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 a look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through it further and better work the applications into our daily lives. Mark will then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for. And he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time. So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.

Good morning, good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee Podcast for Monday, April the 21st. I'm Mark. I've got my Bible open to 2 Samuel. I've got coffee. I've got sermon notes. But most of all, I know that today 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 all go down to the store and buy Easter chocolate at half off. And if that isn't a reason to have a national holiday, I don't know what is. But... With all of that said, it's still 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'm always going to try to talk some about the resurrection because we have folks who are visiting and they are thinking about the resurrection. I want to take advantage of that moment. But it also fit very well with the preaching theme, the questions Jesus asked. As the congregation voted, Luke 18.8 came up. Will a son of man find faith upon the earth? And those two ideas, believing in the resurrection, believing in the resurrection all the way through your life, believing in the resurrection until Jesus returns, those came together, I thought, in a really good way. Let me just say this, and I say this, it seems like, every week on the podcast. You can't say everything in a sermon. But what I really wanted to talk about is wrong ideas from Luke chapter 18, because Luke 18 seems to feed the idea, at least in some people's mind, that Persistence in prayer means beating on heaven's door until God finally relents. There is this idea that if we persist in prayer, we just keep banging on the Lord until finally He'll turn loose of what it is that we think that we need. And while I want to say very clearly, it is not wrong to persist in prayer. And we have some examples of that in Scripture. I want to say again, it's not wrong to persist in prayer. If you email me or you come and say to me, hey, I thought persisting in prayer is something the Bible teaches. I'm going to say, you didn't listen very carefully. Not wrong to persist in prayer. However... If you are persisting in prayer because you think that that is about pounding on God and the more you beat on the Lord or on heaven's door, the more likely God is to finally give up and give you what you want, your thinking about prayer is seriously messed up and that is not what Luke 18 is teaching. The text of Luke 18 is teaching exactly the opposite. This is not how God operates. The woman in Luke 18 does have to annoy and persist and beat on the door until finally the crabby, grouchy judge says, all right, this woman's just driving me nuts. I'm going to give her what she wants just to get rid of her. That, Jesus says, is not how God operates. He is good and kind, and He wants to bless us. You don't have to pester Him to death. You just have to trust that He wants what is best for us. That is a huge key in praying. Make sure you install that into your thinking about prayer. So there's a little bonus note out of the sermon from Luke 18 in the resurrection, and will the Son of Man find faith upon the earth? Speaking of finding faith, I wonder how David managed to keep his faith intact in the middle of a giant rebellion. Let's turn our Bibles to 2 Samuel. Let's do some daily Bible reading. Our reading for Monday is 2 Samuel chapter 16. The reading for Monday is 2 Samuel 16, the entire chapter. And this is quite the chapter, isn't it? The rebellion that Absalom has put together is now in full bloom, and David is running for his life. Along the way, he meets three men, or more likely two men, and then we have the story of the third man. I guess I should say that's Ahithophel, who's back with Absalom. The two men that David meets is Ziba and Shammai. Ziba comes to him in the first four versus he is the chief steward for Mephibosheth, who David had showed kindness to back in 2 Samuel 9. And Mephibosheth is the grandson of King Saul. And what Ziba runs out here is that There's another rebellion going on that not only do you have problems with Absalom, but some people are trying to put the heir of Saul back on the throne. What a day for David. Just when you think it can't get any worse, somebody shows up and says, hey, someone else is making a run at the throne too. People think this is a great time to install the rightful heir, someone from the house of Saul. That seems to me to be enormously unlikely. I think Ziba is a big fat liar here. Why would Mephibosheth think he would be the king when the heart's all of Israel have gone after Absalom, chapter 15, verse 13. And furthermore, Mephibosheth is crippled. He does not have capacity and ability in a time when the physicality of a king to lead into battle, all the things that go with that are very, very important. I see no shot here for Mephibosheth. I think Ziba is a big liar here. That's just all there is to that. And I think David will regret this decision. We get more of this story when everything is over and David's trying to clean up all of the remains of of The entire rebellion. Which brings us to Shammai, verses 5 to 14. This is the guy who's screaming at David. And man of blood, verse 7, could be the idea of being murderer. Worthless man is a rogue. And then he is saying some things there that might even be literally translated man of Belial. You're part of the devil. This is just an incredible series of curses. And yelling at David like this when he's marching out of Jerusalem with a bunch of his... His honor guard and people like Abishai 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 may be that whole, you don't have the right to the throne. Saul was a Benjamite. You're not of the house of Saul. That may be playing that song all over again. And Abishai says, we'll just kill this guy. We'll just kill this guy. You have to know that David and his men are in the mood to kill somebody, and this guy seems like a prime candidate to just take out a little bit of the adrenaline and all the anger and the anxiety that we have. I'll just chop off his head, verse 9. And please remember, this is not an idle threat. Abishai can certainly do this, but I'm so impressed with David. There's some discussion in verse 12 about how to exactly translate that, the Septuagint. is what the ESV follows. God will see that I'm being wronged. The traditional Hebrew text says God will see my iniquity, but however you're going to render that verse, it is clear that David is accepting his fate. He sees this as part of his punishment. I did wrong. I get it. I brought this upon myself, and this isn't the time to fight against that. We're just going to have to take it. We're just going to have to take it. Which brings us then finally, verse 15, to Absalom and his retinue. They officially enter into Jerusalem with Ahithophel, and they do meet Hushai. And Hushai, the man that David sent back, last week we read about that, he says, hey, I'm all about it. I am all about it, verse 18. I will be loyal... to the one the Lord has chosen. You get the double entendre there? Who is Hushai loyal to? To the one the Lord has chosen, David, not the usurper. But Absalom is so full of himself, he can't even imagine for a moment that anybody is not all about him. And so then Absalom says to Ahithophel, verse 20, what should we do? And the answer is, you need to go into your father's concubines. And there's a couple reasons for that, one of which is it absolutely seals the break between Absalom and David. You're always a little nervous when a son fights against his father, the king, that they're going to make up, and then every Everybody who was disloyal to the king is now going to be on the outs, and this will make certain that's not going to happen. But more importantly, he who owns the royal harem has the crown. The one who owns the harem is the king. And that is what Absalom is saying, and he is saying that very, very publicly. He does this on the roof, verse 22. And that's the roof where everything started. That's where David was walking when he saw Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11. This is where the trouble began. And as Nathan the prophet told David, this is where the trouble will take you. Our reading for Monday is 2 Samuel 16. Welcome to Tuesday. Tuesday's reading is 2 Samuel 17, and the action just keeps going. This is an exciting part of the Bible to read. Let me grab some coffee here as we get underway. 2 Samuel 17 continues the thought out of yesterday's reading, verse 23, Ahithophel's counsel is amazing. He is a very wise person, and it just seems like there's no way David is going to be able to overcome Absalom's rebellion. It came out of nowhere. Absalom has stolen the hearts of the men of Israel, and he's got Ahithophel. And Ahithophel gives this great plan. And the Bible says it's a great plan. The counsel of Ahithophel is the right thing to do. Go get David while he's disorganized before he can figure out who's on my side, before he can resupply, get his troops in line. Go and go now. But Absalom says, let's talk to Hushai too. Hushai's a smart guy. Let's get what Hushai has to say. And Hushai does exactly what David needed him to do. He becomes a tool in the hands of the Lord to frustrate the council of Ahithophel and to undermine Absalom's rebellion. And he does that by appealing to Absalom's ego. Verse 8, you know that your father 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're going 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, you need, verse 11, you need to be 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're great. Oh, this is the thing to do. And of course, what David needs more than anything else is time. Time. And that's what Hushai is pushing for. And the Bible says, verse 14, God is at work. Look how God is at work. through individuals, through people. And that just reinforces something that we see over and over again in the Bible, which is God works oftentimes behind the scenes, quietly, through very natural kinds of things. God can certainly do big honking miracles like splitting the Red Sea open. But lots of times, it's just the right guy in the right place saying the right thing. And so, Hushai says, this is what we ought to do, and then he sends word. It is clear to Hushai that the decision 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 other side of the Jordan River. Go, go, go. And then, in one of the Stunning moments in all of Absalom's rebellion and the story about it. In verse 23, when Ahithophel sees that his counsel does not follow, he sat on his donkey, went off home to his own city, set his house in order, and then he hanged himself. He hanged himself. Why? Because he knew the rebellion would not stand. David gets time. David will resupply, get his troops together, organize. and he'll be able to defeat Absalom. So, there's no point. Ahithophel has cast his lot with the rebel, and he knows what's going to happen. Might as well just get it over with. 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. Think about I mean, David probably has hundreds of people with him, bringing food for all of these folks, providing for them. These are huge amounts of stores. This is a big burden, and these people are just a huge blessing to David in an enormously critical moment in his life. Our reading Tuesday, 2 Samuel 17. 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 we talked about Absalom and what was wrong with him and what he was doing. I expect great discussion tonight in our Zoom call from 2 Samuel 17. Everybody else, see you on the podcast tomorrow. We'll keep pushing forward and we'll find out what happens to Absalom. See you tomorrow. It is Wednesday. It is Wednesday, and today we read 2 Samuel 18, verses 1 to 18. You ready to go to battle? This is it. This is it. David musters his men, sets the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds over them, 18 verse 1. Let's talk a little bit here about reading the Bible, and reading the Bible in a good way. What we want to focus on here is what the writer of 2 Samuel is focused on, and that is not the battle. There is really very little discussion of this fight, not much discussion about it at all. The lead character here is Joab. He dominates everything, and that's clearly the interest the narrator has. And I think what really comes through in this text is just sadness. Sometimes a good question to ask about reading the Bible is, what is the author trying to do to me? And I think the author here is trying to make us sad because this is a civil war. This is the house of David fighting the house of David, and it's a very, very sad occasion. But maybe there's just not a whole lot of emphasis on the battle because we already know who's going to win. Is there any chance a young upstart with a bunch of excited young men around him can possibly triumph over David even though they outnumber them? And the answer to that, of course, is there's not a chance. David and Joab, they are the veterans of many wars, many battles. They were vulnerable before, but they have gathered themselves. They have planned. They have supplied. They are ready. They even picked the battlefield. They're going to fight in the woods because that mitigates the force of numbers. So they just out-tactic and out-maneuver Absalom at every turn. And the result of that, of course, is Absalom and his forces are completely routed. That begins then verses 1 to 5 with David reviewing the troops. Notice verse 3. Essentially, they give Ahithophel's counsel, don't go with us. Don't go with us. That's what Ahithophel said to Absalom. I'll take care of this. You need to stay here. And then the king says, deal gently, verse 5, for my sake with the young men, Absalom. David doesn't seem to have a lot of flaws, but if there is any, 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 a terrible battle. It seems, verse 8, that maybe more people died in the woods just getting lost, or maybe they were Maybe they were run down and cut down in the woods when they were separated from their units. And of course, then Absalom's death is recorded for us. And what people see here is that Absalom is hanging from a branch by his hair, but it doesn't say that in the text per se. Josephus is the one that says that, not the Bible. The terms here are not exactly clear. Suspended between heaven and earth, his head caught in the thick branches of a great oak. And you may have a marginal note there that the Hebrew is not clear. It's an unusual term. that doesn't occur anywhere else in Scripture. Some of the Hebrew words there that then go on to describe this talk about dangling or hanging. We're not precisely sure what happened, but he is clearly powerless and vulnerable, and this young man says, I saw him, and Joab says, you should have just killed him. I would have given you 10 pieces of silver, which is the annual pay of a Levite, Judges 17 verse 10, and I've given you a belt that may imply a promotion. But this young man says, I'm not doing that, verse 12. Maybe he had heard about what happened with the guy who claimed to put Saul to death, and then he'd heard maybe about the two guys who killed Ish-bosheth. I'm not touching somebody from the royal house, and that probably seems like a really good idea. But Joab doesn't care. Joab does not care. And there is much controversy about what Joab does here and why he does that. My guess is Joab is intensely loyal to David, and he knows the best way to protect the king is to cut the head of the rebellion off, and he does that. He kills Absalom. End of story. And so the writer tells us then, as we come to the end of our reading today, that Absalom dies and he has two monuments. One, his tomb, and this other monument that he had set up for himself, verse 18, in the pillar that is in the king's valley. And setting up your own monument just seems crass and vain, and that seems a great end to Absalom's career because that is exactly who he was. His rebellion is a complete failure. He fought not just against David. He fought against God's anointed, and there was no way that would ever succeed. Our reading for Wednesday, 2 Samuel 18, 1-18. It is Thursday, and our reading today is 2 Samuel 18, verses 19-33, and this is maybe... some of the saddest passages in all of the Word of God. Really a rough end here. We get a couple of guys who want to run and tell the news. Ahimehaz, verse 19, wants to tell David the news, thinking he'll be happy about the outcome. That does not seem like a good idea. We have that expression, don't kill the messenger, and I wonder if Joab is concerned he's going to 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, Ethiopia produces famous marathon runners on the world stage and in the Olympics, for example. But these two guys both end up running, and maybe Ahimehaz took a different route. There's a lot of speculation about some of that, but I'm impressed here that they get there, and what really bothers me is that David has misplaced concern. Verse 29, the king said, is it well with the young men in Absalom? How about asking about the men who just fought and risk their lives for you and for your crown. 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 with David right here. And then he just falls apart. He just starts weeping and crying and carrying on. Verse 33, like I said, one of the saddest verses in all the Bible. O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son. I wonder if some of that weeping comes because David knows he is the one that brought so much of this trouble upon his own house. Tomorrow's reading awaits. Tomorrow's Friday, and we're in the Psalms. When we rejoin the story next week, we'll see that Joab has to be a friend to David again, if you count him as a friend for killing Absalom. He'll have to help David once again, and that'll be in 2 Samuel 19. But as I said, that's next week. Tomorrow, we're going to the Psalms, and we're going to talk about Ahithophel, because Jesus makes use of the Ahithophel Psalm to talk about Judas Iscariot. See you tomorrow in the Psalms. Our reading for Thursday, 2 Samuel 18, verses 19 to 33. Welcome to Friday, and our reading today is Psalm 41, and then we will go to the New Testament and read John 13, verses 12 to 30. Let's start with Psalm 41, and we'll start in an unusual place, 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 to the 41st Psalm. It belongs to the entire section, which is called Book 1. There are five books in the Psalms, and the first book is composed of the first 41 psalms. Each of those books will end with a doxology of praise like is contained here in verse 13. So really all we're dealing with is 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 time when David was under great strain and great difficulty. It may be during the time of Absalom's rebellion. And what follows here is that David says, I know the kind of person that you will help, Lord. You help the kind of person who helps others. Blessed, verse 1, is the one who considers the poor. Remember, being poor in David's day is not exactly the same as being poor in our day. This isn't just somebody who's below the poverty line arbitrarily set by the Census Bureau. This is somebody who is weak in There are no government aid programs. There's no welfare. There's no unemployment checks. This is a person who's getting run over by life. David says, There does seem to be some illness going on here. Maybe... Maybe sick of heart, not entirely sure what's going on. But I need your help, verse 4. And my enemies are just pouring the gossip on me. We've seen this so often with David. He's always concerned about the hard things that people are saying behind his back. And some of them seem to be saying, we just want this guy to die. He's sick. We hope that he will die. And that brings us to verses 9 and 10. Even my close friend in whom I trusted who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. You, O Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up that I may repay them. So there is a clear allusion maybe to Ahithophel, maybe to Joab. Some have wondered if he's talking about Joab. But as we turn to John chapter 13 in a moment, we'll see very, very clearly Jesus knows who that's talking about. Jesus will lift this text up. up as he often does and make application of that to his situation and his circumstances. So let's do that. Let's go look at John chapter 13. So our reading in the New Testament as we make application of the Old Testament is John chapter 13, verses 12 to 30. And this is John's account of the 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're looking 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 lifted his heel against me. turning his back and maybe kicking against him. It may come from horses and livestock animals like that. And the quotation from Psalm 41.9 that Jesus is using here is, It picks up all the pain and the hurt that David is feeling because Ahithophel betrayed him to Absalom, and his enemies were mocking him, maybe even as we saw in Psalm 41, mocking him when he was sick. So David is again a type or a model of the Messiah, and it's important to see that David's greatness does not keep him from suffering, does not keep him in any way, does not exempt him from the trials of this life. But Jesus uses that to say, in the greatest possible sense, nobody will will ever be more betrayed than I am betrayed by Judas Iscariot. Judas becomes the fulfillment of Psalm 41. I love reading that and seeing Jesus use that. Like I said, lift it up to the highest level. You want to know the best, fullest example of Psalm 41, Jesus says? It's me and what's happening to me. That concludes the podcast for the week, of course. Thank you so much for listening, reading the Bible with me, and considering some ideas from the sermon last Sunday. I hope that you're sharing the podcast with others and encouraging them to listen. Hope you've left a rating or review. You know all that stuff. I say that at the end of every podcast every week. I do. I do really appreciate the folks who let me know. The podcast is helping them. So until next week when we'll open our Bibles together, I'm Mark Roberts. I want to go to heaven, and I want you to come too. I'll see you on Monday with a cup of coffee.

Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ podcast, Monday Morning Coffee with Mark. For more information about Westside, 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 can get free music. Please share our podcast with others, and we look forward to seeing you again, with a cup of coffee, of course, on next Monday.