In a moment, Zoe will come up and read. We're in a series on 2 Samuel.
Just I thought it's good to say it's a very tough passage. It's a horrific passage.
There's sexual violence. There's murder.
Some of those really serious sins like physical violence, abuse.
And that can be very tough to listen to. Maybe it reminds people of things that have happened in the past.
But it's God's word and I hope we can listen and hear what God has to say to us.
But let's just pray.
Our Father, thank you that your word is living and active.
It's God-breathed.
But it can be tough to hear.
So we pray that you would speak to each one of us.
Many of us, we find this difficult to listen to.
Maybe some of us, there's things in the past and we feel ashamed or we've been hurt.
Or just these things are just show what a terrible world we live in.
Father, we pray that we would not be distracted, but we could hear you.
Would you speak to each one of our hearts?
I'm just a man.
I just say some words.
But by your spirit, would you speak words about the cross, about Jesus, about hope to each one of our hearts?
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Zoe.
2 Samuel chapter 13 we read.
Now Absalom, David's son, had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar.
And after a time, Amnon, David's son, loved her.
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.
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.
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 that I may see it and eat it from her hand.
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.
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.
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.
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 him to eat,
he took hold of her hand and said to her,
Come, lie with me, my sister.
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.
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,
so that the hatred with which he hated her
was greater than the love which he had loved her.
And Amnon said to her,
Get up, go.
But she said to him,
No, my brother,
for this is wrong,
and sending me away is greater
than the other 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
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.
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.
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.
But so Tamar lived 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,
for Absalom hated Amnon
because he had violated his sister Tamar.
After two full years,
Absalom had sheep shears at Balhazor,
which is near Ephraim.
And Absalom invited all the king's sons.
And Absalom came to the king and said,
Behold, your servant has sheep shears.
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.
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.
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.
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.
While they were on the 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.
And all his servants who were standing by
tore their garments.
For by the command of Absalom,
this has been determined
from the day he violated his sister Tamar.
But Jonadab, the son of Shimea,
David's brother, said,
Let not my lord suppose
that they have killed all the young men,
the king's sons,
for Amnon alone.
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.
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.
And as soon as he had finished speaking,
behold,
the king's sons came
and lifted their voice
and wept.
And the king also
and all his servants
wept bitterly.
But Absalom fled
and went to Talmai,
the son of Ammihad,
king of Geshur.
Then David mourned
for his son day after day.
So Absalom fled
and went to Geshur
and was there three years.
And the spirit of the king
longed to go out to Absalom
because he was comforted
he was comforted
about Amnon
since he was dead.
This is the word of God.
Great.
Thanks very much, Zoe.
Yeah, it's a really tough chapter.
Maybe you're visiting today
and you thought the Bible
was a nice book about love.
And then we have
this terrible chapter.
Many people object, right?
They think,
how can Christians
believe in the Bible?
How can you believe?
You say this is a holy book
and then it has
such terrible things.
How can this book
tell you how to live?
I mean, it's very obvious
that this is wrong, right?
The Bible doesn't say
that go and do likewise.
That's very clear.
No, the thing is,
the Bible is real.
The Bible tells us
what the world is like.
You look at the world
and that's where
these things happen, right?
There is rape.
There is murder.
There are terrible crimes.
There is violence and war, right?
The Bible isn't just
nice, fluffy philosophy.
And actually,
we need that, right?
We see the world.
We see everything happening.
And then the Bible
is just, you know,
kumbaya,
close your eyes,
find your inner peace,
and, you know,
let's just love one another.
And then you think,
this book has nothing
to say to me, right?
That's the thing.
I mean, imagine you're sick
and you're coughing
and you're coughing up blood.
So you go to the doctor
and the doctor says,
oh, you're fine.
You know,
you're the most healthiest person
I've ever seen.
You wouldn't go back
to that doctor, right?
He's got nothing to say to you, right?
You need someone
who actually tells you,
well, what's going on?
Of course,
you can watch the news
and read the papers
and then watch the TV
and then you will also see
what the world is like.
Of course,
why do we need the Bible?
The Bible tells us more.
It tells us why and how
and what God will do about it.
Right?
You go to another GP
and he does a lot of tests
and he says,
okay, I can see
that you're coughing up blood.
Yeah, I knew that.
What can we do about it?
Right?
What's going on?
That's what we need to know.
And that is why,
yeah, we need,
yeah, we need the Bible.
Why we need the rest
of 2 Samuel, actually.
Why the rest of 2 Samuel,
it's going to be pretty dark.
There's hope at the end.
But this,
but it tells us what it is.
I mean,
the thing is,
like 2 weeks ago,
I preached this,
you know,
sermon on chapters 8 to 10
and it was all so wonderful,
right?
The promised glorious kingdom
of justice and peace
and everything was so great
under this godly king
of steadfast love
and you kind of wonder,
couldn't we have finished there?
Right?
And David
and the people of Israel
and God lived happily ever after.
That would have been a nice book.
Except that
that's not
the real world,
right?
The people
who read this the first time
when it was finished later,
they knew the kingdom
didn't last.
It split,
it fell apart,
it was destroyed
and they were out in Babylon
enslaved
and they just wondered
what happened,
right?
Why are we here?
What's going to happen now?
What can be done?
And that is why it's good
that,
yeah,
the downfall of David
is here in the Bible.
That's why we have
the rest of 2 Samuel.
If you were here last week,
you will have heard
David,
wonderful king
and then,
well,
he committed adultery
and murder.
He is here
not a nice picture
of Jesus,
right?
He's not,
you know,
like David and Goliath.
No,
it tells us about
a big problem,
sin.
If you don't know
what sin is,
well,
sin is wrongdoing.
It's when we go
our own way
and do what we want
and break God's law,
don't do what he wants
us to live,
which of course
is good and right
and loving.
And it's terrible.
I mean,
the world says
sin doesn't matter.
Just do what you want
and it's fine.
And the Bible says,
no,
it's not.
It's what we're going
to see today.
Even as Christians,
I guess we know
sin is wrong,
but often we struggle,
right?
You know there's
something in your life,
there's some sin
but you know,
I'm so busy,
I've got so much
going on,
I don't really have
time to deal with this,
right?
Do we really have to?
One day I'll die
and then I'll be fine,
right?
Why should I do
something about this sin?
Well,
we need to listen
to God's word
that actually
sin really matters.
We can't just leave it
because I guess
the first point
that's so clear,
sin has terrible
consequences.
Sin has terrible
consequences.
It's that simple.
It's this hideous
chapter.
God is never
mentioned.
It's just godless.
It tells you that
sin is awful
and ugly
and has these
terrible consequences.
At first,
yeah,
it is a rape.
What's going on,
brother and sister?
I guess David,
he had about 13 wives
and so Amnon
was the son
of one wife
and then
Absalom
and Tamar
were children
of another wife
and yeah,
Amnon
lost it
after his
half-sister.
Friends come up
with some cunning
plan for getting
the two together
and yeah,
he puts it into action.
He pretends to be ill,
asks his dad,
hey,
can my sister come
and make food for me?
And so,
yeah,
David and those,
come on,
yeah,
sure,
why don't you make
some food for your
brother?
And so she goes there,
he sends all the
servants out,
hey,
can you feed it to me
while I lie in bed,
something like that.
And she has just no idea,
right?
She's just being a kind,
good sister.
But then,
yeah,
he grabs her
and come lie with me.
Verse 12,
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?
As for you,
you would be as one
of the outrageous fools
in Israel.
And ever,
please speak to the king
for he will not
withhold me from you.
But he would not
listen to her
being stronger than he.
He violates her
and lay with her.
And it's so sad,
just unexpected
and it suddenly happens
and he doesn't listen
and it just gets worse
that he hates her,
puts her out of the room,
bolts the door
and she's,
yeah,
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.
Her brother finds her,
takes her in.
So Tamar lived,
a desolate woman
in her brother's
Epsilon's house.
Right,
the rest of her life
she's now,
yeah,
living with her brother.
It's terrible,
right?
I mean,
what is this story about?
Actually,
it's not about Amnon,
right?
It emphasizes
this poor girl
and what happened
to her,
how in just a few minutes
her life was ruined,
her life was destroyed
because of this guy,
right?
The Bible doesn't often
talk about sexual violence,
it's very restrained,
there's no details at all,
but I hope you can,
it makes your blood boil,
right?
This is terrible,
this is utterly wrong,
it's hideous,
the language of violation,
it's outrageous,
the pain,
the crying,
it's so strongly condemned
and maybe you're here
and actually maybe
something like this
happened to you
in the past.
I have no idea
what that's like,
but I hope you feel
that it's an outrageous,
terrible thing
that happened to you,
that's what the passage says,
it's the shame,
the hurt,
God knows,
God understands
and you had nothing
to do with it
and it just happened
to you
and God wants you
to know that he knows,
he cares
and all the past
and shame
he's taken care of
through Jesus
and he will bring justice
to what happened to you.
God wants you
to know that
or maybe something like this,
actually maybe something like this
is happening to you,
you know,
it's a regular thing now,
I don't know,
work,
family,
I don't know,
someone you know
using force
to control you,
to make you do things
you don't want to do,
doesn't have to be sexual,
it could be any kind of abuse,
I hope you see
that this is,
that's wrong,
you need support,
you need to talk
to someone about it
and actually
if maybe,
I don't know all of you,
maybe there is something
happening,
thank you,
God,
God is really against you
if you're doing
any of this
and you need to
repent
or you'll be condemned
forever.
It's not the main point
of the passage
but it just needs to be said
because we don't
say it often enough
and the second half
is no better,
right?
Absalom,
he now hates Amnon
because of what he did
and he waits two years
and he plans
and then,
yeah,
he organizes a party
and invites the royal family,
David,
can you come to my party?
Yeah,
sorry,
I'm busy,
I can't come.
Of course,
Absalom knew that exactly
because that was the whole plan.
Well,
can Amnon come then?
Well,
does he have to?
Well,
please,
okay.
So,
Amnon goes to the party,
verse 28,
then Absalom commissioned
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?
Be courageous
and be valiant.
It's a cowardly,
deliberate murder
and you can hear
all the responses,
right?
Verse 31,
that the king arose
and tore his garments
and lay on the earth
and all his servants
who were standing by
tore their garments.
Later,
verse 36,
and as soon as he'd finished speaking,
behold,
the king's sons came
and lifted up their voices
and wept
and the king also
and all his servants
wept very bitterly
and the king mourned
day after day.
That terrible,
the weeping,
the mourning
because a favored son
had been killed.
I mean,
both parts,
it's such an awful picture,
right?
It emphasizes how wicked
these acts are,
the terrible consequences,
this poor girl
mourning for the rest
of her life,
this family
with a dead son
and so dysfunctional.
what a terrible world.
The thing is,
these are not
isolated incidents.
They don't come
from nowhere.
They have consequences,
but actually,
the sins themselves
are consequences.
I mean,
where do they come from?
They come from
David's sin
last week.
Right?
Because that is
what happened.
David,
he saw a beautiful woman
and took her,
even though she was married
already,
had her husband murdered
and then God confronted him
and warned him
of the terrible consequences.
And what did he say
in chapter 12?
Well,
you've killed Uriah
with the sword
and so,
verse 10,
now the sword
will never depart
from your house.
And there will be violence
and death
in your family
as a result.
And in a way,
that is what's happening now,
right?
That is what we see
in chapter 13.
In a way,
you even see it
from the sins themselves.
Because what do
these two sons do?
It's basically
the same sins
as their father,
right?
David,
there was a woman
and he wanted her
but he couldn't have her,
took her anyway
and then he had
someone murdered.
What do we see here?
Exactly the same thing.
Right?
This is like
father like son.
It's very clear.
It's all for David's sin.
It's just,
you know,
here's David,
he influenced his sons
and his sons
did the same thing
as him.
As a consequence of sin.
It seems a bit weird.
Usually we think
of the consequences
of sin as suffering.
But one consequence
of sin
is just
more sin
and more suffering.
Right?
That's what we see here.
These are not lovely boys
and it's awful, right?
Look at these chapters
and it's not just
for the boys,
their sons.
It's a threat
to the kingdom.
Because David
is the king.
This is the royal family.
And in chapter 14,
Absalom is going to grow
really bitter.
Chapter 15,
he plots to get rid
of David.
We get a coup.
We get a civil war.
All of that
just from David's sin.
Right?
It threatens all God's people.
It's very clear, right?
David,
sin affects
so many people
around you.
Many people think,
oh,
it doesn't matter.
I can decide
how I live, right?
That's just my thing.
It doesn't affect others.
No.
Right?
David's sin
affected his sons
and then the rest
of his family
and the whole nation.
And maybe you're not
the king,
but, you know,
it will affect
those around you.
It will affect
your family.
Sin affects
everything,
but especially
the higher up you are.
Right?
If you're a company CEO
and you cheat
or whatever.
Do you see sin
as that serious?
Right?
Do you see this
and think,
wow,
I'm not living God's way,
living our own way,
doing what we want.
It's terrible.
We're not all as bad
at this, right?
Don't think there's
many rapists
and murderers here.
Although then again,
Jesus says,
well, actually,
in some way,
we're all like that, right?
You hate someone
in your heart.
Jesus says,
well, it's like you've
already murdered them
in your heart, right?
In a way,
none of us are
what we should be.
But sin is this serious?
Right?
Do we believe that?
That it's so awful
and it leads to suffering
and we shouldn't downplay it
and, oh,
Jesus took care of it.
Don't worry about it anymore.
Sin is awful.
I guess it makes you
want to stay away from sin,
right?
Maybe this week
you're tempted.
You're tempted to watch something
that you shouldn't watch,
tempted to do something
you shouldn't do
and you're kind of,
you're weighing it up
in your mind.
What shall I do?
Let this chapter tell you
don't do it
and be afraid
of the consequences.
I mean,
ideally we don't want to sin
because we love Jesus so much.
But that's not a reality
for most of us.
We need maybe
more basic motivations.
Look at the terrible
consequences, right?
God knows your sin.
You can't hide it.
Don't do it.
The only thing is,
of course,
we are sinners, right?
Just telling us not to sin
is not going to work.
Actually,
this chapter
has more to say,
right?
Stopping sinning
is not a solution.
Rather,
there's a deeper point.
Sin has terrible consequences
but not always.
When not?
Well,
when is sin so terrible?
If it is not dealt with.
Second point.
Sin is terrible
if it's not dealt with.
If it's not dealt with,
it will grow,
it will fester,
it will cause more damage.
And that is the problem
here with David.
Because how does
all this play out?
Well,
David doesn't do very much.
So,
after the rape,
verse 21.
When King David
heard of all these things,
he was very angry.
But Absalom spoke to Amnon.
That's all David did.
David,
he was very angry.
Now,
that's good,
but you'd expect
a bit more,
right?
He was a rapist.
He deserves
the death penalty.
He's the king.
He should bring justice
and righteousness.
This guy should be executed.
But David
doesn't do anything.
He's just angry,
but he doesn't do anything.
Right?
Maybe,
probably because
it's his favorite son
and he doesn't want to do anything
to his favorite son.
If he had done something,
then that murder
wouldn't have happened
and all the rebellion
after that,
all of those things
wouldn't have happened.
But David
didn't do anything.
So,
Absalom took matters
in his own hands.
Afterwards,
yeah,
after Absalom's murder,
Absalom runs away,
right?
He flees to his mother's
family abroad.
And what does David do?
He does nothing.
It's not very clear,
verse 39,
the spirit of the king
longed to go out
to Absalom.
Yeah,
to go out to do what?
To reconcile
or to get him
and arrest him?
That's not clear,
but you read chapter 14.
Well,
David does,
he's really fallen out
with Absalom.
But again,
he doesn't do anything.
I mean,
he could have shown mercy,
right?
Absalom,
I'm really sorry.
I should have done something
after what happened
to Tamar.
I didn't.
So,
even though it was vengeance,
hey,
I forgive you.
The rest wouldn't
have happened.
Or,
he could have said,
yeah,
sorry,
I know what Emlyn did
was wrong.
You can't take vengeance.
He should have done something.
He didn't do anything.
In chapter 14,
we didn't read it,
but basically,
David keeps doing nothing.
Right?
I mean,
chapter 14,
it ends
with the return of Absalom.
All the way at the end,
verse 33,
then Joab went to the king
and told him,
and he summoned Absalom.
So,
he came to the king
and bowed himself
with his face to the ground
before the king
and the king kissed Absalom.
It looks,
okay,
Absalom is back,
it's all fine,
but it's not.
This chapter covers five years
and Absalom and David,
they don't speak.
Absalom is hiding.
Joab,
the general of David,
he sees that as a problem,
right?
It's not good for the kingdom
if the heir of the kingdom
is somewhere else
and what if something happens
to David?
So,
he tries to get David
to accept Absalom again,
but David doesn't want that,
so Joab does some scheme.
Basically,
it's a bit like Nathan the prophet.
He sends some woman
to come up with a story
and this woman comes to David
and says,
oh,
king,
I've got this problem,
I have two sons
and one killed the other
and he fled away
and now I don't have an heir.
Okay,
I understand the problem,
he can come back.
Nothing will happen to him,
you swear,
nothing will happen to him.
Oh,
but king,
you have two sons
and one of them killed the other
and he's,
hmm,
did Joab send you?
Oh,
king,
you're so wise,
yes,
yes.
Okay,
tell Joab Absalom can come back.
But David needs to be persuaded
and even then,
he doesn't actually have Absalom back
because Joab is happy,
brings back Absalom,
but then 14 verse 24,
and the king said,
let him dwell apart in his own house.
He's not to come into my presence.
Yeah,
I don't want to see him.
He's back,
but I won't see him.
And so Absalom lives in Jerusalem
for two years
and he grows more and more bitter.
And verse 32,
why have I come from Geshur?
It will be better for me to be there still.
Now,
therefore,
let me go into the presence of the king.
If there's guilt in me,
let him put me to death.
Right?
Do something,
David,
and either,
yeah,
either forgive me
or if I've done something,
kill me,
but do something.
Don't leave it like this.
But that's the whole problem.
Right?
So for,
in the whole,
all of this,
these two chapters,
David is passive.
He does nothing.
For seven years,
all we read about him
is that he sits on the throne
and people push him
and those kind of things.
He does nothing
about the sin,
about the consequences.
He just sits there.
And that's the frustration.
And I think that's the point,
right?
And that's why David nearly loses the kingdom
because Absalom,
he's grown too bitter.
He will plot a rebellion.
It's not just his sin with David and Bathsheba.
Yeah,
he initially repented
and he was forgiven,
but his heart was not yet right.
Right?
You can see that his heart
isn't what it should be.
He doesn't have the same view of sin anymore
that he used to have.
He leaves it.
I'm not saying I know what he has to do,
justice or mercy for Absalom,
but he had to do something,
but he did nothing.
And it festered
and it grew worse and worse
and here's the result.
I think the message is clear, right?
Sin needs dealing with.
Sin,
you can't just leave it.
It will just get worse.
You need to do something,
either with mercy or with justice,
but something needs to be done about it
or it will just get worse.
Right?
And that's the rest of the book.
God is going to deal with David's sin.
He is going to deal with his heart
and he's going to suffer.
But this chapter says why.
Look at what happens
if you don't do anything.
It's a bit like some of those advertisements
you sometimes see on the MTR
and they want to tell people,
don't do drugs,
stop doing drugs.
Right?
You see an addict lying in the gutter
and basically the message is
you don't want this, right?
So stop it.
Do something about it.
Something needs to be done
and that is this chapter, right?
You know,
sin needs to be dealt with.
Illegal drugs,
they're terrible.
Don't do anything.
Sin is terrible.
Deal with it.
On a human level,
I think we know that, right?
If there's a conflict in a marriage
or in a church or something,
well,
if you just leave it
and you don't talk about it,
it will just get worse, right?
It will just,
people will grow bitter,
it will just get worse.
You need to do something.
Either forgive
or confront
but do something about it
or it will just get worse.
Right?
That's an obvious application.
Yeah?
I know that's hard
but leaving it is worse.
Parenting.
I think it's very easy
to be like David, right?
Your child does something wrong
and the only thing you do
is be angry
and you shout
and that's it.
You don't actually discipline.
You don't actually talk about it.
Well, this chapter says
what's going to happen
is just going to get worse.
You need to actually
do something about it, right?
That's difficult.
It's easier to just shout
and leave it
but you need to do something
otherwise it will just get worse.
But I think ultimately
this chapter
is not on a human level, right?
Think about the original readers.
Why did the kingdom fall?
Why does God need to restore it?
Well, because sin needs to be dealt with.
There's no other way.
Look what happens
if sin is not dealt with.
So I guess that's,
you want to accept that, right?
You can see from this chapter,
man, sin needs dealing with.
You can't just leave it.
You need to do something.
God needs to do something.
Again, you go to another GP
and finally he tells you,
well, this is wrong with you
and the prognosis is not good
but you can do this medicine
or we can do this surgery
and that will solve it.
And you don't want that
but yeah, you listen to the prognosis.
Okay, I want to do something about it.
Right?
Okay, yeah, I accept it.
We need to do something.
And I think that's the point here.
Accept that God needs to deal with your sin.
I guess that can happen in different ways, right?
I guess one obvious way.
Accept it when God addresses your sin.
Right?
God, he loves us.
He wants us to change.
He doesn't want us to leave us like this.
But the thing is,
we need to change.
We don't just need forgiveness.
We need heart change.
And so God will speak to us.
God will address us.
So maybe you're reading your Bible every day
and the same sin just keeps coming up.
What do you do?
It's easy to close your Bible
and don't listen.
Or maybe someone in your CG speaks to you
because they've noticed something in your life
and they want to talk to you about it.
I guess if you see this chapter,
you think, man, okay,
I know this is hard
and I know I'm too busy.
I don't really have time,
but man, sin needs dealing with, right?
So I want to listen.
I want to be humble.
I want to seek repentance and change
because this really matters, right?
You can accept it.
Sin needs to be dealt with.
Accept it when God disciplines our sin.
Right?
Sometimes we don't listen
and so God has to mess up our life a bit.
He has to make us feel the consequences
so that we will hopefully turn away.
It's easy to get bitter.
God, why are you messing on my life?
That's for a good thing, right?
God wants to turn you from your sin.
He wants you to be free from this.
He wants you to come back to him.
So that's what he's doing.
Will you listen?
Will you accept it and listen?
Though ultimately, thirdly,
if people don't listen,
accept it when God judges sin.
Right?
Sin needs dealing with
and God,
he's not going to leave the world as it is.
He's not going to leave any of our sin as it is.
Same with Absalom.
I mean, Amnon got what he deserved.
Absalom is going to be punished.
It's a tough truth.
Right?
Judgment.
We don't like it.
It's sobering.
It is embarrassing to talk about,
but we have to accept it, right?
Because you see chapter 13,
and again,
you want something to be done.
Right?
You see what happened to Tamar
and you want justice.
Right?
You want it.
We know the world needs to change.
And for God to just leave the world as it is,
all the sin,
all the violence,
and just leave it,
that'd be wrong.
And so God is going to do something.
But yeah,
the thing is,
it affects all of us.
All of us hurt other people.
No,
we're not as bad as these guys,
but in so many ways,
we hurt other people.
And so I just read this.
Oh yeah,
I deserve judgment.
We all deserve judgment.
And that is the problem,
right?
Because we know judgment is good.
We can see it here.
It needs to happen.
At the same time,
we want mercy.
How can we have that?
How,
because some people asked me that last week.
You know,
it seems so easy for David.
He was forgiven.
Shouldn't he be punished for what he's done?
Well,
the thing is,
on a human level,
a human king can only do one thing.
David could show mercy or judgment,
but not both.
But God did something amazing.
He sent his son to die on the cross.
And actually he,
as we've been singing,
he took the judgment that we deserved.
Our sin was judged.
Justice was served.
But it fell on Jesus.
And that is how the cross works.
The cross is not just a symbol that God loves you.
Something happened there.
Our sin was judged,
punished,
crushed.
And that is what we need.
So sin happens.
And God is just
and merciful.
Sin is punished,
but we get mercy.
That is the beauty of the cross.
And we need that,
right?
If you're here,
and you're not a Christian,
you're visiting,
I hope you see how serious sin is.
And that judgment needs to happen.
But,
what are you going to do with your sin?
And Jesus says,
come to me.
I'll pay for it.
I'll take care of it.
I'll deal with it.
Come to me,
and be free.
And if you have that,
as we just sang,
right?
Jesus,
thank you.
It doesn't make you thankful.
Yes,
our heart still needs dealing with.
God needs to address our sin.
And sometimes we will face the consequences of our sin.
Our sinful decisions and terrible things happen to us.
But how about the eternal,
huge judgment consequences of our sin?
They've been taken care of.
Jesus took that for us.
And that makes you so thankful,
right?
And then you can listen to God.
You can,
if God wants to deal with your sin,
if he wants to address you,
you will listen to him,
right?
Because you can trust him.
Because he loved you so much.
He did this for you.
And not just us here,
right?
There's many people outside,
and Hong Kong has lots of problems,
right?
People are hopeless,
and unemployed,
and stressed,
and overworked.
Biggest problem,
they're sinners,
and God is going to come and deal with sin.
And then,
yeah,
the only way for them to have mercy,
is if they hear about Jesus,
and respond to him.
Hey,
isn't that worth sharing?
Again,
this is not a comfortable passage.
It's not an easy passage.
It's dark.
It's bad news.
But that should lead us,
to the good news.
So let's just reflect for 30 seconds,
and then I'll pray,
as the music team comes up.
Let's pray.
Father,
we see this chapter,
and we see that the world is not what it should be.
We are not what we should be.
And we know that's a problem.
We see that's something you need to deal with.
Thank you that you are good and just,
and you will deal with sin.
But thank you so much that you did that on the cross,
for those who trust in Jesus.
And if we come,
if we trust in him,
yeah,
we will not face what we deserve.
Make us thankful.
Make us joyful,
even,
that this terrible thing has been dealt with,
that you are now working in our lives,
to change us,
to turn us away from sin,
in your love.
Help us to see your love,
in the midst of this darkness,
that we would turn to you.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.