Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Absalom_ The Rebel Prince Charming Msg 914
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Davis's multiple sins for a short season resulted in extremely
- 0:06Speaker 1: painful consequences for the rest of his life and including
- 0:10Speaker 1: the lives of his family members. His life experiences should
- 0:14Speaker 1: act as bright red lights for every one of us.
- 0:18Speaker 1: Paul summarized it beautifully when he was writing The Galatians,
- 0:23Speaker 1: chapter six, verses seven and eight. I love the way,
- 0:26Speaker 1: Eugene Peterson translates this, don't be misled. No one makes
- 0:32Speaker 1: a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest.
- 0:37Speaker 1: The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others,
- 0:42Speaker 1: ignoring God, harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have
- 0:47Speaker 1: to show for his life is weeds. But the one
- 0:51Speaker 1: who plants in response to God, letting God's spirit do
- 0:55Speaker 1: the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life,
- 1:00Speaker 1: eternal life. Well, David planted selfishness and harvested crops of
- 1:06Speaker 1: weeds for the rest of his life. As the old
- 1:09Speaker 1: prophet once wrote, he sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind.
- 1:14Speaker 1: And so here is God's message to David through the
- 1:17Speaker 1: prophet Nathan, as recorded in Second Samuel chapter twelve, verses
- 1:22Speaker 1: twelve to twenty five. I'm going to read this section
- 1:25Speaker 1: from the message. You're the man, said Nathan, and here's
- 1:30Speaker 1: what God, the God of Israel, has to say to you.
- 1:34Speaker 1: I made you king over Israel. I freed you from
- 1:37Speaker 1: the fist of Saul. I gave you your master's daughter
- 1:40Speaker 1: and other wives to have and to hold. I gave
- 1:43Speaker 1: you both Israel and Judah. And if that hadn't been enough,
- 1:48Speaker 1: I'd have gladly thrown in much more so. Why have
- 1:52Speaker 1: you treated the word of God with brazen contempt doing
- 1:56Speaker 1: this great evil? You murdered your Writhy, then took his
- 2:01Speaker 1: wife as your wife. Worse, you killed him with an
- 2:05Speaker 1: ammonite sword. And now because you treated God with such
- 2:10Speaker 1: contempt and took your Riyah, the Hittite's wife as your wife,
- 2:14Speaker 1: killing and murder will continually plague your family. This is
- 2:19Speaker 1: God speaking. Remember, I'll make trouble for you out of
- 2:22Speaker 1: your own family. I'll take your wives from right out
- 2:26Speaker 1: in front of you. I'll give them to some neighbor
- 2:28Speaker 1: and he'll go to bed with them openly. You did
- 2:31Speaker 1: your deed in secret. I'm doing mine with the whole
- 2:35Speaker 1: country watching. Then David confessed to Nathan, I've sinned against God.
- 2:42Speaker 1: Nathan pronounced yes. But that's not the last word. God
- 2:48Speaker 1: forgives your sin. You won't die for it, but because
- 2:52Speaker 1: of your blasphemous behavior, the son born to you will die.
- 2:58Speaker 2: This evening.
- 2:59Speaker 3: I have a message that is not easy to preach
- 3:02Speaker 3: and is not easy to hear, but it is from
- 3:06Speaker 3: the Lord, and we need to do both. It has
- 3:11Speaker 3: to do with a family that is in trouble. There
- 3:15Speaker 3: are two kinds of trouble that a family can experience,
- 3:19Speaker 3: trouble that comes from without and trouble that comes from within.
- 3:25Speaker 3: The more difficult of the two is the trouble from within.
- 3:31Speaker 3: This is not to say that trouble coming from without
- 3:33Speaker 3: is not devastating and difficult for a family. Take, for example,
- 3:39Speaker 3: the family the Wise's family which many of us watch
- 3:44Speaker 3: on the Holocaust moved and troubled with this doctor and
- 3:49Speaker 3: his wife and their dear Jewish children. We witness them
- 3:53Speaker 3: one by one being picked off by the clammy fingers
- 3:58Speaker 3: of death took its tyrannical toll on their lives and
- 4:02Speaker 3: brought pain to our hearts as we vicariously entered into
- 4:06Speaker 3: the experience of that family that had trouble from without.
- 4:12Speaker 2: But the more difficult of the two is trouble.
- 4:15Speaker 3: From within, tension, heartbreaking, hatred, pressure, the difficulties that accompany
- 4:25Speaker 3: the carnal life when mom and dad walk in the
- 4:29Speaker 3: flesh or act foolishly, or the children respond in rebellion
- 4:35Speaker 3: and disagreement and disharmony. When there is friction between husband
- 4:41Speaker 3: and wife or between parent and child. Ah, that's a
- 4:47Speaker 3: lot harder to bear, especially when it is the consequence
- 4:53Speaker 3: of sin. Before we look at Second Samuel chapter twelve, following,
- 5:00Speaker 3: I want us to look into Galatians chapter six. You
- 5:05Speaker 3: turn there, please, and let's locate verses seven and eight.
- 5:10Speaker 3: I want to give you a principle from these two verses,
- 5:13Speaker 3: and then I want to lay on you the consequences
- 5:16Speaker 3: that follow in light of the principle. These two verses
- 5:21Speaker 3: are no doubt the most familiar in the book of Galatians.
- 5:25Speaker 3: Many of you have quoted these words and didn't really
- 5:27Speaker 3: know where they were sourced. Galatians six seven begins do
- 5:32Speaker 3: not be deceived. Now you will read that in the
- 5:35Speaker 3: New Testament rather often. The reason the Lord gives that
- 5:39Speaker 3: warning ahead of time is because the thing that follows
- 5:43Speaker 3: is so easily an avenue of deception. In other words,
- 5:49Speaker 3: the devil, or the flesh, or the world will work
- 5:53Speaker 3: havoc on our thinking, deceiving us into refusing to believe
- 5:59Speaker 3: the truth or the principle God presents, and so ahead
- 6:03Speaker 3: of the principle, God says, don't be deceived about this.
- 6:07Speaker 3: Don't let anyone teach you the opposite. Don't let yourself
- 6:11Speaker 3: or someone else, or some experience lead you to believe
- 6:15Speaker 3: that something other than this is the truth. Don't be deceived. Now,
- 6:21Speaker 3: what is the warning? Verse seven?
- 6:23Speaker 2: God is not mocked.
- 6:26Speaker 3: For whatever a man sows this, he will also reap.
- 6:32Speaker 3: For the one who sows to his own flesh shall
- 6:36Speaker 3: from the flesh reap corruption. Let's stop there. Here is
- 6:46Speaker 3: the principle. We reap what we sow forgiveness. Notwithstanding. If
- 6:57Speaker 3: there is anything we have been duped into believe in
- 7:00Speaker 3: our era of grace, it.
- 7:02Speaker 2: Is the thinking that if we will simply confess our
- 7:06Speaker 2: sins and claim God's forgiveness, then this business of consequence
- 7:12Speaker 2: is all taken away. All we need to do when
- 7:16Speaker 2: falling into the trap of sin is to turn to
- 7:18Speaker 2: the Lord and say, Lord, I confess to you the wrong,
- 7:21Speaker 2: and I agree with you that it is wrong. And
- 7:24Speaker 2: I declare.
- 7:25Speaker 3: Before you, and you only the wrongness of my actions.
- 7:30Speaker 3: Now I claim your forgiveness, and I count on you
- 7:34Speaker 3: to get me back on the track. As if to
- 7:38Speaker 3: think at that point all the consequences are gone. That
- 7:43Speaker 3: is not what the verse says. The verse is written
- 7:46Speaker 3: to people like you and me living in the era
- 7:49Speaker 3: of grace, written to the church. It's not a law verse.
- 7:54Speaker 3: It's not to Israel. It's to God's people, children of
- 7:59Speaker 3: the King, people under grace. And the verse says, don't
- 8:04Speaker 3: be deceived. God isn't mocked. Whatever you sow, you reap.
- 8:11Speaker 3: If you sow to the flesh, you reap corruption. Forgiveness,
- 8:16Speaker 3: notwithstanding grace, means that God, in forgiving you, does not
- 8:22Speaker 3: kill you. Grace means that God, in forgiving you gives
- 8:27Speaker 3: you the strength to endure the consequences. It does not
- 8:32Speaker 3: mean the consequences are automatically removed. If I sin, and
- 8:39Speaker 3: in the process of sinning, I break my arm. When
- 8:42Speaker 3: I find forgiveness from sin, I still have to deal
- 8:45Speaker 3: with a broken arm. Isn't it amazing how we will
- 8:48Speaker 3: accept it in the physical realm. Not a person here
- 8:50Speaker 3: would deny that a broken arm is still a broken arm.
- 8:53Speaker 3: Whether I have been forgiven or whether I'm still living
- 8:56Speaker 3: under the guilt of the sin, certainly we have a
- 8:59Speaker 3: broken arm. It must be set, it must heal. The
- 9:03Speaker 3: same happens in the emotional life. When a parent wilfully
- 9:07Speaker 3: and irresponsibly acts against God's written word. Not only does
- 9:12Speaker 3: the parent suffer, but the family suffers as well. And
- 9:17Speaker 3: that brings internal trouble, which is the subject tonight. Now
- 9:25Speaker 3: let me give you the consequence see verse eight. The
- 9:29Speaker 3: one who sows to his own flesh shall from the
- 9:34Speaker 3: flesh reap corruption. These are the words I use to
- 9:40Speaker 3: describe the consequence. The pain of the harvest eclipses the
- 9:46Speaker 3: pleasure of the planting. Think of your life like the
- 9:56Speaker 3: life of a farmer, and as you walk along, you
- 9:59Speaker 3: are planting daily, you are dropping the seeds. If you
- 10:05Speaker 3: choose to drop the seeds of sin and to sow that, yes,
- 10:11Speaker 3: to sow the seeds of carnality, you will find a
- 10:16Speaker 3: measure of pleasure in the sowing of carnality. Anyone who
- 10:20Speaker 3: denies that is a fool denies scripture. Scripture declares that
- 10:25Speaker 3: sin has its pleasure. It's passing, but it has its pleasure.
- 10:30Speaker 3: That's one of the things that draws us into it.
- 10:33Speaker 3: It is exciting, it is adventurous. It brings stimulation, It
- 10:37Speaker 3: satisfies the body. It brings a sense of conquering to us. Now,
- 10:45Speaker 3: in the sowing of that seed, there is a sense
- 10:48Speaker 3: of pleasure. But what we don't like to face, and
- 10:53Speaker 3: we will face tonight in this message, is that the
- 10:57Speaker 3: pain that comes in the harvesting of those seeds eclipses
- 11:02Speaker 3: the pleasure. I received a phone call, it was long distance,
- 11:09Speaker 3: this week, from an individual who poured out her heart
- 11:11Speaker 3: to me. As she says, she was living in the
- 11:13Speaker 3: consequence of sin, and she wanted me to give an
- 11:17Speaker 3: answer that would help her relieve the consequences.
- 11:20Speaker 2: And I cannot do that.
- 11:23Speaker 3: At the time, she made a decision, which was a
- 11:26Speaker 3: foolish decision, and she knows now it was a wrong decision.
- 11:30Speaker 3: At the time she made it, there was a measure
- 11:32Speaker 3: of real pleasure in the act itself. There was a
- 11:37Speaker 3: sense of delight as a matter of fact. And this
- 11:40Speaker 3: dear woman is now reaping the harvest of that sewing,
- 11:45Speaker 3: and it's miserable, and she says.
- 11:48Speaker 2: What can I do? How can I get out of it?
- 11:52Speaker 3: And it fell my lot again, as it seems rather frequently,
- 11:56Speaker 3: I come back to these verses to show her in
- 11:59Speaker 3: Galatians seven and eight that the harvest has eclipsed the
- 12:05Speaker 3: pleasure of the planting. That is never more true than
- 12:11Speaker 3: in the life of David. Two Samuel, Chapter twelve. Hope
- 12:18Speaker 3: you'll use the yellow sheet this evening as we turn
- 12:21Speaker 3: to this passage, I want to give you some things
- 12:23Speaker 3: that you will for sure forget, and I don't want
- 12:26Speaker 3: you to forget. I think, frankly, we have been misprogrammed
- 12:31Speaker 3: in our theology in the area of sin. So many
- 12:36Speaker 3: things need to be thought through in a fresh manner.
- 12:42Speaker 3: I don't think anything concerns me more than using grace
- 12:51Speaker 3: as a tool to justify sin or to take away
- 12:55Speaker 3: the pain of the consequences. One message that I could
- 13:00Speaker 3: declare to Christians everywhere it would have to do with
- 13:04Speaker 3: this business of corrective theology as opposed.
- 13:08Speaker 2: To preventive theology. I'm gonna tell you what I mean.
- 13:16Speaker 3: Every parent, as the children grow older, goes through the
- 13:19Speaker 3: experience of teaching the kids to drive. It is a
- 13:26Speaker 3: nerve racking, unbelievably difficult experience, to say the least, No
- 13:31Speaker 3: matter how careful your kids are now, a parent has
- 13:34Speaker 3: a choice in how to teach the child how to drive.
- 13:38Speaker 3: He could teach the child in a corrective manner or
- 13:42Speaker 3: in a preventive manner. If I chose to teach my
- 13:45Speaker 3: oldest son how to drive correctively, I could say to him,
- 13:50Speaker 3: my court, I want to show you, first of all,
- 13:53Speaker 3: before we get in the car, the insurance, the insurance
- 13:56Speaker 3: policy that I have taken out on your life. And
- 14:03Speaker 3: I want you to see here, son, that when you
- 14:05Speaker 3: have the wreck, which you're sure you're gonna have it,
- 14:09Speaker 3: I want you to notice you call the agent at
- 14:12Speaker 3: area two one, three, nine, on and on and I
- 14:15Speaker 3: give them the number. And after the accident, son, I
- 14:19Speaker 3: want you to be sure to call me.
- 14:22Speaker 2: Uh.
- 14:22Speaker 3: And then the third thing, we're going to do this
- 14:24Speaker 3: after you have had the wreck. Or I could say
- 14:30Speaker 3: a son, let's just prevent a lot of problems by
- 14:35Speaker 3: telling you ahead of time, here is the way to drive.
- 14:39Speaker 3: And if you drive by these rules and regulations, and
- 14:42Speaker 3: if you obey these signs and do what they say,
- 14:46Speaker 3: it's amazing you you could very likely go a long
- 14:49Speaker 3: period of time without even a slight scrape. Can't guarantee it,
- 14:54Speaker 3: but it would sure be better than the other way.
- 14:58Speaker 3: If you stop and think for a moment. You were
- 15:00Speaker 3: taught First John one nine almost before you were out
- 15:03Speaker 3: of the crib as a little baby, and you didn't
- 15:05Speaker 3: learn Roman six, perhaps until this very very hour. It's
- 15:11Speaker 3: doubtful that many Christians in this place could quote one
- 15:14Speaker 3: verse from Roman six, but most of us could quote
- 15:16Speaker 3: First John one to nine. Why because we have been
- 15:20Speaker 3: trained to sin? Sounds heretical, doesn't it. You have been
- 15:26Speaker 3: told since your earliest days out of the crib. Now, look,
- 15:29Speaker 3: when you sin, if we confess our sins, he is
- 15:32Speaker 3: faithful and just to forgive us and decleanse us from
- 15:34Speaker 3: all unrighteousness. So when you sin, claim it, claim God's forgiveness.
- 15:40Speaker 3: And that's a marvelous verse. I call it our bar
- 15:42Speaker 3: of soap in the Christian life.
- 15:44Speaker 2: It keeps us clean.
- 15:45Speaker 3: It certainly is the answer to the problem of sin
- 15:49Speaker 3: once it has happened, But it's not the best answer.
- 15:53Speaker 3: The best answer is Roman six. Neither yield you your
- 15:57Speaker 3: members as instruments of unrighteousness under sin, but ye yourselves
- 16:00Speaker 3: unto God is those that are alive from the dead,
- 16:02Speaker 3: and your members as instruments of righteousness.
- 16:05Speaker 2: Unto God, meaning what meaning? As I yield myself to God,
- 16:09Speaker 2: when sin approaches, I can say no, and in the
- 16:13Speaker 2: power of Jesus Christ, I can turn away from it.
- 16:18Speaker 2: I don't have to sin. You know why sin? Because
- 16:23Speaker 2: I have a deep, quiet, sincere, respectable love for sin.
- 16:30Speaker 2: That's why sin.
- 16:32Speaker 3: And every sin I commit, I choose to commit it,
- 16:36Speaker 3: and in every choice I set up consequences in my life.
- 16:42Speaker 3: Part of the reason we don't get the full truth
- 16:45Speaker 3: of Roman six is nobody's talking about the consequences. We've
- 16:50Speaker 3: shortchanged the consequences by giving people the idea.
- 16:53Speaker 2: Grace takes it all away.
- 16:56Speaker 3: Grace does not take away the consequences of sin, just
- 17:02Speaker 3: as it does not take away the arm and the
- 17:04Speaker 3: need for the bone to be healed. Set tell you,
- 17:09Speaker 3: if David could rise from the grave today, he would
- 17:13Speaker 3: say amen.
- 17:14Speaker 2: To that statement.
- 17:16Speaker 3: The awesome sin in David's life led to trouble the
- 17:20Speaker 3: likes of which few fathers on earth will ever go through.
- 17:24Speaker 3: Now let me show you from this passage, beginning at
- 17:26Speaker 3: verse seven and following some of the stair steps that
- 17:31Speaker 3: went down in David's life, leading him to a life
- 17:34Speaker 3: of misery. As a result of his sin. Now, David.
- 17:37Speaker 3: Verse seven, Nathan says, you are the man. The prophet
- 17:43Speaker 3: has stood before the king and has told him what
- 17:46Speaker 3: no one else would tell him during the year's time
- 17:49Speaker 3: in his life. You're the one that took Bathsheba. You're
- 17:52Speaker 3: the one that had your Rayah murdered. You're the one
- 17:55Speaker 3: that's lived like a hypocrite. You're the man David.
- 17:58Speaker 2: Verse thirteen, he said to Nathan, I have sinned. Three words.
- 18:05Speaker 3: He should have said the very moment after he went
- 18:08Speaker 3: into Bathsheba, but he didn't. And I am convinced the
- 18:11Speaker 3: consequences would have been much much less if he had,
- 18:15Speaker 3: right on the heels of that act, declared his sin, openly,
- 18:19Speaker 3: confessed it before the people as well as before God,
- 18:22Speaker 3: and laid his life bare.
- 18:24Speaker 2: But he didn't.
- 18:27Speaker 3: And now ten eleven, twelve months later, Nathan says, you're
- 18:31Speaker 3: the man, David. He says, I've sinned.
- 18:34Speaker 2: But wait, wait a minute.
- 18:38Speaker 3: When you look at the prediction that Nathan makes verse
- 18:40Speaker 3: ten under the guidance and inspiration of God. Verse ten,
- 18:45Speaker 3: the prophet declares, the sword shall never depart from your house.
- 18:54Speaker 3: If you have a pencil circle the word never, the
- 18:59Speaker 3: sword will ever depart from your house.
- 19:04Speaker 2: I thought he was forgiven, Hey he is. Verse thirteen
- 19:09Speaker 2: says the Lord has taken away your sin.
- 19:11Speaker 3: You shall not die. That's forgiveness. But it says nothing
- 19:17Speaker 3: about the consequences. Oh yes it does. It says in
- 19:20Speaker 3: verse ten, the sword will not depart from the house.
- 19:24Speaker 3: Am I saying that everyone who sins will have the
- 19:26Speaker 3: same consequences. No, you haven't heard me say that. God,
- 19:30Speaker 3: in his sovereign manner, fits the consequence for the person.
- 19:34Speaker 3: And it's his choice. It's his move, it's his plan.
- 19:41Speaker 3: Why he chooses some to go this way and some
- 19:43Speaker 3: that I do not know. All I know is in
- 19:45Speaker 3: David's case, he led him down a path of misery
- 19:49Speaker 3: so that he would never forget, nor would we in retrospect.
- 19:53Speaker 3: The consequences of that act are those series of acts.
- 19:57Speaker 2: The sword will never depart from your house Verse eleven,
- 20:01Speaker 2: Thus says the Lord. Behold, I will raise up evil
- 20:07Speaker 2: against you from your own household twice in two verses
- 20:13Speaker 2: the mention of his own house. The Good News Bible
- 20:18Speaker 2: renders this passage with this bad news. I will cause those.
- 20:24Speaker 3: From your own family to bring trouble on you. The
- 20:30Speaker 3: Living Bible speaks of David having to live under a
- 20:33Speaker 3: constant threat in his family. Since God said I will
- 20:39Speaker 3: cause your household to rebel against you. I told you
- 20:46Speaker 3: it wasn't an easy message to hear, because it isn't
- 20:50Speaker 3: an easy message to preach. I have no platform upon
- 20:55Speaker 3: which I live that keeps me free of the very
- 20:58Speaker 3: things I'm declaring tonight. Have endured some of the consequences
- 21:02Speaker 3: just as you, and no doubt before God, I will
- 21:06Speaker 3: endure more because I am imperfect. And every time I
- 21:10Speaker 3: make a choice to sin, I can be sure my
- 21:14Speaker 3: Holy God will not be mocked as I turn to
- 21:18Speaker 3: Him and lay my life before him, as I repent
- 21:22Speaker 3: of that, as I change my mind and turn to
- 21:25Speaker 3: Him for forgiveness. God will keep me from death. God
- 21:29Speaker 3: will guard me and his grace, but he will not
- 21:32Speaker 3: take away the consequences until I have gone through that
- 21:35Speaker 3: period that He chooses for me to go through. Now,
- 21:38Speaker 3: the sad part about it is, so will some of
- 21:41Speaker 3: my children, So will my wife be affected in some cases,
- 21:47Speaker 3: so will the church that I serve, And that's true
- 21:52Speaker 3: in your life as well. David is forgiven. But it
- 21:58Speaker 3: says that God will cause the household to rebel against it. Now,
- 22:04Speaker 3: the general prediction we want to remember is this trouble
- 22:08Speaker 3: will come upon David's household. Remember the beginning statement I made.
- 22:16Speaker 3: There are two kinds of problems that a family can endure,
- 22:19Speaker 3: trouble from without and trouble from within. And this is
- 22:23Speaker 3: a case of the second. David endures with his family
- 22:27Speaker 3: trouble from within. And I don't think there's any way
- 22:31Speaker 3: to write in the sacred record awful guilt that this
- 22:35Speaker 3: man lived with as he looked back over the months
- 22:39Speaker 3: that we're going to travel through tonight and trace the
- 22:42Speaker 3: steps of the downward trend of misery because he sinned
- 22:46Speaker 3: during that twelve month period of time. Okay, Job chapter four,
- 22:57Speaker 3: verse eight is a verse you might margin in your Bible.
- 23:01Speaker 2: Just in passing.
- 23:03Speaker 3: Let me reaffirm the principle of Galatians six by looking
- 23:06Speaker 3: at elephas words in Job four to eight. According to
- 23:11Speaker 3: what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those
- 23:17Speaker 3: who sowed trouble harvested. Hoseiah eight seven says that Israel
- 23:24Speaker 3: sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind, same principle. My
- 23:33Speaker 3: friend John W. Lawrence, some time ago wrote a fine
- 23:36Speaker 3: book entitled the Seven Laws of the harvest. In this book,
- 23:43Speaker 3: he traces the truth of harvesting what we have sown.
- 23:49Speaker 3: Should have that book. It's excellent work to study. He
- 23:53Speaker 3: traces it through seven laws of harvesting. I was intrigued
- 23:57Speaker 3: by the second law again this week as I reviewed
- 24:00Speaker 3: his book, The law that says we reap the same
- 24:04Speaker 3: in kind as we sow. Listen to Lawrence's words. When
- 24:09Speaker 3: David sewed to the flesh, he reaped what the flesh produced. Moreover,
- 24:15Speaker 3: he reaped the consequences of his actions, even though he
- 24:20Speaker 3: had confessed his sin and been forgiven for it. Underline it,
- 24:25Speaker 3: star it, Mark it deeply upon your conscious mind. Confession
- 24:29Speaker 3: and forgiveness in no way stop the harvest. That whole
- 24:35Speaker 3: line is italicized. He had sown, he was to reap,
- 24:42Speaker 3: forgive it he was, but the consequences continued. This is
- 24:47Speaker 3: exactly the emphasis Paul is giving the Galatians. Even in
- 24:51Speaker 3: this age of grace, we are not to be deceived,
- 24:54Speaker 3: for God.
- 24:55Speaker 2: Will not be mocked.
- 24:57Speaker 3: What we saw we will reap, and there are are
- 25:00Speaker 3: no exceptions.
- 25:02Speaker 2: I tell a size.
- 25:06Speaker 3: I don't know if you're reading meat or tracking with
- 25:08Speaker 3: me so far, but I think some of you are.
- 25:11Speaker 3: I believe the feedback is said from your faces as
- 25:14Speaker 3: saying you're on target with me. You see what our
- 25:17Speaker 3: theology has led us to believe. We have set ourselves
- 25:21Speaker 3: up with a sin mindset, and therefore to live with
- 25:26Speaker 3: the guilt and the consequences. We have told ourselves that
- 25:31Speaker 3: grace means those consequences are going to be removed, meaning
- 25:37Speaker 3: it's fine to go on in that same vortex sucked
- 25:42Speaker 3: under by the power of the flesh.
- 25:46Speaker 2: Rather than what Paul teaches. You don't have to sin.
- 25:55Speaker 2: You sin because you want to.
- 25:57Speaker 3: You have the power, in the person of the whole
- 26:00Speaker 3: Spirit to say no to it.
- 26:02Speaker 2: At every turn in your life. If you choose to
- 26:07Speaker 2: say yes against the prompting of the Holy Spirit, you
- 26:11Speaker 2: may be certain you will live in the backwash of
- 26:14Speaker 2: the consequences, which may be severe, maybe slight. Unfortunately, so
- 26:22Speaker 2: will innocent.
- 26:23Speaker 3: People who are closely related to you. Now, David Tewod Samuel,
- 26:31Speaker 3: chapter twelve, the general prediction is the sword will never
- 26:35Speaker 3: depart from your house.
- 26:37Speaker 2: Now.
- 26:37Speaker 3: I learned from the last service that I can't get
- 26:39Speaker 3: through this message, and I tried like crazy to hurry, hurry, hurry,
- 26:43Speaker 3: and I'm not going to do that. So I'm going
- 26:45Speaker 3: to just take us through the eight steps, and then
- 26:47Speaker 3: we're going to wrap it up that bottom part next time.
- 26:50Speaker 3: I want us to see the downward trend in David's life.
- 26:54Speaker 3: Now take notes, at least take note from moment to
- 26:57Speaker 3: moment of what we're reading, and let it have an
- 27:00Speaker 3: effect on your mind. Now, Verse eleven introduces us to
- 27:06Speaker 3: the first of eight steps downward in David's misery, marital infidelity.
- 27:14Speaker 3: That is the first verse eleven. Behold, I will raise
- 27:20Speaker 3: up evil against you from your own household. I will
- 27:24Speaker 3: even take your wives before your eyes and give them
- 27:30Speaker 3: to your companion, and he shall lie with your wives
- 27:36Speaker 3: in broad daylight. The Hebrew word for companion is an
- 27:41Speaker 3: intimate term and could very well have reference to one
- 27:46Speaker 3: of David's own children. As a matter of fact, when
- 27:50Speaker 3: you trace the prediction that is here into chapter sixteen,
- 27:55Speaker 3: you find that is.
- 27:56Speaker 2: Exactly what happened. His own son absent cohabited with his concubines.
- 28:03Speaker 2: Look at chapter sixteen and you will see it for yourself.
- 28:08Speaker 3: Chapter sixteen, verse twenty one. It's a grim account, but
- 28:15Speaker 3: it's true. There will be marital unfaithfulness, and I want
- 28:19Speaker 3: you to notice where it took place. Verse twenty, chapter sixteen.
- 28:23Speaker 3: Absolom said to a Hithefel, give your advice. What shall
- 28:27Speaker 3: we do now? A Hithefel is a poor counselor, as
- 28:31Speaker 3: a matter of fact, he is a wicked counselor. A
- 28:35Speaker 3: Hithefel said to Absalom, go into your father's concubines, whom
- 28:39Speaker 3: he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel
- 28:42Speaker 3: will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father.
- 28:46Speaker 3: The hands of all who are with you will also
- 28:48Speaker 3: be strengthened. So they pitched a tent for Absalom on
- 28:56Speaker 3: the roof. Where is it David first fell into sin
- 29:02Speaker 3: and planted the seeds on the roof, on the roof
- 29:07Speaker 3: of the palace, as if to say, we'll rub his
- 29:11Speaker 3: nose in it. So they pitched a tent on the
- 29:13Speaker 3: roof of the palace. And it says Absalom went into
- 29:18Speaker 3: his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. If
- 29:24Speaker 3: you please, it was a sordid display of the flesh,
- 29:29Speaker 3: as I supposed, with announcement and with all sorts of shoutings,
- 29:35Speaker 3: they called attention to what was going on, and people
- 29:37Speaker 3: could gather and watch him as he went in and
- 29:40Speaker 3: out of this tent, experiencing and carrying out the very
- 29:46Speaker 3: fulfillment of the marital infidelity predicted in verse eleven of
- 29:51Speaker 3: chapter twelve. I'll tell you that's a consequence to bear.
- 29:57Speaker 3: It's a shameful thing. Let's go to the the second one.
- 30:01Speaker 3: Back to chapter twelve, verse fifteen, the loss of the
- 30:04Speaker 3: newborn baby. Not only was there marital infidelity, there was
- 30:09Speaker 3: loss of the baby. Nathan went to his house. Then
- 30:13Speaker 3: the lord struck the child that Uriah, Uriah's widow bored
- 30:18Speaker 3: to David. It's interesting it does not call her his wife.
- 30:23Speaker 3: David's wife calls her Uriah's widow bor to David, so
- 30:28Speaker 3: that he was very sick verse seventeen. The elders of
- 30:35Speaker 3: the household stood beside him verse eighteen. Then it happened
- 30:39Speaker 3: on the seventh day that the child died verse nineteen closes,
- 30:51Speaker 3: and they said he is dead. Was bad enough to
- 30:57Speaker 3: have the experience of marital infidelity. But on top of that,
- 31:01Speaker 3: ultimately that which happened came the loss of the newborn baby,
- 31:07Speaker 3: which added to the grief of this forgiven man. There
- 31:12Speaker 3: is a third, chapter thirteen, verses one to fourteen, one
- 31:19Speaker 3: of David's sons rapes his sister. It's a disgraceful scene
- 31:29Speaker 3: in chapter thirteen, there's a lot of emotion in it.
- 31:34Speaker 3: Let me clarify something before we go any further. Now,
- 31:37Speaker 3: listen carefully. David married many wives and had many concubines.
- 31:43Speaker 3: From these relationships, there were many, many children born. I
- 31:46Speaker 3: don't think we have a full genealogical record of all
- 31:49Speaker 3: David's children, but we do have it very carefully presented
- 31:53Speaker 3: that between the relationship between David and Maya Kaah husband wife,
- 32:01Speaker 3: there were born at least two Absalom and Tamar. They
- 32:07Speaker 3: were blood brother sisters, same parents, mom and dad. By
- 32:15Speaker 3: another relationship David with another woman, there was born the
- 32:21Speaker 3: son Amnon. Amn Amnon was a half brother to Tamar,
- 32:29Speaker 3: same father, different wives, different moms.
- 32:32Speaker 2: Got it.
- 32:34Speaker 3: Now, when you read this account, you will notice that Amnon,
- 32:38Speaker 3: the half brother, is attracted to Tamar half sister, the
- 32:43Speaker 3: blood sister of Absalom. And the reason I want to
- 32:46Speaker 3: present that is because Absolom comes to her defense later on,
- 32:50Speaker 3: and now you know why she was to him very precious.
- 32:54Speaker 3: She was like your own brother. A sister, true brother,
- 32:57Speaker 3: a sister, unlike Amnon's relationship with now verse one. It
- 33:02Speaker 3: was after this that Absalom, the son of David, had
- 33:05Speaker 3: a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon, the
- 33:10Speaker 3: son of David, loved her. It was a wrong kind
- 33:14Speaker 3: of love. It was a physical love. It was an
- 33:17Speaker 3: incestuous lust. And you will notice he was so frustrated
- 33:22Speaker 3: because of his sister Tamar that he made himself ill,
- 33:25Speaker 3: for she was a virgin and it seemed hard to
- 33:28Speaker 3: Amnon to do anything to her. And through a process
- 33:32Speaker 3: of events, he had a friend named Johnadab, who helped
- 33:35Speaker 3: set up the event. Tamar was brought into this scene
- 33:39Speaker 3: where the boy faked illness, and he said to her
- 33:43Speaker 3: in verse eleven, in a very direct proposition, come lie
- 33:47Speaker 3: with me, my sister, And she said, no, my brother
- 33:50Speaker 3: did not violate me, for such a thing is not
- 33:53Speaker 3: done in Israel. However, verse fourteen, he would not listen
- 33:57Speaker 3: to her, since he was stronger than she suggests. There
- 34:01Speaker 3: was a struggle. He violated her and lay with her.
- 34:05Speaker 3: Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred. Note
- 34:09Speaker 3: that after the brother raped the sister, there was a
- 34:12Speaker 3: there was a sense of instant hate, and he put
- 34:15Speaker 3: her out. And guess where she went to her brother, Absalom.
- 34:21Speaker 3: It says in verse twenty Absalom, her brother said to her,
- 34:28Speaker 3: has Amnon, your brother been with you? Now it doesn't
- 34:31Speaker 3: record an answer, but I imagine she nodded her head.
- 34:35Speaker 3: Imagine that, in the shame and disgrace of her experience,
- 34:39Speaker 3: she simply had the strength.
- 34:41Speaker 2: Just to nod. Now, keep quiet, my sister, he is
- 34:46Speaker 2: your brother. Do not take this matter to heart. So
- 34:50Speaker 2: Tamar remained and was desolate in her brother Absalom's house
- 34:55Speaker 2: verse twenty two. But Absalom did not speak to Amnon,
- 35:00Speaker 2: good or bad. For Absalom hated Amnon because he had
- 35:09Speaker 2: violated his sister Tamar. Step number four, a brother hates
- 35:17Speaker 2: a brother. Now David has a twisted problem. Not only
- 35:22Speaker 2: has there been rape in the family, there is now
- 35:26Speaker 2: adult hatred. When siblings despise one another and they grow
- 35:31Speaker 2: to full adulthood, and the and the despicable feelings have
- 35:36Speaker 2: grown in silence, bitterness leads to murder. And here is
- 35:41Speaker 2: a classic illustration. A brother hates his half brother.
- 35:46Speaker 3: Speaking of sibling rivalry, it's a vivid memory in my
- 35:51Speaker 3: own mind of Some number of years ago, outside this state,
- 35:55Speaker 3: I had a funeral service for a man who died
- 35:58Speaker 3: rather young. He was in his forties. He had a
- 36:00Speaker 3: couple of grown daughters a son that was a teenager,
- 36:04Speaker 3: and there was pressure in that family. In fact, the
- 36:07Speaker 3: two sisters had not spoken to one another for quite
- 36:10Speaker 3: a period of time. When I call on the home
- 36:13Speaker 3: to help assist in the plans for the funeral, I
- 36:15Speaker 3: will never forget the sister came in and there was
- 36:18Speaker 3: an instant sense.
- 36:20Speaker 2: Of pressure and bitterness.
- 36:22Speaker 3: One sort of shoved the other one, and then an
- 36:26Speaker 3: argument broke out and they literally began.
- 36:29Speaker 2: A fistfight, sister with sister, and I'll tell.
- 36:33Speaker 3: You they hit the floor and they rolled around several times.
- 36:37Speaker 3: One foot went up and broke loose the little shutters
- 36:41Speaker 3: that were on the dining room window. The table was
- 36:44Speaker 3: bumped over as the other one had one by the
- 36:47Speaker 3: hair and threw her down. The chandelier fell and broke.
- 36:51Speaker 3: I was so glad I'd had judo training in the
- 36:53Speaker 3: Marine Corps to help pull him apart. I've never had
- 36:55Speaker 3: anything like that happen in my life. One girl had
- 36:58Speaker 3: to be held in a room. Another girl had to
- 37:01Speaker 3: be held by a relative who was there as we
- 37:05Speaker 3: worked through the final details of the putting to rest
- 37:09Speaker 3: of the father. I want you to know that this
- 37:14Speaker 3: kind of hatred, while it isn't physically expressed, is not
- 37:20Speaker 3: that uncommon in homes today. Some of you, if you're
- 37:25Speaker 3: honest with yourself, would admit there are strained relations between
- 37:29Speaker 3: you and your immediate family, and you have not come
- 37:33Speaker 3: to terms with it, and you don't plan to. Who knows,
- 37:37Speaker 3: but what some of that is not the consequence of
- 37:40Speaker 3: some sin in years past?
- 37:42Speaker 2: Who knows?
- 37:45Speaker 3: Absalom and Amnon did not speak, it says for two
- 37:51Speaker 3: years verse twenty three. For two full years.
- 37:56Speaker 2: It went on. I want to ask some where in
- 38:01Speaker 2: the world was David? Where is the absent father?
- 38:11Speaker 3: But you know, the only thing it says in all
- 38:13Speaker 3: the record, and I have read every verse from here
- 38:15Speaker 3: to the end of the book, The only thing I
- 38:18Speaker 3: find in reference to David as it relates to his
- 38:22Speaker 3: daughter being violated by a son is verse twenty one.
- 38:28Speaker 3: When King David heard of all these matters, he was
- 38:32Speaker 3: very angry. And that's all you're going to read.
- 38:37Speaker 2: That's all incredible passivity, incredible preoccupation. His head is somewhere else.
- 38:47Speaker 2: It has been for a long time. These kids have
- 38:50Speaker 2: raised themselves. Now, I said it was hard to have
- 38:58Speaker 2: message to hear dad's. We are living in the generation
- 39:06Speaker 2: of the absent father. And I'll tell you the mother
- 39:11Speaker 2: is not designed to cope as both mom and dad.
- 39:16Speaker 2: It is not her place, it is not her calling.
- 39:21Speaker 3: Leadership certainly can be carried out as a partners as
- 39:24Speaker 3: a partnership in a relationship between mom and dad with
- 39:28Speaker 3: the children. It was never designed for the mother to
- 39:31Speaker 3: be the sole source of discipline and authority. But we
- 39:36Speaker 3: are living in a generation of the authoritative mother who
- 39:40Speaker 3: has taken the role that was never hers to take,
- 39:44Speaker 3: simply because the father has become occupied sixteen hours and
- 39:51Speaker 3: more a day somewhere else, and when he's home, if
- 39:58Speaker 3: the truth is known, he is.
- 39:59Speaker 2: A addicted to the television set.
- 40:04Speaker 3: You know me well enough to know that I'm not
- 40:06Speaker 3: for throwing out all the TVs. I'm not for getting
- 40:09Speaker 3: rid of all things that happen on TV in all programs.
- 40:13Speaker 3: I am saying, Dads, it's amazing how little discipline we
- 40:20Speaker 3: show in being unable to walk over and turn a
- 40:23Speaker 3: little knob about one inch.
- 40:25Speaker 2: To the left to where it clicks. So much easier
- 40:33Speaker 2: to sort of stick our thumb in the book and
- 40:35Speaker 2: look over our glasses and say, now, don't do that, kids,
- 40:38Speaker 2: and go right back to it, and to set that
- 40:41Speaker 2: aside and.
- 40:42Speaker 3: Deal with the problem. But that's hard, and if the
- 40:47Speaker 3: truth were known, we would rather say it's her job.
- 40:51Speaker 3: For all a kind of money I'm making showed a
- 40:54Speaker 3: kind of self privileged to live in this kind of
- 40:56Speaker 3: place I provided her. What kind of palace did David
- 40:59Speaker 3: provide for his umpty number of wives.
- 41:02Speaker 2: It was a fabulous pad, but it.
- 41:05Speaker 3: Didn't handle the problem at home. Absalom hated his brother,
- 41:11Speaker 3: and he did so for two full years. They didn't
- 41:13Speaker 3: even speak, whether good or bad, and the result Verse
- 41:19Speaker 3: twenty three, after two full years, Absolom starts his little
- 41:22Speaker 3: deceptive plan. Absalom is quite a guy boy. He was
- 41:27Speaker 3: awake a lot.
- 41:28Speaker 2: Earlier than his dad, went to bed a lot later,
- 41:32Speaker 2: played his father for a fool, offered a plan where
- 41:35Speaker 2: all of them would go down to shear sheep, and
- 41:36Speaker 2: the dad said, no, I don't think we should.
- 41:38Speaker 3: Verse twenty four. Absolom came to the king and said,
- 41:41Speaker 3: now your servant has sheep shearers. Please let the king
- 41:43Speaker 3: and his servants go with your servant. King said Absolom, No,
- 41:47Speaker 3: my son, we should not all go, lest we be
- 41:49Speaker 3: burdensome to you. Although he urged him, he would not go,
- 41:53Speaker 3: but blessed him. Then Abslom said, if not, then please
- 41:55Speaker 3: let my brother Amnone go with us. Now, if this
- 41:58Speaker 3: dad had been on target, he would have known that
- 42:00Speaker 3: Absalom has not spoken to Amnon for two years. I mean,
- 42:04Speaker 3: you've got to be rather thick as a father did
- 42:06Speaker 3: not know that a son isn't speaking to another son
- 42:08Speaker 3: for two years, and David not look talk about lack
- 42:14Speaker 3: of discipline. Absalom urged him verse twenty seven. And Amnon
- 42:19Speaker 3: he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him.
- 42:23Speaker 2: He urged him, meaning what he badgered him, He begged him,
- 42:27Speaker 2: He pled, he intimidated, He used guilt. And a father
- 42:32Speaker 2: that doesn't spend the right kind of priority, the right
- 42:35Speaker 2: kind of time, is a victim of his guilt, and
- 42:38Speaker 2: kids manipulate and intimidate, and before long the dad's giving in.
- 42:43Speaker 2: Go ahead, just sleep, do it now. Look at what happened.
- 42:49Speaker 2: You won't believe it. Twenty eight.
- 42:53Speaker 3: Absolom commanded his servants, saying, see now, when Amnon's hearts
- 42:57Speaker 3: merry with wine, when I say to you, strike it.
- 43:01Speaker 2: Then put him to death. Don't fear I've commanded you.
- 43:06Speaker 2: Twenty nine. That's what they did. But that's not all.
- 43:09Speaker 3: The servants of Absalom did to Amnon, just as Absolom
- 43:12Speaker 3: had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, each mounted his.
- 43:18Speaker 2: Mule and fled. It was while they were on the
- 43:21Speaker 2: way that the report came to David. Absalom has struck.
- 43:24Speaker 3: Down all the king's sons, and not one of them
- 43:29Speaker 3: is left. If you're tracing the steps down, we now
- 43:34Speaker 3: have Absalom murdering Amnon. A brother murders a brother, internal strife.
- 43:43Speaker 3: The sword will never depart out of your household, David.
- 43:47Speaker 3: And here he is groaning under the ache of it all. Now,
- 43:50Speaker 3: if that's not bad enough, another step Absalom verse thirty three,
- 43:56Speaker 3: thirty four. When the report came back, all the king's
- 44:01Speaker 3: sons are dead. Verse thirty four, Absolom fled, So we
- 44:04Speaker 3: have number six rebellion and runaway. Absalom's on his way.
- 44:10Speaker 3: And while he's away, by the way, he went to
- 44:13Speaker 3: Granddaddy's house, Verse thirty eight. Absalom fled and had gone
- 44:16Speaker 3: to gesher That's where his granddaddy lived Mayoka's dad, who
- 44:20Speaker 3: was a king in geisher Ah.
- 44:23Speaker 2: He can't live at.
- 44:24Speaker 3: Home, so we go back to granddad while he licks
- 44:26Speaker 3: his wounds and sets up his plan to rebel against
- 44:29Speaker 3: his daddy. And that's precisely what he does. Step number seven.
- 44:33Speaker 3: Absalom leads a conspiracy against his father Wow Chapter fifteen
- 44:47Speaker 3: well fourteen twenty eight. Absalom lived two full years in Jerusalem,
- 44:53Speaker 3: did not see the king's face. He sent for Joe
- 44:57Speaker 3: Abb and he wouldn't come. So he sent a second time,
- 45:03Speaker 3: and he still wouldn't come. And then throw another chain
- 45:05Speaker 3: of events. Absalom got on the king's doorstep and began
- 45:09Speaker 3: to steal the hearts of the people. You read the
- 45:11Speaker 3: record for yourself. He stood at the gate of the king,
- 45:15Speaker 3: and as people came to seek counsel of David, Absalom
- 45:19Speaker 3: short circuited. He intercepted them as they came, hugged them
- 45:22Speaker 3: and kissed them and won their hearts and got them
- 45:25Speaker 3: on his side, said bad things about his father, and
- 45:28Speaker 3: before long he had the majority vote, and of all
- 45:32Speaker 3: things it says in verse fourteen, David said to all
- 45:37Speaker 3: his servants verse fourteen of chapter fifteen, arise and let
- 45:42Speaker 3: us flee. Otherwise none of us shall escape from Absalom.
- 45:47Speaker 2: Who's in charge the sun?
- 45:50Speaker 3: It happens every time. Parents on the Run is a
- 45:55Speaker 3: book written by Beecher and Beacher, a husband wife team,
- 45:59Speaker 3: and they give strong advice to parents today. The adult
- 46:04Speaker 3: centered home of yesteryear made parents the masters and children
- 46:08Speaker 3: their slaves. The child centered home of today has made
- 46:12Speaker 3: parents the slaves and children the masters. There is no
- 46:17Speaker 3: true cooperation in a master slave relationship, and therefore no democracy.
- 46:24Speaker 3: Neither their restrictive authoritarian technique of rearing children nor the
- 46:29Speaker 3: newer anything goes technique developed the genius within the individual,
- 46:34Speaker 3: because neither trains him to be self reliant. Now listen,
- 46:39Speaker 3: children raised under arbitrary rules become either spineless automatons or
- 46:45Speaker 3: bitter revolutionaries who waste their lives in conflict with those
- 46:51Speaker 3: around them. But children who know no law higher than
- 46:56Speaker 3: their own passing fancy become trapped by their own appetites.
- 47:01Speaker 3: In either case, they are slaves. That is precisely what
- 47:07Speaker 3: happened to Absolom. Some number of years ago. The headlines
- 47:12Speaker 3: read in this article son says parents failed him, so
- 47:16Speaker 3: he sues them for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
- 47:20Speaker 3: In Colorado, a young man sues his parents for damages
- 47:23Speaker 3: for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This twenty five
- 47:26Speaker 3: year old fella because they didn't raise him right. Boy,
- 47:32Speaker 3: don't get any ideas or getting aside I wonder how
- 47:40Speaker 3: many kids, just to just to ponder the thought, would
- 47:45Speaker 3: feel they have the right to sue their parents. That's
- 47:53Speaker 3: not the answer, certainly, Nor am I saying that it's
- 47:56Speaker 3: always a parent's fault. I think the scapegoat of our
- 47:59Speaker 3: days always mom and dad, are often mom and dad.
- 48:03Speaker 3: That's unfair. What is it going to take for the
- 48:10Speaker 3: blinders to be removed, the shades to be lifted.
- 48:12Speaker 2: And truth to be seen by parents in putting together
- 48:19Speaker 2: a family.
- 48:22Speaker 3: I'll tell you it is devastating in our era, for
- 48:26Speaker 3: everything in the world comes in place of the essentials.
- 48:33Speaker 3: Our counsel with a young man a number of years
- 48:35Speaker 3: ago who sat in my office and with a curled
- 48:38Speaker 3: lip and a grim face, stared coldly at me as
- 48:41Speaker 3: we talked about his home. He had been sent to
- 48:44Speaker 3: me by his parents, and I could hardly break through
- 48:47Speaker 3: that thick hide. And I said to him, tell me
- 48:51Speaker 3: about your dad. And he uttered an oath and cleared
- 48:56Speaker 3: his throat and looked out the window.
- 48:57Speaker 2: And my dad. He said, I have one great goal.
- 49:03Speaker 3: That's to kill him. He said, I tried once, I failed,
- 49:09Speaker 3: but the next time I won. Seething with emotion, then
- 49:19Speaker 3: he began to describe time after time after time after
- 49:23Speaker 3: time his dad ridiculed, embarrassed, took advantage of beat, didn't trust,
- 49:37Speaker 3: put him down to where that boy is now an
- 49:40Speaker 3: absolom taller than his dad.
- 49:44Speaker 2: It's just a matter of time.
- 49:50Speaker 3: I tell you, David is under the awful strain of
- 49:52Speaker 3: all of this. And if that's not bad enough, the
- 49:55Speaker 3: final straw is Joe ab murders Absalom, Chapter eighteen, verse
- 50:03Speaker 3: thirty two. Here we are at the end of a
- 50:09Speaker 3: whole series of things, and the sword has not departed
- 50:12Speaker 3: from David's house, And here he is living in the
- 50:15Speaker 3: backwash of the carnality, the consequences of carnality ruing the
- 50:20Speaker 3: day he ever even looked at Bathsheba, and carried on
- 50:24Speaker 3: a year of deception, and finally, in the backwash of
- 50:28Speaker 3: the rape of a sister, the conspiracy of a son,
- 50:31Speaker 3: the rebellion of a son, the hatred, the murder. And
- 50:35Speaker 3: he's sitting alone, no doubt, perspiring to the point of exhaustion.
- 50:42Speaker 3: And incomes the report Verse thirty two, eighteen thirty two.
- 50:46Speaker 3: The king said to the Kushite, this is the runner
- 50:48Speaker 3: that came from the battle. Is it well with the
- 50:51Speaker 3: young man Absalom? He's guilty over this boy couldn't handle him,
- 50:56Speaker 3: A nice concern that he somehow got it back together.
- 50:59Speaker 3: The Kushite answered, Let the enemies of my lord, the king,
- 51:01Speaker 3: and all who rise up against you for evil, be
- 51:04Speaker 3: as that young man, which is a gracious way of saying.
- 51:07Speaker 2: That boy is dead. Now look, the king was deeply moved.
- 51:13Speaker 2: It's the most tragic Parenthal account in all the Old Testament.
- 51:18Speaker 2: Deeply moved. Look where he went. He went to the
- 51:21Speaker 2: chamber over the gate, and he wept, and he said
- 51:25Speaker 2: as he walked, look at him walking up and down, Oh,
- 51:29Speaker 2: my son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom. Would I
- 51:33Speaker 2: had died instead of you, Oh, Absalom, my son, my son.
- 51:45Speaker 3: Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man
- 51:51Speaker 3: shows that he will reap if you have taken lightly
- 51:58Speaker 3: the grace of God, if you have tripped through the
- 52:02Speaker 3: corners of the kingdom like a little child, picking and
- 52:06Speaker 3: choosing sin or righteousness at will, thinking grace covers it all.
- 52:11Speaker 3: You've missed it, my friend, you've missed it. As a
- 52:15Speaker 3: matter of fact, it's quite likely there has begun a
- 52:19Speaker 3: process of consequences.
- 52:23Speaker 2: You're too thick to realize that you are harvesting the
- 52:33Speaker 2: bitter blossoms of your seeds planted way back then. What
- 52:47Speaker 2: is it going to take. What is it going to
- 52:50Speaker 2: take in the family of God to turn our lives
- 52:56Speaker 2: in His great grace back his beautiful plan. Well, it
- 53:03Speaker 2: is going to take saying no to good things and
- 53:07Speaker 2: fun things that satisfy you, dad, mom, or kids.
- 53:13Speaker 3: It's going to take an honest admission of the truth,
- 53:18Speaker 3: either to a friend or to the parents themselves. Are
- 53:21Speaker 3: the kids, whichever the relationship need is an honest admission
- 53:25Speaker 3: and declaration. This is out of whack. This has gone
- 53:31Speaker 3: on time after time after time, and I cannot go
- 53:36Speaker 3: on like this. Some of you, this very evening are
- 53:43Speaker 3: living in a compromising situation and just for the skin
- 53:48Speaker 3: of your teeth you just sort of skipping along or
- 53:52Speaker 3: skimming along the surface, hoping it'll never catch up. God
- 53:57Speaker 3: is not mocked. It has caught up. And part of
- 54:03Speaker 3: the catching up is the misery tonight that you live with.
- 54:08Speaker 3: And I do not attempt to take it away. I
- 54:13Speaker 3: don't lay a guilt trip on anybody. I'm saying that
- 54:16Speaker 3: if God brings it, it is from the Holy Spirit,
- 54:19Speaker 3: and it's between you and him. Let's pause, now, let's bow.
- 54:30Speaker 3: David is a beaten man, strung out, sobbing, as if
- 54:38Speaker 3: he's lost his mind. Every crutch is removed. He's at
- 54:44Speaker 3: the bitter end. The wages of sin.
- 54:55Speaker 2: Is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
- 55:04Speaker 2: through Jesus Christ. If you've never met the Lord Jesus,
- 55:13Speaker 2: of course, I'll point you to him. Turn to him tonight.
- 55:20Speaker 2: Turn your life to him, broken and bruised and twisted
- 55:26Speaker 2: and confused. Just lay it out before, ask him to
- 55:34Speaker 2: give you the grace to face realistically and straight on
- 55:41Speaker 2: the consequences. Our Father, in the quietness of these moments together,
- 55:56Speaker 2: I asked that you would somehow put together the the
- 56:01Speaker 2: pieces that only you can do I cannot, and turn
- 56:07Speaker 2: our attention to your son, our only claim, our only hope. Father,
- 56:19Speaker 2: I plead with you to stop the process of sin
- 56:28Speaker 2: in some lives that are here. Only you know who
- 56:31Speaker 2: they are, and cause us to see that our Holy
- 56:35Speaker 2: God is not mocked. I pray for disciplined moms and dads.
- 56:45Speaker 2: I pray for that to be balanced with a very
- 56:47Speaker 2: sincere and deep love that only you can bring. Give
- 56:55Speaker 2: us the ability, Lord, as you forgive us to forgive ourselves,
- 56:58Speaker 2: so that we have a clear mind in realizing that
- 57:01Speaker 2: you will take us through and your grace will sustain us.
- 57:09Speaker 2: How serious this is. Tonight, I pray that there might
- 57:14Speaker 2: be some dads raised up who will, for a change
- 57:17Speaker 2: be dads again and take the role of leadership that
- 57:22Speaker 2: is theirs. The whirlwind that they're reaping, I asked that
- 57:29Speaker 2: you would slow them down and bring them to their knees.
- 57:34Speaker 2: I asked that for myself as well. Tonight, Our Father,
- 57:40Speaker 2: we wait on you to do these things. We trust
- 57:44Speaker 2: you for this, for this in the name of Christ. Amen.
- 57:54Speaker 4: The preceding message Absalom the Rebel Prince Charming was copyrighted
- 57:59Speaker 4: in nineteen seventy eight, nineteen eighty two, nineteen eighty eight,
- 58:02Speaker 4: nineteen ninety seven, two thousand and six, two thousand and nine,
- 58:05Speaker 4: twenty twelve, twenty twenty two and twenty twenty four, and
- 58:09Speaker 4: the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty four by
- 58:13Speaker 4: Charles R.
- 58:13Speaker 2: Swindall Incorporated.
- 58:15Speaker 4: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
- 58:19Speaker 4: commercial use is strictly prohibited