Second Samuel chapter 13. Sadly, in chapter chapters eleven and twelve, we read that David didn't guard his, what, his heart, guard his eyes. And, what transpired not only resulted in adultery, but resulted in deception, resulted in murder, resulted in the death of David and Bathsheba's child. Yet God did spare David's life. Though he deserved to die for what he did, God showed him what?

Mercy. And, you can look through all of scripture and see time and time again how God showed tremendous mercy and grace, to so many people. And he has shown the same to us, has he not? He has. He has.

Repentance is an important part of that. One of the reasons God showed David mercy is because he did what? He he did, when confronted, repent of his repent of his sin. And if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Repentance is important even as a Christian.

They, well, I repented when I got saved. Well, yes, you did. But there are times as a Christian that we still have things to what? Repent of. Okay.

Even in the Christian life. The church of Ephesus, God, told them, repent. They had lost their first what? They lost their first love. They were doing a lot of good things.

They believed in the Lord. He wasn't talking to a bunch of unsaved people. He was talking to a bunch of Christians. They too needed to to repent and sometimes we do as well. It's one of the reasons we have revival services because there are things that sometimes we hold onto and sins that we dismiss that need to be repented of.

David did repent. God did show him mercy. However, there were going to be consequences. Sin has consequences. Forgiveness doesn't mean that there will be no consequences for our sin.

And, so David was told that by Nathan concerning that the sword would not leave his house, and we see that bearing fruit already in chapter 13. In Exodus 20 and verse five, it says, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them. That is idols. This is after the second commandment. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God visiting the equity of fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.

Well, not what would stop the consequences trickling down the line for generation after generation? Well, the keyword is those that what? Hate me. When you put your faith in Christ and you become to you come to love him, that that puts a stop to that terrible cycle that so many families are caught in. Think of Rahab the harlot.

Generation after generation, Rahab of Jericho, a Canaanite, her people had turned from the true and living God to worship idols. But yet, when she put her faith in the Lord, God showed what? He showed mercy. And not only did he show mercy to Rahab, but she she and her husband, the Jew she married, Israelite, had a son named Boaz. Boaz married a lady named Ruth, and they were the great grandparents of king David and the ancestors of Jesus Christ.

So praise the Lord for his mercy and his grace. However, the point of this verse is this, don't think your sin is just going to affect who? You. Sin has impact on down the line. Often, particularly your children, and then your children's children, and then your children's children's children.

Can God step in and intervene if people turn in faith to Christ? Can he? Yes, he will. But oftentimes, we see repercussions from our sin on down the line. Galatians six, seven, and eight say this, be not deceived, God is not mocked.

For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. Now, is that only true of the unsaved or is that also true of the saved? It's also true of the saved. No, you're not going to lose your everlasting life in Jesus Christ who's shed his blood on the cross of Calvary.

However, if you sin, sin still has what? Consequences. Not so much eternal consequences, but consequences in this life and on this earth. If you get behind the wheel of a car drunk and you run into another car in the middle of an intersection, one of the people in that car dies because you hit them because you were drunk, Can you be forgiven? Of course, you can.

Does it bring the person back to life on this earth that you killed? The answer to that is no. Does that expunge you, of all of your of your criminal action on this earth? No. Is that going to affect your life probably for the rest of your life?

Yes. How about the lives of those who lost their loved one? Yes. You see, sin has what? Consequences.

Though David was forgiven of the Lord and God did show grace and mercy, his sin did have consequences. And so we need not treat sin lightly because sin is still destructive. It is still destructive and it still wreaks havoc in the lives of believers. Second Samuel chapter 13. We're gonna read the first 20 verses, so follow along with me.

It came to pass after this, after all this with David and Nathan. It came to pass after this that Absalom, the son of David, had a fair sister whose name was Tamar. It means palm tree. That's her name means palm tree. Amnon, the son of David, loved her.

Now, this isn't a a righteous love. This isn't a good kind of love. This is more of a lustful way. Amnon was so vexed, so obsessed, so consumed 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, but Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab.

You've got to watch out for some of those friends. Not all friends are really friends. We'll see at the end of this story, Jonadab isn't in any way a friend to Amnon. Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son Shimei, David's brother. That makes Jonadab actually Amnon's cousin.

Jonadab was a very subtle, very mischievous man. And he said unto Amnon, why art thou, being the king's son, lean, miserable from day to day, wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. Jonadab said unto him, lay thee down on thy bed and make thyself sick. 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 at her hand.

So Amnon lay down and made himself sick. 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 meat. It was more of the custom of the day for the young ladies who were virgins, unmarried, to be kind of apart from everybody else. So he, being in the same family, would have would have seen Tamar but maybe not have a daily interaction with her.

So this was a a a something that would not have, under normal circumstances, happened except Jonadab had a plan. Alright. And Amnon went along with it. So Tamar went to brother Amnon's house, and he was laid down, verse five verse eight, and she took flour and kneaded it and made cakes in his sight and did bake the cakes. She took a pan and poured them out before him, but he refused to eat.

And Anon says, have out all men from me, and they went out every man from him. 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 of Amnon her brother. When she had brought them unto him to eat, he took hold of her and said unto her, come lie with me, my sister. She answered him, nay, my brother, do not force me for no such thing ought to be done in Israel.

Do not thou this folly. And I, wither 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. Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice, but being stronger than she, forced her and lay with her.

Then Amnon hated her exceedingly so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. Asked question. Did he love her? The answer to that is what? No.

He had uncontrollable lust. Uncontrollable because he chose not to control it. And so now he hates her. And Amnon said unto her, arise. Be gone.

And she said unto him, there is no cause. This evil in sending me away is greater than the other that thou did st done to 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 me and bolt the door after her. And she had a garment of diverse colors upon her, For with such robes were the king's daughters that were virgins' apparel, then his servant brought her out and bolted the door after her. And Tamar put ashes on her head and rent her garment of diverse colors that was on her and laid her hand on her head and went on crying.

And Absalom her brother said unto her, hath Amnon thy brother been with thee? But hold now thy peace, my sister. He is thy brother. Regard not this thing, so Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house. Very sad story.

Sad story only gets worse and worse and worse. We're just beginning the sad story, but indeed it is a bad one. In this story, we see a man with moral issues who now has a son with moral issues. It is likely that Amnon and his older children were aware of what happened. Now he has a son that's justifying his immorality as well.

Amnon sees what he wants, and with the help of his cousin, Jonadab, schemes to make his desires become a reality with no regard for God, his father, or his sister. He chose not to control, conquer, or repent of his wicked heart, but instead entertained and fulfilled its wicked cravings. Entertaining wicked thoughts and desires is indeed a very dangerous game to play. If you play with vipers, you're likely to get what? Bit.

You're likely to get bit. If you play with fire, you're likely to get burnt. If you entertain wicked thoughts and desires, you are likely to get caught, and you are likely to be overcome of them. That's often what happens with people that end up as alcoholics or drug addicts. A lot of times, it starts with well, it always starts with just the first the first try, the first drink.

And then it gets worse from there. Essentially, is what Amnon did. His sin, as Jesus points out in Matthew five, was not just the sin of the action. The sin started back here with his entertainment of wicked of wicked thoughts in his life. Amnon, unlike Joseph, did not care about pleasing God.

Joseph said to Potiphar's wife, how can I sin against God and do this great evil? And indeed, what he was considering was a great evil. Leviticus eighteen nine eleven, the nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover. The nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter begotten of thy father, she is thy sister. Thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

He's talking about sexual activity. And Leviticus spells it out very clearly. And this type of sexual activity, this type of immorality was punishable by what? Death. Okay.

Was punishable by death. But Amnon wasn't all that concerned about what God thought. Being the prince of the land, he probably didn't think there were gonna be any repercussions. And in the beginning, there really weren't all that much, at least not publicly. Number two, neither did Ammon concern himself with the reputation and will of his earthly father.

This certainly would help to further destroy the reputation of his father. Number three, neither did Amnon concern himself with the purity of his sister. Only the fulfillment of this desire that he entertained time and time and time again till it grew to such a fever that he was willing to consider doing what he did. God being merciful threw up obstacles in his path, obstacles which he, with the help of Jonadab, maneuvered maneuvered around. God in his mercy often throws up obstacles in our path and weighs out before we are bound in sin, before we succumb and have to face the consequences.

Reminded here, there should be a t there. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that or permit you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also, what? Make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Child of God, there is a way of escape.

You cannot say, the devil made me do it. You cannot sweep it under the rug. You cannot justify it. Especially for the child of God, there is a way of escape. And often, the Lord throws up obstacles in our path to keep us from doing those things that we know to be wrong.

In Amnon's case, he just kept knocking the obstacles over. In this case, Tamar gave four desperate pleas reasoning with her brother to stop. In verses twelve and thirteen, she said, nay, my brother, do not force me for no such thing ought to be done in Israel. Do not thou this folly. Her first plea was this, do not transgress God's law.

Do not do this wicked thing for your own sake. Number two, verse 13. And I, wither shall I cause my shame to go? She now appeals to his supposedly care for his sister, which he ignores. His path is what?

Is set. His heart has set. It has become hardened. Later, by sending her from him as he did following his sin, he further endangered her to speculation that she was the wrongdoer and not him. She begged him not to do this.

Number three, Amnon would be seen as a fool. She pleads with him, as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. A wicked and perverse man unfit to be honored by others and even one day to be what? Amnon's the oldest. What was he in line to be?

Likely the next king. This is likely to ruin that. But sin blinds us to doing absolutely terrible things as it did to David two chapters earlier. And number four, I think in a desperate attempt to get him to change his mind, she said, I pray thee speak unto the king for he will not withhold me from thee. I don't know that to be the case.

But four pleas, four obstacles she threw up, and he just knocked each one of them down in his insatiable desire, in his lust. Sad to say, he did not did not hesitate. The ramifications of his sin would not only affect him, but certainly would affect others. Notice also he had he had help. What was the guy's name?

Jonadab. Now I don't know. I didn't look to see how many times Jonadab is mentioned, but this is the only case I remember Jonadab being mentioned. He had help from his cousin. Others sometimes support us in our folly.

It emboldens us to sin but does not does not excuse our decision. Who was responsible for Amnon's decision? Amnon. When Amnon stands at the judgment, will he stand with Jonadab or will he stand alone? He will stand alone for his sin.

Something I I see when I work with youth a lot, they often justify things they do because of their friends. And it's hard to get through their head that when they stand before God at the judgment, they won't be standing with their friends. They won't be able to point and say, but they did it or they said this or they encouraged me to do that. We'll be standing before God alone, not with our friends, being judged for what we chose to do. The Bible says the wise man sees the evil coming and he hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.

Amnon didn't see or didn't respond to the evil he saw and he just plowed on forward with his friend by his side cheering him on. And the world often does this. Jonadab was a pawn of the devil, a wicked man like others who feed off the sins of others, encourage them to betray God, and then when the consequences come, they're gone. They step aside, you get wiped out, and here they are. That is Jonadab.

You've got to watch out for those so called friends. In Proverbs twenty seven six, it says, faithful are the wounds of a friend, a true friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Jonadab said, oh, I can help you out here. I'm smart. Here, let me give you a plan.

Jonadab was not a friend. Solomon also warns us, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. Because sin has consequences on the perpetrator, on the victim, and on many others. And his sin, did it satisfy his wicked heart? No.

No. Once he had done this to his sister, he no longer found any pleasure in pursuing her. He did his wicked deed. He did not love her. He loved who?

Himself and his sin. And there's pleasure in sin for only a season and then comes time to pay up. And it did not satisfy him, which sin never does. You take one drink, you gotta take what? Another and another and another.

And pretty soon, you just can't get through the day without a drink or you can't get through the day without the illicit drug. And we see this over and over again. In in the book of Proverbs, it speaks of a man who drinks, and all sorts of terrible things happen to him when he gets drunk. And then when he sobers up, what does he do? He does it again.

He goes right back to it. That is what sin does and it does not satisfy. It only destroys. But we, we're Christians, we're forgiven, we're immune from it. No.

We're not, are we? We're not immune from it. We have the power of the Holy Spirit in us to help us to resist it. We have the Lord who's going to provide a way of escape from it. We have the opportunity, praise God, to confess and and be cleansed from it, but we're not immune to the consequences of it.

Not here. Not here. So the consequences to Amnon have not been plainly seen yet other than the fact that he is not satisfied at all with his sin. It did not bring him the pleasure that it thought it would, which sin never in the end does. But we continue on in verse 21.

When king David heard of all these things, he was very wroth. And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon neither good nor bad. In other word, Absalom, who is Tamar's full blooded brother, just kept his mouth shut. He told Tamar basically to keep her mouth shut, just to let it pass, so to speak. But Absalom in his heart, was he willing to just let it pass?

The answer to that is no. Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon because he had forced his sister Tamar. Should have Absalom be angered? Yes, he should have. But there's a righteous way to deal with anger and an unrighteous way to deal with anger.

The Bible says, be ye angry and sin not. Sometimes it's right to be angry. But even when it's right to be angry, you can deal with it in the wrong fashion. Screaming and hollering at the top of your lungs, not the right way to deal with anger. Throwing and kicking stuff, really not the right way to deal with anger.

Hurting people, not the right way to deal with anger. Holding it inside and becoming a bitter, grumpy, miserable individual, not the right to deal with anger. Yeah. Yeah. Who should have dealt with this?

David. Was David angered at what Amnon did? Yes. And he probably told Amnon he was angry, but he didn't do anything about it. Why do you think David didn't publicly do anything about it.

Well, I can think of a few reasons why David didn't do anything about it. First of all, it's sort of David's pattern to not do anything about it. When Joab stealthily killed Abner, Saul's highest general, who was meeting with David to unite the two kingdoms, and Joab snuck and and and deceived Abner and killed him, what did David do about it? Nothing. Well, Joab was David's nephew.

So he didn't do anything about it. Amnon was his son. He didn't do anything about it. A matter of fact, in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, after verse 21 where it says, David king heard all of these things. He was very wroth.

It adds, but he would not grieve the soul of Amnon his son for he loved him because he was his firstborn. Now, I don't know that that was in the original, but it does sort of paint the picture that is likely to be the case. He didn't want to deal with it, so he didn't deal with it. And that only caused further problems. Why does it tell us in Hebrews that God chastens his children?

Because he what? He loves us. And we chastened our children for the same reason, and we should. We should. We see several examples in scripture of fathers who didn't properly discipline their children.

I think of Eli. Eli had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. They were to be the next priests. They were priests and one would be the next high priest in Israel except that they were wicked, vile men and everybody knew it and Eli did nothing about it. Somehow, Eli learned his lesson a bit with Samuel as he raised Samuel, and Samuel turned out different.

Maybe not do so much to Eli, but thanks to God. But the Bible says in Proverbs thirteen twenty four, he that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. If you love your children, you'll discipline them rightly. If you don't, it's going to come back to haunt you and and them. And, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

It is the first commandment with what? Promise that your life may be long upon the earth. So David didn't do anything about it. Thus, Amnon, so to speak, got away with it, while Tamar suffered in silence and Absalom became more enraged day by day by day. Verse 23.

Came to pass after two full years that Absalom had sheep shearers in Baal Hazor, which is beside Ephraim, just a little north of Jerusalem. Absalom invited all the king's sons. Absalom came to the king and said, behold now, thy servant hath sheep shearers. Let the king, I beseech thee and his servants, go with thy servant, with with Absalom. And the king said to Absalom, nay, my son, let us not all now go, lest we be chargeable unto thee.

And he pressed him, howbeit he would not go, but blessed him. 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. So Absalom's gonna have this celebration as they shear the sheep, And he asked the king and his servants and everybody to come out.

He's particularly only interested in Amnon. However, what he's about to do, had he done it in David's sight, would have even been sweeter revenge, maybe. But David David said, no, I'm not going. But he let Amnon go. He knew something it would seem was up with Absalom, but he let his sons go.

Verse 28, now Absalom had commanded his servants saying, mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine. And when I say unto you, smite Amnon, then kill him. Fear not. Have not I commanded you? Be courageous and be valiant.

Oh, yeah. Be courageous and valiant. Kill the guy when he's drunk out of his head and can't defend himself. And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man got him upon his mule and fled.

In other words, they saw Amnon killed. They didn't know Absalom might be coming after all of them. You know, that kind of thing happened in those days. Hard to believe, but it did. Herod the Great killed several of his family members to keep them from taking the throne.

So the rest of the sons of David fled. It came to pass in verse 30, while they were in the way, that tidings came to David, saying, Absalom has slain all the king's sons, and there is not one of them left. Then the king arose and tore his garments and lay on the earth, and all his servants stood by with their close rent. And Jonadab, oh, there's Jonadab again, the son of Shemaiah Shimei, David's brother, answered and said, let not my Lord suppose that they have slain all the young men of the king's sons, for I am not only his debt. For by the appointment of Absalom, this hath been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar.

Now, therefore, let not my Lord the king take the thing to heart to think that all the king's sons are dead, for Amnon only is dead. Interesting. We'll come back to Jonadab in a second. Since David did not deal with Amnon's sin, who took it upon himself to do it? Absalom.

Was he right to do so? The answer to that is no. Now, can you understand his anger? I can. Should David have done more about it?

He should have. But what Absalom did was not righteous, was not right. He allowed his anger to control him, to blind him, and to have him to deal with this in a way that was not honorable to God. There are proper ways to deal with such criminal offenses there were then and there are today. Even when justice is not served by them, we are encouraged if the authorities on earth don't take care of it, to let who take care of it, To let God take care of it.

Romans twelve nineteen, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place under wrath for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. If the authorities will not mete out justice, who will? God will. And the justice that God metes out is far worse than the justice that man metes out. Does that mean it's going to it will be easy?

No. But it is what God asks of us. Revenge, vengeance is whose? Gods. God has given us authorities and proper justice systems to work through and they don't always work as they should.

But God hasn't called us to be vigilantes. God has called us to be missionaries. And if we're out there being vigilantes and taking matters into our own hands, then we're not going to be any good for Jesus Christ as missionaries to the lost and dying world. Did Amnon deserve death? Yes.

Did he face the consequences of his sin? Yes. And even more so after he was killed than before. Because after he died, he met who? God.

But he was going to meet God one way or or the other. Either way, he was going to meet God for his sin. Absalom only made things worse by taking matters into his hands. And as you will see as we continue in our story, that Absalom's bitterness and vengeful spirit, was that did that all dissipate and he was happy and peaceful after this happened? The answer to that is no.

It says, in verse 34, but Absalom fled. He fled to, Geshur, the king of Geshur, which is where his mother was from. And the young man that kept the watch lifted up their eyes and looked and behold, we're in verse 34, there came much people by the way of the hillside behind him. And Jonadab said unto the king, behold, the king's sons come as thy servants said, it is. Isn't it interesting that Jonadab knew?

Jonadab was playing what? Both sides. Jonadab was the one who encouraged Amnon to do what he did to his sister, and now Jonadab is the one who knew ahead of time what Absalom was going to do to Amnon. What a friend. What a friend.

If somebody has encouraged you and enticing you to do that which is wrong, they are not your what? They are not your friend. They are not your friend. Amnon made a terrible lapse in judgment by listening to Jonadab, one which in the end did cost him his life. It is important that we do not follow the example of any of these people in this story.

There are some places in scripture you go, here's the positive example and here's the negative example. In this chapter, we only have one bad decision after another. David, Amnon, Absalom, Jonadab. We need, in some cases, to learn from people's good example, but here, we need to learn from their what? Bad example.

And God tells us in Corinthians, why did God record these things? So that we might learn from their example. In this case, not to do what these men did. Not Jonadab, not Amnon, not Absalom, not David, but to do that which is right in the eyes of God, even when doing the right thing in the eyes of God is hard. If David would have properly dealt with Amnon, things probably would have been different, but he didn't.

If Absalom would have let God take care of Amnon, things would have been different, but they're about to get worse, particularly for David and Absalom. As Nathan said, the sword will not leave your house, and David's three oldest sons were killed in such manner. Be sure your sin will find you out. And even in forgiveness, there are often consequences, things that are set in motion. Dominoes that begin to what?

Begin to fall. So do not take your sin lightly. Resolve to do that which is right. That is the only place to find true joy and happiness and peace is doing that which is right, especially when it is the hard thing to do. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for the warnings that we see and the decisions made by the men in this story. Lord, help us to learn from their poor examples to follow the great example, Jesus Christ, who always did that which was righteous in the eyes of his father, who when taken before judgment did not defend himself because he came there to die for us, who did not come in vengeance as he could have, but came as a savior to save us from our sins. Lord, thank you for your long suffering to us. For as we look at this passage tonight, we look at how vile and terrible are these people, but we were sinners too. And praise God, we are now saints, robed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Oh, that we may learn to live like saints and do that which is right in your eyes, that we may experience the blessing and the peace of God even in the midst of an unrighteous and wicked world around us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.