalm is thinking
(24:08):
about.
And probably more to the point,I have to think about what would
have Israel's history been likeif the kings had been like is
being described here in Psalm72.
Then in verses 8 to 11, there'sthe discussion of foreigners
yielding to the king.
Verse 10, Tarshish is insouthern Spain.
(24:28):
And then verses 12 to 15, thebasis for the dominion of the
king.
And that is, again, socialjustice.
He delivers the needy.
He has pity on the weak.
He redeems people who are beingoppressed.
Precious is their blood in hissight.
This is a good blueprint for thekind of leaders that we should
look for and pray for in ourcountry.
(24:49):
And while this is certainly nota political podcast, we're not
taking sides in all thatnonsense and so forth, It just
helps us see what God thinks isimportant in a leader.
Then there is the closing prayerfor the prosperity of the king.
Verse 16 will differ indifferent translations.
The Hebrew there is verydifficult.
to nail down, one of the termsthere only appears, abundance
(25:11):
only appears in this verse.
So it is a very difficult verseto work with.
Finally, verses 18, 19, and 20are the benediction enclosed to
book two.
Verses 18, 19, and 20 don't gowith the 72nd Psalm.
The Psalms themselves, the bookof Psalms is composed of five
distinct books or collections ofPsalms, and the seams of those
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collections are very visible.
This is the end of the secondcollection the second book
within the book of Psalms.
That's our reading for Friday,Psalm 72.
That's the podcast then for theweek.
I certainly do appreciate youlistening.
We appreciate the good feedbackthat we get.
(25:52):
And when I say we, I mean thetech folks who do all the work
to make this happen and myself,of course, included.
It means a lot that people arelistening and that it's helping
them grow in God's Word andunderstand and work through the
sermon from the Sunday beforeeven better.
I appreciate every listener tothe podcast.
So until next week, when we'llopen our Bibles together again,
(26:14):
I'm Mark Roberts, and I want togo to heaven and And I want you
to come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (26:28):
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
(26:52):
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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, May
the 19th.
I'm Mark, and I have got sermonnotes from yesterday.
We talked a lot about the thiefon the cross, and I am holding
notes to help us in our Biblereading for this week.
And yes, I have a cup of coffee.
Usually I say I have a great cupof coffee.
Let's tell the truth.
Nobody has a great cup of coffee100% of the time, and I am not
(01:14):
the exception to that rule.
This is kind of a mediocre cupof coffee, but it'll have to do.
You pour that cup of coffee.
I hope that it's a great one foryou.
You pour it because let's getready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
Yesterday was not the most warmand fuzzy day at Westside, was
it?
In the 9 o'clock hour, I talkedabout persecution and what we're
(01:35):
going to do if we're persecuted.
And then talked about thisdifficult text in Luke chapter
23 with the thief on the cross.
And I think what I want you tohold on to is that last stuff
that I said right at the end, atthe conclusion and the
invitation about how this justsays so much of grace and mercy
(02:00):
and how much Jesus wants you tobe saved.
It is very disappointing to methat the thief on the cross has
become a theologicalbattleground instead of a place
where a tax that brings forwardhope and mercy and grace and
says our God is amazing andwonderful and will save anybody
(02:23):
who will turn to Him.
And our turning, as I pointedout extensively yesterday, is a
little bit different than theturning the thief on the cross
did, people under the oldcovenant did.
But our turning says, I trustyou.
I can't do this, and I know youcan.
I...
I am trusting you.
I'm giving you my loyalty and myallegiance.
(02:45):
I'm not going to go it on myown.
I trust in you.
And what the thief on the crosssays is that when we do that, we
can be saved.
No matter how sinful, we can besaved.
And I hope that sermon filledyou with that kind of hope.
I certainly want that sermon todirect you to what turning means
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in the New Covenant.
And that includes repentance,and that includes baptism, and
that includes continuing to giveour loyalty and allegiance to
Jesus and walking with Him.
But the keynote in all of this,here's where the emphasis needs
to be.
The boldface, the big letterssay, Jesus wants to save you.
And I hope you got that out ofyesterday's sermon.
(03:30):
Let's think about Bible readingnow.
Get your Bible over toChronicles.
Chronicles.
We're going to talk about 1Chronicles 22.
(03:58):
Our reading for Monday is 1Chronicles chapter 22.
This gives me a goodopportunity, particularly
because I think Chronicles ispretty close to some of the
material in 1 Kings 1 and 2.
This gives me a good opportunityto say a little bit here about
the book of Chronicles.
You may have wondered at somepoint, why do we have Kings and
(04:19):
Chronicles?
They are so much the same.
Let's just get one or get theother, and let's just move on.
But they are written at verydifferent times into very
different audiences.
Kings was written about 550 to560 BC during the time of the
Babylonian exile, and it is allabout showing why we are in
(04:39):
exile, how we Israel failed.
Chronicles was written after theexile was over, 450 to 440 BC,
somewhere around in there.
And it is written to inspirehope and faith in God who lets
his people come home.
And so there's a verydifferent...
on the same history coming outof Kings and coming out of
(05:01):
Chronicles.
And I'll just say this aboutChronicles.
Chronicles has a couple ofdistinctive emphasis.
One is lots on David andSolomon, 29 chapters in all.
And while certainly notwhitewashing that history, it
deals much more favorably withthose kings.
For example, there is no accountof the adultery of David in
Chronicles.
(05:22):
And wicked King Manasseh, who isdescribed as a terribly evil
king in 2 Kings 21, inChronicles, his repentance and
return to God is recorded there.
Mostly, second distinctive here,there's a focus on Judea.
The distinctive of theChronicles is that mostly it
wants to talk about the southernkingdom.
(05:44):
And then there is this hugethird distinctive here, emphasis
on restoration.
Samuel and Kings acknowledgethat God had to deal with the
wickedness of God's kings and ofIsrael's kings, I should say,
and the people and had to punishthem.
Chronicles focuses on the wayhome, how to be restored, how to
(06:05):
go back and serve God again.
It is about lifting the peopleof God's hopes as they return
home from Babylonian captivity.
There's lots in Chronicles, Ishould say as well, about proper
worship and treating Godcorrectly because Because...
Because as 1 Kings documents, wedidn't do that, and that's how
(06:26):
come we ended up in Babylon.
So this is what it ought to looklike.
And so having said that, youunderstand the emphasis in 1
Chronicles chapter 22 veryeasily.
David wants to talk to Solomonabout this temple and that it
has to be done right.
And really, 1 Chronicles 22.1goes with the reading in 1
Chronicles chapter 21, which isthe whole business of David's
(06:47):
census bringing pestilence onthe land and all things that go
with that.
So really, our reading is 1Chronicles 22.2.
through verse 19, and I thinkthe key verse is verse 5.
The house that is to be builtfor the Lord must be exceedingly
magnificent of fame and glorythroughout all the lands.
God is special.
God's house must be treated asspecial.
And so this whole topic, thiswhole chapter is about the topic
(07:10):
of preparation and provision.
The term make preparation orprovide occurs five times, and
there is lots of discussionabout what David has set aside.
I've been preaching in Kingsabout the temple, so some of
this will be very familiar toyou if you're there in the 9
a.m.
or if you've gone back andlistened to the 9 a.m.
One of the reasons Solomon'sable to construct this house so
quickly, relatively speaking,takes seven years, is because
(07:33):
David has made so much provisionfor it, and that is all
documented here in thisparticular chapter.
Notice as well, please, verses7, 8, 9, and 10, once again,
touching the promises of thecovenant that God made to David
in 2 Samuel 7.
That's just a keystone of theOld Testament and of the house
of David.
And I've said several times, butI want to make sure that
(07:55):
everybody has this.
I don't think verse 8, you haveshed much blood, somehow is a
knock on David.
David fought those wars at God'scommand.
I think it just says it wasn'tthe time to build the temple.
In fact, verse 18, when Davidcommands the leaders of Israel
to help Solomon, he even says,has not God given you peace on
(08:15):
every side?
How did God do that?
He did that through David.
David's place was to secure theempire, and then Solomon could
build the temple in anatmosphere of peace and safety,
which is exactly what it says inverse 9.
The chapter ends then, as Imentioned a moment ago, with
David charging the leaders tohelp Solomon, verses 17, 18, and
19, especially because—and thisis a little bit of an unusual
(08:38):
note—verse 5 says, David says,you know what?
Solomon's a little wet behindthe ears.
He didn't know what to do, soyou all will need to help him.
A reading for Monday then, 1Chronicles 22.
Welcome to Tuesday.
Today we begin reading in 1Kings.
1 Kings 1 verses 1 to 27 is ourreading for Tuesday.
(08:59):
A couple of things here as weget into Kings, and I talked a
little bit about this yesterdayas we talked about Chronicles
and Kings and the differences.
I really think Kings has acouple of big ideas.
One about worship, usually howGod's people failed to worship
correctly.
And then secondly, it's aboutthe Word.
There will be the rise of theprophetic voice in the book of
(09:20):
Kings.
We've had some prophets before,Nathan the prophet, Gad the
prophet, but they have been onthe king's side.
Now we will have prophets whoare the adversary of the king
because the king isn't doingright and he's there to instruct
the king or he's there toadmonish the king, call the
people to repentance, really seea lot of the prophets in 1
Kings.
(09:40):
And then I think this is a lotabout weakness here.
The story of Kings is aboutleaders who ignore those
prophets, and the result is thekingdom just crashes and burns
spectacularly and trulyterribly.
More and more, I think the bookof Kings sets us up to see what
it is to live for the Lord andto honor God, particularly in
(10:03):
worship.
And that means this is not ahistory book.
It's not recording everythingthat ever happened in Israel or
Judah.
It is recording the history ofthese people from God's vantage
point to help God's people knowwhat God God thought of this.
So always, always, always,always, always be asking, what
is God doing?
That's our first question in ourreading schedule.
(10:24):
What does God think of this?
What's God's verdict?
What is God's verdict on theseactions?
We need to see this through theeyes of the Lord.
And so we begin in 1 Kings inthe first four verses.
David is sick and he is old.
Some of this we get a littlewiggly with because here they're
putting a woman in bed with himand that's hard for us to get a
(10:45):
hold of.
But that would be a common kindof thing.
Abishag will come up later.
She will become important later.
I think that's why she's beingnamed here.
But mostly, I think the firstfour verses here are just trying
to say to us, David is veryweak, which is why Adonijah can
make a run at the throne.
And that's what he tries to doin verses 5 to 10.
(11:05):
He seems to be about 35 yearsold.
He is now, as best we can tell,the eldest surviving son of
David, which means...
Yes, he should be the heirapparent.
He does act remarkably likeAbsalom in this text.
And verse 6 stands out to us,"...his father had never at any
time displeased him by asking,Why have you done thus and so?"
(11:27):
We talked some as we werereading through 2 Samuel that
David is a terrible father.
In 1 Kings 1 verse 6 doesnothing to change that
impression.
Somebody needs to take Adonijahdown a peg or two, and that
seems to never have happened,and so he decides he will make a
run at the throne.
What should be very clear hereis that he knows better than
(11:49):
this.
Adonijah must know that it isnot God's will for him to be the
king.
1 Chronicles 22, 9 and 10 talksabout, we read that yesterday,
didn't we?
David saying Solomon is the one,and 1 Chronicles 28, which we
read last week, Solomon is theone.
He should know that this is notthe will of God.
(12:10):
However, he decides, I don'tcare.
I'm going to do what I want todo.
I want to be king.
And the fact that he does notinvite Solomon or Bathsheba or
David to any of this crowningceremony business shows he knows
better than to do what he isdoing here.
Interestingly, verse 7, Joab,who never guesses wrong
(12:31):
politically...
Guess is wrong today.
What an absolute disaster.
And please pay attention inverses 11 and 12 because Nathan
here talks to Bathsheba and heis urgent because what will
happen to Bathsheba and Solomonif Adonijah is installed on the
throne successfully?
That's right.
He will massacre the rest of thefamily.
That will be the only way he canhold the throne.
(12:52):
People will be saying, no, no,no, no, no, no.
It's supposed to be Solomon.
He will have to kill Solomon andNathan knows it and Bathsheba
knows it.
Now Solomon is young here.
Verse 17, he's probablysomewhere around 20.
But Bathsheba knows this is bigtrouble, and she'd better do
(13:12):
something about it.
So she goes to see King David.
And while she's talking, boom,here comes the prophet.
Verse 22, they've timed this outjust right, and they drop this
in the king's lap.
And maybe I'm thinking David'stoo old and enfeebled, kind of
on his way to senility.
He's not going to get it.
This little plot by Bathshebaand Nathan won't work.
(13:35):
David isn't going to get it.
He can't do anything about it.
Well, guess what?
Adonijah underestimated daddy.
More of that tomorrow.
Today, we have 1 Kings 1-27 asthe reading for Tuesday.
And yes, Westsiders, see youtonight in the Zoom prayer and
Bible study call.
See you on Zoom.
See the rest of you tomorrow onthe podcast.
(13:57):
The reading for Tuesday, 1 Kings1-27.
It is Wednesday.
It is Wednesday, and today we'refinishing 1 Kings 1, and we are
finishing the mini-rebellion ofAdonijah.
I said yesterday that Adonijahhas badly underestimated daddy,
and that is entirely the case.
King David, verse 28, answered,"'Call Bathsheba to me,' and
(14:20):
then the king begins to makeplans decisively.'" I've read
David's life many, many times,as I'm sure that you have.
I'm not sure I've ever noticedbefore how quick David is to
make decisions in a criticalmoment.
Instead of hemming and hawingand chewing on his fingernails
and calling for more counsel andthinking, in a moment of crisis,
(14:44):
David can decide what to do in aflash.
He immediately begins to takeaction.
action that will short outAdonijah's rebellion and install
Solomon as king.
And so we read down throughthis.
Notice the emphasis on the Lord,the God of Israel.
Verse 30 is, I swore to you bythe Lord God of Israel.
Over and over again, this islots and lots about God, what
(15:06):
God is doing.
We get Zadok the priest involvedhere.
We get Nathan the prophetinvolved here.
They go down to Gihon, verse 33.
That is actually outside thecity of David.
The Jerusalem has grown Greatbig, but right now it's just
this small area, but that'swhere a well is.
(15:27):
People would naturally gatherthere.
It's in the Kidron Valley, so itwould echo and the shouting and
all the trumpets and all thatbusiness would really sound and
people yelling, verse 39, longlive King Solomon, would
resonate.
And so, of course, the nextthing you know, Adonijah and the
people with him, including Joab,verse 41, they hear the sounds
(15:49):
of the coronation of Solomon.
Again, This is about Davidtaking action decisively.
There is a time to thinkcarefully.
There is a time to pray.
There's a time to call moreadvisors in and get more advice
about what to do.
But in some circumstances,you've got to act.
And David is just a master ofthat.
(16:10):
He knows.
can do something in the middleof an emergency rather than let
the emergency overtake him.
So Jonathan comes, verse 43.
Obviously, this is not KingSaul's son, Jonathan.
And he relays all of the badnews.
They have put Solomon on thethrone.
Adonijah, while you were downhere thinking about being on the
(16:31):
throne and trying to make a runat the throne, somebody is
sitting in that chair already.
And verse 49 is one of myfavorite verses in 1 Kings
because it's so funny.
All the guests of Adonijahtrembled and rose and each went
his own way.
Talk about being in the wrongplace at the wrong time.
Nobody wants to be standing atthe party for the usurper when
(16:54):
the actual king has beeninstalled on the throne.
I think about that wheneverthere's a national election.
And of course, both parties willhave a big victory celebration
going on.
And as the returns come inthroughout the night, it becomes
clear one candidate is going tobe the winner and the other is
not.
And so that victory party, whichbecomes kind of like a morgue,
(17:18):
kind of like a funeral,gradually people drift out of
there and nobody wants to staybecause we lost.
And that's what's happening inverse 49.
And maybe the best part of allof this is that all's well here
because Solomon is a man ofpeace and he does not take his
brother's life.
So verses 51 to 53 show us thatSolomon can be magnanimous,
(17:42):
really like that, feel goodabout that.
Solomon seems like he's theright person to sit on the
throne.
1 Kings 1, 28 to 53, that's ourreading for Wednesday.
It is Thursday, it is Thursday,and our reading today is 1 Kings
2, verses 1 to 12.
This is David's charge toSolomon, and the key idea here
(18:04):
is the establishment ofSolomon's kingdom.
Just make sure that you'reunderlining in your Bible the
word established.
So for example, verse 4, thatthe Lord may establish his word.
Establish is important here.
So Solomon, verse 12, sat on thethrone of David his father.
His kingdom was firmlyestablished.
That will be the idea in 1 Kingschapter 2, which of course makes
(18:28):
sense considering we just had anelder brother make a run for the
throne and Solomon did not puthim to death.
So there's some pieces that arestill moving here and some
things that need to get settleddown.
So David charges Solomon here.
here.
And we read some of this as weread in 1 Chronicles chapter 28
last week.
(18:49):
But again, we get an emphasis onspiritual success and on what it
takes to be a success before theLord.
Verse 3 is just such a powerful,powerful passage.
The key to success is God's law.
God's king must walk after God,and God's word is not mysterious
and unknowable.
(19:10):
All of these terms suggest thetotality of God's word, that
Solomon is to keep all of God'sword, obey His commandments,
Verse 3 is something that all ofus should just write deeply on
our hearts and know that truesuccess before God is predicated
upon us doing the things thatDavid is talking about here in
(19:30):
verse 3.
We need to keep his statutes,commandments, rules,
testimonies.
We need to walk in his ways.
That's what we must do if we areto be the people of God today.
And then there is this businessabout some things that need to
be tidied up.
Some things that need to betidied up in verses 5 to 9.
(19:50):
Joab has so much blood on hishands.
That has to be handled.
Barzillai, who helped David somuch during the rebellion of
Absalom, he must be welltreated.
And then Shemai, Shemaibeginning verse 8, he has to be
taken care of.
And the emphasis there is onthat curse.
Shemai curses David withgrievous curses.
(20:12):
That's a violation of the law ofGod, Exodus 22-28.
And we need to be mindful thatin this day, in David and
Solomon's day, curses matter.
Curses matter.
I think today, if somebody...
You have some kind ofaltercation in the grocery store
parking lot.
You see a parking space, and youpull in, and you're climbing out
(20:34):
of your car, and you thinkeverything's good, and somebody
starts screaming at you, Hey,that was my space.
I was going to get that space.
And you're completely innocent.
Wait, I didn't even see you.
And they say, I curse you.
We wouldn't give a lot ofthought to that.
But in the Old Testament,cursing somebody is serious
business.
It is to call down condemnationfrom God.
It is to invoke God'sdispleasure upon someone.
(20:56):
And David doesn't appreciatethat Shammai did that, and he
needs to be dealt with.
He must be dealt with.
Bring his gray head down withblood to Sheol.
Sheol is just the grave.
That just means that's David'sway of saying he needs to die.
So then David dies, verses 10,11, and 12, and Solomon is on
the throne, and his kingdom isfirmly established.
(21:17):
And we'll get some more detailsabout how that happens in our
reading in 1 Kings 2 next week,but tomorrow we turn to the
Psalms.
Our reading for Thursday, 1Kings chapter 2, verses 1 to 12.
It is Friday.
It is Friday.
You made it through the week,and we're going to start the day
with Psalm 72.
(21:37):
Psalm 72 is the reading forFriday.
This is a royal psalm.
We always talk about what kindof psalm a psalm is so that we
can understand its setting andcontext.
This is a royal psalm.
It is about the king, and it isidentified in the There are only
two Psalms that are explicitlygiven to Solomon, this one and
(22:00):
Psalm 127.
However, it is possible for thatheading to be for Solomon and
not by Solomon.
And that, in many ways, seemsprobably to be the case because
this is about the king.
It has a different style thanDavid, by the way, so probably
not a Davidic song and David.
Probably not a messianic song.
There is no place in the NewTestament that directly quotes
(22:22):
Psalm 72 and applies it toJesus.
Anytime we're dealing with amessianic, I'm sorry, with a
royal psalm, we're going to golooking for some kind of
connection to Jesus.
And verses 17 and 18 have largelanguage for any human to
fulfill.
So maybe there's a shadow thereor a hint of things to come with
the Messiah.
But again, no place in the NewTestament explicitly ties this
(22:46):
to Jesus the Christ.
It's all about the king.
It's all about Solomon.
Verses 1 to 5, may God givejustice through the king.
Look at the concern for the poorhere.
Look at the concern for socialjustice here.
I think that's something thatsometimes we've pushed back
against.
We've seen people abuse thesocial justice system in our
country today.
(23:07):
It's very easy to say everybodyjust ought to get a job and take
care of themselves.
We need to think very carefullyabout how concerned God is for
people who are being run over,people who are being oppressed,
people who are being treatedunfairly.
We need rulers who are likethis, who defend the cause of
the poor, who deliver thechildren of the needy, who crush
the oppressor.
(23:27):
That is what God is looking forin a leader who is seeking after
his heart.
Then the prayer in verses 5 to 8is that may God give life
through the king.
And I think verse 5 is reallyjust a way of saying,"'O king,
live forever, or long live theking.'" And verse 6 is the
baseball field verse, this ideaof mown grass.
(23:48):
When Sarah and I visit baseballparks, the first thing that we
want to do is we just want tosee the field.
We'll just go up any tunnel,whether it's our tunnel or not,
to get a look at the field.
And lots of times it's early,and they've just mowed the grass
for the game, and they'rewatering it, and the baseball
field smells amazing.
And I'm sure that's what thewriter of this psalm is thinking
(24:08):
about.
And probably more to the point,I have to think about what would
have Israel's history been likeif the kings had been like is
being described here in Psalm72.
Then in verses 8 to 11, there'sthe discussion of foreigners
yielding to the king.
Verse 10, Tarshish is insouthern Spain.
(24:28):
And then verses 12 to 15, thebasis for the dominion of the
king.
And that is, again, socialjustice.
He delivers the needy.
He has pity on the weak.
He redeems people who are beingoppressed.
Precious is their blood in hissight.
This is a good blueprint for thekind of leaders that we should
look for and pray for in ourcountry.
(24:49):
And while this is certainly nota political podcast, we're not
taking sides in all thatnonsense and so forth, It just
helps us see what God thinks isimportant in a leader.
Then there is the closing prayerfor the prosperity of the king.
Verse 16 will differ indifferent translations.
The Hebrew there is verydifficult.
to nail down, one of the termsthere only appears, abundance
(25:11):
only appears in this verse.
So it is a very difficult verseto work with.
Finally, verses 18, 19, and 20are the benediction enclosed to
book two.
Verses 18, 19, and 20 don't gowith the 72nd Psalm.
The Psalms themselves, the bookof Psalms is composed of five
distinct books or collections ofPsalms, and the seams of those
(25:32):
collections are very visible.
This is the end of the secondcollection the second book
within the book of Psalms.
That's our reading for Friday,Psalm 72.
That's the podcast then for theweek.
I certainly do appreciate youlistening.
We appreciate the good feedbackthat we get.
(25:52):
And when I say we, I mean thetech folks who do all the work
to make this happen and myself,of course, included.
It means a lot that people arelistening and that it's helping
them grow in God's Word andunderstand and work through the
sermon from the Sunday beforeeven better.
I appreciate every listener tothe podcast.
So until next week, when we'llopen our Bibles together again,
(26:14):
I'm Mark Roberts, and I want togo to heaven and And I want you
to come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (26:28):
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
(26:52):
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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