Would you open your Bibles with
me to the book of 2 Samuel chapter 13? Now, some of you know I started
this chapter concerning this subject, the title being, When
Sin is Finished. When Sin is Finished. And I didn't
get to finish the message, but Tonight I'm going to do that.
I planned to do it this past Wednesday night, but as many
of you know, we had to cancel our service because of a power
outage. But tonight I want to pick up where I left off, but
I will refresh your memory. If you haven't read 2 Samuel
13, I got the title for this message
out of our study of the book of James on Sunday morning. James
chapter 1 and verse 15, speaking of the natural, sinful lust that
is within all of us, when he says in verse 14, when any man
is tempted, but every man is tempted, that is, tempted to
sin, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And
verse 15 says, but then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth
forth sin. And sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death. The wages of sin is death. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death. So, when sin is finished, and
this is part two of that. Now, back here in 2 Samuel chapter
13, we have an illustration, an example of this issue of death,
when sin is finished. As you know, this is just after
David had committed that awful, public, scandalous sin with Bathsheba,
the sin of adultery, the murder of her husband Uriah, the deceit
and cover-up that he himself was engaged in as king of Israel,
where he had failed, completely failed as a man, as a father,
as a husband. as a king, especially in his
responsibility to represent the Lord God of Israel, the Lord
God of salvation, a type of Christ. David had failed there. You remember
when the prophet Nathan came to him and exposed his sin, and
David confessed his sin before the Lord and before men. He said,
I've sinned against the Lord. But Nathan spoke those great
words of mercy and grace that every sinner needs to hear and
that every safe sinner, justified sinner, enlightened sinner, born
again sinner wants to hear when he says, but the Lord hath put
away your sins. And he's speaking in anticipation
there and prophetically of the coming of Christ, who was David's
Savior. Christ had not actually come
in time when David did all this. But his sins were put away, in
effect, by promise. Because God, before the foundation
of the world, had laid his sins on Christ. Christ was our surety. Now think about this. What is
a surety? A surety, we think about a surety
ship amongst men, which simply says, if you get in debt, and
I'll be your surety, it means if you can't pay it, then I will.
I'll be surety for you. That's not the same as the surety
ship of Christ. Because in his surety ship, the
surety ship of the covenant, he didn't say, well, if they
can't pay it, I'll pay it. No, in his surety ship, he said,
they can't pay it, I'm going to pay it. Period. Because there
was no doubt that we are unable to pay that debt. And that's
the whole point of when sin is finished. You see, if there's
not someone who comes and stands in our place, with three qualifications. Number one, that that person
is appointed of God. He has to be God's appointed
elect substitute. That's number one. In other words,
not just anybody can do this now. God has to be the one to
appoint him. Well, who did God appoint in
the everlasting covenant? He appointed his son, the second
person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, he had
to be able to do it. Now, if I become surety for you
to pay your debt, I can guarantee you I'm not able to do it. So
what good would my surety shit be for you? That's the key. Whoever does it has to be able.
Well, who is the only one who's able to put away my sin? The
Lord Jesus Christ, God's appointed substitute. How is he able? Well,
he's God and man in one person. Very God of very God, very man
of very man without sin. And he's able to save to the
uttermost, the scripture says, them that come unto the father
by him. Paul said, I know whom I have believed and persuaded
that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. And then thirdly. Here's the next quality. He had
to be willing to do so. And somebody said, well, you
could find any number of people who'd be willing to do it, not
if you knew what it actually took to pay my sin debt. You
wouldn't be willing. I wouldn't either. But Christ
knew exactly what it took to pay the sin debt of His people,
and He was willing to do it. The Bible, in John chapter 13,
verse 1, says, He loved His own unto the end, that is, unto the
finishing of the work. He set His face like a flint
to perform that work. For the joy that was set before
Him, it wasn't a pleasant work, it was the, I would say it this
way, it was the most awful, painful, ordeal that any human being could
go through and therefore a mere human being couldn't go through
it. It took one who is both God and man to do it. Craig prayed
when he stood there, when he was on that cross and said, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And that was David's hope.
Now, let me tell you something, and here's what I want you to
understand. That was David's hope. Christ was David's hope
before He committed adultery with Bathsheba before he had
Uriah murdered, before he lied and sought to cover it up. That
was David's hope before. David's hope during is David's
hope now, right now. But now, as we have often seen,
as we read last week, the scripture that says, be sure that your
sins will find you out. These things do not go without
their consequences. Even though David did not suffer
the ultimate consequence of eternal damnation and eternal death because
of God's grace in Christ, on this earth, in his own family,
he suffered greatly. It started with the death of
the child that he had with Bathsheba, which was the product of adultery.
That child died when sin is finished. There is death. And now we come
to this in chapter 13 with the next sordid tale of the consequences
of David's sin. And you know, David himself recognized
it. On his deathbed he said, although
my house be not so with God. My household is a shambles. And
you know whose fault it was? It was David's. David's fault. And here we see his children. Now David's house, you have to
understand, and I know You know, I had a fellow tell me one time
he said he doesn't even like to hear me talk about David because
it embarrasses him. I want you to know something.
Now, let me tell you, I'm going to tell you something. This is
what Jeremiah called the burden of the word of the Lord. What
I'm teaching you. And what I'm telling you and
what I'm reading you as red faced as it may make you or me. It's right here in this book.
Now, it's in the Word of God, and it's there for a reason.
It wasn't there for us to, you know, well, you know, wrap that
part in a brown paper bag or something and avoid it. No, sir.
It's there for a reason. And I want to tell you something
else, too. This thing about religion and about, you know, we talk
about grace. If it doesn't bring us down to
the realities of life as we live it, and make us admit what we
are and who we are, what good is it going to do us? I mean,
really. I mean, you may look at David
and you say, well, I would never do that. You know what that is.
That's just self-righteousness. Oh, what we're capable of if
it were not for the grace and the restraining hand of God. Do you believe that? I do. I wouldn't preach it. So I'm
not going to avoid any passage of scripture for that reason. But here we see it. David was
a man. He was a sinful man. Now, he
was a sinner saved by grace. And I'm going to hit you with
a reality here in just a moment. It's not only a reality about
David, but it's a reality about all who are in Christ. And the
only way you're going to understand and believe this reality is by
faith, the gift of God. You're not going to feel it.
And if you do, I worry about you. You're not going to feel
it. You're not going to wake up tomorrow
morning and say, well, it's a brand new day and I feel it today.
If you do, then there's something wrong there. We know, we know
it's true because God said it. And that's what faith's all about.
We know and believe what God says. But here in the next sordid
tale, we have the tale of a man named Amnon. He was David's eldest
son. He was technically next in line
for the throne of Israel. David's son, Amnon. And then
we have Amnon's stepsister, David's daughter, Tamar. David's daughter
by another woman. Now, David's house was a house
of polygamy. It was a house of adultery. It
was a house of fornication. He had wives multiplied. He had concubines. That's the
kind of moral atmosphere that these children grew up in. You
say, well, I don't like to hear that. Well, it's just true. Well, does that mean that we
can live like that or we can just believe or do anything we
want? No, that's not why God put this in here, friend. He's
not giving you an example to live by here, or me an example
to live by. He's showing us, number one,
the reality of the glory of His grace. Why Jesus Christ came
into the world. Not just that He came, and not
that it was just a nice time that we can celebrate, but why
He came into the world. To do what? To save His people
from their sins. That's what we need to be saved
from. to save his people from themselves. That's who we need
to be saved from. That's why he put it in here.
And he put them in there as things so that we might be warned and
avoid these things. Lord, keep us from the evil one. Lead us not into temptation.
God's going to test our faith. And if in those tests we're tempted
to sin, the problem's our own lust. That's what David's problem
was. You remember how it all started. He forsook his responsibility
to lead the army of Israel into war. That's what the king does.
He was to be a type of Christ, the victor, going into battle
and winning the victory for his people. That's what Christ did.
David, he shirked that responsibility and he walked out onto the balcony,
and he saw Bathsheba taking a bath, and the lust welled up in him.
And he went the full swing of it. And we see the example of
that sin being finished in the death of the child, and now in
the behavior of his children. Here's Amnon with an unholy,
ungodly lust for his half-sister Tamar. She was a beautiful woman,
the scripture says. She was the full sister of David's
son Absalom. Absalom is introduced here. Absalom
is one who gave his father much trouble. And this is the beginning
of it. And this Amnon, he schemed and
schemed with a man named Jonadab to go in and pretend to be sick
and get Tamar to come in and feed him. And she came in, and
you remember the story up here in the first verses of chapter
13, and he raped his half-sister. This man named Amnon did that.
Shamed her. She told him, look back over
here in 2 Samuel 13. She said, in verse 12, that she
answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me. That word, force,
literally means humiliate me. This is the king's house. Don't humiliate the king's daughter. Don't humiliate yourself, she
said, for no such thing ought to be done. In Israel, of all
places in Israel, that kind of stuff is common among the Gentile
nations. But not in the people of God.
No such thing. Do not doubt this folly. But
he went ahead and did it. He fulfilled his lust, and when
he did, he hated her, kicked her out, locked the door, shamed
her. And it says in verse 19, Tamar
put ashes on her head, tore her garments of many colors. That was what the king's daughters
wore. that was on her, and laid her
hand on her head, and went on crying. And then verse 20, Absalom,
her brother, said unto her, Hath Amnon thy brother been with thee?
And then he said, But hold now thy peace, my sister, he is thy
brother, regard not this thing. So Tamar remained desolate in
her brother Absalom's house." She remained desolate. That was
the result. Now I want you to look at verse
21. As I said, sins will find you out. Now, when I said that,
remember I made this statement. Let me go over this again, because
it's important. When you say your sins will find
you out, and the Bible says that, that's not saying that every
sinful thing we've ever done in private is going to be brought
out publicly. It doesn't mean that. That's
not so. It doesn't happen. Now, it does
happen in some areas. But here's what it means. There's
two ways that a sinner sins will find him out. Number one, it
will either find you out in judgment against you. And that's speaking
of a sinner without Christ. It'll find you out. Now that
doesn't mean when you get to judgment there's going to be
a big movie screen up there and everything that you've ever done
is going to flash across that movie screen. I've seen, I used
to see a little cartoon booklet like that. That's not what that's
talking about. What it means is this. You will
stand before God without a mediator, without a redeemer, without a
righteousness, and be judged for all your sins and damned
forever. That's when sin will find you
out. Be sure it will happen. But now, here's the other way.
If it doesn't find you out that way, it will find you out in
salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how will your sins find
you out then? Well, first of all, in judgment upon Christ
Himself as our surety and our substitute, our sin-bearer. He was made sin. Now, last week we read Daniel
chapter 9, verse 24. Craig read the whole chapter
in our study. It reminded me of this. that the Messiah would
come and He would finish the transgression and make an end
of sin, He would bring about established righteousness for
His people, seal up the vision and prophecy, and then it says
that the Messiah would be cut off. Now what does that mean?
He would be separated from God, from the Father. My God, my God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me? But Daniel said there, I believe
it's in verse 25, isn't it, Craig? He said, but not for himself. Well, who did he do that for?
For me. For all you who come to believe
in him, for his people. It was our sins that put him
on that tree. That's why he had to die. He
didn't die for good people. They don't need a Savior. They
don't need a mediator. He didn't die for sinless people.
He didn't die for people who deserve it and who've earned
it. He died for sinners who deserve death. It was our sin charged
to Him. He was made sin. And that was
real. I mean, He was actually made
sin. And He suffered under the judgment
of God for our sins. And our sins found us out on
the cross of Calvary. That's what you've seen. I've
been to Calvary. Well, James, when were you ever
at Calvary? You've probably never been over there to what they
call the Holy Land, have you? No. But you were there in Christ,
weren't you? And you were brought there by
faith in the Holy Spirit when He convinced you of your sins
and drove you to Christ, didn't He? And you saw that Christ died,
was buried, and rose again the third day because of your justification. And then secondly, believer,
your sins will find you out in our judgment of ourselves, in
confession, in the new birth. What does the Holy Spirit do
when He convinces us of sin? He shows me that without Christ
I am nothing but sin. And all I do is sin. I don't
deserve anything good from God. And that's when my sins find
me out. And then thirdly, in the warfare of the flesh and
the spirit, your sins find you out every day, believer. Because
you have a warfare to fight, a battle to fight every day of
your life. Don't you? You say, well, maybe I'll have
a better day tomorrow. It may be better in some ways,
but you're still going to be a sinner saved by grace. Maybe
you won't have a headache. But you still have the problem
of sin in this life within yourself. And then, fourthly, in the problems
we create for ourselves in this life. That's what David's experiencing
here. Now, we have a tendency to want
to blame our problems on everybody else, but usually, here's the
problem. Here's the problem. Well, other
people won't do what they're supposed to do. Well, when do
you ever do what you're supposed to do? Think about it. And then, fifthly, in the death
of this body, this body's dying, isn't it? Isn't it? I watch the Today Show sometimes,
and that Willard Scott comes on, and everybody has up there
over a hundred, you know, a hundred, and he'll talk about it. And
I'm saying, well, those people look a hundred to me, because
the body is dying. The body is dead because of what?
Sin. It finds me out every day. But the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. That's because of Christ, and
there's our hope. So this is the issue. It'll find
us out. But now look at verse 21 of 2
Samuel 13. Now, it says, But when King David
heard of all these things, he was very wroth. He was very angry. Should have been, shouldn't he?
Thinking about his son Amnon raping his daughter Tamar. And he was angry. And verse 22,
And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon, Neither good nor bad. Absalom didn't say anything to
Amnon, for Absalom hated Amnon because he had forced his sister
Tamar. And then it came to pass after
two full years that Absalom had sheep shearers in Baal Hazor,
which is beside Ephraim, and Absalom invited all the king's
son. Now you notice something is missing here in David's behavior. Now he's angry. He had every
right to be angry, didn't he? But what's missing? I'll tell
you exactly what's missing. Justice. Now, according to the
law of Moses, what should have happened to Amnon? I mean, according
to the law of the covenant of Moses, what should have happened
to Amnon? He should have been dead. Capital punishment. And it should
have been administered by the king. Is that right? Well, the
king got angry, but that's not justice. What did David do? Well, he dropped the ball again.
Here he is, king of Israel. And I suppose somebody said,
well, David, it makes sense that he would administer justice here
because the Lord didn't administer justice to him. You remember
over there in 2 Samuel 12, when Nathan, the prophet, brought
his sin before him? Verse 13 of 2 Samuel 12, it says,
David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And
Nathan said unto David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou
shalt not die. So he said, it didn't happen
to me. But you see, that's no excuse to pervert justice. You know, God did not pervert
justice to save us. He would never do that. Somebody
looks at these Old Testament stories and the doings and the
goings about of all these men and women, and you might ask
the question, say, well, how could God put up with that, or
how could God let that go or do this or do that? Let me tell
you something. Let me tell you something that
you already know. When it comes to God's purposes and God's ways
and God's workings throughout this world to bring everything
to its fruition, God puts up with a lot. Now, doesn't He? You say, He lets a lot of things
go. Maybe today, but not tomorrow. Everything is going to come to
its final consummation in justice. You better think about it. It
may not be administered today, but it will be sometime. God
will never pervert justice. When David didn't die because
of his sin, even according to the law of Moses, God didn't
pervert justice. Man did, but God didn't. And when He saved
us by His Son on the cross, He didn't pervert justice. Justice
had its full due in the blood of the crucified one. Righteousness
was established. You know what righteousness is
in the Bible? It's justice. That's what it is. Justice. God
was just to save me. To save you who know Him through
the blood of His Son. And He didn't pervert it. But
now David perverted it. He let it go. He let it go. Somebody might say, well, you
know, David messed up that one time with Bathsheba and with
Uriah. Now he's learned his lesson. He'll never sin again. My soul. No, that's not the way it was.
Here he messed up again. He messes up. We all mess up.
But now let me hit you with that reality I told you about. As sinful as David was, as weak
as he was in the flesh, As much as he messed up with his family
and dealing with his children in his own household, this man,
David, was and is a righteous man. You look down there, now you
read these passages and you say, well, it sure doesn't look like
it to me. And I'll tell you, I know it
doesn't. But you see, righteousness is an issue not for man's eyes. Righteousness is an issue for
God's eyes. And that's what the Bible teaches.
It says no man will be justified before God by his works. And that's one thing we can see
as we read through David's life. And I hope, by God's grace and
mercy, that it's one thing we can see in ourselves. By deeds
of law shall no flesh be justified, literally made righteous in God's
sight. Let's say David didn't commit
the sin with Matthew. Let's say he didn't do the murder
of Uriah. Let's say he administered justice. Let's say he did everything right
here. It could still be said of David, by deeds of law shall
no man be justified in God's sight. David was a righteous man. And
he said in Psalm 32, he said, Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. Turn to Romans chapter 4. Let
me give you the Holy Spirit's commentary on that passage. In Psalm 32, if you mark it down,
this is a quotation from Psalm 32. That was one of the Psalms
of repentance that came out of this episode of David's life.
Basically, the scholars believe, and I agree with them, there
were two Psalms that came out of David being confronted by
the prophet Nathan. You're the man, David. And he
said, I sinned against the Lord. The two Psalms were Psalm 51.
I preached two messages on that. The Psalm of repentance. in Psalm
32. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. And here's what he meant. In
Romans chapter 4, he begins talking about Abraham. How was Abraham
justified before God? How was Abraham made righteous
before God? By God's grace in Christ. And
our Lord said that in John 8 in such a beautiful way. He said,
Abraham rejoiced to see my day and saw it and he was glad. But look at verse 6. Even as
David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works." That is, without the man's works.
There's a work to be done, but you don't do it, I don't do it,
David didn't do it, Christ did it on the cross. And so he says,
saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose
sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. David didn't see himself as righteous,
and we cannot see himself as righteous because he's now not
a sinner. Because he is, read it. It's because God, in the court
of His justice, does not impute, charge, account the sins of David
to David. Now where did he take those sins?
What did he do with them? He imputed them to Christ. He accounted them, charged them
to Christ, even in David's time. He said Christ hadn't come yet.
Well, He hadn't come to earth yet, but I guarantee He was around. He was made our surety before
the foundation of the world. Let me ask you this, when did
Christ begin to be your surety? He's always been my surety. Did
he ever stop being your surety? No. He's our eternal assurance
and guarantor to assure our salvation. Now let me tell you something.
Alright, now back here in 2 Samuel 13. David was a righteous man
in God's sight. But righteous because of what?
Because of the blood of Christ to come. Not because of David's
behavior. David's behavior was terrible. But it was because of the blood
of Christ to be shed in the future. It was because of the righteousness
of Christ. Now, David was righteous. Let me tell you something now.
That was real. That's not a fake righteousness.
That wasn't God playing games. That wasn't God looking at David
as if David was righteous, but he really wasn't. No, David was
righteous in God's sight. Now, David was still a sinner
in himself. And that's real too. When Christ
was made sin, God didn't play like Christ was made sin, but
He really wasn't. He was really made sin. And yet in Himself, in His mind,
His affections, His will, and His very soul, He retained absolute
perfection in Himself. But He was really made sin. He was guilty. Christ was guilty. Not because he himself was a
sinner or made a sinner. He was guilty because of my guilt
charged to him. It's like David. And justice
was done. It wasn't a legal fiction. And
David was righteous because of it. And that's not a legal fiction.
It wasn't as if one preacher said that, well, God just saw
him as righteous, but underneath he was a sinner. I don't even
understand that kind of language anyway. That's just somebody
doesn't understand imputation and substitution. It's not on
top and underneath or somebody said I pasted on righteous. No,
it's justice done. Justice was done in David's case. How? through the promise of a
coming Messiah. And he was really righteous.
This sinner, who's really a sinner, was really righteous in God's
sight. Now, you know how you know that?
By faith. God said it, I believe it. That's it. That's the only way
you know. Well, David, He didn't represent
God aright. But the rest of this chapter,
look at it, verse 23, I talked about it, and it came to pass
after two full years that Absalom had sheep shears in Baal Hazor. This was the time of shearing
the sheep, obviously, which is beside Ephraim. Absalom invited
all the king's son, and Absalom came to the king and said, Behold,
now thy servant hath sheep shears. Let the king, I beseech thee,
and his servants go with thy servant. And the king said to
Absalom, Nay, my son, let us not all now go, lest we be chargeable
unto thee. And he pressed him, howbeit he
would not go, but blessed him. And so there was a difference
of opinion between David and his son here. And David was saying,
well, I don't want to be held accountable to you. We don't
know why, there's no explanation of it, but look at verse 26.
Then said Absalom, if not I pray thee, let my brother Amnon go
with us. Now Absalom hadn't spoken a word
to Amnon in what, two years it said? And the king said unto
him, why should he go with thee? But Absalom pressed him, wouldn't
let up. Then he let Amnon and all the
king's sons go with him. So David gave in to his children.
Now that's David's Part of David's problem, he gave in to his children.
Gave in and gave in and gave in. Verse 28, Now Absalom had
commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon's heart
is merry with wine. Now that means when you get Amnon
drunk. That's just the old King James
way of saying drunk, merry with wine. You get him drunk. And
when I say in you, smite Amnon, it means striking with the sword
or the spear, then kill him, fear not. Have not I commanded
you? Be courageous and be valiant."
Now, Absalom claiming that getting a guy drunk and killing him is
valiant and courageous tells you something about Absalom.
I mean, I don't know what would be valiant and courageous about
getting a fellow drunk and then killing him. But that's what
Absalom had was his plan. We'll look on, he says, and the
servants, verse 29, the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as
Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose,
and every man get up upon his mule and fled. And it came to
pass, while they were in the way, the tidings came to David,
saying Absalom had slain all the king's son, and there's not
one of them left." Now, that's the story that got back to David.
That didn't happen. It says, Then the king arose,
and tore his garments, and lay on the earth, and all his servants
stood by with their clothes rent. And Jonadab," now remember, Jonadab,
he was the conniver, the son of Shemya, David's brother, answered
and said, Let not my lord suppose that they have slain all the
young men of the king's sons, for Amnon only is dead." For
by the appointment of Absalom, this hath been determined from
the day he forced his sister Tamar." Absalom had planned this
all along. And so, now, therefore, let not
my lord the king take the thing to his heart to think that all
the king's sons are dead, for Amnon only is dead. But Absalom
fled, and the young man that kept the watch lifted up his
eyes and looked, and behold, there came much people by the
way of the hillside behind him. And Jonadab said unto the king,
Behold, the king's sons come. As my servants said, so it is.
So Absalom fled. Now, this is the beginning of
David's real problems with Absalom. He had a problem before, but
here's the beginning. Again, this is the consequences
of David's sin. And it says in verse 36, And
it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of speaking,
that, behold, the king's sons came and lifted up their voices
and wept, and the king also and all his servants went very sore.
But Absalom fled and went to Talmai, the son of Ammahud, king
of Gesher, and David mourned for his son every day. So Absalom
fled and went to Gesher and was there three years. And he says
in verse 39, the soul of King David longed to go forth unto
Absalom. He had a desire to go and get
Absalom, for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was
dead. He was at peace about this thing
with Amnon, even though it really wasn't justice. So we see, again,
David. Well, for by grace are you saved,
through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast.