2 Samuel 13, but let's first
turn to chapter 12. 2 Samuel 12, verse 11, thus saith the Lord,
this is Nathan speaking to David after he's been confronted about
his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah. Thus saith
the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine
own house. And 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 the sun, for thou didst it secretly
But I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. And chapter 13 is the beginning
of that. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name and Lord, we're so thankful, so very grateful
for the salvation that's in him. Lord, we ask that his name will
be exalted and you'd enable us to Stand in awe at his greatness
and his salvation and his majesty and his kindness and his compassion
and his glory. Lord, we pray that we might be
enabled to hear the gospel in the power of your spirit. Lord,
we ask that you'd accept our thanksgiving through him. We're
so thankful that you're God and beside thee is none else. We're
so thankful for your glorious attributes. And Lord, our desire
is that we might be found in him. Forgive us of our sins for
his sake. And Lord, give us the grace to
honor your gospel in our lives, in our conduct, for Christ's
sake. Once again, we confess our sins
and pray for forgiveness and cleansing. In Christ's name we
pray, amen. If I was going to give this a
title, I would title it, The History of Sin. The History of Sin. Now in 2 Samuel chapter 12, two
times God says to David, you've despised me. That's what you've
done in your sin. You've despised and disdained
me, held me in contempt. And David saw this Clearly, in
his confession, he confessed his sin before the Lord. He said,
I've sinned against the Lord, and he confesses what he'd done.
And then the Lord gives those beautiful words, the Lord hath
put away thy sin. I don't know of any better words
than that. I want to hear the Lord say that to me. The Lord
hath put away thy sin. Now, while that sin was put away,
And it was, and so is the believers. If I am in Christ Jesus, my sin
has been put away. It's already been put away. It's
gone. It's non-existent. It's been blotted out by the
blood of Christ. Now, he makes that statement. The Lord has
put away thy sin, but he also tells him, I'm going to raise
up evil in your house that you're going to deal with for the rest
of your life. And David deals with this sin
for the rest of his life. Now chapter 13 that we're getting
ready to look at is about his firstborn, Amnon, raping his
daughter. And then Absalom, his other son,
murdering his son because that took place. And then you get
into chapter 15 and you have Absalom's coup, his takeover
of the kingdom, and David having to flee for his life. And all
of his life was a life of sorrow after this point. And when he's
dying, he makes this statement, although my house be not so with
God. And David indeed had a very dysfunctional,
evil home. And a lot of it was his fault.
I think it's interesting when He's told about what Amnon had
done to his daughter Tamar. He got very angry, but he didn't
do anything. He didn't do anything. He didn't
do anything about it at all. Now let's pick up reading in
verse one of chapter 13. And like I said, this can very
well be said to be a history of sin. Now verse one and two,
when it came to pass after this, that Absalom, the son of David,
had a fair sister whose name was Tamar. And Amnon, her brother,
her half-brother, the son of David, loved her. And Amnon was
so vexed that he fell sick for his sister Tamar, for she was
a virgin. And Amnon thought it hard for
him to do anything to her." Now, here's the first point I'd like
to make about this man's sin. This man's sin began with his
father's sin, didn't it? God told David, I'm going to
raise up evil out of your own house because of what you have
done. And this man's personal sin began
with his father's sin. Now, does that sound familiar
to you? This man's sin was prophesied
by God. God told David, I'm going to
raise up evil out of your own house. So Amnon, his sin was
prophesied by God when God spoke to David. And you know, our first
father's sin was prophesied by God, wasn't it? Remember when
he said, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. He didn't
say if you eat. He said when you do, you shall
surely die. Now, here's the point. This man,
David, his sin had a devastating effect on his descendants. Look
what they did. I mean, they were a mess from
here on out. This man's sin, David's sin, his wicked sin,
had a devastating effect on his descendants. And our father's
sin had a devastating effect on his descendants, me and you. Turn to Romans chapter 5. Hold
your finger there. In 2 Samuel 13, turn to Romans chapter 5. Verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so that death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned. Now we see what took
place because of this man's sin. Everybody died. Everybody sinned
in him. Look in verse 18. Therefore,
as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
everybody was condemned because of this one man's sin. Now, I'm
condemned because of my own sin, I realize that, but I'm condemned
because of Adam's sin, because I was in him when he sinned.
By this one man's act, condemnation came upon all men. Look in verse
19. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. By this
man's one act of sin, many, me and you, were made sinners. So when we talk about the history
of sin, Amnon's horrible sin. We've got to begin with its root
cause. It was through his father that
this took place, and that's why it took place. Now, let's go
on reading. It says in verse two, he fell
sick for his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and Amnon thought
it hard for him to do anything to her. He was consumed and controlled
and dominated by this sin. Do you know anything about that?
Being consumed, being controlled. being dominated by sin. This man was just totally taken
up with her so that he became vexed and sick. I think of this,
whoso committed sin is the servant of sin. Now Amnon was enslaved
to this sin. And the Lord said, whosoever
committed sin is the slave, the servant of sin. And that would
demonstrate our standing before God's law. I think of that passage
of scripture where it says, Paul said in Romans 7, we know that
the law is spiritual but I am carnal, sold a slave to sin. Now that was the case of Amnon.
His sin was his own fault and we're going to see how wicked
it was. His sin began or found its beginning in his father's
sin, that's the same of us, and he was enslaved by sin. And if
that wasn't bad enough, look at verse 3. But Amnon had a friend
whose name was Jonadab, the son of Simeon, David's brother, and
Jonadab was a very subtle, deceitful, tricky man. And he said unto
him, why art thou being the king's son lean from day to day? Wilt
thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love
Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. And Jonadab said unto him, lay
thee down on thy bed, and 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. Now, Amnon was bad
enough in himself, wasn't he? He was totally consumed, sick
with sin, but he also had a tempter. This friend, Jonadab, he had
a tempter. Now, same as Adam, same as me and you, we have a
tempter. His name is Satan, the accuser of the brethren. And
you look at the way he dealt with Amnon. He said, Amnon, why
are you so lean and sick and depressed looking? You're a king,
son. You can have what you want. You've got a right to this woman.
You can have what you want. And that's the same as Satan
telling us, God's holding out on you. God's holding out on
you. If you eat this fruit, you'll
be like God. You'll be in good shape. You'll be better off.
God's holding out on you. You eat this fruit, you'll be
like God. That's Jonadab saying, you're
a king, son. You can do anything you want.
So let's go on reading. Verse six. And Amnon lay down, and 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. Then David sent home to Tamar,
saying, Go now to thy brother Amnon's house, and dress him
meet. David had no idea what was going on. So Tamar went to
her brother Amnon's house, and he was laid down, and she took
flour, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and did bake
the cakes. And she took a pan, and poured
them out before him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, Have
out all men from me. And they went out, every man
from him. And Amnon said unto Tamar, Bring me 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 chamber to
Amnon her brother. She had no idea of what was getting
ready to take place. And when she brought them unto
him to eat, he took hold of her, and said unto her, Come, lie
with me, my sister. And she answered him and said,
Nay, my brother, do not force me, for no such thing ought to
be done in Israel. Do not thou this folly, and I,
whither shall I cause my shame to go? You see, she was a fine
woman, and she was suffering because of somebody else's sin.
And I, whither shall I go, 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'll not withhold me from thee.
Don't do this. If you want to marry me, ask
David. He'll give me to you. He's in control, but don't do
this. Howbeit he would not hearken
unto her voice, being stronger than she, he forced her and lay
with her. Now what a sad, sad story. Tamar was obviously a good woman,
wasn't she? So to speak. I mean, as far as
human beings go. And she did not want this to
take place. And she said, don't do this.
Don't rot this folly in Israel, this great sin. And what a sin
this is. But he was going to have his
way. And he forced her and did it to her anyway. Now, the love
that he expressed to her in verse one was really no more than lust
and an evil heart of unbelief, wasn't it? He called it love,
but it wasn't love. He demonstrated how much he loved
her by the way he treated her and by the way he forced her
and took advantage of her. And I like what she calls it,
folly and foolish. And that's precisely what it
was. Now, after it takes place, verse
15, then Amnon hated her exceedingly. Now, He was consumed with, oh,
if I could just do this. This is another thing about sin.
Sin never gives what it promises. It never gives what it promises.
He got what he thought he wanted. And now he's miserable and he
hates her. He thought he loved her, but
now he hates her. And look how cruel he treats
her. Verse 15, then Amnon hated her exceedingly so that the hatred
wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had
loved her. And Amnon said unto her, arise, be gone. And she said unto him, there's
no cause. This evil in sending me away
is greater than the other that thou didst unto me. But he would
not hearken unto her. Then he called his servant that
ministered unto him, and said, put now this woman out from thee,
and bolt the door after her. Now that is how cruel sin is. Look at the way he treats this
woman. Verse 18, and she had a garment
of divers collars upon her, for with such robes were the king's
daughters that were virgins appareled. Then his servant brought her
out and bolted the door after." Now that code of many, that's
the same code, that's the same word used for Joseph that describes
Joseph's code of many callers as the favorite son. And she
is stripped of all this. Now, one of the things that You know, this is a difficult
chapter, just seeing the uncleanness of it all, the sinfulness of
it all. But one of the things that is so difficult to think
about is how unfair this is. How unfair that Tamar can be
treated this way when she was, humanly speaking, a good woman.
And yet this man in his sin, the way he forced her and the
way he did it, is so unfair. Now, what I thought about in
light of that, when the Lord died on the cross,
we have a tendency to think how unfair, how unfair for the innocent
to be put to death. But you know what? That's not
what took place. And this is the glory of the
gospel. Now we see the unfairness of this, and when we think of
the death of Christ, Him being under the wrath of God and what
took place with Him, and we think of that as being unfair, actually,
My sin, the sins of all the elect, became his sin. So God was meeting out to him
absolute and perfect justice. He was getting exactly what he
deserved because he was getting what I deserved. Now that's the
absolute fairness and justice of God that we can see in the
cross. We're so thankful for that. And
when we look at it, you know, life's sad. I mean, stories like
this, and every one of us have known stories like this in real
life, and you think of the sadness of sin, the grief it brings,
the horrible things that take place. And we see that it all
comes out of our first father. And it's transferred to us, and
it's our fault. Abednon can't blame David for
his sin. He did what he wanted to do.
But it all came as a result of his father's sin. We can see
the terrible, devastating consequences of sin here. The history of sin. Now let's go on reading. Verse
19. And Tamar put ashes on her head,
and rent her garment of divers collars that was on her, and
laid her hand on her head, and went on crying." Now can you
imagine how devastated she was after all this? What he did to
her, and then instead of taking her to a wife as he should have,
he locks the door and kicks her out. How cruel he was. And Absalom, her brother, said
unto her, Hath Amnon thy father been with thee? But now hold
thy peace. Don't say anything about it,
my sister. He's our brother. Regard not this thing. It's amazing
he's talking with her that way. Just go ahead and forget it.
He's your brother. Don't think anything about it. So Tamar remained
desolate in her brother Absalom's house. But when King David heard
of all these things, he was very wroth. He heard what his boy
did. He heard that his son came in
and raped his daughter. And he was angry. And can you
imagine how angry you would be if that happened in your home?
But what did he do about it? Nothing. You know, David was
a doting father. He was one of those fathers who
would let his kids get by with anything. He did it with many
of his children. He was a doting father. in a bad way, he was
like Eli who failed to restrain his sons. He didn't do anything
about it. He was angry. He knew it was
wrong, but he didn't do anything about it, as he should have done
something about it. But he just let it go. Perhaps
he thought it just takes too much time and effort and energy.
It happened. Go ahead and forget it. It's
wrong, but he didn't do anything. As parents, don't be that way.
May the Lord enable us to always be good parents and make sure
our kids do what's right. That's what our job is as parents.
And David failed in this. And he was the one who said,
although my house be not so with God, it wasn't. And a whole lot
of it was his fault. May the Lord give us wisdom.
and grace to be good parents, to cause our children to do what's
right, to punish them when they do wrong. Now that's part of
our responsibility as parents, and David just didn't do any
of that. Verse 22, and Absalom spake unto
his brother Amnon, neither good nor bad. For Absalom hated Amnon. because he'd forced his sister,
Tamar. Now you can imagine why he felt this way. And he planned
in his heart at that time, I'm going to get back at him. He became a vigilante. He said,
I'm going to put him out of business. He planned his murder at that
time. Verse 23. And it came to pass
after two full years, that Absalom had sheep shears in Baal Hazor,
which is beside Ephraim. And Absalom invited all the king's
son. This was kind of a festive time whenever you sheared the
wool off the sheep. For some reason it was a time
of festivity and it was a feast and a good time and everybody's
invited. And Absalom came to the king,
verse 24, and said, Behold, now thy servant has sheep shears.
Let the king, I beseech thee, and his servants go with thy
servant. And the king said unto Absalom,
Nay, my son, let us not all now go, lest we be overchargeable
to thee. We don't want to cost you all that much money. And
he pressed him, howbeit he would not go, but blessed him. Then
said Absalom, If not, I pray thee, let my brother Amnon go
with us. And the king said unto him, Why
should he go with thee? But Absalom pressed him. that he let Amnon
and all the king's sons go with him. He said, if you're not going
to go, I want all the king's sons to come, particularly Amnon.
He had a motive. He knew what he was doing at
this time. Verse 28. Now Absalom had commanded his
servants, saying, mark ye now when Amnon's heart is married
with wine. And when I say unto you, smite Amnon, then kill him.
Fear not. Have I not commanded you be courageous
and be valiant? You do what I tell you to do.
And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's son arose
and every man get up on his mule and fled. Now here's the end
of sin. Remember the history of sin. It began with Amnon's
sin began with his father's sin. Just like ours did. It begins
with our father's sin, Adam. It turned Amnon into being consumed
with it. And he was vexed with it. He
also had the additional problem of being tempted, just like our
father Adam did, just like we are. It ended up being such a wicked
sin, which he did. We saw that. And where does it
end? It ends in death. Sin, when it's
finished, ends in death. Amnon was killed because of what
he did. Verse 30, And it came to pass,
while they were in the way, that tidings came to David, saying,
Absalom hath slain all the king's sons, and there is not one of
them left. And that wasn't true. It was
just Amnon. But he heard, Every one of my
boys have been killed. Then the king arose, and tore
his garments, and lay on the earth. and all the servants stood
by with their clothes arranged and I can try to imagine the
things going through David's mind at this time. I guarantee
you David's thinking this is all my fault. He remembers what
God said to him and he's thinking this is all my fault. Um, yeah it was. It was. And my sin and the is all my
fault. I can't blame Adam. I can't blame
God and His sovereignty. My sin is all my fault. And look at the grief David brought
on by his sin. And now he finds out, he hears,
oh, my boys are dead. And he just lays on the earth,
weeping, tearing his clothes. Oh, he's in bad shape. Verse
32, Jonadab comes back around, and this lets you know that Jonadab,
this was all part of his plan. He knew all about it. This is
the one who attempted Amnon originally. And Jonadab the son of Shimea,
David's brother, answered and said, Let not my lord suppose
that they have slain all the young men the king's son, for
Ammon only is dead. For by the appointment of Absalom
this hath been determined from the day that he forced his sister
Tamar. I mean, it's kind of like he had this coming and Absalom
was thinking about this and wanted it done. And you can understand
that. You can understand that. Now, therefore, let not my lord
the king take the thing to his heart to think that all the king's
son are dead. For Amnon only is dead, but Absalom fled. He fled. He knew he felt like
he's in trouble. 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, thy king's sons come, as thy servant
said, so it is. And it came to pass, as soon
as he'd made an end of speaking, that behold, the king's sons
came and lifted up their voice and wept. They were weeping over
the death of Amnon, and the king also, and all his servants wept
very sore. They were just, it's just sad.
Everything about it's sad. This is not a, like I said, there's
nothing that feels good about this. I've said before, the Bible's
not family friendly, is it? I mean, it tells life as it is,
things that take place. And this is so sad. But Absalom fled and went to
Talmah, the son of Amaiadud, the king of Geshur. And David
mourned for his son every day. And this talking about Absalom,
not talking about Amnon, talking about Absalom. You know, you
never stop loving your kids, no matter what they do. Remember
that. David didn't stop loving Absalom. And even when Absalom does these
terrible things in the chapters ahead, when he, David's got to
run for his life, and then Joab ends up killing Absalom. And
what's David say? Oh, Absalom, oh, Absalom, my
son Absalom, would to God that I would have died instead of
you. Now, love your children no matter
what. No matter what. At all times.
David did. And he mourned for his son every day. So Absalom
fled and went to Geshur, and was there three years. And the
soul of King David longed to go forth unto Absalom. For he
was comforted concerning Abednon, seeing he was dead." And now
what that means is, once it's happened, it's happened. I mean,
that's all God's wise providence and purpose. God's in control
of everything. If it's happened, it's happened.
And God was in control of it. And I love thinking about this. Everything that takes place in
my life, bad, good, whatever it might be, God is in control. He's the first cause. And one
of the glorious things about the Lord, my sin is all my fault. And there's no way I can justify
it in any way. Yet the Lord brings good even
out of my sin in that it drives me to Christ to really believe
that the only righteousness I have is the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. Thank God for that. Like I said, this is a sad story.
It gives the history of sin. And in this life, Not in the
life to come, but in this life, our sin will bring consequences
into our life like it did to David's. But what I think is
so glorious to think about is one of these days, one of these
days, I'm not even going to remember what it's like to be a sinner. That's how much my sin is blotted
out. I won't even remember what it's
like. All that will be passed away. Now, with regard to a sad story
like this, we see ourself, our sinfulness, and the trouble we
bring on ourselves and others through our sin. But thank God
that sin is put away. That's what Nathan said to David.