[0:00] Page 317, 2 Samuel chapter 13.
[0:10] Page 317, 2 Samuel chapter 13.
[0:40] And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin. And it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her. But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimea, David's brother.
[0:57] And Jonadab was a very crafty man. And he said to him, O son of the king, why are you so haggard morning after morning? Will you not tell me? Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.
[1:11] Jonadab said to him, lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat. And prepare the food in my sight so that I may see it and eat from her hand.
[1:25] So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. And when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight that I may eat from her hand.
[1:37] Then David sent home to Tamar saying, go to your brother Amnon's house and prepare food for him. So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house where he was lying down. And she took dough and kneaded it and made cakes in his sight and baked the cakes.
[1:52] And she took the pan and emptied it out before him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, send out everyone from me. So everyone went out from him.
[2:03] Then Amnon said to Tamar, bring the food into the chamber that I may eat from your hand. And Tamar took the cakes she had made and brought them into the chamber to Amnon, her brother. But when she brought them near to eat, he took hold of her and said, come lie with me, my sister.
[2:18] She answered him, no, my brother, do not violate me for such a thing is not done in Israel. Do not do this outrageous thing. As for me, where could I carry my shame? And as for you, you would be as one of the outrageous fools in Israel.
[2:32] Now, therefore, please speak to the king for he will not withhold me from you. But he would not listen to her. And being stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her. Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred.
[2:49] So that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, get up, go.
[3:02] She said to him, no, my brother, for this wrong and sending me away is greater than the love. And the other that you did to me. But he would not listen to her. He called the young man who served him and said, put this woman out of my presence.
[3:15] And bolt the door after her. Now she was wearing a long robe with sleeves. For thus were the virgin daughters of the king dressed. So his servant put her out and bolted the door after her.
[3:28] And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe that she wore. And she laid her hand on her head and went away, crying aloud as she went.
[3:41] And her brother Absalom said to her, has Amnon, your brother, been with you? Now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother. Do not take this to heart. So Tamar lived.
[3:53] A desolate woman in her brother Absalom's house. When King David heard of all these things, he was very angry. But Absalom spoke to Amnon, neither good nor bad.
[4:06] For Absalom hated Amnon because he had violated his sister Tamar. After two full years, Absalom had sheep shearers in Balhazor, which is near Ephraim. And Absalom invited all the king's sons.
[4:18] And Absalom came to the king and said, behold, your servant has sheep shearers. Please let the king and his servants go with your servant. But the king said to Absalom, no, my son, let us not all go, lest we be burdensome to you.
[4:30] He pressed him, but he would not go, but gave him his blessing. Then Absalom said, if not, please let my brother Amnon go with us. And the king said to him, why should he go with you? But Absalom pressed him until he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him.
[4:44] Then Absalom commanded his servants, mark when Amnon's heart is merry with wine. And when I say to you, strike Amnon, then kill him. Do not fear, have I not commanded you?
[4:55] Be courageous and be valiant. So the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose and each mounted his mule and fled.
[5:07] While they were on their way, news came to David. Absalom has struck down all the king's sons and not one of them is left. Then the king arose and tore his garments and lay on the earth.
[5:18] And all his servants who were standing by tore their garments. But Jonadab, the son of Shimei, David's brother, said, Let not my lord suppose that they have killed all the young men, the king's sons, for Amnon alone is dead.
[5:30] For by the command of Absalom this has been determined from the day he violated his sister Tamar. Now therefore let not my lord the king so take it to heart, as to suppose that all the king's sons are dead, for Amnon alone is dead.
[5:46] But Absalom fled, and the young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, many people were coming from the road behind him by the side of the mountain. And Jonadab said to the king, Behold, the king's sons have come, as your servant said, so it has come about.
[6:01] And as soon as he had finished speaking, behold, the king's sons came and lifted up their voice and wept. And the king also, and all his servants, wept very bitterly. But Absalom fled and went to Talmai, the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur.
[6:15] And David mourned for his son day after day. So Absalom fled and went to Geshur and was there for three years. And the spirit of the king longed to go out to Absalom because he was comforted about Amnon since he was dead.
[6:30] Amen. And we pray that God will bless his own word too, as we're going to sing now in the traditional version of Psalms 37. Psalm 37.
[6:51] And verse 35. That's on page 255 in Sing Psalms. Page 255. And it's verse 35. We're going to sing the last five stances.
[7:03] I saw the wicked great in power spread like a green bay tree. He passed, yea, was not. Him I sought, but found he could not be. Mark thou the perfect, and behold, the man of uprightness.
[7:16] Because that surely of this man, the latter end is peace. Psalm number 35. Sorry. Psalm number 37. That's the traditional version of the Psalm.
[7:28] It's on page 255. It's 35. The last five verses of the Psalm. We're going to stand to sing. I saw the wicked great in power spread like a green bay tree.
[7:52] He passed, yea, was not in my soul, but found he could not be.
[8:07] Mark thou the perfect, and behold, the man of uprightness.
[8:22] Because the jury of this man, the latter end is peace.
[8:38] But those men that transgressors are, shall be destroyed together.
[8:54] The latter end of wickedness shall be cut off forever.
[9:09] But the salvation of the Jews is from the Lord above.
[9:26] symbol Noah above.為什麼 no matter dois to his spirit. Let him not end up revealed! The Lord shall help, нев多福 deeper, God though dirut'eimeth. He shall ethere in peace and justice byónimoire.
[9:39] For Él as man of advice to His realm. Let him take thee a while. Let him have stipulous thee through this memory of the body, Let him deliver thisư. All about powiedzieć and preparing the launch of the Admiralgeneration.
[9:51] And of whatever he has, he shall myths, Love among the people of the sons of the grievingivid. free and safe from wicked men he calls in him their confidence they have Our second reading this evening comes from the book of Song of Solomon and chapter 2 I am a rose of Sharon a lily of the valleys as a lily among brambles so is my love among the young women as an apple tree among the trees of the forest so is my beloved among the young men with great delight I sat in his shadow and his fruit was sweet to my taste he brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me was love sustain me with raisins refresh me with apples for I am sick with love his left hand is under my head and his right hand embraces me
[11:42] I adjure you O daughters of Jerusalem by the gazelles or the does of the field that you do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases the voice of my beloved behold he comes leaping over the mountains bounding over the hills my beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag behold there he stands behind a wall gazing through the windows looking through the lattice my beloved speaks and says to me arise my love my beautiful one and come away for behold the winter is past the rain is over and gone the flowers appear on the earth the time of singing has come and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land the fig tree ripens its figs and the vines are in blossom they give forth fragrance arise my love my beautiful one and come away O my dove in the clefts of the rock in the crannies of the cliff let me see your face let me hear your voice for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely catch the foxes for us the little foxes that spoil the vineyards for our vineyards are in blossom my beloved is mine and I am his he grazes among the lilies until the day breathes and the shadow flee turn my beloved and be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains that is love as it should be we read before about love as it shouldn't be and there is no greater comparison than these two chapters we're also going to read from the new testament and from just a very short passage from ephesians chapter again love as it should be and ephesians chapter 5 verse 25 very short passage to in order to take in the new testament ephesians chapter 5 verse 25 husbands love your wives as christ love the church and gave himself for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish in the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies he who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it just as christ does the church because we are members of his body amen and we ask that god will bless his own word to us we're going to join together once again for a short word of prayer our father in heaven we pray now that you will give us to come to your word in a prayerful worshipful manner we ask lord that you will humble us by your word that you will show us ourselves for what we really are and what we pray for ourselves we pray for anyone else this evening who's listening to the bible and to the gospel we give thanks that the gospel is the power of god to salvation and our great longing tonight once again is for people to come to a discovery of what jesus did when he came into the world to lay down his life on the cross our father we pray that you will pour out your spirit on this world in the various places of this world and lord we think of how small the world has become through easy transportation and we think oh lord of how much knowledge we have of various parts of the world the great nations of the world the great land masses of Africa and Asia and the Americas and North America lord we think of all the people there the billions of people who live all over the world made in the image of god with that consciousness of the reality of god longing and yearning for to discover the meaning of life and yet at the same time rebelling against that knowledge that you've given to them because our sin has overshadowed that knowledge and only the gospel can set us free from that conflict that there is within us in which we are overcome by our own pleasures and our own desires and they are sinful ones we ask lord that you will set free this condemned world and pray for everyone who's gone out to share the gospel this evening we thank you lord for all those who have gone to various places and indeed those who have come to us with the gospel we thank you that that we in our need can share the gospel from people who come from other parts of the world we pray lord for everyone who has gone and we ask lord that you will give us to support the work of missions wherever it takes place all over the world and give us a real passion for that work and give us a longing and a prayerful longing to see men and women have what we have in Jesus so work amongst us then this evening pray for those who are confined to their homes this evening we think of the kind of evening it is that has kept people to their homes we pray for them where they are pray for those who are aged and for those who have become weak in their old age and we pray that you will bless them where they are they would long to be here this evening and they have often been here amongst us and this has been their home and it breaks their heart not to be able to come anymore we pray for them lord and ask that you will accompany them where they are and that they may be filled with your spirit and that they may be given to see that the lord is preparing them and indeed preparing all of us for that new heaven and the new earth that one day will be revealed to each one of us so lord we pray for the world in which we live pray that you will bless your word to us now in Jesus name amen let's sing together in psalm 10 this is the sing psalms version it's on page 12 and we're going to sing from verse 14 to the end of the psalm psalm number 10 and it's sing psalms and it's verse 14 but you oh god do see such wrong and you will bring redress the victim puts his trust in you you help the fatherless lord break the wicked person's power and call him to account for all the evil which he thought would never be found out psalm number 10 and verse 14 to the end of the psalm we're going to stand to sing but you oh god do see such wrong and you will bring redress the victim who's his trust in you you help the fatherless lord break the wicked person's power and call him and call him and call him and call him and call him to account for all the evil which he thought would never be found out the lord will ever the lord will ever reign as king his throne will always stand the heathen nations of the world will perish from his land will perish from his land
[20:28] O Lord the needy once desired you answer from on high you give encouragement to them and listen to their cry for you for you defend the fatherless and those who are oppressed so that from fear don't fear O mortal one the helpless may have rest let's turn to 2nd Samuel chapter 13 we're continuing our studies in 2nd Samuel and the life of David and we're going to look at the whole of this chapter verse 19 2nd Samuel 13 19 and Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe that she wore and she laid her hand on her head and went away crying aloud as she went 1969 is a year
[22:23] I actually remember reasonably well I was 12 years old and it was the year I went to secondary school which is probably the reason it's a red letter year in my own life I think everybody remembers the year they went to secondary it was also the year in which the Queen did something that she had never done before she allowed cameras into Buckingham Palace to make a documentary about the Royal Family it was the year that of the investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales at Carnarvon Castle some of you will remember that grand ceremony but in order to allow the world to see how normal the Royal Family was these cameras were allowed in to make a documentary of family life within the palace they tell me that this documentary was shown once and it was never shown again
[23:39] I guess other documentaries have been made but this one wasn't I guess so that we don't become too familiar with the day to day life the ordinary life if there is such a thing of the Queen and her family but whatever else that program showed it was edited and so that what the world saw was what Her Majesty wanted us to see and it was a marvellous documentary I remember watching it as a teenager and I remember being amazed at how ordinary life was in the family and yet it was edited if you were going to have cameras coming into your house and making a documentary a reality TV it's all the rage nowadays isn't it reality TV then I reckon that you would not want all the bad stuff to be seen by others this chapter is a glimpse into the life of David's family but it's not edited we get a chance to see how human
[25:05] David's family were but all the wrong stuff is written down for us and written down for all time this is a story in which we are given a glimpse into the personal life of King David and we are made to see that despite all of David's wealth and his success his home was not a happy one it was a house that was divided and where there were not only tensions and not only bickerings every home has their tensions and bickerings and arguments this home was a home of serious division misery abuse deceit and even death part of that of course was the completely unsatisfactory domestic arrangements in which men could have two or more wives as they did in the Old Testament not only that if you were a king in the Old Testament you didn't just have your wives but you had your concubines as well who were kind of slaves plus if you like servants plus servants who had a personal relationship with the king women who literally did what the king wanted them to do and although they were exclusively his he could add to the harem if he wanted if he so wished and while
[26:51] God allowed this and this is important by the way because many times people ask this question while God allowed polygamy which is having more than one wife he allowed for it in the Old Testament that did not mean that he approved of it God's pattern for a man and a woman is taken only from Genesis chapter 2 therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and be united to his wife that is the only pattern that there is that's how God intended the relationship between man and woman to exist as husband and wife and I say that because it's a timely reminder in a world where that truth is universally rejected and where everyone does what is right in their own eyes well if we want to live God's way that's
[27:51] God's way and it's made very clear to us God allowed for what our professor in college used to call the rudeness of his people he made a provision for that but that does not mean that God approved of a man having two three four five in Solomon's case hundreds of wives that was the most outrageous arrangement that you could ever think about and it was completely opposed to what God had commanded and what God had designed for men and women and from time to time in the Old Testament you get a picture of what polygamy the kind of misery that polygamy caused like in Genesis for example when Jacob married Leah and her sister Rachel remember that household and that household where there seemed to be no end of tension between the two sisters where they bargained and where they vied and traded as to who was going to be intimate with her husband there was all kinds of tension caused by an arrangement which was never
[29:05] God's ultimate plan for our homes well here's another problem what about when the child of one wife takes a shine to the child of another wife same father but different mothers brought up in the same compound I'm not sure what the living arrangements were I'm quite sure they were large living arrangements they would have to be for a king but what happens when the male son the male child of one wife becomes obsessed with lust for his half sister Amnon was Tamar's half brother same father but because of that according to God's law in Israel you read the book of Deuteronomy and chapter 27 and 20 verse 22 this is what it says cursed be anyone who lies with his sister whither the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother and all the people shall say
[30:14] Amen God's law made absolutely clear that even if you didn't have the same mother you were not allowed to have an intimate relationship with your half sister so Tamar was forbidden absolutely clear by God's law now here's the point of decision that Amnon had to face when you're faced with a strong attraction like that and when you're faced at the same time with the fact that God says no the person who listens to God has to put his own interests aside indeed he has to destroy these desires he has to be subject to God's word but perhaps you're saying well it says he loved her doesn't it I mean at the beginning of the chapter it says that after a time
[31:16] David's son Amnon David's son he loved her well surely love covers everything surely his love for his half sister was genuine then surely that makes it all legitimate well it doesn't besides when you follow closely what the chapter says about Amnon's actions it becomes clear that it wasn't love at all it was lust what the bible calls lust it was nothing but sexual desire which was not love and which must never be confused with love for one thing if love reaches out to the whole person not just in order to gain an objective love is a person's deep and passionate interest in the other person the other person's interest the other person's character when two people become soul mates in their conversation and in their being and as they are attracted to one another in their personalities as they are on the outside and it's perfectly clear from this chapter that that didn't have a look in there was only one objective and that's not love it's not love as the bible defines it and secondly love is giving husbands love your wives says the new testament as
[32:45] Christ loved the church and it goes on as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her the test of true love is the person who gives first of all not who takes but all of the language in this chapter is taking he wants her he will do anything in his power to get her for himself it's me first it's selfish it's me serving my own interests and my own desires and I don't care what God has to say about it here's a man and you know it's really quite scary isn't it because a few weeks ago we read about how David who was a man who trusted in the Lord and who loved the Lord and even he fell he fell prey to his own lusts and his own wrong desires and he had an affair with someone else but all the indications are that Amnon has no interest whatsoever in what
[33:46] God says all he's interested in is satisfying himself that's not love at all that is sinful self centeredness well enter Jonadab because Amnon has allowed himself to become so overcome and so obsessed with his own fantasies and with his own desire that he has made himself sick made himself ill enter Jonadab into the equation Jonadab was Amnon's cousin he was the son of Shimeah David's brother so he was close to the royal family he's lurking around in the background and he comes into the scene in verse 3 how influential can people in the background be there's all kinds of people in the Old Testament in the background it's quite an interesting study of how people who you never get to hear they're not center stage but they're there whispering awake scheming and conniving and this man
[34:50] Jonathan seems to have been one of those people he also seems to have been close to Jonadab and verse 3 tells us that Jonadab was a very crafty man to stop for a moment he's a crafty man that word crafty can either be a good thing or a bad thing the Bible uses the word in two ways it means the kind of person who has the skill to be able to work out a way of doing something he looks around him and he susses things out and he comes up with a plan of achieving his objective and that's of course what he did now that can be a good thing or it can be a bad thing if you've got that skill then please make sure that you use it for the glory of God because you can do that or you can do it for the wrong reasons you can have all the wrong motives this week I was reminded of this this week I was thinking about this chapter
[35:51] I was in conversation with a university professor in Glasgow and the conversation was not very academic we were having a cup of coffee together we were chatting and he was telling me it was absolutely fascinating the subject of the conversation was the ways in which modern students cheat in their exams I was absolutely fascinated I was riveted by what he was telling me all the different ways in fact one of the biggest problems universities have is keeping up with the ways in which the modern technological student can cheat in their exams so that they don't get away with it it is becoming almost impossible to catch students cheating one of the ways he was telling me was you want to know how to cheat in your exams you go to Starbucks and you get one of these cups apparently they've got these cups in Starbucks where they've got writing on the cups the cups full all over the outside the cup is covered with writing which looks like handwriting so what you do is you go to
[36:54] Starbucks get one of these cups you take it home and you write your notes in between the lines you take it into your exam with a cup of coffee in your exam and you put it down on your desk and the invigilator doesn't know because he can't tell that there's writing you know I'm thinking how clever is that that's genius he was telling me other ways as well that really require genius and you know the thought that struck me if I was clever enough to do that why don't you just study for your exams why don't you just spend the time that you take devising because if you're so clever and so astute why don't you use it properly your skill and it's the same with his craftiness same with Jonadab here's a man who's highly skilled he knows what's going on he's sussing everything out and he's working out all the time now he can he's got a choice either he can work things out for good doing what is right in the eyes of God putting God first or he can do what is sinful and that's what he chose to do the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked so he's on
[38:09] Amnon's side I'm not sure what was in it for him I don't know what Amnon was the heir to the throne by the way so perhaps this was his way of getting into favour with Amnon so that when Amnon would come to the throne then he could get a good place so he decided to give assistance and devise a way in which Amnon could achieve his goal with his half sister and the rest of course as they say is history there is no point in going into the details we've read it her pleas were in vain this was the moment Amnon had dreamed about and worked towards and nothing was going to stop him now all the pleading and it appears to me as if this woman is more than just a beautiful woman she was that but it appears to me as if she was motivated by the right things and possibly even had the Lord in her heart any remaining compassion that may have been in Amnon was overcome by sheer animal instinct and she being the weaker of the two became a helpless victim as if things couldn't be worse they were we read something that is truly horrific after he had attacked her in verse 15
[39:57] Amnon hated her with very great hatred so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her and Amnon said to her get up and go he tried to plead with him no my brother for this wrong and sending me away is greater than the other that you did for me he tried to limit the damage by pleading with him that perhaps we could work something out in which David could give me in some way to be your wife well actually David couldn't do that I'm not sure whether he would have been able to do that because according to the law of God that wasn't possible but then again God's law had been compromised anyway by David so maybe he was prepared to negotiate on that one in order to limit the damage but as far as he was concerned his emotions had completely transformed and whatever love inverted commas he had had had for this woman for in verse 17 is not put this woman out of my presence but put this thing out of my presence it's horrific isn't it that's why
[41:15] I was so reluctant because it's just so full of darkness and deceit it's humankind at its very worst and you're asking all kinds of questions you can't help but be so passionately sympathetic towards Tamar she's the innocent victim in all of this she goes away completely desolate she's consigned to a life we're told of isolation and shame and there's a stigma which will remain upon her for the rest of her life even years ahead you would like to think that she was able to move on but I doubt it because people have good memories for this kind of thing and people would remember what had happened and the fact that she had nothing to do with it that she was the innocent victim perhaps people wouldn't believe that she would have to live with this for the rest of her life and any potential husband that she might have would have to know what had happened what are we to make of all this well we're to make of this that first of all that like
[42:47] I say that there are not only people who commit this kind of atrocity but there are people who are victims people who suffer Timah represents to me millions of people millions of women in every age who are abused and men we hear about it from time to time on the news outrageous stories of people abused in their youth at the very prime of their life taken advantage of by people more powerful than themselves and sometimes in the very last places where you would expect that to happen in the place where you expect them to be the safest and the most secure like their school or their home or a place where they're supposed to be learning you can't help but feel a sense of how sorry you are that we live in a world in which there is such suffering and over the last few years story after story has come out and the law of course has tightened up in this regard and the law has become more and more outraged against people against people who commit this kind of crime against other people and quite rightly so zero tolerance against abuse we agree with that the bible agrees with that god agrees with that the problem with the world is of course that they have a zero tolerance attitude to some selective things but they don't listen to god in everything but in this we agree zero tolerance god is zero tolerance against abuse and taking advantage of another person i think of the new testament story of an act where paul talks to felix and drusala drusala was a very interesting character a really poor woman who had herself been abused when she was a child and i often wonder what happened with drusala we know that felix rejected the gospel when paul preached the gospel but i often wonder what happened to drusala and how perhaps she saw the gospel as a message of hope for her who had a battered and a bruised upbringing and a past in which she needed to find love as god gives and not as man takes i can't help comparing this story for example also to genesis chapter 1 and how god made adam and eve and how god brought eve to adam and how there was that first marriage and how he put them together in the garden and how there was nothing but perfection and bliss as god intended in a perfect world and here we have humankind at its worst when a man uses this the advantage of his strength to abuse a woman for his own pleasure that's not love that's got no resemblance to love the love the kind that god created i can't help comparing what i read in this chapter to marriage as god intended husbands he says love your wives as christ loved the church and gave himself for her that's love as god intended and as exemplified by god and whilst absalom comes into the scene and he speaks to his sister in verse 20 and he asks her has amnon your brother been with you now hold your peace and he appears to take her into his own house well that was all very noble of him and then he harbors that hatred for his brother i can't help but wondering what was the motivation behind that hatred there's part of me that says yes absalom we want somebody to come into this story and to give justice where justice is due because here's a woman who has been abused and she's been consigned to misery and loneliness for the rest of her life and amnon walks free well we know that's not going to happen and there's part of me that says yes absalom it's about time someone came into the story and gave him what he deserved but absalom's motives were not good ones absalom saw his chance he was second in line to the throne do you really believe that it was just because of what he did to his sister that he arranged for amnon's killing subsequent events tell us that absalom himself was filled with covetousness and ambition to take the throne from his father and it all started here so absalom himself is far from what we would expect someone to be besides what starts off with one sinful desire resulting in a sinful deed ends up with another sinful desire absalom's hatred towards amnon and it results in another sinful deed all of which results in a chapter that is utter chaos where everyone is doing what's right in their own eyes and that's where it becomes a picture of what we really are in ourselves you know what frightens me so much about a chapter like this is that
[48:38] I see humanity as it really is in all its darkness and lostness and sinfulness and utter selfishness in which some people are the victors at other people's expense and other people are victims being consigned to a life of misery and pain and sorrow and it happens all over the world tonight the world tries to dress up itself and tries to pretend that somehow things are not as bad as they are but anyone who really takes an honest look at the state of the world tonight will discover that the world is exactly as described in this chapter you say I'm not like that but sin takes many forms one form here in this chapter two forms here in this chapter but if you search your own heart then you will discover that you are driven by selfishness and self centeredness and you are driven by your own selfish desire that's what man has become how he has fallen from what how God created him at the beginning to reflect perfectly his image and his glory and now he has fallen on his face to the ground you can't help feeling anger as you read this chapter do you know who you're more angry with than anybody else you're angry with King
[50:06] David because when he gets to hear about it he is very angry verse 21 when King David heard of all these things he was very angry and you think good and and nothing that's where it ends very angry big deal what are you going to do about it David you're the king you're the king that sits on the throne of judgment and you're the one who's responsible for making sure that the innocent are vindicated and the guilty are punished okay so you're angry right what are you going to do about it nothing somebody needs to vindicate this poor woman somebody needs to at least at least to do something to put into effect
[51:07] God's law and this is where you're crying out for justice you know there's a natural justice in this that demands to be satisfied isn't there there's a natural justice that God has put in the heart of every one of us and you read this chapter and you think well what's going to happen about it and nothing happens about it as far as David is concerned well how could it because David himself had taken someone who didn't belong to him he had spotted a woman who he liked and he had taken her and been intimate with her she had become pregnant and she had had his son and he had arranged the death of her husband and people knew about it so how could he where was the moral authority now with which he could execute justice on his own son his own son would just turn around and said to him I'm not going to take any lectures from you but you know what he was still responsible even if he himself was to act in a manner that was hypocritical he should still have made sure that justice was carried out for the sake of God's name and his honour and his covenant people and as it is the chapter ends up in chaos can you imagine what the world would be like if it was left to itself well here it is where someone takes advantage of another person and gets them to do what they want and then another person hates the first person and they decide to kill him if the world lived like that then what kind of a world would it be and that's what sin is and that's the kind of world that Jesus came into you know
[53:01] I'll end with this I close where is God in all of this I wonder there's not a single mention of God in this chapter no wonder there's hardly any the kind of events that take place they hardly reflect in fact they don't reflect the very opposite of the world which God created and the way in which God wants us to live if you want an example of the very opposite to how God wants us to live here it is in this chapter there's no God in this chapter none whatsoever but that doesn't mean that God wasn't there do you know how I know that God was there because this chapter is written and it's almost like God is saying I am writing this in my word because I saw what happened and while Tamar has to go away broken hearted violated a broken person a person who's going to have to be consigned for the rest of her life to have to live with the shame of her half brother and what he did to her
[54:14] I know and he is answerable to me don't ever think that there's no justice in the world there is a God of justice to whom we must all give an account not just the Amnons of this world but all of us must give an account there is no God in this chapter there is a world where God is absent do you know what that's the world into which Jesus came a world full of pride and selfishness and violence and deceit and conniving a world full of lust and a world full of victors and victims a world where one person took advantage of another a world where there was tears and desolation and loneliness you remember the woman at the well you remember the kind of people who Jesus was surrounded with people who had themselves lived a life of shame who had become overcome by their own lusts and desires at root that's what we're all like it's what
[55:42] Paul says anyway that's what the apostle Paul says the only answer that there is is Jesus Christ that's the world he came into and he came into that world in order to open up the door to be reconciled to God because only God can save sinners people who are dead in trespasses and sins people who are consumed by their own selfishness and their own pride and their own lust their own violence their own anger their own indifference that's where it starts it starts when we leave God out of the picture that Christ came into the world in order to bring God back into this world God and he did so by removing the curse of sin in his own death on the cross he removed our guilt he became guilty for us so that by his death we could have a new life a life that was no longer oriented to ourselves and our own pleasure but a life in which we love
[57:07] God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength and so tonight in this horrific chapter one of the most horrific chapters in the whole of the Bible God is facing us with what we are as human beings he's facing us of the reason why we need Jesus is Jesus in this chapter he's nowhere in this chapter but this chapter tells me why I need Jesus and why it was necessary for Jesus to come into the world to seek and to save those who were lost and that includes you because by nature we're all lost until we find the shepherd who has come after the lost sheep let's bow our heads in prayer our father in heaven we ask now that you will guide us and through your word we thank you for what your word reveals to us sometimes we are taken aback by how brutal the Bible is and yet
[58:27] Lord it is all there for our instruction every word is there because it's what you want us to know our father we pray that we may know Jesus and that we may that we may meet him and encounter him as he gave himself on the cross and that we may be his because the only safe place is in having him as our savior we ask this in Jesus name amen psalm 62 the traditional version of the psalm is on page 294 page 294 psalm 62 verse 5 to verse 8 my soul wait thou with patience upon thy God alone on him dependeth all my hope and expectation he only my salvation is and my strong rock is he he only is my sure defense and shall not move to be psalm 62 verse 5 to verse 8 four verses we'll stand to sing my soul wait thou with patience upon thy
[59:49] God alone on him on him dependeth of my hope and expectation he only my salvation is and my and my strong promise he he only is my sure defense I shall not move with me in God in God my glory place it is and my salvation true in God the wrong is of my strength failsjek where him he only has his spiritiyet continually before him pour me at your heart
[61:44] God is a refuge I am in grace of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit it's an honour of I and each one of us for a time in which we can worship and hear the word and we give thanks also for the provision that has been made for us in fellowship with one another the provision of food to eat for our Lord we ask the Lord to bless these children bless our time together in Jesus name thank you thank you