Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Absalom The Rebel Prince Charming │ Msg 914 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Absalom The Rebel Prince Charming │ Msg 914 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: David's multiple sins for a short season resulted in extremely
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  Speaker 1: painful consequences for the rest of his life and including
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  Speaker 1: the lives.
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  Speaker 2: Of his family members.
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  Speaker 1: His life experiences should act as bright red lights for
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  Speaker 1: every one of us. Paul summarized it beautifully when he
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  Speaker 1: was writing The Galatians, chapter six, verses seven and eight.
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  Speaker 1: I love the way, Eugene Peterson translates this, don't be misled.
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  Speaker 1: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants,
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  Speaker 1: he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the
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  Speaker 1: needs of others, ignoring God, harvests a crop of weeds.
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  Speaker 1: All he'll have to show for his life is weeds.
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  Speaker 1: But the one who plants in response to God, letting
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  Speaker 1: God's spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a
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  Speaker 1: crop of real life, eternal life. Well, David planted selfishness
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  Speaker 1: and harvested crops of weeds for the rest of his life.
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  Speaker 1: As the old prophet once wrote, he sowed the wind
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  Speaker 1: and reaped the whirlwind. And so here is God's message
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  Speaker 1: to David through the prophet Nathan, as recorded in Second
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  Speaker 1: Samuel chapter twelve, verses twelve to twenty five. I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to read this section from the message. You're the man,
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  Speaker 1: said Nathan, and here's what God, the God of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: has to say to you. I made you king over Israel.
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  Speaker 1: I freed you from the fist of Saul. I gave
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  Speaker 1: you your master's daughter and other wives to have and
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  Speaker 1: to hold. I gave you both Israel and Judah. And
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  Speaker 1: if that hadn't been enough, I'd have gladly thrown in
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  Speaker 1: much more so. Why have you treated the word of
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  Speaker 1: God with brazen contempt doing this great evil? You murdered
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  Speaker 1: your wryth tight, then took his wife as your wife. Worse,
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  Speaker 1: you killed him with an ammonite sword. And now because
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  Speaker 1: you treated God with such contempt and took your Rayah,
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  Speaker 1: the Hittite's wife as your wife, killing and murder will
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  Speaker 1: continually plague your family. This is God speaking. Remember, I'll
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  Speaker 1: make trouble for you out of your own family. I'll
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  Speaker 1: take your wife from right out in front of you.
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  Speaker 1: I'll give them to some neighbor and he'll go to
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  Speaker 1: bed with them.
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  Speaker 2: Openly.
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  Speaker 1: You did your deed in secret. I'm doing mine with
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  Speaker 1: the whole country watching. Then David confessed to Nathan, I've
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  Speaker 1: sinned against God. Nathan pronounced yes. But that's not the
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  Speaker 1: last word. God forgives your sin. You won't die for it,
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  Speaker 1: but because of your blasphemous behavior, the son born to
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  Speaker 1: you will die.
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  Speaker 2: This evening. I have a message that is not easy
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  Speaker 2: to preach and is not easy to hear, but it
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  Speaker 2: is from the Lord, and we need to do both.
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  Speaker 2: It has to do with a family that is in trouble.
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  Speaker 2: There are two kinds of trouble that a family can experience,
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  Speaker 2: trouble that comes from without and trouble that comes from within.
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  Speaker 2: The more difficult of the two is the trouble from within.
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  Speaker 2: This is not to say that trouble coming from without
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  Speaker 2: is not devastating and difficult for a family. Take, for example,
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  Speaker 2: the family the Wise's family which many of us watch
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  Speaker 2: on the Holocaust moved and troubled with this doctor and
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  Speaker 2: his wife and their dear Jewish children. We witness them
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  Speaker 2: one by one being picked off by the clammy fingers
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  Speaker 2: of death took its tyrannical toll on their lives and
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  Speaker 2: brought pain to our hearts as we vicariously entered into
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  Speaker 2: the experience of that family that had trouble from without.
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  Speaker 2: But the more difficult of the two is trouble from within, tension, heartbreaking, hatred, pressure,
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  Speaker 2: the difficulties that accompany the carnal life. When mom and
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  Speaker 2: dad walk in the flesh or act foolishly, or the
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  Speaker 2: children respond in rebellion and disagreement and disharmony. When there
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  Speaker 2: is friction between husband and wife or between parent and child. Ah,
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  Speaker 2: that's a lot harder to bear, especially when it is
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  Speaker 2: the consequence of sin. Before we look at Second Samuel
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  Speaker 2: chapter twelve. In following, I want us to look into
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  Speaker 2: Galatians chapter six. You turn there, please, and let's locate
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  Speaker 2: verses seven and eight. I want to give you a
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  Speaker 2: principle from these two verses, and then I want to
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  Speaker 2: lay on you the consequences that follow in light of
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  Speaker 2: the principle. These two verses are no doubt the most
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  Speaker 2: familiar in the book of Galatians. Many of you have
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  Speaker 2: quoted these words and didn't really know where they were sourced.
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  Speaker 2: Galatians six seven begins do not be deceived. Now you
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  Speaker 2: will read that in the New Testament rather often. The
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  Speaker 2: reason the Lord gives that warning ahead of time is
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  Speaker 2: because the thing that follows is so easily an avenue
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  Speaker 2: of deception. In other words, the devil or the flesh,
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  Speaker 2: or the world will work havoc on our thinking, deceiving
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  Speaker 2: us into refusing to believe the truth or the principle
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  Speaker 2: God presents. And so ahead of the principle, God says,
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  Speaker 2: don't be deceived about this. Don't let anyone teach you
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  Speaker 2: the opposite. Don't let yourself or someone else, or some
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  Speaker 2: experience lead you to believe that something other than this
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  Speaker 2: is the truth. Don't be deceived. Now, what is the warning?
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  Speaker 2: Verse seven? God is not mocked. For whatever a man
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  Speaker 2: sows this, he will also reap. For the one who
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  Speaker 2: sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption.
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  Speaker 2: Let's stop there. Here is the principle. We reap what
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  Speaker 2: we sow forgiveness. Notwithstanding, if there is anything we have
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  Speaker 2: been duped into believe in our era of grace, it
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  Speaker 2: is the thinking that if we will simply confess our
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  Speaker 2: sins and claim God's forgiveness, then this business of consequence
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  Speaker 2: is all taken away. All we need to do when
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  Speaker 2: falling into the trap of sin is to turn to
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  Speaker 2: the Lord and say, Lord, I confess to you the wrong,
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  Speaker 2: and I agree with you that it is wrong, and
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  Speaker 2: I declare before you, and you only the wrongness of
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  Speaker 2: my actions. Now I claim your forgiveness, and I count
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  Speaker 2: on you to get me back on the track. As
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  Speaker 2: if to think at that point all the consequences are gone.
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  Speaker 2: That is not what the verse says. The verse is
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  Speaker 2: written to people like you and me living in the
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  Speaker 2: era of grace, written to the church. It's not a
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  Speaker 2: law verse. It's not to Israel. It's to God's people,
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  Speaker 2: children of the King, people under grace. And the verse says,
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  Speaker 2: don't be deceived. God isn't mocked. Whatever you sow, you reap.
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  Speaker 2: If you sow to the flesh, you reap corruption. Forgiveness, notwithstanding,
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  Speaker 2: grace means that God, in forgiving you, does not kill you.
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  Speaker 2: Grace means that God, in forgiving you gives you the
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  Speaker 2: strength to endure the consequences. It does not mean the
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  Speaker 2: consequences are automatically removed. If I sin, and in the
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  Speaker 2: process of sinning, I break my arm. When I find
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  Speaker 2: forgiveness from sin, I still have to deal with a
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  Speaker 2: broken arm. Isn't it amazing how we will accept it
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  Speaker 2: in the physical realm. Not a person here would deny
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  Speaker 2: that a broken arm is still a broken arm. Whether
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  Speaker 2: I have been forgiven or whether I'm still living under
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  Speaker 2: the guilt of the sin. Certainly we have a broken arm.
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  Speaker 2: It must be set, it must heal. The same happens
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  Speaker 2: in the emotional life. When a parent wilfully and irresponsibly
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  Speaker 2: acts against God's written word. Not only does the parent suffer,
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  Speaker 2: but the family suffers as well. And that brings internal trouble,
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  Speaker 2: which is the subject tonight. Now let me give you
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  Speaker 2: the consequence see verse eight. The one who sows to
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  Speaker 2: his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption. These
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  Speaker 2: are the words I use to describe the consequence. The
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  Speaker 2: pain of the harvest eclipses the pleasure of the planting.
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  Speaker 2: Think of your life like the life of a farmer,
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  Speaker 2: and as you walk along, you are planting daily, you
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  Speaker 2: are dropping the seeds. If you choose to drop the
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  Speaker 2: seeds of sin and to sow that, yes, to sow
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  Speaker 2: the seeds of carnality, you will find a measure of
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  Speaker 2: pleasure in the sowing of carnality. Anyone who denies that
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  Speaker 2: is a fool, denies scripture. Scripture declares that sin has
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  Speaker 2: its pleasure. It's passing, but it has its pleasure. That's
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  Speaker 2: one of the things that draws us into it. It
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  Speaker 2: is exciting, it is adventurous, It brings stimulation, It satisfies
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  Speaker 2: the body. It brings a sense of conquering to us. Now,
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  Speaker 2: in the sowing of that seed, there is a sense
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  Speaker 2: of pleasure. But what we don't like to face, and
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  Speaker 2: we will face tonight in this message, is that the
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  Speaker 2: pain that comes in the harvesting of those seeds eclipses
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  Speaker 2: the pleasure. I received a phone call, it was long distance,
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  Speaker 2: this week, from an individual who poured out her heart
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  Speaker 2: to me. As she says, she was living in the
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  Speaker 2: consequence of sin, and she wanted me to give an
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  Speaker 2: answer that would help her relieve the consequences. And I
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  Speaker 2: cannot do that. At the time, she made a decision,
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  Speaker 2: which was a foolish decision, and she knows now it
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  Speaker 2: was a wrong decision. At the time she made it,
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  Speaker 2: there was a measure of real pleasure in the act itself.
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  Speaker 2: There was a sense of delight as a matter of fact,
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  Speaker 2: And this dear woman is now reaping the harvest of
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  Speaker 2: that sewing, and it's miserable, and she says, what can
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  Speaker 2: I do? How can I get out of it? And
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  Speaker 2: it fell my lot again, as it seems rather frequently,
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  Speaker 2: I come back to these verses to show her in
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  Speaker 2: Galatians Sin seven to eight, that the harvest has eclipsed
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  Speaker 2: the pleasure of the planting. That is never more true
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  Speaker 2: than in the life of David. Two Samuel, Chapter twelve.
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  Speaker 2: Hope you'll use the yellow sheet this evening as we
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  Speaker 2: turn to this passage, I want to give you some
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  Speaker 2: things that you will for sure forget, and I don't
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  Speaker 2: want you to forget. I think, frankly, we have been
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  Speaker 2: misprogrammed in our theology in the area of sin. So
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  Speaker 2: many things need to be thought through in a fresh manner.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think anything concerns me more than using grace
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  Speaker 2: as a tool to justify sin or to take away
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  Speaker 2: the pain of the consequences. If I had one message
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  Speaker 2: that I could declare to Christians everywhere, it would have
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  Speaker 2: to do with this business of corrective theology as opposed
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  Speaker 2: to preventive theology. I'm gonna tell you what I mean.
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  Speaker 2: Every parent, as the children grow older, goes through the
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  Speaker 2: experience of teaching the kids to drive. It is a
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  Speaker 2: nerve racking, unbelievably difficult experience, to say the least, no
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  Speaker 2: matter how careful your kids are. Now a parent has
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  Speaker 2: a choice in how to teach the child how to drive.
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  Speaker 2: He could teach the child in a corrective manner or
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  Speaker 2: in a preventive manner. If I chose to teach my
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  Speaker 2: oldest son how to drive correctively, I could say to him, no, court,
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  Speaker 2: I want to show you, first of all, before we
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  Speaker 2: get in the car the insurance, the insurance policy that
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  Speaker 2: I have taken out on your life. And I want
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  Speaker 2: you to see here, son, that when you have the wreck,
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  Speaker 2: which you're sure you're gonna have it, I want you
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  Speaker 2: to notice you call the agent at area two one, three, nine,
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  Speaker 2: on and on and I give them the number. And
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  Speaker 2: after the accident, son, I want you to be sure
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  Speaker 2: to call me. Uh. And then the third thing, we're
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  Speaker 2: going to do this after you have had the wreck.
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  Speaker 2: Or I could say a son, let's just prevent a
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  Speaker 2: lot of problems by telling you ahead of time, here
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  Speaker 2: is the way to drive. And if you drive by
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  Speaker 2: these rules and regulations, and if you obey these signs
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  Speaker 2: and do what they say, it's amazing you you could
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  Speaker 2: very likely go a long period of time without even
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  Speaker 2: a slight scrape. Can't guarantee it, but it would sure
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  Speaker 2: be better and the other way if you stop and
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  Speaker 2: think for a moment. You were taught First John one
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  Speaker 2: nine almost before you were out of the crib as
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  Speaker 2: a little baby, and you didn't learn Roman six, perhaps
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  Speaker 2: until this very very hour. It's doubtful that many Christians
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  Speaker 2: in this place could quote one verse from Roman six,
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  Speaker 2: but most of us could quote First John one to nine.
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  Speaker 2: Why because we have been trained to sin? Sounds heretical,
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  Speaker 2: doesn't it. You have been told since your earliest days
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  Speaker 2: out of the crib. Now, look, when you sin, if
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  Speaker 2: we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
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  Speaker 2: forgive us and decleanse us from all unrighteousness. So when
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  Speaker 2: you sin, claim it, claim God's forgiveness. And that's a
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  Speaker 2: marvelous verse. I call it our bar of soap in
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  Speaker 2: the Christian life. It keeps us clean. It certainly is
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  Speaker 2: the answer to the problem of sin once it has happened,
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  Speaker 2: but it's not the best answer. The best answer is
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  Speaker 2: Roman six. Neither yield you your members as instruments of
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  Speaker 2: unrighteousness under sin, but you yourselves unto God is those
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  Speaker 2: that are alive from the dead, and your members as
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  Speaker 2: instruments of righteousness unto God, meaning what meaning? As I
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  Speaker 2: yield myself to God, when sin approaches, I can say no,
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  Speaker 2: and in the power of Jesus Christ, I can turn
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  Speaker 2: away from it. I don't have to sin. You know
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  Speaker 2: why sin? Because I have a deep, quiet, sincere, respectable
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  Speaker 2: love for sin. That's why sin. And every sin I commit,
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  Speaker 2: I choose to commit it, and in every choice, I
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  Speaker 2: set up consequences in my life. Part of the reason
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  Speaker 2: we don't get the full truth of Roman six is
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  Speaker 2: nobody's talking about the consequences. We've shortchanged the consequences by
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  Speaker 2: giving people the idea grace takes it all away. Grace
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  Speaker 2: does not take away the consequences of sin, just as
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  Speaker 2: it does not take away the arm and the need
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  Speaker 2: for the bone to be healed. Set I tell you,
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  Speaker 2: if David could rise from the grave today, he would
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  Speaker 2: say amen to that statement. The awesome sin in David's
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  Speaker 2: life led to trouble the likes of which few fathers
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  Speaker 2: on earth will ever go through. Now let me show
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  Speaker 2: you from this passage, beginning at verse seven and following
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  Speaker 2: some of the stair steps that went down in David's life,
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  Speaker 2: leading him to a life of misery as a result
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  Speaker 2: of his sin. Now, David, verse seven, Nathan says, you
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  Speaker 2: are the man. The prophet has stood before the king
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  Speaker 2: and has told him what no one else would tell
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  Speaker 2: him during the year's time in his life. You're the
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  Speaker 2: one that took Bathsheba. You're the one that had your
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  Speaker 2: Rayah murdered. You're the one that's lived like a hypocrite.
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  Speaker 2: You're the man David. Verse thirteen, he said to Nathan,
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  Speaker 2: I have sinned three words. He should have said the
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  Speaker 2: very moment after he went into Bathsheba, but he didn't.
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  Speaker 2: And I am convinced the consequences would have been much
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  Speaker 2: much less if he had, right on the heels of
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  Speaker 2: that act, declared his sin, openly, confessed it before the
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  Speaker 2: people as well as before God, and laid his life bare.
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  Speaker 2: But he didn't. And now ten eleven, twelve months later,
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  Speaker 2: Nathan says, you're the man, David. He says, I've sinned.
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  Speaker 2: But wait, wait a minute, Will you look at the
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  Speaker 2: prediction that Nathan makes verse ten under the guidance and
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  Speaker 2: inspiration of God. Verse ten, the prophet declares, the sword
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  Speaker 2: shall never depart from your house. If you have a
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  Speaker 2: pencil circle the word. Never, the sword will ever depart
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  Speaker 2: from your house. I thought he was forgiven, Hey he is.
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  Speaker 2: Verse thirteen says the Lord has taken away your sin.
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  Speaker 2: You shall not die. That's forgiveness. But it says nothing
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  Speaker 2: about the consequences. Oh yes it does. It says in
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  Speaker 2: verse ten, the sword will not depart from the house.
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  Speaker 2: Am I saying that everyone who sins will have the
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  Speaker 2: same consequences. No, you haven't heard me say that. God,
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  Speaker 2: in his sovereign manner, fits the consequence for the person.
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  Speaker 2: And it's his choice. It's his move, it's his plan.
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  Speaker 2: Why he chooses some to go this way and some
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  Speaker 2: that I do not know. All I know is in
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  Speaker 2: David's case, he led him down a path of misery
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  Speaker 2: so that he would never forget, nor would we in retrospect.
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  Speaker 2: The consequences of that act are those series of acts.
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  Speaker 2: The sword will never depart from your house. Verse eleven,
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  Speaker 2: Thus says the Lord behold, I will raise up evil
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  Speaker 2: against you from your own household twice in two verses
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  Speaker 2: the mention of his own house. The Good News Bible
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  Speaker 2: renders this passage with this bad news. I will cause
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  Speaker 2: those from your own family to bring trouble on you.
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  Speaker 2: The Living Bible speaks of David having to live under
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  Speaker 2: a constant threat in his family since God said I
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  Speaker 2: will cause your household to rebel against you. I told
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  Speaker 2: you it wasn't an easy message to hear, because it
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  Speaker 2: isn't an easy message to preach. I have no platform
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  Speaker 2: upon which I live that keeps me free of the
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  Speaker 2: very things I'm declaring tonight. I have endured some of
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  Speaker 2: the consequences just as you, and no doubt before God,
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  Speaker 2: I will endure more because I am imperfect. And every
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  Speaker 2: time I make a choice to sin, I can be
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  Speaker 2: sure my Holy God will not be mocked as I
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  Speaker 2: turn to Him and lay my life before him, as
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  Speaker 2: I repent of that, as I change my mind and
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  Speaker 2: turn to Him for forgiveness. God will keep me from death.
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  Speaker 2: God will guard me and his grace, but he will
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  Speaker 2: not take away the consequences until I have gone through
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  Speaker 2: that period that He chooses for me to go through. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the sad part about it is, so will some of
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  Speaker 2: my children, So will my wife be affected. In some cases,
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  Speaker 2: so will the church that I serve, And that's true
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  Speaker 2: in your life as well. David is forgiven. But it
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  Speaker 2: says that God will cause the household to rebel against it. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the general prediction we want to remember is this trouble
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  Speaker 2: will come upon David's household. Remember the beginning statement I made.
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  Speaker 2: There are two kinds of problems that a family can endure,
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  Speaker 2: trouble from without and trouble from within. And this is
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  Speaker 2: a case of the second. David endures with his family
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  Speaker 2: trouble from within. And I don't think there's any way
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  Speaker 2: to write in the sacred record awful guilt that this
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  Speaker 2: man lived with as he looked back over the months
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  Speaker 2: that we're going to travel through tonight and trace the
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  Speaker 2: steps of the downward trend of misery because he sinned
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  Speaker 2: during that twelve month period of time. Okay, Job chapter four,
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  Speaker 2: verse eight is a verse you might margin in your Bible.
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  Speaker 2: Just in passing, let me reaffirm the principle of Galatians
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  Speaker 2: six by looking at eliphas words in Job four to eight.
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  Speaker 2: According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity
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  Speaker 2: and those who sowed trouble harvested. Hoseiah eight seven says
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  Speaker 2: that Israel sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind. Same principle,
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: My friend John W. Lawrence some time ago wrote a
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: fine book entitled The Seven Laws of the Harvest. In
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: this book he traces the truth of harvesting what we
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: have sown. Should have that book. It's excellent work to study.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: He traces it through seven laws of harvesting. I was
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: intrigued by the second law again this week as I
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: reviewed his book, The law that says we reap the
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: same in kind as we sow. Listen to Lawrence's words.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: When David sewed to the flesh, he reaped what the
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: flesh produced. Moreover, he reaped the consequences of his actions,
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: even though he had confessed his sin and been forgiven
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: for it. Underline it, star it, Mark it deeply upon
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: your conscious mind. Confession and forgiveness in no way stop
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: the harvest. That whole line is italicized. He had sown,
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: he was to reap, forgive it he was, but the
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: consequences continued. This is exactly the emphasis Paul is giving
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: the Galatians. Even in this age of grace, we are
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: not to be deceived, for God will not be mocked.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: What we saw we will reap, and there are no exceptions.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: I tell a size. I don't know if you're reading
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: meat or tracking with me so far, but I think
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: some of you are. I believe the feedback is said
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: from your faces as saying you're on target with me.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: You see what our theology has led us to believe.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: We have set ourselves up with a sin mindset, and
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: therefore to live with the guilt and the consequences. We
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: have told ourselves that grace means those consequences are going
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: to be removed, meaning it's fine to go on in
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: that same vortex sucked under by the power of the flesh.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: Rather than what Paul teaches. You don't have to sin.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: You sin because you want to. You have the power,
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: in the person of the whole Spirit to say no
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: to it at every turn in your life. If you
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: choose to say yes against the prompting of the Holy Spirit,
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: you may be certain you will live in the backwash
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: of the consequences, which may be severe, maybe slight. Unfortunately,
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: so will innocent people who are closely related to you.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Now David two Samuel, chapter twelve, the general prediction is
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: the sword will never depart from your house. Now. I
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: learned from the last service that I can't get through
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: this message, and I tried like crazy to hurry hurry, hurry,
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: and I'm not going to do that. So I'm gonna
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: just take us through the eight steps and then we're
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: gonna wrap it up that bottom part. Next time. I
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: want us to see the downward trend in David's life.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Now take notes, at least take note from moment to
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: moment of what we're reading, and let it have an
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: effect on your mind. Now. Verse eleven introduces us to
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: the first of eight steps downward in David's misery marital infidelity.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: That is the first verse eleven. Behold, I will raise
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: up evil against you from your own household. I will
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: even take your wives before your eyes and give them
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: to your companion, and he shall lie with your wives
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: in broad daylight. The Hebrew word for companion is an
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: intimate term and could very well have reference to one
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: of David's own children. As a matter of fact, when
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: you trace the prediction that is here into chapter sixteen,
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: you find that is exactly what happened. His own son
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Absent cohabited with his concubines. Look at chapter sixteen and
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: you will see it for yourself. Chapter sixteen, Verse twenty one.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: It's a grim account, but it's true. There will be
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: marital unfaithfulness, and I want you to notice where it
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: took place. Verse twenty, chapter sixteen. Absolom said to a Hithefel,
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: give your advice. What shall we do now? A Hithefel
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: is a poor counselor, as a matter of fact, he
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: is a wicked counselor. A Hiffafel said to Absalom, go
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: into your father's concubines, whom he has left to keep
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: the house. And then all Israel will hear that you
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: have made yourself odious to your father. The hands of
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: all who are with you will also be strengthened. So
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: they pitched a tent, or Absalom on the roof. Where
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: is it David first fell into sin and planted the
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: seeds on the roof, on the roof of the palace,
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: as if to say, we'll rub his nose in it.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: So they pitched a tent on the roof of the palace.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: And it says Absalom went into his father's concubines in
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: the sight of all Israel, if you please, it was
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: a sordid display of the flesh, as I supposed, with
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: announcement and with all sorts of shoutings. They called attention
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: to what was going on, and people could gather and
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: watch him as he went in and out of this tent,
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: experiencing and carrying out the very fulfillment of the marital
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: infidelity predicted in verse eleven of chapter twelve. I'll tell
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: you that's a consequence to bear. It's a shameful thing.
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: Let's go to the second one. Back to chapter twelve,
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: verse fifteen, the loss of the newborn baby. Not only
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: was there marital infidelity, there was loss of the baby.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: Nathan went to his house. Then the lord struck the
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: child that Uriah, Uriah's widow bored to David. It's interesting
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: it does not call her his wife. David's wife calls
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: her Uriah's widow bored to David, so that he was
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: very sick verse seventeen. The elders of the household stood
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: beside him verse eighteen. Then it happened on the seventh
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: day that the child died verse nineteen closes, and they
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: said he is dead. Was bad enough to have the
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: experience of marital infidelity. But on top of that, ultimately
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: that which happened came the loss of the newborn baby,
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: which added to the grief of this forgiven man. There
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: is a third chapter thirteen, verses one to fourteen. One
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: of David's sons rapes his sister. It's a disgraceful scene
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: in chapter thirteen. There's a lot of emotion in it.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: Let me clarify something before we go any further. Now,
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: listen carefully. David married many wives and had many concubines.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: From these relationships, there were many, many children born. I
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: don't think we have a full genealogical record of all
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: David's children, but we do have it very carefully presented
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: that between the relationship between David and Mayakah husband wife,
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: there were born at least two Absalom and Tamar. They
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: were blood brother sisters, same parents, mom and dad. By
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: another relationship David with another woman, there was born the
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: son Amnon amn am Noon was a half brother to Tamar,
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: same father, different wives, different moms. Got it. Now, when
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: you read this account, you will notice that Amnon, the
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: half brother, is attracted to Tamar half sister, the blood
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: sister of Absolom. And the reason I want to present
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: that is because Absolom comes to her defense later on,
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: and now you know why she was to him very precious.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: She was like your own brother, a sister, true brother,
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: a sister, unlike Amnon's relationship with now verse one. It
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: was after this that Absalom, the son of David, had
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon, the
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: son of David, loved her. It was a wrong kind
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: of love. It was a physical love. It was an
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: incestuous lust. And you will notice he was so frustrated
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: because of his sister Tamar, that he made himself ill,
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: for she was a virgin and it seemed hard to
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: Amnon to do anything to her. And through a process
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: of events, he had a friend named Johnadab, who helped
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: set up the event. Tamar was brought into this scene
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: where the boy faked illness, and he said to her
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: in verse eleven, in a very direct proposition, come lie
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: with me, my sister, And she said, no, my brother
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: did not violate me, for such a thing is not
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: done in Israel. However, verse fourteen, he would not listen
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: to her, since he was stronger than she suggests. There
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: was a struggle. He violated her and lay with her.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred. Note
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: that after the brother raped the sister, there there was
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: a sense of instant hate, and he put her out.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: And guess where she went to her brother, Absalom. It
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: says in verse twenty Absalom, her brother said to her,
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: has Amnon your brother been with you? Now it doesn't
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: record an answer, but I imagine she nodded her head.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: Imagine that, in the shame and disgrace of her experience,
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: she simply had the strength just to nod. Now keep quiet,
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: my sister, he is your brother. Do not take this
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: matter to heart. So Tamar remained and was desolate in
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: her brother Absalom's house verse twenty two. But Absalom did
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: not speak to Amnon either good are bad. For Absalom
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: hated Amnon because he had violated his sister Tamar. Step
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: number four, a brother hates a brother. Now David has
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: a twisted problem. Not only has there been rape in
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: the family, there is now adult hatred. When siblings despise
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: one another and they grow to full adulthood and the
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: despicable feelings have grown in silence, bitterness leads to murder.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: And here is a classic illustration. A brother hates his
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: half brother. Speaking of sibling rivalry, it's a vivid memory
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: in my own mind of some number of years ago
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: outside this state, I had a funeral service for a
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: man who died rather young. He was in his forties.
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: He had a couple of grown daughters a son that
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: was a teenager, and there was pressure in that family.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: In fact, the two sisters had not spoken to one
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: another for quite a period of time. When I called
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: on the home to help assist in the plans for
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: the funeral, I will never forget the sister came in
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: and there was an instant sense of pressure and bitterness.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: One sort of shoved the other one, and then an
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: argument broke out and they literally began a fistfight, sister
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: with sister, and I'll tell you they hit the floor,
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: and they rolled around several times. One foot went up
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: and broke loose the little shutters that were on the
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: dining room window. The table was bumped over as the
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: other one had one by the hair and threw her down.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: The chandelier fell and broke. I was so glad I'd
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: had judo training in the Marine Corps to help pull
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: them apart. I've never had anything like that happen in
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: my life. One girl had to be held in a room,
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: another girl had to be held by a relative who
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: was there as we worked through the final details of
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: the putting to rest of the father. I want you
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: to know that this kind of hatred, while it isn't
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: physically expressed, is not that uncommon in homes today. Some
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: of you, if you're honest with yourself, would admit there
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: are strained relations between you and your immediate family, and
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: you have not come to terms with it, and you
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: don't plan to. Who knows, but what some of that
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: is not the consequence of some sin in years past?
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: Who knows.
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: Absalom and Amnon did not speak, it says for two
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: years verse twenty three. For two full years, it went on.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: I want to ask some where in the world was David?
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: Where is the absent father? But you know, the only
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: thing it says in all the record, and I have
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: read every verse from here to the end of the book,
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: the only thing I find in reference to David as
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: it relates to his daughter being violated by a son
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: is verse twenty one. When King David heard of all
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: these matters, he was very angry. And that's all you're
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: going to read. That's all. Incredible passivity, incredible preoccupation. His
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: head is somewhere else. It has been for a long time.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: These kids have raised themselves. Now, I said it was
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: hard to have message to hear dad's. We are living
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: in the generation of the absent father. And I'll tell
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: you the mother is not designed to cope as both
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: mom and dad. It is not her place, it is
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: not her calling. Leadership certainly can be carried out as
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: a partner, as a partnership in a relationship between mom
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: and dad with the children. It was never designed for
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: the mother to be the sole source of discipline and authority.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: But we are living in a generation of the authoritative mother,
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: who has taken the role that was never hers to take,
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: simply because the father has become occupied sixteen hours and
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: more a day somewhere else, and when he's home, if
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: the truth is known, he is a addicted to the
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: television set. You know me well enough to know that
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: I'm not for throwing out all the TVs. I'm not
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: for getting rid of all things that happen on TV
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: in all programs. I am saying, Dads, it's amazing how
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: little discipline we show in being unable to walk over
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: and turn a little knob about one inch to the
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: left to where it clicks. So much easier to sort
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: of stick our thumb in the book and look over
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: our glasses and say, now, don't do that, kids, and
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: go right back to it, and to set that aside
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: and deal with the problem. But that's hard, and if
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: the truth were known, we would rather say it's her job.
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: For all a kind of money I'm making showed a
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: kind of self privileged to live in this kind of
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: place I provided her. What kind of palace did David
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: provide for his umpty number of wives. It was a
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: fabulous pad, but it didn't handle the problem at home.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: Absalom hated his brother, and he did so for two
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: full years. They didn't even speak, whether good or bad,
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: and the result verse twenty three, after two full years,
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: Absolom starts his little deceptive plan. Absalom is quite a guy,
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: for he was awake a lot earlier than his dad,
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: went to bed a lot later, played his father for
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: a fool, offered a plan where all of them would
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: go down to shear sheep, and the dad said, no,
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: I don't think we should. Verse twenty four. Absolom came
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: to the king and said, now your servant has sheep shearers.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: Please let the king and his servants go with your servant.
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: King said to Absolom, no, my son, we should not
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: all go, lest we be burdensome to you. Although he
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: urged him, he would not go, but blessed him. Then
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: Abslom said, if not, then please let my brother am
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: None go with us. Now, if this dad had been
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: on target, he would have known that Absalom has not
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: spoken to Amnon for two years. I mean, you've got
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: to be rather thick as a father did not know
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: that a son is speaking to another son for two years,
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: and David not look talk about lack of discipline. Absalom
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: urged him verse twenty seven. And Amnon he let Amnon
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: and all the king's sons go with him. He urged him,
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: meaning what he badgered him, He begged him, he pled,
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: he intimidated, He used guilt. And a father that doesn't
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: spend the right kind of priority, the right kind of time,
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: is a victim of his guilt. And kids manipulate and intimidate,
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: and before long the dad's giving in. Go ahead, just
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: sleep do it now. Look at what happened. You won't
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: believe it. Twenty eight Absolom commanded his servants, saying, see now,
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: when Amnon's hearts merry with wine, when I say to you,
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: strike him, then put him to death. Don't fear I've
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: commanded you. Twenty nine. That's what they did. But that's
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: not all. The servants of Absalom did to Amnon, just
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: as Abslom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose,
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: each mounted his mule and fled. It was while they
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: were on the way that the report came to David.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: Absalom has struck down all the king's sons, and not
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: one of them is left. If you're tracing the steps down,
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: we now have Absalom murdering Amnon. A brother murders a brother,
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: internal strife. The sword will never depart out of your household, David.
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: And here he is groaning under the ache of it all. Now,
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: if that's not bad enough, another step Absalom verse thirty three,
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: thirty four. When the report came back, all the king's
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: sons are dead. Verse thirty four, Absolom fled, So we
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: have number six rebellion and runaway. Absalom's on his way.
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: And while he's away, by the way, he went to
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: granddaddy's house. Verse thirty eight. Absalom fled and had gone
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: to Geesher That's where his granddaddy lived Mayoka's dad, who
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: was a king in geisher Ah. He can't live at home,
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: so we go back to granddad while he licks his
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: wounds and sets up his plan to rebel against his daddy.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: And that's precisely what he does. Step number seven. Absalom
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: leads a conspiracy against his father Wow Chapter fifteen well
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: fourteen twenty eight. Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem,
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: did not see the king's face. He sent for Joe
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: Abb and he wouldn't come. So he sent a second time,
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: and he still wouldn't come. And then through another chain
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: of events, Absalom got on the king's doorstep and began
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: to steal the hearts of the people. You read the
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: record for yourself. He stood at the gate of the king,
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: and as people came to seek counsel of David, Absalom
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: short circuited. He intercepted them as they came, hugged them
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: and kissed them and won their hearts and got them
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: on his side, said bad things about his father, and
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: before long he had the majority vote and of all things.
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: It says in verse fourteen David said to all his
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: servants verse fourteen of chapter fifteen, arise and let us flee.
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: Otherwise none of us shall escape from Absalom. Who's in
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: charge the sun? It happens every time. Parents on the
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: Run is a book written by Beecher and Beacher, a
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: husband wife team, and they give strong advice to parents today.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: The adult centered home of yesteryear made parents the masters
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: and children their slaves. The child centered home of today
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: has made parents the slaves and children the masters. There
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: is no true cooperation in a master slave relationship, and
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: therefore no democracy. Neither their restrictive authoritarian technique of rearing
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: children nor the newer anything goes technique developed the genius
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: within the individual, because neither trains him to be self reliant.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: Now listen, children raised under arbitrary rules become either spineless
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: automatons or bitter revolutionaries who waste their lives in conflict
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: with those around them. But children who know no law
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: higher than their own passing fancy become trapped by their
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: own appetites. In either case, they are slaves. And it's
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: precisely what happened to absolom some number of years ago.
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: The headlines read in this article, son says parents failed him,
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: so he sues them for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: In Colorado, a young man sues his parents for damages
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This twenty five
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: year old fella because they didn't raise him right. Why
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: don't get any ideas? All getting aside I wonder how
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: many kids, just to just to ponder the thought, would
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: feel they have the right to soothe their parents. That's
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: not the answer, certainly, Nor am I saying that it's
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: always a parent's fault. I think the scapegoat of our
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: days always mom and dad, are often mom and dad.
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: That's unfair. What is it going to take for the
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: blinders to be removed, the shades to be lifted, and
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: truth to be seen by parents in putting together a family.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you it is devastating in our era, for
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: everything in the world comes in place of the essentials.
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: I counseled with a young man a number of years
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: ago who sat in my office and with a curled
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: lip and a grim face, stared coldly at me as
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: we talked about his home. He had been sent to
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: me by his parents, and I could hardly break through
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: that thick hide. And I said to him, tell me
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: about your dad. And he uttered an oath and cleared
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: his throat and looked out the window and my dad.
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: He said, I have one great goal. That's to kill him.
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: He said, I tried once, I failed, but the next
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: time I will. Seething with emotion, then he began to
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: describe time after time after time after time, his dad ridiculed, embarrassed,
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: took advantage of beat, didn't trust, put him down to
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: where that boy is now an absolom taller than his dad.
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: It's just a matter of time. I tell you, David
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: is under the awful strain of all of this. And
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: if that's not bad enough, the final straw is Joe
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: ab D's Absalom, chapter eighteen, verse thirty two. Here we
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: are at the end of a whole series of things,
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: and the sword has not departed from David's house, And
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: here he is living in the backwash of the carnality,
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: the consequences of carnality ruing the day he ever even
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: looked at Bathsheba, and carried on a year of deception
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: and finally, in the backwash of the rape of a sister,
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: the conspiracy of a son, the rebellion of a son,
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: the hatred, the murder, and he's sitting alone, no doubt,
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: perspiring to the point of exhaustion, and incomes the report
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: Verse thirty two, eighteen thirty two. The king said to
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: the Kushite, this is the runner that came from the battle.
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: Is it well with the young man Absalom? See he's
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: guilty over this boy couldn't handle him. A nice concern
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: that he somehow got it back together. The Kushite answered,
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: Let the enemies of my lord, the King, and all
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: who rise up against you for evil, be as that
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: young man, which is a gracious way of saying that
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: boy is dead. Now. Look, the king was deeply moved.
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: It's the most tragic parental account in all the Old Testament.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: Deeply moved. Look where he went. He went to the
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: chamber over the gate, and he wept, and he said
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: as he walked, look at him walking up and down. Oh,
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: my son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom. Would I
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: had died instead of you, Oh, Absalom, my son, my son,
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man
• 51:51
  Speaker 2: shows that he will reap. If you have taken lightly
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: the grace of God, if you have tripped through the
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: corrinners of the kingdom like a little child, picking and
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: choosing sin or righteousness at will, thinking grace covers it all.
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: You've missed it, my friend, you've missed it. As a
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: matter of fact, it's quite likely there has begun a
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: process of consequences. You're too thick to realize that you
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: are harvesting the bitter blossoms of your seeds planted way
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: back then. What is it going to take. What is
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: it going to take in the family of God to
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: turn our lives in his great grace back his beautiful plan. Well,
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: it is going to take saying no to good things
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: and fun things that satisfy you, dad, mom, or kids.
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: It's going to take an honest admission of the truth,
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: either to a friend or to the parents themselves are
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: the kids, whichever the relationship need is an honest admission
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: and declaration. This is out of whack. This has gone
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: on time after time after time, and I cannot go
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: on like this. Some of you this very evening are
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: living in a compromising situation and just for the skin
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: of your teeth. You just sort of skipping along or
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: skimming along the surface, hoping it'll never catch up. God
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: is not mocked. It has caught up. And part of
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: the catching up is the misery tonight that you live with.
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: And I do not attempt to take it away. I
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: don't lay a guilt trip on anybody. I'm saying that
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: if God brings it, it is from the Holy Spirit,
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: and it's between you and him. Let's pause, now, let's bow.
• 54:30
  Speaker 2: David is a beaten man, strung out, sobbing, as if
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: he's lost his mind. Every crutch is removed. He's at
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: the bitter end. The wages of sin is death, but
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: If you've never met the Lord Jesus, of course I
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: point you to him, Turn to him tonight. Turn your
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: life to him, broken and bruised and twisted and confused.
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: Just lay it out before ask him to give you
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: the grace to face realistically and straight on the consequences.
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: Our Father, in the quietness of these moments together, I
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: asked that you would somehow put together the the pieces
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: that only you can do. I cannot, and turn our
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: attention to your son, our only claim, our only hope. Father,
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: I plead with you to stop the process of sin
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: in some lives that are here. Only you know who
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: they are, and cause us to see that our Holy
• 56:35
  Speaker 2: God is not mocked. I pray for disciplined moms and dads.
• 56:45
  Speaker 2: I pray for that to be balanced with a very
• 56:47
  Speaker 2: sincere and deep love that only you can bring. Give
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: us the ability, Lord, as you forgive us, to forgive ourselves,
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: so that we have a clear mind in realizing that
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: you will take us through and your grace will sustain us.
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: How serious this is. Tonight, I pray that there might
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: be some dads raised up who will for a change
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: be dads again and take the role of leadership that
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: is theirs. The whirlwind that they're reaping. I asked that
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: you would slow them down and bring them to their knees.
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: I asked that for myself as well. Tonight, Our Father,
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: we wait on you to do these things. We trust
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: you for this, for this in the name of Christ. Amen.
• 57:54
  Speaker 3: The preceding message Absalom the Rebel Prince Charming was copyrighted
• 57:59
  Speaker 3: in nineteen seventy eight eight nineteen eighty two nineteen eighty eight,
• 58:02
  Speaker 3: nineteen ninety seven, two thousand and six, two thousand and nine,
• 58:05
  Speaker 3: twenty twelve, twenty twenty two and twenty twenty four, and
• 58:09
  Speaker 3: the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty four by
• 58:12
  Speaker 3: Charles R. Swindall Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
• 58:18
  Speaker 3: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited