Okay, let's open our Bibles to
2 Samuel 13. 2 Samuel 13. I've entitled the
message for this evening, When Sin Is Finished. When Sin Is
Finished. I actually took the title from
the verses we went through this morning in James chapter 1. We'll
go back there in just a moment. When sin is finished, whenever
I come to passages of scripture, and this is always the challenge
that you have when you do go through the Bible verse by verse,
and you come to a passage that's full of history, and especially
such a tragic one, a story of the sin, depravity, the lust,
and the terrible things that we as sinners can and do do if
left to ourselves, it's kind of tough to deal with sometimes. You might wonder, well, what
are you going to get out of that if you've read that? In fact,
I thought about this and I said, I kind of reverted back to being
a teacher. I wish I had given you an assignment. I wish I had
every one of you read 2 Samuel 13 before you come to class tonight. Some of you may have, and don't
worry if you haven't, I'm not going to give a test. So what we'll do is we'll kind
of just walk through this together, 39 verses. And Brother Gerald asked me,
am I going to get through them all tonight? And I said, sure. And
you know me, and you can do that, can't you, Allie? And I said, well, and Bill said,
well, he said, you could, you know, just say, well, if you
run out of time, you know, I said, well, I'll continue next time. And
I've done that before. And of course, Bill said, well,
we may be here till Wednesday if it happens that way. But,
you know, this is one of many recorded histories that the writer
Samuel was inspired by the Holy Spirit to record, and the Bible
tells us Scripture itself tells us that all these things were
written for our learning, and that all these things ultimately
speak of and lead us to Christ. That's what it's all about. And
if you can't see that, you just as well skip over it and come
back to it until the Lord opens your eyes and reveals Christ
to you. But I had Brother Stan read that
passage out of Daniel chapter 9, because that's a prophecy
of Daniel of the coming of the Messiah. And I read that verse
24 this morning, if you remember. And it speaks of the Messiah's
great work on earth, and how when he comes, he will finish
the transgression, make an end of sin, and make reconciliation
for iniquity, establish righteousness, seal up the vision and the prophecy,
all of that. And when I thought about that,
I thought about, well, if we didn't have Christ, if we didn't
have a Redeemer, if we didn't have His blood to wash away our
sins, if we didn't stand before God in His righteousness, where
would we be? Well, you know that we'd be condemned.
We'd be eternally damned. We'd be eternally dead. And this
passage here in 2 Samuel 13, I believe, is an illustration
of that. It's sin allowed to go its full course. Three main
characters, and you might say four because David is here too,
and what David did in his great public scandalous fall and his
sin with Bathsheba, this is the consequence of that sin. We have
Absalom, one of David's sons, by one of his wives. We have
a man named Amnon who is the eldest son of David. He is actually,
Amnon would be the man in line to be king. Now we know that
God took care of all that because it was in his mind to make Solomon
the son of David and Bathsheba to be king. But Amnon was actually
the eldest son of David and he was in line to be king. We have
one of David's, David's niece here named Tamar. And then there's
another man, David's nephew, or no, Tamar is one of David's
daughters, actually, a half-sister of Amnon. But Jonadab, we have
another one named Jonadab, who's one of David's nephews, and those
are the characters in this sordid story that is a tale of sorrow
and woe, a tale of man's depravity, a tale of man's sin. But let
me start this way. You know, one of the main evidences
of the sinfulness and depravity of all of us by nature, all of
us by nature, is the fact that somehow, in some way, we really,
in our natural way of thinking, in our sinful way of thinking,
we really believe that somehow we can get away with sin. We
just really somehow believe we can get away with it, that we
can cover our tracks. Even in our worst moments, can't
we? We can devise. You know, they talk about on
TV, on these crime shows, they all the time, they talk about
people who are trying to devise the perfect crime. And of course,
we know that's impossible. They always get caught. They
always leave something that they didn't think about. Because we're
imperfect humans. But the idea, the notion of the
perfect crime is man's depraved idea and imagination that somehow
we can get away with it. We can just get off scot-free,
fool everybody. And as we studied, and of course
we've seen that Adam and Eve in the garden, they thought they
could get away with it. Adam blamed his wife, and then before
that they made these coats of these big leaf aprons, trying
to hide their nakedness from God, trying to hide their shame,
as if they could get away with it. That's what man, that's really
what man's religion is all about, works religion. trying to get
away with it, trying to cover it over, because it doesn't take
care of the real problem. See, the only way the real problem
of sin can be taken care of is through the grace of God, through
a Redeemer, who can stand in our place and finish sin instead
of sin finishing us. But here's what we've got here
in this story. We see when sin is finished, what happens? As
we study the life of David, we see one of the great principle
truths in the Bible, and that's this, that sin has its consequences,
always. We read in Numbers chapter 32
and verse 23 as Moses was talking to two of the tribes of Israel
about their responsibility to take the land and to conquer
the enemies and to occupy that land for God and for God's glory. And they promised they would
do so. And Moses warned them, well, if you renege on that promise,
if you don't keep that promise, he says, behold, you sinned against
the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. That's what
he said. It'll find you out. It'll come
back on you. Just don't think that it won't. Now, that doesn't
mean, now when you see that phrase, your sin will find you out. Now
let me just tell you this right now, that doesn't mean that all
our dirty laundry will come out publicly. And that's what most
people think. That doesn't mean that all of
the skeletons in our closet are going to be brought out and displayed
among everybody. That's not what it means. But
it means this, it means we cannot hide our sin from God. Now that
is what it means. Let me just read you this passage
over in Hebrews chapter 4, one that you are very familiar with.
Hebrews 4 and verse 12. For the word of God is quick
and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints
and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart, reaches to the heart. See, I can hide my heart from
you, so to speak, but not from God. And then he says in verse
13, "...neither is there any creature that is not manifest
in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes
of him with whom we have to do." You see, in this matter of sin,
we have to deal with each other to a point. But ultimately, we
have to deal with God. Now, right, we see back here
in this passage the workings and the schemings and the connivings
of men doing what we do by nature, fulfilling the lust of the flesh,
lust of the eyes, seeking to get away with it, turning things
around, trying to make ourselves look good and everybody else
look bad. We have to deal with this, this Absalom. David's son, you've heard of
Absalom. You probably know a lot about him. The Bible calls him
a beautiful man. He was beautiful to look upon.
But he was all surface. He was all surface. I don't know
if that's where the saying, beauty is only skin deep, comes from.
But that's what he was. He had to deal with his father,
David. But you see, ultimately, David wasn't his problem. Ultimately,
he had to stand before God, who judges according to truth. And
that's who we'll stand before, for God, who judges according
to truth. You may deal with a brother or
sister in Christ. You may deal with them rightfully.
You may deal with them wrongfully. You may justify it in your mind. I know I often do. But ultimately,
we have to stand before God. And oh, oh, oh, how we need a
Redeemer. How we need Christ. Because I
don't care who you are, what you are, when you came here and
when you left. If you don't have Christ, my
friend, we will be damned forever. Now that's so. That's so. Be not deceived, Paul wrote to
the Galatians. God is not mocked. You can mock
me. I can mock you. But God is never
mocked. for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap." If you sow to the flesh, listen
to me now, if you sow to the flesh either in an immoral way
or a religious way, now think about that. Saul of Tarsus was
sowing to the flesh in all of his religion, wasn't he? Trying
to make himself righteous before God. If you sow to the flesh
in an immoral way, Or in a religious way, you know what you're going
to reap? The flesh. But if you sow to the Spirit,
now what does that mean? That means look to and rest in,
find peace, hope, salvation in Christ alone. And you'll reap
life everlasting. That's what the Scripture teaches.
So sin has its consequences. Now some sins have more consequences
here in this life than others. We see that in the example of
David. But now let me tell you something. All sin deserves death. And I'll say it this way too.
All sin equally deserves death in God's court of justice. That's
right. The wages of sin is death. And our sins will find us out. Now let me give you two things
about that. Our sins will find us out in one of two ways. either
in judgment against us or in salvation by Christ. I'll tell
you what I mean. Now, if sin finds us out, if
our sin finds us out in judgment against us, that means we'll
stand before God at judgment without hope, without Christ,
without a mediator. It'll all be out in the open.
In judgment against us, it will be like what Christ said to those
false preachers in Matthew 7 and verse 23. He says, And then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye
that work iniquity. Their sins found them out. It
might have been covered up before men. They were preaching in His
name. They were casting out demons. They were doing many wonderful
works, they said. Do you remember that? Matthew 7, 21, 22. Lord, Lord, haven't we done all
this?" They were pleading their works, what they thought God
had enabled them to do as their righteousness before God. Be
sure, if that's what you're doing, your sins will find you out.
Maybe not here on this earth, but at judgment it will. Depart
from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew. You remember the
parable of the wedding guests, the king's marriage supper, and
the wedding guests come in, he didn't have on the right garment,
which is the righteousness of Christ imputed. That's what that
represents. He didn't have on what the king
required. And his sins found him out. And
here's what happened in Matthew 22, 13, bind him hand and foot,
take him away, cast him in the outer darkness, there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth. Oh, if we don't have Christ. Where will we be if we don't
have a Redeemer, a Mediator, if we don't have Jehovah Sid
Canu, the Lord our Righteousness, the Lamb of God to bear away
our sins if we don't have Christ? Now, believers, our sins have
already found us out in salvation by Christ. First of all, in judgment
upon Christ Himself, as our substitute and surety, our sin-bearer. He was made sin for us, the scripture
says. Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. If you're in Christ,
if He's your hope, if He's your surety, your sins were charged
to Him, accounted to Him. Your sins have already found
you out. He died for them all. Secondly, in our judgment of
ourselves in confession in the new birth, when the Holy Spirit
gives us life in the new birth, one of the first things He does,
the Scripture says in John 16, verses 8, 9, 10, and 11, it says
He convinces us of sin. In other words, we come clean
with God, and we say, Oh Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner.
He shows us that without Christ we are nothing but sin, and everything
we do is sin. And we deserve nothing but death
based upon our best. And thirdly, our sins find us
out in the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. We're in a fight.
Right now. This old human nature that's
still with us. We fight. We war. The Holy Spirit
who abides in us, lives within us, and implants the word of
God in our minds, affections, and our will. We're in a warfare.
And then, fourthly, in the problems that we create for ourselves
in this life, David knew it well. When David did all this, he knew
it was wrong, and he came clean with God in that repentance.
And it's recorded in Psalm 32, Blessed is the man whom the Lord
imputeth not iniquity. He confessed it in Psalm 51,
Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight, that thou mightest be just when thou justifiest,
when thou judgest. And then I'll tell you another.
time when, for believers, our sins find us out. In the death
of this body. And you know it's dying right
now, isn't it? It's in the process of dying right now. You can see
it, can't you? You can see it in me. I can see
it in you. It's there. It's in that process. It's a
reminder, every day, that we're sinners. We're sinners. And we'll
never be anything but sinners, saved by the grace of God while
in this life. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Paul wrote. That's right. This
body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because
of righteousness. So where is our hope? Where is
the good news? Where is the message of salvation?
It's that there's no condemnation in Christ. David himself, he
could take some comfort even amidst all of his sin. Nathan
told him that in 2 Samuel chapter 12. He says, the Lord has put
away your sins. But his comfort was not in this
life or in this world. His comfort was in Christ, and
that is where mine is and that is where yours is. Far-reaching
consequences of sin are proven right here in this chapter out
of this story of Amnon, Tamar, Absalom. David's adultery and
murder of Uriah stained his family permanently on this earth. And
from those sins, his family never completely recovers. You remember
back over in 2 Samuel 12 and verse 10, remember what Nathan
told him? He says, now, therefore, the
sword shall never depart from thine house because thou hast
despised me and has taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to
be thy wife. And he says thus, saith the Lord,
behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own
house. Well, 2 Samuel 13 is where that starts. And he says, I will
take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor,
and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of his son in the
broad daylight. His sin is put away, but the
consequences of that sin continues. Sin has its inevitable fruit
in the individual, in the family, in society, and even in God's
people. It really cannot be hid. Maybe
the details are lacking. But it's there. And this is a
reminder of our fall in Adam. We fell in Adam. We're born in
sin, ruined by the fall. That's why we need to be redeemed
by the blood and regenerated by the Spirit, you see. That's
the grace of God. Remember what James said. We read it this morning, over
here in James 1, talking about how sin is like a seed that germinates
and it produces and reproduces after its kind. And here's what
James wrote in verse 14, he says, but every man is tempted when
he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed, and then when lust
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it's finished
bringeth forth death. That's the story of 2 Samuel
13. When sin is finished, it brings
forth death. Now, it brought about Uriah's
death. That's right. It brought about
the death of David's child, conceived in adultery with Bathsheba. And
here it's going to bring about the death of Amnon. Thank God
that we don't suffer the eternal consequences, the ultimate consequences
of death because of Christ. So here's David's son following
in his footsteps. Kind brings forth kind. This
is why we must not only be redeemed by the blood, but regenerated
by the Spirit. born again unto God. You know, David lived on for
about 20 years, 20 more years after all this with Bathsheba
and Uriah. He suffered this kind of turmoil
in his home all his life. His life, David's home life and
the life of the kingdom was turmoil up until he died. 20 years. They may be asked, now how can
a man under the judgment of God, having committed the sins that
he committed, write the magnificent things that he wrote in so many
of those psalms? Because you know, a lot of the
greatest psalms you'll read, the most comforting psalms you'll
read, were written during that 20-year period when David was
going through such trial and turmoil. The most magnificent
psalms are written having in mind our own sinfulness, isn't
it? And the greatness of God's salvation
in Christ. The greatness of God's grace.
Would the Psalms do us any good if they were written by good
men who needed no mercy or grace? Would that do you any good? Wouldn't
do me any good. If I read a psalm that was written
by a person who was sinlessly perfect and who didn't need any
mercy and need any grace or compassion from God, it wouldn't do me any
good because I couldn't identify with that fellow. How about you? There are no good men, the scripture
says, only sinners saved by grace. Well, these Psalms that were
written during this period were written by a great sinner to
inspire great sinners like us to fall at the feet of Christ
and beg for mercy. Look at Amnon here in chapter
13. It came to pass after this that
Absalom, the son of David, had a fair sister, a beautiful sister,
whose name was Tamar. The son of David loved her. Amnon
was so vexed, he was so troubled that he fell sick for his sister
Tamar. He was so in love with her. Now
what we're going to find out that that's not love, that's
lust. And you'll find that out later
on in the story. For she was a virgin and Amnon thought it
hard for him to do anything to her. That tells you right there
it's lust. He just, he didn't want to do anything for her.
You see, love wants to do something for the object of the love. Lust
wants to do something to it. You young people remember that.
You remember that. That's important. And this is
what his problem was. And it says in verse 3, But Amnon
had a friend. Now, Amnon didn't know what to
do. He didn't know how to work his lustful schemes. But he had
a friend whose name was Jonadab, and the son of Shimeah, David's
brother. So Jonadab, David's nephew. See, it's all in the
family tonight, isn't it? It's all in the family. That's
the way our sin is. It's all in the family of Adam,
isn't it? One man's sin entered the world, death by sin, and
death passed upon all men for all sin in Adam. That's why we're
born into this world without a damned, human, fallen nature. And it says he had this friend
named Jonadab, and he was a very subtle man. Now, that means he
was a schemer. He was a conniver. If you wanted
to get some double dealing done, go to Jonadab. He was the guy
that you wanted. And it says, he said unto him,
Why art thou being the king's son, lean from day to day? Apparently,
Amnon was so sick with his lust for his half-sister that he wouldn't
even eat him. Now, you think about that. He
was getting weak from not eating. And it says, Wilt thou not tell
me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar my brother Absalom's
sister. Now, you see, Tamar was Absalom's
sister, full sister. They had the same mother. But
she was Amnon's half-sister. same father, but not the same
mother, and it says in verse 5, John of Death said unto him,
Lay thee down on thy bed, make thyself sick, and when thy father
cometh to see thee, say unto him, I pray thee, let my sister
Tamar come, and give me meat, and dress the meat in my sight,
that I may see it, and eat it at her hand. Play like you're
sick, and get your father David to get your sister, whom you're
lusting after, to come in there and feed you. What a scheme. You know, when you read If you
weren't sure you were reading out of the Bible, you'd think
you were reading some kind of a dime novel or something, you know,
things like this. But this is reality now. Listen, this is our sin. Don't look at Amnon and Jonathan
and say, well, those dirty, rotten scoundrels. I'd never do anything
like that. Yes, you would. And so would I if it weren't
but for the grace of God. Now, that's the problem. Well, look at verse 6, Amnon
laid down, made himself sick. And when the king was come to
see him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar
my sister come and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I
may eat at her hand. And so, well, David did what
he asked. And he said, look down at verse
10. He says, And Amnon said unto
Tamar, Bring the meat into the chamber, that I may eat of thine
hand. And Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought
them into the chamber to Amnon her brother. And when she had
brought them unto him to eat, he took hold of her hand, and
said unto her, Come lie with me, my sister. And she answered
him, Nay, my brother, do not force, or violate, or humiliate
me." That is what that means. "'For no such thing ought to
be done in Israel.'" Underline that. For no such thing ought
to be done in Israel, do not thou this folly." Let me come
back to that. He says in verse 13, And I, whither
shall I cause my shame to go? And as for thee, thou shalt be
as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore I pray thee, speak
unto the king, for he will not withhold me from thee. Now that's
something, isn't it? Now hold on there. In verse 14,
Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice, but being stronger
than she, forced her, and lay with her. He raped her. Somebody said about this that
the house of polygamy is bearing its wretched fruit. That was
David's house. It was a house of polygamy. David
had I don't know how many wives and concubines. And this Amnon
just following in the footsteps of his father just like we follow
in the footsteps of our father Adam. Look over at Ephesians
chapter 2 with me. Ephesians chapter 2. And that's what this is a picture
of now. And listen to me now. When I
say something is a picture, don't think that it's not real. I mean,
it's reality. But it's just kind of capsulated
in this episode here. Here's Amnon. following in the
footsteps of his Father. That's what we do by nature,
isn't it? We follow in the footsteps of our Father, Adam. Ephesians
chapter 2 verse 1, And you, hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins? That's our natural state. Wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
in whatever way the world in opposition to Christ and the
Gospel and His Word was, we walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that's
the devil, we followed in the footsteps the lust of the devil,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind. Now when you think about the lust of the flesh,
don't just Think of it only as sexual lust as in Amnon's case. That's true. That's part of it.
But you know, in the Bible, there's terms used for lust. One of the
terms is a term we don't use today. It's an old English term
in the King James translators. It's concupiscence. You read
that in Romans chapter 7, I believe. But what that is, it's an unlawful
desire. Any desire that we have that connects us with Adam. We
follow in the footsteps. Any desire that connects us with
Adam that is unlawful doesn't glorify God, doesn't exalt Christ. In fact, it exalts us, exalts
the flesh. It doesn't promote the salvation
of sinners. It doesn't promote the edification
of brethren. You see what I'm saying? Any
desire. Now, let me tell you something. Saul of Tarsus. Now think about this. Paul, when
he's writing in Romans chapter 7, he's talking about evil concupiscence
or lust. And I want you to think about
Paul before God saved him. What was Paul doing in his evil
lust? What was his evil desire? Well,
read Philippians chapter 3 sometime. He was trying to establish a
righteousness of his own, wasn't he? He was trying to be a moral,
religious person. trying to work his way into God's
favor. Do you know that's an evil concupiscence? That's an evil desire? You say,
well, I can readily see how Amnon's lust was evil. Look what it led
to. It led to the lies and deceptions
of his half-sister, Tamar, and then led ultimately to raping
her. You can see that. The natural man can even see
that. Now, he may disregard it. He may ignore it. He may even
disregard the pains of his own conscience and do it, just like
Amnon did. But you see, it takes the light
of Christ and Him crucified, the glory of God in Christ, to
show us the wickedness of trying to work our way into God's favor,
doesn't it? And that's what Paul writes in
Philippians 3. He said, when I saw the light
of God's glory, the light of Christ, the light of my sin,
what I am by nature, that even at my best, God would be just
to put me in hell forever. Oh, Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldst
mark iniquity, who would stand? So you see, sin has its ways. It comes in many forms. See,
Satan is a deceptive devil. Somebody said, well, Satan, he
may damn not do this. Oh, no. Remember what we read
in the book of James, chapter 1, verse 15? Or verse 14, every
man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust. Don't go around talking about
how the devil made you do it. You just worked that work on
your own. Who are you going to blame? That's
who we blame. Now the devil is deceptive. His
goal is to keep us from seeing the glory of God in Christ, to
keep us from hearing the gospel. But you know as well as I do,
You know as well as I do that the power of God to overcome
him, just like that. All God has to do is give you
ears to hear and eyes to see, just like he did Saul of Tarsus
on the road to Damascus. But here's this man, Amnon. Think
about it. You know, if he truly loved Tamar,
obviously he would not have raped her. And then look on, look back
here at 2 Samuel 13. She said, she said, now this
is, this is Tamar. She said in verse 12, this, no
such thing ought to be done in Israel. Now Tamar is a beautiful
woman and she's modest. She's basically obedient. She
does what King David asked. She went in. King David said,
go into my son Amnon and feed him, help him. He said, she did
that. She had a tender heart. And there are some things that
Tamar does not understand. Back up in verse 13, you remember,
she said to Amnon, she said, Speak to our father, he won't
withhold me from thee. Now, she understands. She thinks that if Amnon came
to David and said, I want to marry my sister, my half-sister,
David would have said okay. I really can't imagine, and I
think she's just confused there, but it may be, now listen to
me, it may be that with all the goings-on in their household,
with the polygamy and the concubines, it just may be she just had that
notion. What's the big deal? I don't
know. But I know this. She did know that Israel was
to be different. Now, you know this thing about
incest? This thing about sexual fornication
and all, it was very common amongst the Gentile world at that time.
Paul had to deal with it even in the New Testament days in
Corinth because they looked at it, it's just a natural desire,
and so you just fulfill it publicly if you need to, just like when
you go to a restaurant, you're hungry, you eat. If you have
a sexual desire, you can fulfill it. They used to go down to the
temple where the prostitutes were, and they'd fulfill it there
publicly. That's the idea they had. That's what they were taught
growing up. Paul said, not so. God's people, that's what he
meant by come out from among them. He said, don't, don't,
listen, don't join your body to belial, idolatry, fornication,
and all that. We're to be different now. That
doesn't mean we're to be uppity. It doesn't mean we're to be pious
and self-righteous and go around acting like we're better than
everybody else because we're not. She said this thing ought
not be done in Israel. You know why? Because Israel
is a nation separated from other nations by God. Israel was a
nation that was redeemed out of Egypt by the power of God.
Israel was a nation that was brought together by the power
and goodness of God. Israel was a nation that was
identified with the one true and living God, Jehovah God.
Israel was the nation through whom the Messiah was to come,
and salvation would come out to the world, God's people out
of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. Israel was under
the commandment of the Law of Moses, and they were to represent
God aright. One of the biggest complaints
that God had against Israel and Judah in their worst days was
this. They had profaned His name among
the heathen. They did not act like the people
of God. They didn't represent God aright.
They profane God among the people. Just like David, when he sinned
with Bathsheba and had Uriah killed, and did all this lying
and conniving, Nathan told him, he says, you've given the enemies
of God occasion to blaspheme. And Tamar says that basically. She says, this ought not be done
in Israel. We're a holy people. That means
we're separated under God by His grace. We're not people who
all the time go around walking on a cloud. Our difference is
not what religion says it is. Taste not, touch not, handle
not. But our difference is the grace of God in Christ. And we're
the people of Christ. Peculiar people. That doesn't
mean weird in the Bible. That means purchased or bought
with a price. We don't even own ourselves.
You know what? Nobody owns themselves. We just
realize it. We don't own ourselves. God holds
our lives in his hand. Isn't that right? Isn't that
right? The very next breath you take, God gave it to you. And
then when you put upon that all the riches of the glory of his
grace in Christ that he gave us, ought not we be people who
express in our doctrine, in our profession, in our attitudes,
in our lives, our gratitude and love Thanksgiving to God for
all things. That's the way it should be.
That's the way it should be. But Tamar tells him, and he doesn't
listen, obviously, as you can see. Look back at verse 15. It says after this, after he
raped her now, Amnon hated her exceedingly so that the hatred
wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had
loved her. Now, you know, the only way that
that's possible You know the only way that the hatred with
which he hated her could exceed the love with which he loved
her? That is if that love was really just nothing but lust.
That's why I tell you girls, you young girls, you be careful
when these boys tell you that they loved you. Because once they give what they
want, then they'll discard you. That's what happened here. You
be careful. Be careful. Act wisely, you see.
Act wisely. And this is what he's saying
here. This man was nothing, she was nothing to him, really. He
just got what he wanted. And he told her, he says in verse
15, Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone. Get away from me. Verse 16, Then she said unto
him, There is no cause this evil in sending me away is greater
than the other that thou didst unto me. But he would not hear
her, would not hearken unto her. Then he called his servant, that
minister unto him, and said, Put now this woman out from me,
and bolt the door after her. Lock the door out. Get her out,
and lock the door. It's like the guy said, Leave,
and don't let the door hit you in the rear end on the way out. Now this tells you what kind
of man this is now. And it says in verse 18, she
had a garment of diverse colors upon her. That was like the coat
of many colors. That was a sign of royalty at
that time. For with such robes were the
king's daughters that were virgins appareled. And then his servant
brought her out and bolted the door after. And look what happened,
verse 19. It says, and Tamar put ashes
on her head and rent, that means tore her garments of diverse
colors, that was on her and laid her hand on her head and went
on crying. Absalom, her brother, said unto her, Hath Amnon, thy
brother, been with thee? Now listen to this. Here's Absalom,
her brother, and said, But hold now thy peace, my sister, he
thy brother, regard not this thing. It's almost like Absalom
saying, well, don't, it's not, you know, don't let it get to
you too much. And says, So Tamar remained desolate
in her brother's, brother Absalom's house. That means she went unmarried
and without children. The indication is that that was
the rest of her life. This thing scarred her for the
rest of her life. Now it says in verse 21, when King David
heard of all these things, he was very wroth. That means he
was angry. And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon, neither
good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced
his sister Tamar. So there starts the hatred of
Absalom. But that's not all. the whole
rebellion of Absalom comes. We're going to find, and I'll
quit there, but I'll pick it up next Wednesday, but we're
going to find that David did not even act justly in this case,
because he didn't bring justice, the justice of the law, down
on Amnon for what he'd done. And you see, he's the king. David's
the king. And that means he's the representative
of God on the earth in Israel, and he was a type of Christ.
And you better understand and know, as we all, that God always
deals with sin in justice. And if you don't believe that,
all you have to do is look at the cross of Calvary. Isn't that
right? Because if there's any place
that God dealt sorely and fully, completely with justice against
my sin and the sins of all his sheep." It was on Calvary's cross
when our condemnation came down. God's wrath came down upon his
beloved son, and he drank damnation dry. Therefore, in our case,
sin will not finish us like it will Amnon. Absalom is going
to murder him, going to kill him. Sin is going to finish him.
But because of Christ, even though we'll die in the death of this
body, sin will not finish us, because Christ finished sin. He brought in everlasting righteousness,
and thank God for His grace.