The Consequences of David's Sin, Part 2

If you have your Bible, it turns me to 2 Samuel chapter 13. 2 Samuel chapter 13, looking once again at the consequences of David's sin. You know, there's not very many sermons preached on the consequences of sin, and yet the Bible is replete with exhortations surrounding consequences when people sin. The Bible has made it very clear, be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. It's the law of the harvest. If you sow to the flesh, you'll reap corruption. If you sow to the spirit, you reap life everlasting.

And so we need to know what the consequences of sin are. And so many times we hear them and we cringe at the thought of our own selves facing the consequences of sin, but they are real. I received a phone call a number of months ago, a number of months ago from a friend of mine that was a part of our church for a number of years. They moved on from here. They were able to pursue the American dream. You know, people are always looking to pursue the American dream, and they had the opportunity to move from Southern California to another location.

They were able to buy a house. They were able to buy another car, and they were able to live basically on Easy Street once they moved from Southern California. And you know, people are always pursuing the American dream. So they pursued their dream, and they moved, and they were involved in a church. They finally found a church.

It wasn't a church similar to ours, but it was in their mind okay. And so they went to this church that they deemed okay for a number of years. And after about seven or eight years, this person called me and said, Pastor Lance, I just need to run some things by you. I said, sure, what do you got? And they said, my life is miserable. I said, really? It's absolutely miserable. About five years ago, I was sitting in my home looking at my husband and realized that this is all there is. And if this is all there is, it's not that much.

And I looked at him, and he looked at me, and we wondered why we were even together anymore. So I decided to have an affair. I was involved with another individual for two years. And now my grown children, four, I have four, two of them are grown, two of them have had affairs. And she said to me, I am absolutely miserable. Well, I said, yeah, I can imagine. I said, you know, the consequences of sin never make you merry. They always make you miserable. And she said, what do I need to do? I said, well, you need to repent of your sin.

You need to get right with the Lord God. You need to get right with your husband. You need to get right with your kids. You need to really face the consequences of your sin and deal with them. And you need to seek the forgiveness of Almighty God. That doesn't mean the consequences are going to go away. They're still going to be there, but at least you would have received forgiveness and you're on the right path of pursuing the things that God wants you to pursue. But you need to begin today. She said to me, you know, when we moved, we weren't too concerned about going to a church.

We liked the church we were in there in Southern California, but our purpose for moving was to pursue the American dream. And all we found was the American nightmare. We didn't realize that when we got to where we are today, that there wouldn't be a church that would preach and teach the word of God like we were used to. And we soon began to stray away from the truth of God's word and even from church. And things just got progressively worse. I said, well, you need to find a church that will hold you accountable.

You need to find a church that preaches the word and that will help you and your husband through the process. You need to do that. You need to begin today. You need to go home today to your husband and ask for forgiveness. You need to go back to your children and ask for forgiveness. She said to me, my husband probably won't forgive me. I said, forgive me, but that's irrelevant because you still have to be obedient to God's word. You have to go with a broken heart. You have to go with a repentant spirit and seek his forgiveness.

He might not want to forgive you, but at least you have begun the process. At least you did the right thing by going to your husband. Then you need to get in the car and go to your children, go to their homes and ask for their forgiveness. And that will begin the long arduous process of getting right with the living God and with your family. You know, those stories are not far apart on a regular basis. They happen almost daily. And I get phone calls all the time from people in similar situations just like that.

It grieves me deeply simply because people are unwilling to submit to the truth of God's word and follow through on what he says. And the consequences of sin are just, just relentless. And you need to come to a place of repentance. And David did. David came to a place of repentance. But God's grace forgives, but God's grace does not erase the consequences. They're still there. And second Samuel chapter 13 is one of those chapters we don't like to have devotions with our children in.

We, we, we, we, we have to explain too much to them. And yet it is part of the Holy scripture that we need to understand, our children need to understand and to grasp. And yet there are so many lessons from this chapter. We could probably spend two, three, four, five weeks just on this chapter alone, looking at the different lessons that God wants us, wants to teach us. But understand this, that as parents, once we stray from the path of righteousness and embark on the path of unrighteousness, as David did, there is good reason to believe that God will chase in you through the suffering of your children who follow that same path, because more than likely they will to some degree.

And you need to understand that God wants to do a work. You know, the Bible says, I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in truth.

You know, David didn't know that joy. He didn't know that joy until later in his ministry. For most of his children didn't walk in truth. And I want for my life, as you want for your life, for our children to follow the Lord God and to serve Him and to honor Him. And yet one of the biggest obstacles put in their way is us. And so we need to make sure that we stay on the path of righteousness and we pursue God and we honor God with our lives because our children follow our examples. They do. We are their number one influence.

You might not think you are, but you are. You are the number one influence in the life of your child.

And so it gives us a self-accountability in terms of our walk with the Lord. A.W. Pink has written a commentary on the life of David. And in there he says these words, it is both deeply instructive and unspeakably solemn to observe the method followed by the Lord in the execution of his awful threatenings to Nathan. It was not that David's palace was now burned by fire from heaven or razed to the ground by a cyclone, nor was it that one of his sons was killed by a flash of lightning and another swallowed up by an earthquake.

No, that is not God's customary way. Not by physical miracles, but by the operation of moral laws is the retribution meted out by His government conducted. The manner in which God's awful threatenings were fulfilled is most noteworthy. It was done in a way of natural consequence from David's own transgressions. The curse which God pronounced upon him corresponded exactly to the character of his iniquities. He had despised the commandment of the Lord, namely, thou shalt not commit adultery. By taking to himself the wife of another man and now the women of his own household should be defiled.

He had become a man of blood in the butchery of Uriah and now of blood his own family should be made to drink. He had yielded to his own lusts and by that same baneful passion in others was he to be scourged for the rest of his days. The complexion of his remaining years was set by his own conduct in the palace at Jerusalem. And though David himself was spared from the violent hand of the avenger, yet he was long made the spectacle of righteous suffering before the world. I read that and I thought, wow, that is just so concise and so precise.

And it's true. And as parents we need to take note of that. We go through this and we need to realize there is great warning in this chapter. Warning for us not to stray from the truth. Warning for us not to move off the path of and embark on the path of unrighteousness. And we need to be able to understand the lessons that God has for us that we might truly follow his will. How many innocent people in our family will suffer in the wake of our sinful behavior. And for David, it affected the whole palace.

To a degree, it affected a whole nation. It affected all of Israel for no one ever sins solo. And David is a testimony to that. And as you read through 2 Samuel chapter 13 and you look at what takes place, there's one thing that's missing.

And that is in the life of David, there is no time in this chapter where he falls to his knees and begins to seek wisdom from almighty God. You think if that was characteristic of him at this time, that that would be obvious in the text. That the spirit of God would not leave that part out. But nowhere does he seek wisdom from God. Nowhere does he fall on his face before God. He has fallen on his face in 2 Samuel 12. He has repented of his sin. He has faced the first consequence by the child dying, the child of Bathsheba dying.

And he got back up from that experience and he did what God called him to do. He went back to war and he won the victory. But never do we see him in this chapter beseeching the throne of grace. It's left out for some reason simply because he never did. And you would think that as a father, as the king of Israel, he'd be a man of great prayer. He's written so many psalms, so many about prayer. But there was this time in his life where he's reeling from the consequences of a sin that for some reason he doesn't beseech the throne of grace.

And that's a lesson for all of us, that we never ever should go through a time in our lives where we don't spend time on our knees before God beseeching him to do a great and mighty work. That's so absolutely important. He's confessed his sin. He's repented of his sin. He's been forgiven of his sin. But yet some of the things that he has written have yet to take place. For instance, Psalm 51, verse number 13, that great psalm of repentance. David says these words. He says in verse 10, creating me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from thy presence, and do not take thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will be converted to thee. David said, restore to me the joy of thy salvation. You restore that joy. I will teach transgressors thy ways, and they will be converted. Well, the transgressors were in his own house. They were Amnon. They were Absalom. They were Adonijah. They were his own sons.

David had written that, but he was not living that. And you could say, well, maybe the joy of the salvation had not yet come back to him. That could be the case, because there is not much joy in David's heart at this time, of course, because of the consequences of sin. And then these words over in Psalm 71, he says this, verse 17, O God, thou has taught me from my youth, and I still declare thy wondrous deeds. And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me until I declare thy strength to this generation, thy power to all who are to come.

David says, I don't want to teach him about my crown. I don't want to teach him about my credentials. I don't want to teach him about my competency as a warrior. I want to be able to somehow cultivate and communicate with this generation the truth of your holy word. That's what I want to do. And yet he wasn't doing that. He wasn't doing that. In the place he needed to do it the most, his family. Now, I know he's the king of Israel, and he is supposed to be the leader of the nation of Israel. And he is a leader, no doubt about that.

But the effectiveness of anyone's leadership is always determined by his home life, not his public life. Because at home is where people know him the best. At home is where he needs to be the leader God wants him to be. For it's there he leaves the legacy for the next generation. There are many people who have the public persona to stand before others and lead them, but are very ineffective in their very own homes. And the reason that is, is because they live a life of duplicity, a life of hypocrisy.

They don't stand strong at home on the truth of the holy word of God. And David might have been a great warrior, a great king, but as a father, he did not do some of the most basic responsibilities of what a father needs to do. The question comes, how come? How come he wasn't at that place where there was joy in his heart and he could teach transgressors, transgressors in his own family, the truth that they might be converted? Or why was he not teaching that generation or the next generation the truth so they could follow in the truth of God's holy word?

What was it that kept David from doing that? What was it that hindered David's leadership in his home? We talked about this last week. What hindered David's leadership in his home was that he was more concerned about his friendship with his children instead of being the father he needed to be. He was more concerned about the relationship he had with Amnon, the relationship he had with Absalom, than he was his relationship with the living God. He would be willing to compromise the truth to preserve a relationship.

And that's why he was ineffective at home. And you know that simply because when Amnon sinned, he did nothing. We took you back to first Samuel chapter three and looked at Eli, the priest, who when his son sinned, he did nothing.

He spoke to them, yes, about it, but he did not discipline them. He did not deal with them because they had broken the law of God. Same is true for David. Amnon should have been killed because he violated the Levitical law. Absalom, after he kills Amnon, we'll read about that tonight, he should have been killed, but he wasn't killed. And you say, well, that's just because David was giving them grace. David had received grace. David should have died, but he received grace from God. Yes, but David repented of his sin and Amnon did not.

David repented of his sin and Absalom did not. And so yes, David received grace, but he received it based on the fact that when he was confronted on his sin, he repented of his sin. He broke down and was a broken man. And Nathan said, you will not die. You should die, but you will not die. But what will happen is this, and you know about those consequences, but Amnon and Absalom, they should have died immediately. They should have been confronted on their sin, given the opportunity to repent, but they didn't.

No one confronted him. For two years, Amnon would go in secrecy thinking nobody knew about his sin with Tamar or that it was swept under the rug and nobody was going to do anything. So when it came time to celebrate with Absalom, he was completely unaware of the danger he was in. And yet David was wanting to preserve a relationship because he would not confront his children, his adult children on the fact that they had violated the law of God. And we told you last week, that is the problem in any family.

In any family, it stems from this. I desire my relationship with you more than I desire the truth of God being lived out in your life. And so therefore, I will compromise the truth because whenever you put the relationship over truth, you will always compromise the truth. You will. In fact, you'll never really have a relationship, nothing more than a superficial relationship because all true biblical relationships are based on truth. And so if it's not based on truth, what's it based on? Something outside of truth.

Therefore, it can't be a long lasting relationship built on anything substantial. It's built on, on strong. It will collapse at any moment. And yet David would do all he could to preserve that relationship. Again, it's A.W. Pink who says these words, Do not those parents defeat their own ends who from a miscalled love fail to deal sternly with the disobedience and defiance of their little ones? And who, when their children are grown up, wink at their sins? How many a shiftless youth whose every whim is gratified by his doting mother develops into a worthless wastrel?

How many a flighting daughter is allowed her own way under the pretext of letting her have a good time only to end in her becoming a woman of the streets? Even the natural man is responsible to bring his affections under the control of his judgment and not let his heart run away with his head. But the child of God is to be regulated by far higher and holier principles. And it's to subordinate the yearnings of nature to the glory of God by obeying his commandments. In other words, he says, listen, what's important is the commandment of God.

What you must do is obey the commandment of God. And that's what Jesus said over and over again. He said in Luke chapter nine, verse number 61, I will follow you, Lord, but first permit me to say goodbye to those at home.

But Jesus said to him, no one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Christ would say in Luke chapter 14, verse number 26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. You cannot have a relationship on this earth that's higher than the one you have with me. You cannot have an affection for someone else, whether it be wife, mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, you cannot have one that's above me because you cannot be my disciple because you will always compromise me for them.

You cannot. Over in Matthew chapter 10, Christ did it this way. He said in verse 35, for I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be the members of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. In other words, listen, you can't have a relationship with anybody on earth that's more important than the one you have with me.

You cannot. And that is something that we tend to compromise so very often. And God has warned us against that. That's what David did. He wanted to preserve a relationship at the expense of truth, instead of speaking the truth and living the truth and letting God deal with the relationship. And that happens so many times, even in our homes, because we want to somehow live a happy life. But all it does is end up in a horrific life as it did with David. And so we've looked at two things. We've looked at the record of the rape of Tamar.

We looked at it from the standpoint that Amnon was a man who lusted after his half-sister Tamar. He wanted her so bad he became sick. And Jonadab came to him, who was his cousin. He said to him, I am in love with Tamar. And Jonadab was a shrewd man, according to 2 Samuel 13. And he came up with a plan that would allow Amnon to sleep with his sister. Amnon thought it was a great plan. And so David sent Tamar to take care of Amnon, which was a major blunder on David's part, because the character of Amnon was already known in the palace.

Absalom knew. David knew. But David did nothing. He did not protect his daughter. And so she went in to Amnon. She was a beautiful woman. She was a virgin. She was able to cook. She was able to clean. She was everything any man would ever want. And she went in there and Amnon sent everyone else out but Tamar. And he wanted her to lie with him, but he would not. She would not. In fact, she spoke out against him. She said, no, my brother, do not violate me. For such a thing is not done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing for me.

Where could I get rid of my reproach? And as for you, you will be like one of the fools in Israel. Now, therefore, please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you. However, he would not listen to her. Since he was stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her. That was the record. And God details that for us. And then comes the reaction to that rape. We looked at Amnon's reaction. When it was all said and done, he hated her. In fact, he hated her more than the love he had for her in the first place.

And he booted her out. And she begged not to leave because she would be disgraced. But he wanted her out of his room. He wanted the door bolted behind her. And what that would look like was that Amnon or that Tamar came into Amnon and came on to him, which is what Amnon wanted. And he booted her out. And as she left, she left, she tore her robes. The robe was designed specifically for virgins because they wore different clothes than other women wore to set them aside as virgins. And she put ashes on her head as a sign of mourning and repenting.

And she was so sad. She was overcome with grief. And she ran to Absalom. And Absalom said, have you been with Tamar? Have you been with Amnon? Because he knew the character of his half-brother. And he brought her into his home, took care of her. And the Bible says that David, when he heard of it, became angry, but that's all he did.

He didn't do anything else. He just became angry, but he did nothing to Amnon. So I need to digress just for a moment because you need to understand something. You might not get it at first, but you need to understand something.

Tamar was obedient to her father. He told her to go, to take care of Amnon who was sick. He really wasn't sick. He was plain sick. But she was obedient to her father. She was obedient to the law of God. She was obedient to the laws of Israel. She was a moral woman. She knew she was a virgin. She did not want to be defiled. And she stood strong against Amnon, but she was not strong enough to withstand him because he was bigger and stronger than she was. In all reality, she did nothing wrong, but she was violated.

She was raped. So the question comes that many people have, and the question is simply this. It's the same question that's been asked all week based on what took place at the Boston Marathon on Monday. Where was God when this took place? If God is a good God, if God is a loving God, if God is a benevolent God, then why on earth would he allow this horrific tragedy in Boston to occur to innocent people on the streets? I've heard that 10 times this week. I've heard it a hundred times this week. So we take that back to 2 Samuel 13 and we say, if God is a good God and God is a protecting God, then why is it God would allow this unassuming, nice young lady to be horribly violated by her half-brother?

Where was God when that was taking place? Is God not powerful enough to stop evil when it arises? What happened? Well, I'm here to tell you that that is the wrong question. It's so wrong. It's horribly wrong. But most people don't understand that because here's the right question. And once I ask the right question, then I can begin to understand the issue as to why things happen the way they do. But if I ask the wrong question, I will never get the right answer. I must ask the right question to get the right answer.

The right question is this, how can a holy, righteous God who knows everything you thought today, every word you spoke today, and every action you committed today, allow you to take one more breath? That's the right question. If you ask that question, you can deal with the issue. If you don't ask that question and you ask the other question, then you can't deal with the issue. Why? Because that's what you're going to ask next. Why? Simply because if you ask this question, why is it a good and benevolent and loving God would allow innocent people to suffer such horrific tragedies?

You are saying that there is an individual in America, in the world, that does not deserve the wrath of almighty God. That's what you're saying. You're saying that there's somebody who does not deserve the wrath of almighty God. Until you ask this question, why are we even alive today? Why has the holy one, the righteous one, not consumed and devoured each and every one of us the exact moment we sin? Why does God's wrath and God's judgment tarry? That's the question. And that question puts everything into proper perspective.

When asked the other way, when asked why would a good God, loving God, an all-powerful God, allow evil to happen to presumably innocent people, children and adults, when you ask that question, we actually ask God or dare God to employ his power to us because I am almighty man. God, why don't you enact your power to preserve me? In other words, when you ask the wrong question, it all deals with the supremacy of man. It all says it's all about man. It's all about me. And God, you're here to protect me.

God, you're here to deal with me. God, here's the deal. I want you to be omnipotent. I want you to be almighty. I want you to be all-powerful. I don't want you to be sovereign, but I want you to be all-powerful and I want you and I demand that you protect me because you're all-powerful. And all that does is emphasize the supremacy of man and not the supremacy of Christ. Folks, we ask the wrong questions. We need to understand it. For instance, let me tell you this.

Every breath you take, you take because you borrowed it from God. And whenever you borrow something and don't give it back, what's it called? Stealing. Those who steal go where? Hell. Every breath you take, you borrow from God because what do you have that you did not receive, James says? Everything. Everything. You borrowed it from God. See, the problem is not with God. The problem is with me. That's the problem. The fact that I do not acknowledge the supremacy of Christ and his truth, his sovereignty overall, that's a me problem, not a God problem.

I start with me as the measure of all things. I judge God based on how well he carries out my agenda for my country and for my family. God is judged based on how he deals with my family. And if he doesn't deal with my family the way I think he needs to deal with my family, then he can't be God. He must be something other than God. See, that becomes a major problem. I want God to be omnipotent. I just do not want God to be sovereign. But if God is both omnipotent and sovereign, then I am completely at his mercy, completely at his mercy.

And the question asked has been asked for centuries by all people. And God does what he does simply because he's God. And how dare man ever question why God does what he does? Because all that does is demean God and elevate man to a higher level than he really is. We know from scripture, from Luke chapter 13, that God does the things that he does when the pool, I mean not the pool, but the Tower of Siloam fell over and killed some innocent people. And Caesar had mingled some of the sacrifices with different Jewish people.

And Christ responded by saying simply this, you better watch out, you better repent, because if you don't, you too are going to die. The issue is repentance. The issue is where do you stand with God so that when you do die, you'll spend eternity with him. And when those events took place, Christ never one time, never one time referenced the families of those people who were killed. He never referenced one time the tragedy upon man. What he referenced was the fact that you better watch out. If you don't repent, the exact same thing is going to happen to you.

And that was the living God of the universe in the midst of horrific tragedies in his own country. So sometimes when those things happen, he does it to warn us. He warns us of impending judgment. He warns us of impending death. It's going to come. There's a man who's born blind, no fault of his own, in John chapter 9. He didn't do anything wrong, but he was born blind. He had never seen the light of day. And the natural question for the disciples was who sinned, this man or his parents? Christ said, neither.

Has nothing to do with this man's sin or his parents' sin. Has everything to do with what I'm going to do today in this man's life. Has everything to do with what I have planned from eternity past to take place on this day when I'm with him that he might see the light of day. See, we forget that. And God wants to teach us many things about himself. Everything happens with God in view. Nothing happens without God in view, without God involved to some degree or another. Either directly or indirectly, somehow God is involved because God is in the process of drawing people to himself.

It's all about the salvation of man and man coming to grips with the reality of who Christ is. Sometimes God does what he does so man will simply fear him. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse number 14. God does these things so man will not know what comes after him, but that he will know what it means to fear the true and living God. Because man does not live in the fear of God. So God does things to cause man to fear him. God does things simply because he wants to display his glory. So there are tragedies that happen all around the world, individually, nationally, because God's going to display his glory.

And before you ask any question about horrific events or horrific situations that happen on individuals or groups of people or nations, understand this, that the greatest tragedy that ever took place in the world resulted in the greatest triumph in the world. And the greatest tragedy was that an innocent man would suffer for the sins of guilty people. And through the suffering of the Messiah, salvation came to the world. And the reason the son of man suffered is because God killed his own son. It pleased the Lord to crush him.

Isaiah chapter 53. So we need to have a proper perspective. We need to keep things in light of what the Bible says so that we can come to grips with this.

We look at Tamar and we say, wait a minute, how can this innocent woman be violated in such a horrific way and God not do anything?

Where was God? Oh, God was all around the place. God had a plan. And interesting to note that Tamar is nowhere ever mentioned after this incident in scripture. Nowhere. This is the only incident we have about our life. And yet, and yet in a fallen world, which we live in, the fallout of a fallen world upon man is that sin always has consequences. And sometimes people who are not a part of that sinful behavior experience the consequences of someone else's sin. And yet God, God would be the one who could robe Tamar with robes that would no longer ever be torn.

He is the only one who could robe her with the robes of righteousness, clothe her in the garments of God. He's the only one who would never say to her, get out. He'd say, come in, come to me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come to me, come to my palace, the palace of the King, the King of Kings, to David's greater son, the Messiah. And he's the only one who could wipe her tears. He's the only one who could comfort her soul. He's the only one who could restore her dignity.

He's the only one who could reestablish her purity. Only the Lord God of the universe could do that. No one else. Did Tamar ever come to faith? We do not know. We do know she was a Gentile because her mother, as Absalom's mother, were Gentiles. And so what do we do about that? How does that all play into the picture? God would do what God is going to do in His own time, in His own way. The point is, how is it that a holy, righteous God, knowing everything I've said, everything I've done, and every thought I've ever had, allow me to take another breath?

That's the right question. That's the only question you could ask when tragedy occurs, whether nationally or individually, that deals with the right issue. That's it. Now, having said that, go back with me a second Samuel chapter 13, and we pick up the last point, which is the revenge from the rape.

Verse 23. Now, it came about after two full years that Absalom had sheep shearers in Baal Hazor, which is near Ephraim. And Absalom invited all the king's sons. And Absalom came to the king and said, Behold, now your servant has sheep shearers. Please let the king and his servants go with your servant. But the king said to Absalom, No, my son, we should not all go, lest we be burdensome to you. Although he urged him, he would not go, but blessed him. Then Absalom said, If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us.

And the king said to him, Why should he go with you? But when Absalom urged him, he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him. And Absalom commanded his servants saying, See now when Amnon's heart is married with wine, and when I say to you, Strike Amnon, then put him to death. Do not fear, have not I myself commanded you? Be courageous and valiant. And the servants of Absalom did to Amnon just as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and each mounted his mule and fled. Now it was while they were on the way that the report came to David saying, Absalom has struck down all the king's sons, and not one of them is left.

Then the king arose, tore his clothes, and lay on the ground that all the servants were standing by with clothes torn. And Jonadab the son of Shimea, David's brother, responded, Do not let my lord suppose they have put to death all the young men, the king's sons, for Amnon alone is dead. Because by the intent of Absalom, this has been determined since the day that he violated his sister Tamar. Now therefore do not let my lord the king take the report to heart, namely all the king's sons are dead, for only Amnon is dead.

Now Absalom had fled, and the young man who was the watchman raised his eyes and looked and beheld, behold many people were coming from the road behind him by the side of the mountain. And Jonadab said to the king, Behold the king's sons have come according to your servant's word. So it happened, and it came about as soon as he finished speaking, that behold the king's sons came and lifted their voices and wept. And also the king and all his servants wept very bitterly. Now Absalom fled and went to Tammai, the son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur.

And David mourned for his son every day. So Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur, and was there three years. And the heart of king David longed to go out to Absalom, for he was comforted concerning Amnon since he was dead. Now the story is pretty much self-explanatory. Amnon's waited two years, two years, and nothing's happened. Absalom, he too has waited two years. But now he has the time, now he has the agenda to slay his brother. So he invites all the king's sons to come. He invites the king. The king does not come.

The king said Amnon's not going either. But David, we've already seen, even after two years, his discerning spirit is not what it needs to be. He lets Amnon go. And Absalom communicates to his men, this is what you're going to do. When Amnon is married, we're going to kill him. Wait for my word, and we're going to slay him. That's exactly what took place. And the rest of the sons, they fled. They had to. They were in fear for their own lives. And the word came back to David that all of the sons were dead.

All of them, that Absalom had killed them all. And he began to weep and tear his clothes. But Jonadab, he knew the whole plot anyway. He knew it all. He said, oh, my king, it's okay. The sons, your sons are still alive. It's only Amnon that's dead. Because Absalom's planned this for two years. And Amnon is dead. And the king said, what do you mean? He's planned this for two years. You didn't tell me that. How come you didn't tell me? Well, he didn't. He said, all your sons are alive except for Amnon because he violated Tamar.

Sure enough, all the sons come up over the hill. They all begin to weep. And isn't it interesting that David weeps for Absalom? Really? Why don't you go after Absalom? You're the king. Do the kingly thing. Go after Absalom. He deserves to die. But the king does nothing. Again, the parent does nothing. Again, the parent knows the violation of the law of God, but the parent does nothing. How horrific is that? He just cries every day. And Absalom's gone for three years. So when you come to chapter 14, it's been five years since Tamar was violated.

It's been three years since Absalom's been gone. And even in chapter 14, David allows Absalom to return, but doesn't speak to him for another two years. He lives in the palace. You'd think that as the king, knowing the law of God, you'd at least address your son about his violation of the law of God when he's in your house. He didn't do that either. Why? Because as you see, as a story begins to unfold chapter after chapter after chapter, David's relationship with his sons is so out of whack because he will not stay true to the truth of God's holy word.

You know, all he has to do is do the right thing. All he has to do is say, son, God's word has been violated. Now a son could say, you violated God's word too, dad. And he'd be right. But David's response would say, would be, you're right, I did. You're right. And I'm paying dearly for it. But I repented of my sin. I'm getting right with the living God. And son, you need to repent of your sin that you might get right with the living God. Listen, if you sin and your kids throw that back at you, all you got to do, if you haven't repented, you got no, you have no recourse.

But if you repented, your recourse is I repented. God has forgiven me and I'm moving on with my life. And you too need to move on with your life, but you can't do it until you repent. At least David could have taken him in and said, you know what? God's law says you must die. Tomorrow you will die. Could you imagine the testimony that would be in all of Israel? That the King would slay his own son because he violated the truth of God's holy word. Wow. That'd be pretty powerful, but didn't happen.

Didn't happen. That's why the Bible says, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain to build it.

God must build your house. How does God build your house? He builds it through wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Proverbs 24, three and four. That's how he builds it. It's all built on the authority of God's word. And without the authority of God's word, remember Proverbs 24, Proverbs chapter 24, by wisdom, a house is built and by understanding it is established. And by knowledge, the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Do you think David could say that today in the palace?

I don't think so. Do you think that every room in the palace is filled with pleasant riches? It's not. Because wisdom, knowledge, and understanding were not evident in the palace. The application to truth, the verification of truth, and the clarification of truth were not readily seen in the palace at this time. And so therefore, none of the rooms were filled with pleasant riches. May this be a lesson to all of us. May we learn so much from this chapter. May we realize where we've been and what we can do to turn the ship around.

You can do that. You can. You can turn the ship around. I can recall the time when I was just a young boy and my dad purposed in his heart to turn the ship around. He was raised by two alcoholic parents, divorced parents. And he determined one day to turn everything around. He gave his life to God. And he determined never to have in his family what he grew up with in his family. And one day he was smoking and I came up to him when I was three years old. And I said, Daddy, I'm going to be just like you when I grow up.

I'm going to smoke Marlboro's too. And on that day, my dad took all of his cigarettes, threw them in the trash, and never, ever again picked up a cigarette. No nicotine patches, nobody to call, nobody to help him through the process. He said, you know what? It's over. And he'd been smoking since he was 12. And he said, it's over. He stopped. And he said, I determined to change everything in my family so that when my children come to me, they'll say, Daddy, I want to be just like you. I want to walk in the truth.

And from that day forward, everything in my father's family changed. Everything. Because he wasn't going to repeat what took place in his family. And my mother didn't want to repeat what took place in her family. And so they determined to set off on the path of righteousness to honor God. And you know what? It's just that, forgive me, simple. It's a decision that you make that says, I will follow God no matter what anybody says, no matter what anybody else thinks. I will serve and honor God all the way to the end.

When you make that statement and you purpose in your heart to seek after the Son of Man and to follow Him, God will honor you. For you've honored Him and those who honor Him, He will honor. And God has honored my mother and father for the last 57 years of their marriage. Their children walk in truth, the grandchildren walk in truth, and they have purpose in their heart to stay on the path of righteousness. And I would trust that would be your prayer as well, that nothing would hinder you from being the man, the woman, the parent that God wants you to be.

Let me pray with you. Father God, we thank you for tonight and the opportunity we have to spend time in your Word. Lord, so many things go against our carnal, fleshly nature. It's hard sometimes to hear it. And yet, Lord, we know that your Word is true and you want us to follow you and serve you. And you've promised that He who honors me, I will honor. And my prayer is for those who are here tonight that their whole life would be centered around the honoring of God, serving you, following you, loving you, praising you.

And I pray, God, that you do such a mighty work in the hearts of those who are here tonight, that they would begin to see and understand the workings of God in their families, that they stand strong in the truth, not compromising it for the sake of a relationship, they would see the hand of God move, and that God would do a great and mighty work in each of their homes because He's done a great and mighty work in their hearts. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.