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Alright, good evening everyone, welcome to First Works Baptist Church. So I'll make our way inside and find a seat. Let's grab a song book and open that song book up to song number 30, Nothing But The Blood. Let's all stand together for our first song. Song number 30, Nothing But The Blood. Song 30, Nothing But The Blood. Everyone nice and strong all together. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon this I see. For my cleansing this my plea. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. Oh, no other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can force in a tone. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Amen. Let's open our service with the word of prayer. Father, thank you, God, Lord, for allowing us, God, to be here tonight, Lord, in your house, God, and hear your word preached unto us, God, and sing praises unto you, Lord. We pray, God, that you would bless the service for us, Lord. So, Pastor, may we heal with your Holy Spirit, God, as he preaches to us, Lord, and give us ears to hear that which we hear, Lord, that we would apply it to our lives, Lord, and leave here differently than when we came in. We love you, Lord, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Song number 228, I Love to Tell the Story. Song number 228, I Love to Tell the Story. Everyone, all together, nice and strong. I love to tell the story of onsing things above, of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story because I know it is true. It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do. I love to tell the story. It will be my theme in glory to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story, more wonderful, it seems, than all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams. I love to tell the story. It did so much for me, and that is just the reason I tell it now to thee. I love to tell the story. It will be my theme in glory to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story. It is pleasant to repeat what seems each time I tell it, more wonderfully sweet. I love to tell the story, for some have never heard the message of salvation from God's own holy word. I love to tell the story. It will be my theme in glory to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. I love to tell the story, for those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. And when in scenes of glory I sing a new, new song, twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long. I love to tell the story. Twill be my theme in glory to tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love. All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Just a few announcements here. Before we sing our next song, which is the song sheet that's in your bulletin, I sing The Mighty Power of God. If you want to get that ready. If anybody did not get that song sheet, you can raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you if we have any more left. Do we have any more left? Yes, we do. All right, raise your hand if you didn't get one. And of course, your bulletin there. We also have the prayer sheet that we're going to go over in just a bit. Our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 10 30 Sunday evening, 5 p.m. Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. And of course, we're currently going through the book of 2 Samuel. You see the so many times in teams, the list of expecting mothers, if you can keep them in prayer, and then the important reminders there at the bottom. Some of the upcoming church events tomorrow night, Friday, January 6 at 7 o'clock. We're going to be having the men's prayer night here at the building. And so I want to encourage all the men to be here. You can bring your sons. We'll have dinner here as well. And so please be here for that so we can pray over some of the things we're going to be doing this year. And of course, throw in there some imprecatory prayers as well. Amen. And then we had the bar so so many coming up on Monday, January 16. We had a great day on Monday. A good amount of salvation. A lot of people came out. And so it's exciting. I encourage you if you want to be if you want to be a part of that and want to participate, you can see brother Ulysses Hernandez about that. Ladies prayer breakfast is coming up on Saturday, February 4. And then the Belize missions trip is on Saturday, February 26 through Sunday, March 5. And so if you're interested in participating in that missions trip, you can see our evangelist brother Ulysses Hernandez for more details about that. Of course, keep that in prayer that we'd see a lot more people saved in that city, San Ignacio. And so just keep that in mind there. You see the regular reminders there at the bottom. Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. Go ahead and pull out your prayer sheet there. Just pray over some of these needs here. And of course, brother Adam is going to come up in just a bit. But please continue to pray for God's favor on our church, on the families in our church, on the leadership of our church, just for favor all around as we kick off the 2023 year that we would have a successful and prosperous year of salvation and growth and just doing God's will here at First Works Baptist Church. Pray for the sowing that we get a lot done in Barstone. And of course, we're continuously sowing in our area. But as we know that, you know, there's the law of diminishing returns, right? The more you go sowing in a certain area, the less salvation you're going to see there. But you know, we're going to continue to branch out and go to different cities and preach the gospel in different areas in California. We're also going to go to Barstow. We want to go to Victorville. And of course, Belize is a country that we have targeted with the gospel. And so please pray for that on a weekly basis with your families, that we would have a lot of success in those areas. Pray for a church van. Now we found a church van, right? We found a church van. And it's about 90% sure that we're going to get this church van, okay? I'm hoping. Do I get a nod over there? Am I getting a nod? Am I getting a shaking of the head? Am I getting a nod? Okay, yeah. So if it wasn't 90%, you know, they're going to make sure it's 90% now because I've already said it. But pray that everything will turn out fine with that church van because we can use it not only for sowing, but also to pick up people who live like in the Los Angeles area, you know, and on Sunday mornings who don't have a ride. And so pray for that, that all would go out well with that. Pray for spiritual numerical growth of our church for more laborers and for new people. And the leadership, of course, you see the church families there. I do want to share a blessing here. If you look at the very bottom on the right hand side, Brother Chevy Allah, his father was in ICU. And we're praying for his recovery, went to go visit him, anointed him with oil, and he's actually doing a lot better. They removed the ventilator. He's able to breathe on his own. He's able to communicate. And so he's progressing. He's getting better. So praise God for that. But please continue to pray for him that he would make a full recovery and be able to go home. And so please continue to keep that in prayer. If you have any additional prayer requests you'd like to be mentioned, please make sure you put that at the bottom of the prayer sheet and tear that off and put into the offering plate so we make sure it gets on there for the following week. All right. And that is it for that. I'm going to come on up and pray over these needs. Let's bow our heads and pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can congregate here today, Lord, and we thank you for the second service of the year, Lord. We thank you for the last year, Lord, for all the salvations that we got last year, Lord, and all the baptisms as well, Lord. And we pray the next year would bring also many more salvations and many more baptism, Lord. But also thank you for all the new members that became members last year and all the new visitors and all the new members that became soul winners, Lord. And I pray that you also give us many new members next year, Lord, or this year rather. And Lord, I thank you for being able to do these mission trips, Lord, to Belize and to Barstow, Lord. And I pray that you open the doors there and open the hearts and the minds of the people there as well, Lord, that we might take advantage of the harvest there, Lord. And Lord, I pray for your favor on our church, Lord, that we'd be right in your eyes, Lord, that we would do right by you and you'd give us your favor, Lord. And I pray also for the soul winning, for the soul winning in our area, Lord, that even though it's diminishing returns, Lord, that we'd still be seeing people saved in our area, in the greater Los Angeles area, Lord. And I pray for the soul winning teams, that for the members on those teams, that they can be more efficient, that the gospel won't be more bold, and just be better soul winners, Lord, that they'd grow as soul winners. And Lord, I pray, I thank you for the missions that you've gave us in Belize, but I pray if there's any other doors you want us to go to, any other missions you'd like us to go to, that you show us those doors, Lord. I pray for protection on our church, just a protection on our church building, Lord, on our family, on our families, Lord, on our children, Lord, from the world, Lord, and just keep us safe, Lord. I pray also for the church van, if we do get this church van, Lord, that it would just serve to glorify you, Lord, and just bring more people to church, Lord, and help people who can't get here regularly to get here, and that they grow spiritually, Lord. And obviously, we thank you as well for the spiritual growth that we had last year, Lord, and how many more lives were changed last year, like old people in church and new people in church, Lord, that their lives were changed. And also for the numerical growth, of course, I pray that you bring us even more, God willing, numerical and spiritual growth this year, Lord. I also pray that for more laborers, Lord, if there's people in this church, Lord, that have been still wanting for a while and they're silent partners, that they would just take the next step and go forth boldly and preach your word, Lord, to get more people saved. I pray also for new laborers as well. I pray that we get new people in this church, and they get converted, and they get baptized, and they become soul winners for you, Lord. And I pray for the leadership. I pray for Pastor Mejia. I pray that you give him guidance and wisdom, Lord, and we thank you for the leadership, Lord, as well. And we pray for the pastors in training, that you'd help them meet the qualifications to become pastors, Lord, and you'd bless their lives, and they continue wanting to be pastors and wanting to do this good work of being a pastor, Lord. And Lord, I pray for those in authority. I pray that you, for those who are righteous in authority, Lord, I pray that you bless them, and for those who aren't, Lord, I pray that you just keep them out of our business, Lord, and keep us safe from them, and just let them leave us alone, Lord. I'd like to also pray for the salvation of friends and family, Lord, of members of this church, members of this church, Lord. I pray for families to grow, and for the barren women who haven't had children, Lord, I pray that you open their wounds, as well, that they might have children, Lord. I pray for the expecting mothers, and for the new warrants, and for the new mothers, as well, Lord, that they'd raise their children well, Lord, and they'd grow into more soldiers for you, Lord. I pray they help these mothers, and you help these new mothers, and these expecting mothers get through that, Lord. Specifically, I'd like to pray for Miss Francescini's mom's health, and the salvation of her eldest son, Lord. I'd like to pray for Miss DJ's friend's brother, his salvation, Lord. I'd like to pray for Christopia's, the salvation of his family, Lord, that you help these people, you know, see the truth, and accept your, accept your gospel, Lord. I'd like to pray for the general requests. You know what their needs are, Lord, and I pray that you just lift this burden from these people, and whatever their needs are, Lord. I pray that you can meet them this year, and you can fulfill those needs, Lord, if God willing. I'd like to also pray for just the health of members of our church, Lord, for their spiritual health, of course, but also their just physical health, that they can continue working for you, Lord, and coming to church, and that this wouldn't be like, this wouldn't be a hindrance to come to the church, Lord, or to do your work. I'd like to also pray for the health of family members of our church, Lord, that you would heal them, and we thank you so much for helping Brother Chevy's father when he was in the ICU, Lord. Thank you for that, and for any other family members of church members, Lord, I pray that you heal them so that our church members wouldn't be burned by that, and perhaps those people would come to the truth, Lord, and see what you've done for them. We thank you again for this day, and we thank you for our church, Lord. We pray that you, the sermon, the following sermon is edifying to us, and we can take something from it and learn from it, Lord. I pray that you're with Pastor Mejia, and you fill him with the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, go ahead and grab your song sheets there. I sing the mighty power of God. I sing the mighty power of God, everyone all together nice and strong. I sing the mighty power of God that made the mountains rise, that spread the flowing seas abroad and built the lofty skies. I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day. The moon shines full at His command, and all the stars obey. I sing the goodness of the Lord that filled the earth with food. He formed the creatures with His word, and then pronounced them good. Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where'er I turn my eye. If I survey the ground, I tread, or gaze upon the sky. There's not a plant or flower below, but makes Thy glories known. And clouds arise and tempests flow, by order from Thy throne. While all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care, and everywhere that men can be, Thou, God, art present there. Amen. At this time the ushers will collect the offering. Tonight will be in 2 Samuel chapter 13. Good evening. Tonight we're in 2 Samuel chapter 13. 2 Samuel 13 in the Bible reads, It came to pass after this that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar, and Amnon the son of David loved her. And Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick for his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and Amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her. But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shemaiah, David's brother, and Jonadab was a very subtle man. And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king's son, lean from day to day? Will thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. And Jonadab said unto him, Lay thee down on thy bed, and make thyself sick. And when thy father cometh to see thee, say unto him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come and give me meat, and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see it and eat it at her hand. So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick. And when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand. Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to thy brother Amnon's house, and dress in meat. So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house, and he was laid down, and she took flour, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes. And she took a pan, and poured them out before him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, Have out all men from me, and they went out every man from him. And Amnon said unto Tamar, Bring 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. And 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 whither shall I cause my shame to go? And as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore I pray thee, speak unto the king, for he will not withhold me from thee. Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice, but being stronger than she, forced her, and lied with her. And Amnon hated her exceedingly, so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, begone. And she said unto him, There is no cause. This evil in sending me away is greater than the other that thou didst unto me. But he would not 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 apparelled. 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. But when the king David heard of all these things, he was very wroth. And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon, neither good nor bad. For Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar. And it came to pass after two full years, that Absalom had sheep shears at Baal Hazor, which is beside Ephraim. And Absalom invited all the king's sons. And Absalom came to the king, and said, Behold now thy servant hath sheep shears, let the king I beseech thee, and his servants go with thy servant. And the king said to Absalom, Nay my son, let us 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, and he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him. No, Absalom had commanded his servant, saying, Mark ye now, and Amnon's heart is merry with wine. And when I say unto you, Smite Amnon, then kill him, fear not, have I not commanded you? Be courageous and be valiant. And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule and fled. And it came to pass, while they were in the way, that tidings came to David, saying, Absalom had slain all the king's sons, and there is not one of them left. Then the king arose, and tear his garments, and lay on the earth. And all his servants stood by with their clothes rent. And Jonadab the son of Shemaiah, David's brother, answered and said, Let not my lord suppose that they have slain all the young men and king's sons, for Amnon only is dead. 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 his heart to think that all the king's sons are dead, for Amnon is only dead. But Absalom fled, and the young man that kept the watch lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there came much people by the way of the hillside behind him. And Jonadab said unto the king, Behold, the king's son come. As thy servant said, so it is. And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of speaking, that, behold, the king's son came, and lifted up their voice and wept. And the king also, and all his servants wept very sore. But Absalom fled, and went to Talmai, the son of Amahud, king of Gesher, and David mourned for his son every day. So Absalom fled, and went to Gesher, and was there three years. And the soul of king David longed to go forth unto Absalom, for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead. Let's pray, dear lord. We thank you for today, lord. We thank you for allowing us all to gather together, lord, to hear the preaching of every word, lord, and we just pray that you bless Pastor Mahir right now with your spirit, lord, and I pray that we're edified by the preaching, and we come away learning new things from your word, lord, and coming away changed, lord, and so just bless this time. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, we continue this evening with 2 Samuel chapter 13, and looking at a very tragic story here, but it's definitely a tale of caution. A lot of things that we can learn from this particular chapter regarding David's children. Now a little bit of a review from the previous week in chapter 12. We essentially see the payment for David's sins. David committed adultery. He murdered Uriah, and he's being deceitful. He's obviously very much backslidden, and God is not pleased with his behavior. He sends Nathan to go confront him about his sin, and the consequences are very grievous. Okay, and essentially chapter 13 is a fulfillment of Nathan's prophecy of ill that's going to come upon David's family when he says that the sword shall not depart from thy house, shall never depart from thy house. In other words, you know, David's children were going to die a violent death, and that's exactly what happens to pretty much all of his sons. Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah. They end up, they're slain with a sword, and they are killed dishonorably, and so this is essentially the fulfillment of that prophecy. It's a fulfillment of the consequence that David is reaping because of his grievous sin that he committed with Bathsheba and Uriah, and immediately it takes place in chapter 13. Okay, you know, sometimes we think, well, the consequences of my sin may come later on in life, and that's definitely the case, right? You know, consequences and the repercussions of our actions can come later on in life, or it just can happen the very next day. We don't know exactly how long after the whole situation between Nathan and David, you know, before this particular incident happened, but it seems as though it happened right away because it says, and it came to pass after this. So it's around the same time, and David is suffering immediately after his sin there, and that is being fulfilled, so it's fresh in his mind. Okay, and so we're going to look at the story of Amnon and his friend, which is his cousin, Jonadab. Look at verse number one. We're going to look at Amnon's infatuation here. It says, and it came to pass after this that Absalom, the son of David, had a fair sister, fair means beautiful, comely to look upon, whose name was Tamar, and Amnon, the son of David, loved her, and Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick for his sister, Tamar, for she was a virgin, and Amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her. So we're going to look at Amnon's forbidden desire here. Now, what's going on? Well, obviously, David has many wives, and so because he has many wives, he has a lot of different children, so it's like same dad, different mom type of a thing going on here, and of course, Absalom and Tamar of the same mother, but Amnon is not, and Amnon has become obsessed and infatuated with his half-sister, okay, and you know, this is obviously very weird. It's incestuous, right, but the thing is, is that Amnon is not only obsessed with her, the Bible even says that he's vexed with this, okay, and vex means that he's troubled. This is obviously something that he's thinking about quite frequently, okay, and the narrator of the Bible here says that Amnon loved Tamar, okay, and that could be, you know, definitely true to a certain extent, but we're going to see later on that his lust for Tamar obviously overcame his love for her, because after he rapes her, the Bible says that he hates her exceedingly. He hates her more than he loved her, and so he obviously had this infatuation, or as the Bible would put it, this inordinate affection, according to Colossians chapter three, verse number five, the Bible talks about inordinate affection. It's this affection that he has towards Tamar that's obviously forbidden. It is off, you know, it's off the table. He's not supposed to have this relationship with his sister, his half-sister. You know, we thought this only took place in the south, but apparently, you know, even in ancient Israel, this is a thing here. Now, in Leviticus 18, verse 11, you know, the Bible tells us not to uncover the nakedness of the father's wife's daughter, and it says she is thy sister, or is begotten of the father. She is thy sister. Thou shall not uncover her nakedness. So obviously, if you're not supposed to be physical with your half-sister or half-brother, you can't marry them. This is obviously a very much forbidden. It's off limits. It's off the table. It's not something you should be considering or entertaining, but Amnon is so vexed, the Bible tells us here that he fell sick for her, okay? And it's kind of similar to what we see in the book of Song of Solomon. It says, you know, they're sick of love. It doesn't mean they're sick of it as in they don't want nothing to do with it. It's like they're kind of, he's kind of just, you know, I don't know the best way to put it, just infatuated, okay? And, you know, some of you may know what I'm talking about because, you know, in high school, we all knew that one friend, or maybe you were that friend, you know, that was just head over heels for someone in particular. And, you know, you're just obsessed. In my day, we used to call it sprung, okay? And it's probably like an ancient word now. I don't know what they call it now. Some of you young people, what's the word they use now? They still use that? Okay. All right. I guess sprung is still, is that true? Is this, can I get another witness? Under the mouth of two or three witnesses, I guess it's a lie. We're not going to trust your, no, I'm just kidding. He's like, I'm sprung, you know? I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. Sprung is the term that people would use, you know, and it basically meant that it's someone who is just head over heels over someone. They're infatuated, they're obsessed with this person. That's all they think about. It's essentially this foolish, extravagant passion that someone has for another individual. And, you know, if Tamar wasn't his half sister, this wouldn't necessarily be bad, you know, for him to have, but it's wicked because it's an incestuous desire that he has. Okay. And obviously the Bible is giving us this disclaimer, verse number one, that she's a fair sister. She's beautiful. And this is probably an indicator of why he was so obsessed with her is because she was a beautiful, comely lady. And it says here that she was a virgin. In other words, she's not married. And so he's thinking about this. He has this inordinate affection. And here's the thing is that it should have just stopped at that. Right. You know, every human being has thoughts that they shouldn't have, whether it's lust, it's an inordinate affection towards another individual. Now this is an extreme case where it's like a half sister. That's really weird. You know, preaching in the South is more relevant in this particular chapter. We're going to make it relevant to the normal part of the country. I'm just kidding. But you know, people can have an inordinate affection towards another individual. Maybe it's someone, you know, if you're single, it's another individual that, you know, you meet at work or someone that, you know, that, you know, you know, this is off limits. This is off the table. My parents don't want me to have this relationship with this person, or it's just a wrong relationship. Maybe it's a relationship with you as a safe person with an unsafe person. Right. As the Bible says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness. So, you know, it doesn't matter how, you know, much you desire this person, how much lust you may have towards this person or the love you think you have towards that individual. If they're unsaved, that's just completely off limits according to the Bible. Right. But even if they are saved, you know, are they in church? Are they serving God? Are they going in the same direction as you? You know, that could be a person who's off limits because that's an individual who's going to take you out of church and out of God's will, out of the Bible, etc. Maybe you're a married person who has an inordinate affection towards another person's spouse. That's obviously wicked. The Bible refers to that as adultery in the heart. And, you know, these are thoughts that human beings, you know, they fight with, you know, every day or, you know, throughout their lives. You know, there's no sin that is not common to man. This is obviously very common amongst people. But the thing is, you know, once we have those thoughts, the Bible tells us to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. The Bible already warns us that our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked, right? That out of the heart precede evil thoughts. You know, adulteries, fornication, thefts, murders. These are thoughts that people have. And as Christians, when we get those thoughts, we need to put it in check, right? And not just entertain them, let them go unfettered in our mind and start fantasizing or trying to escape in our minds by thinking about this particular person or persons. You know, we need to make sure that we gird up the loins of our mind and not allow ourselves to fall into that trap of, you know, lusting after someone who we're not supposed to have. Okay. And so, you know, I think, in my opinion, if Amnon would have just left it at that, later on, he probably would have just gone over it and just been embarrassed about it later. You know, it was like, Oh, yeah, that was kind of weird, you know, going after my half sister or something thinking about my half sister. And you'll realize that later on, you know, especially young people, you know, as you grow up, and you know, you don't entertain that thought anymore, you don't pursue that person anymore. Later on, you realize that I was dumb, I'm glad I didn't end up with that person. You know, and, you know, I've known people from high school, where it's just like, this is the one or whatever, you know, their high school sweethearts or something like that. And they got their heart broken. And it didn't work out. And then later on down the road is just like, I'm glad that didn't work out because that person was really bad, you know, or that person could have destroyed your life or something like that. You realize later on, when you gain wisdom, you gain prudence, especially if you're if you're saved, you know what the Bible says, you realize, man, I dodged a bullet, right. And some some of you, some of us have dodged shotgun shells, okay. And then, you know, at the time, you're thinking, Oh, man, I'll never find anybody or I'm never gonna get married. I'll never have that person ever. This person was perfect. But then you look down later on in life, like that was really stupid. You know, first of all, the person was ugly. I don't even know why I like that person. It's true, though, you know, when someone is head over heels over an individual, you know, for some reason, they just kind of, you know, love is blind, you know, and and, you know, that happens sometimes. And, you know, I've had friends in times passwords, just like, really? All right, you know, but then everything, they move on, they mature, they grow up, and they realize, yeah, that was really dumb, you know, and so, obviously, this is something abnormal in the sense that he's going after his half sister, but it's normal in the sense that people can develop these inordinate affections. Okay, but I do want to let you know that, you know, if you have that you need to take care of that right away, and not just kind of entertain it and say, Well, you know, this is common man, so I'm just gonna go ahead and entertain this and play around with this in my mind. No, you know, you need to make sure you renew your mind daily, you read the Word of God, and remind yourself of the consequences of following through with that relationship, and what can happen down the road, and just give yourself some time to just get over it. Okay, because you will get over it sooner or later. And, you know, with Amnon here, he has this desire, he should have been doing something else. Obviously, you know, it kind of looks based upon the chapter, based upon the text, that he's kind of soft. Okay. And so you say, Why do you think that? Well, as soon as he says he's sick, his dad's over here, like helping him. He's like, you know, having his sister come over and bake cakes for him and feeding him in his mouth and all. I mean, this guy's like, that's pretty soft, you know. And so if he's this weak, if he's that emotional and this soft, that means his ability to resist sin is very low. Okay. And that's why it's important that men, you know, not supposed to be feminine. You know, if feminine is obviously a sin, one of the reasons why it's a sin is because it leads you to more sins. Typically, an effeminate person is an individual who is incapable of resisting the temptations of Satan. There are individuals who are emotionally unstable. They're not fortified in their mind. They're not fortified in their spiritual walk. They essentially allow, you know, the spiritual realm to kind of walk all over them. Right. Whereas the Lord wants us to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might to great up the lords of our mind and recognize that we're in a spiritual battle and not be entertaining these things. And again, what he's experiencing here is probably things that anyone has experienced. But the problem is, is that now he has a friend. Okay. And so it should have stopped there, but let's read on here. He thought it hard for him to do anything to her in verse number two, because he's thinking to himself, I can't do anything about this. You know, if I bring this up to my dad, he's going to think I'm weird or something. I mean, how is he going to fulfill this? How is he going to marry Tamar? How is he going to have any type of relationship with her? It's so out of pocket and so off limits. There's just no possible way that he's going to be able to do this in a normal fashion. Right. Which is great. You know, and you know, sometimes if you have this desire or some lust or some extravagant passion, you know, sometimes God puts barriers in your life and he does it because he's saving you the heartache. Right. He's trying to keep you from destroying your life. And in fact, you know, when there's individuals out there, you see someone and you're like, well, my friend is saved and he got some, some hot chick or something like that. Well, you know, the Bible says that he's a hoard of the Lord then. So when you get some worldly, just godless woman and don't envy the person who gets that, that person is actually a hoard of the Lord, you know, because he's falling into that trap. When God favors you, he actually causes you to avoid that person. He sets barriers and impedes you from destroying your life. And you may not appreciate it at the moment, but later on down the road, you think to yourself, man, I'm thankful that, you know, God, you know, protected me from this strange woman. Right. Or strange guy or whatever. And so, you know, Amnon unfortunately has this friend here, look at verse number three, it says, but Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimea, David's brother. And Jonadab was a very subtle man. So he's his friend, but in all essence, it's his cousin. Right. And here it says that Jonadab was a very subtle man. Okay. And subtlety in the Bible, a synonym for that would be discretion. He's very discreet in the Bible. You can kind of see it in a negative or in a positive light. You know, God tells us that when we learn the Bible, we gain discretion and we learn subtlety, which is very important to learn, but subtlety and discretion in the hands of a wicked person is very dangerous. Okay. Now, why does it say that he's a very subtle man? Well, let's read on here. It says in verse number four, and he said unto him, why art thou being the King son lean from day to day? Wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother, Absalom's sister. Now let me mention a couple of things here. Okay. First and foremost, him being a subtle man, the reason he's subtle is because he gives, he gives Amnon this plan, but nowhere in the plan does it say rape your sister. Right. He gives them what he has to do to be placed in a situation where he can take advantage of his sister, but it never comes out of his mouth. Why? Because he's discreet enough to know he's covering his tracks. That's why the Bible refers to him as a subtle person so that if it ever is exposed, it can never be, it can never come back to him because he never said that. He just said, Hey, you know, just have her make you some cakes or whatever and have, and then that's all he said. But the implication, what he's implying is that when she's there in your room alone, feeding you, you could essentially fulfill your desires and essentially force her and rape her is what he's talking about there. Okay. But let me mention something about Amnon. Okay. Because Amnon and his, and his, and his cousin here, because here's the thing, Amnon, you know, one way that he could have fixed this desire that he had is by telling his dad, telling a spiritual godly authority, right? Someone who has his best interest in mind, but instead he tells like one of the most wicked people. Okay. Now, what does this teach us here? It teaches us that you shouldn't just open your mouth about your problems to any Tom, Dick and Harry in this world. Okay. If you have an issue, if you have a problem, is there something you're struggling with? You know, whether it's lust, it's bitterness, it's whatever, any type of sin, you know, that's not something that you want to necessarily publicize to just anybody with an ear. Why? Because you could potentially tell the wrong person who can use it against you. I personally think that if Amnon would have just gone to his dad, his dad would have said, son, this is something I struggle with too. And this is how you overcome it. And, you know, and this is what you do. And so, you know, but instead he has these emotions, he has these desires and he goes to the wrong person. He goes to his cousin who's subtle and uses it against him. Now we'll see later on, maybe one of the reasons why John Adab did this is because maybe he wanted, you know, he wanted some position next to the king. You know, it kind of looks like towards the end of the chapter that he kind of wanted to be like the king's advisor. Okay. Type of a thing is just like, oh, this is what's happening, King David. And I'm the one who said it was going to happen kind of thing, you know, so he kind of set up his cousin so he can be in that position. We don't a hundred percent know if that's the motive behind it, but that's what it seems like. But the point that I'm trying to make is that if you're struggling with something, go to your parents, go to a godly authority. You don't need to go to everyone in the church. Right. You don't need to go to, you know, anybody who just gives you the time of day. It shouldn't work like that because you might tell somebody number one, who's wicked or number two, just doesn't know what they're talking about. You know, there's people in our church or in this world that aren't necessarily 100% mature and they may not know what type of answer to give you with the problem that you're struggling with. Okay. You know, as much as, you know, it's important to be discreet. It's also important to be discreet on who you tell your problems about and not just tell everyone. Okay. Now let's make some practical application here tonight. Amen. You know, the men's chat. Okay. I'm not on there. Okay. I didn't have a spy on there where they use this. You haven't told me anything. Right. Can I get a witness? Okay. I don't have anybody on there, but you know what? If you're on there just divulging all your problems, you're basically telling everyone and I'm not saying everyone on the chat is wicked. Okay. I'm just saying, you know, it's not the most discreet thing to do. And, you know, you're over there and just kind of complaining or you got, you're going through a trial and it's, it's, it's one of those things where it's just like, you know, you should kind of keep that to yourself or go to some spiritual leader or go to someone who is, you know, who's wise in that particular area. Okay. That's what you should be doing and not just kind of divulge. You're just spilling your guts to just anybody. Oh, it's a member of First Works Baptist Church. All the men are on there. You know, it's just like, yeah. You know, it's, it's okay to ask for a prayer request. It's okay to just kind of, you know, say that you're struggling. Hey, I haven't, what is it called? Unspoken prayer requests. Right. I don't want to really want to mention, but we're struggling with something right now. If you can pray for me, but when you just let it all out there, you know, it kind of shows that you're not very wise or how about the lady's chat? I know there's a lady's chat too. Right. Am I wrong or am I wrong? Okay. That's right. And there's a lady's chat. And I think the lady's chat is supposed to be for like updates. Both of those chats though. I'm just thinking they're just kind of cursed. I'll just be honest with you. Cause they, they, they, they were invented or brought to pass during COVID. Right. So we can keep in contact one with another, but let me say this ladies. Okay. You know, the, the, the lady's chat is not your arena to just criticize your family members or divulge personal information about your husband or about your children or about whatever, you know, that's not a wise thing to do. And I'm not saying there's some wicked lady on the chat, although there might be, I don't know. I can say that because I have no idea who's on the chat other than my wife. Okay. But I'm sure the ladies, you know, all the ladies are on there or something. I'm just saying, you know, it's a lack of discretion where you're just divulging all this information on, in a public forum for everyone to hear everyone to listen to. There's nothing wrong with talking to people about your problems, but you need to choose wisely who you're talking to and not just think, well, who's willing to listen. I'll tell everybody, you know, that's not a discreet wise individual. And so, and you know what, husbands help your wives with that. You know, you say, Hey, what are you saying on that? Hey, don't say that stuff. Okay. Hey, don't be telling them about my laundry. What are you doing? What are you doing? Uh, in fact, delete that thing. Oh, who are you? Yeah. I will tell my wife in a, in a, in a split second. If I found out that my wife or whatever, and she's not, I just don't think so, you know, she's like divulging personal information or she's like, if she, if my wife goes on there and she's just like, you know, pray for him. I'm really mad at my husband right now. I'm super angry at him. And, you know, you're being an open reproach to your husband. Okay. Have some discretion. He said, well, I need prayer. Okay. But you don't have to divulge all that information though. Right. You can just go on there and say, pray for me. I'm struggling right now. You know? And so, uh, and then, you know, if someone contacts you personally, you know, and, and they're spiritually mature, they're wise, they know what they're talking about, you know, then go to that person, but you don't need to divulge all this information on an open forum, embarrassing your spouse, you know, putting to shame your family, just talking about your sin that you're struggling with or whatever. That's not appropriate my friends. And again, it's nothing, you know, obviously it's wrong that Amnon has this thought in his heart, but unfortunately it's a natural thing in a sense of people struggle with their thoughts. The problem is, and it looks like it didn't even take much. Like Jonathan is like, what's wrong? He's like, I love Tamar. It was like, whoa, that, that escalated quickly. You know, it's like the first thing that comes out of his mouth is like, I love Tamar. It's just like, okay, well, how are you? You know, what else is that? You know, it's like the first thing that he says, he's not like, oh, I'm fine. You know, I've got some things done today and I love Tamar. And then also, you know, it's just like the first thing that comes out of his mouth is that he loves his half sister. So if it's the first thing that comes out of his mouth, it's obviously something that he's ruminating on. He's meditating upon that. And sometimes we do just need to talk to someone, right? Sometimes we just need to go talk to someone and confess our faults one to another, you know? But let me just give you some practical advice in that regard too. You know, young men should not go to other young men for advice. I mean, that's like a no brainer. You say, well, why not? Because you guys have the same amount of wisdom. That's why you guys are basically breaking even on wisdom. Okay. You know, who you need to go to is someone who's older in the lore than you and, and, and, you know, go to individuals who are credible in their advice, credible in their counseling and vice versa. You know, the same thing with the ladies. Okay. Don't just divulge all your problems to, to just whoever's willing to listen to you. And, and here's the thing, you know, don't use criticism. Don't use prayer requests as, as a means to criticize. You know, what if I just got up here like, yeah, just pray for my wife. She's, she's just obeying me right now. She's being a rebellious woman. Pray for her, please. Or what if I just got up and I said, pray for my wife. What for pastor? Pray for just an obedient spirit. Pray that like for reverence. I don't want to, I don't want to go too deep on this. Pray for reverence and obedience. And you know, what's the, you know, just that she doesn't yell. I'm not gonna say at who, but you know, it's like I'm obviously publicly shaming my wife by doing that. And you know what? Don't criticize your spouse to anybody in our church. Don't ever go to anybody in our church or on a public forum, on a, on a group chat and just start just ripping your husband or ripping your wife and just giving this bad image of your spouse. First of all, you married them. Okay. That's number one. Number two, you know, you should love your spouse and seek to cover the multitude of sins. Okay. And, and seek to minimize, you know, the bad qualities of your spouse, especially in public, because you love that individual. Okay. Well, I don't feel like I love them anymore. Well then you need to work on it. Okay. You made a covenant before God and before others, that's something you need to work on and, and not publicly shame them and reproach them to other individuals. Okay. And so I think that's a great lesson and I think it's, it's necessary. So those, those church chats or whatever, you know, either stay off them or, or practice discretion and, and, you know, don't just divulge all this information to just anybody in our church and online. Like the posts that you make online too, on Facebook or Instagram, don't publicly just shame your children, your spouse on a post, because you're just emotional at that moment. That's on the internet forever, my friends, or on a story. Like maybe I just put on a story because it disappears in 24 hours, you know? Cause here's the thing, you post a story, you're really mad at your spouse, you're bitter towards them. So you post, you post this quote or something against them, right? You post that it goes away in 24 hours. Everyone knows who you're talking about, but then you guys make up and then you're happy again. But not everyone who read that post thinks that your spouse is a jerk still, right? They're just like, man, this person's suffering, but you don't think that cause you've already made up they got your roses or, you know, they, they made you your favorite meal or, you know, you just do what married people do, which is just kiss and make up. But then internet land doesn't get that message. See what I'm saying? And so brag on your spouse in a good way. If you, what you need to do is just reverse that. And every time you want to say something negative about your spouse, just pick out a really good quality that they have and highlight that. Like what if they don't really have good qualities? All our spouses have great qualities. You're just not looking because you're so focused on the negative. Okay. And obviously we all have things that we have to work on, but anyways, all that's free tonight. You just never know. You might, you might ask advice from a Jonadab and who might lead you astray. Okay. Definitely don't go to some unsafe person either. Some unsaved aunt who hates your church already, some unsafe cousin or whatever, who doesn't even agree with you. And you just, you're just letting loose. Definitely don't go to your, your mother or your father. You know, by the way, if you're having problems in marriage, keep those in marriage. Learn, don't, don't always run to your mom and dad every time you have a problem. You need to grow up some. Okay. If you're having an issue in your marriage, it's not like, I don't know, I'm gonna tell my mom. And you just call mom, you call dad and you just like, he's mistreating me and she doesn't do this or whatever because then your father-in-law or mother-in-law is going to have a bad view of your spouse. You guys are going to make up and they're still going to be bitter towards them. So have some discipline. And when you, when you have a disagreement, keep it within the marriage, even don't even express it to your children. No arguing before the children. Amen. You know, if you're having some sort of disagreement or argument or, you know, you guys are fighting or something, don't do it before the children. Okay. There's a lot I can say about that, but you know, I'm just, I think that's important. And you know, people sometimes don't pray for discretion and wisdom. And before you type that in, you should think to yourself, is this really what I should be doing? You know, should I really post this? Should I really say this? Should I really, you know, cause either one of two things, you're either ignorant, you lack discretion or two, you're trying to recruit people to have that same attitude towards your spouse, which is wicked. Okay. Or you're trying to make yourself look like a victim or something like, all right, let's move on here. So he just spills his guts. I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. And Jonathan said unto him, lay thee down on thy bed and make thyself sick. And when thy father cometh to see thee, saying to him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come and give me meat and dress me to my side that I may see it and eat it at her hand. And boom, that's the end of the advice. But you know what? There's enough in Amnon's heart that basically Jonathan doesn't have to say a whole lot. He's so subtle that he knows he'll get the hint. Okay. So this is a very wicked person. And this, another thing this teaches us is that, you know, you need to be aware of the company that you keep. Okay. You need to be aware of the company that you keep. You need to be aware of whether it's family members or friends, or even other Christians who could potentially give you the wrong advice and cause you to go down a dark path, you know, to commit some wicked sin, whatever it may be, who encourages you to sin. You see, we need to surround ourselves with people who exhort us in righteousness to continue in the ways of the Lord. We need to surround ourselves with people who exhort us to keep reading the word of God, to pray, to go soul winning, to go to church, to, you know, live righteously and serve God and not surround ourselves with lukewarm Christians or people who just don't agree with us, because eventually those people will influence us to be as lukewarm as they are. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. And just remember, according to Proverbs chapter four, there are evil men out there who don't sleep unless they have done some mischief and have caused some to fall. So Jonathan is just looking for an opportunity to cause Amnon to fall and it works. Look at verse number six. So Amnon lay down and made himself sick. And when the king was come to him, to see him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come and make me a couple of cakes in my sight that I may eat at her hand. Then David sent home to Tamar saying, go now to thy brother Amnon's house and dress him meet. Tamar went to her brother's Amnon's house and he was laid down and she took flour and kneaded it, made cakes in his sight and did bake the cakes. And she took a pan and poured them out before him, but he refused to eat it. So now he's acting like a baby. So he's just like, I don't want to eat, you know, this is like with my three-year-old or something. It's like, eat your food. And he's just like, no, I don't want to. He's acting like a baby. And he's being foolish here. Look what it says in verse number 11. And when she had brought them unto him to eat, he took hold of her and said unto her, come lie with me, my sister. So this is basically, he's trying to encourage her to commit this wicked act with them. Okay. Now here's the thing. We can interpret this story in two different ways. It could be that Jonadab was trying to encourage Amnon to be alone in a room with his sister in hopes that maybe his half sister would partake in this wicked act, which is why Amnon is saying, come lie with me. Right. He's basically saying, let's commit fornication. Or it could be that, you know, he basically insinuated, you know, to rape her. Okay. I will say this, if it's the first one, which is that he just intended to just have this consensual relationship with his half sister. This kind of shows us that when you decide to sin, you will commit something far more grievous than what you intended to do. You will go farther than you want it to go. In other words, because if he never intended to actually rape his sister to force her, well, that's what it comes to when you put yourself in a situation like that. Okay. He has these inhibitions, these desires, and maybe he thinks to himself, oh, she'd be willing to do this, but then she rejects him and then he forces her. Okay. So he feigns himself to be sick, which is really dumb. And of course the Bible tells us, you know, let love be without what? The simulation. So this isn't really love, is it? Because if he has to lie and say that he's sick and lie down and do all these theatrics to try to get a tame arm, then obviously it's not legitimate love. Okay. Now let me say this, is that all of us put our best foot forward when we are pursuing our spouse. Right. And when I say best foot forward, don't mistake that with we all lie or something. I'm saying, you know, we try to put the best representation of who we are out there, you know? Oh, hello. You know, you just try to be top-notch gentlemen, you know, just everything has to be in line, perfect. And then, you know, you put your best foot forward until you got them. And then it's like, this is who I really am. You're stuck. Throwing your socks all over. No, just kidding. You know, obviously, you know, we all put our best foot forward and, and, you know, that's normal, but there's a difference between that and actually lying, you know, catfishing. Right. Where you, you, you, you're faking something. And this is very common online where, you know, guys and girls will catfish by putting like either some person that's not them on the profile picture or something like that, or something that's just like photoshopped or something. It's called catfishing. Right. It's like, this is not who you really are. Okay. You know, that's, that's, that's you being deceitful. That's you feigning yourself to be something that you're actually not. And, you know, that's, that's for a Christian, especially it's wicked, you know, and, you know, if you have to fake to, you know, if you have to, if you have to deceive the person, you know, you're going to have a hard time when you're actually with them, just trying to keep up that persona or something. Like you're feigning yourself to have money. You're feigning yourself to be rich and to have all these nice possessions and to just, you know, yeah, I'm actually a CEO of a, you know, company or something like, eventually you're going to be found out. Okay. Just be yourself and, and put your best foot forward. Don't be like this guy here. Who's just like acting like he's sick. So he can, you know, extract some compassion from Tamar and hopes that, you know, he could commit this wicked act here. So he grabs a hold of her verse 12 and 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 shall 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. So Tamar is kind of reminding him of the consequences. Like you're going to be like one of the fools in Israel. And it's, by the way, it was worse than that. Right? Like he ended up dying. Now, when she says here, like go talk to the king, which is the father, cause he's not going to keep me from you. I don't think that's actually true. Okay. Cause it's, this is not a legal relationship here. According to Leviticus 18, I think this is just her last attempt to not be raped. It's like, Hey, if you just talk to dad, you know, he's not going to keep me from you. And you know, it can work out and then she can escape or something like that. But he's, he's weighing over his head here. He feels like he can't turn back or something. And then he, he ends up forcing her. It says in verse 14, how be it he would not hearken unto her voice, but being stronger than she forced her and lay with her. Okay. And so he fulfills this physical desire that he's been, he's had for a while, but look what it says in verse 15, then Amnon hated her exceedingly so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, arise and be gone. This is very sad and it's, it's, it's, it's a very tragic story. Okay. Because he thought he loved her and maybe there was some sense of love for her, you know, being his half sister or, you know, he would convince himself that he loved her a certain amount, but obviously he had the, the, the, the dominant emotion that he had was lust. Okay. Now let me explain something. Okay. Because, you know, for, for example, married couples, I think there should be both of those. Now, when we think of lust, we obviously think of it in a negative light, right? Because often the Bible paints it in a negative light, but lust simply means desire. When you desire someone physically. And I think that's just a natural desire that a spouse should have for their wife or their husband. There should be that physical attraction that you have for them, but it should also be mingled in with love. Right. Okay. You obviously have to have both and it's just like, well, no, I just love my spouse or, you know, I don't really, come on, let's just be real honest here. Okay. God made us a certain way where we're supposed to be attracted to our spouse. Okay. They, you know, that's just how we are. So I think that's a natural feeling, but God wants us to focus that emotion on our spouse. The problem is when people think that they're in love, but they're actually, it's only lust. Okay. And this is what's happening with them. And it's not a balanced thing. He doesn't have necessarily any love for her because as soon as he commits this physical act with her, when he, when he rapes her, he goes, the pendulum swings on the opposite end and now he hates her. He despises her. Okay. Now what does this teach us here? Okay. Well, first and foremost is that, you know, when you sin, okay, that sin that you're partaking in does not really fulfill what you thought it was going to deliver. Right. You know, the Bible tells us bread, uh, bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterwards thy mouth shall be filled with gravel. So it's like, you want to eat that bread for you keto guys over there, you know, you want to eat that, that, that conch. Amen. Remember the Jose, you want to eat that, that sweet bread. I'm just trying to pick out, you know, those who, who, who can't eat bread right now. He's like, man, what are you going to mention coach us? You know, you want to eat that cake or something, but then you eat it and it's just like, now your mouth is filled with gravel because it's not as satisfactory. Now it is for me, you know, what you, you know, what you call sin is not what I call sin. That's not what the Lord has spoken to me about. No, I'm just kidding. Especially teaching us that, you know, you think that sin is going to satisfy you. You think that, you know, it's, it's everything you ever, ever wanted, but then the repercussions are far greater than the actual pleasure that it delivers. And I'm not saying that sin is not pleasurable because the Bible tells us in Hebrew chapter 11, I believe it's verse number eight. It tells us that, you know, sin is pleasurable for a season. So there is pleasure. There is enjoyment in sin. However, the repercussions of sin far outweigh and overshadow the pleasure. Okay. You know, think about this. What about all the consequences that David has faced because of that one night stand that he had with Bathsheba? You know, he probably had pleasure that night, but you know what the consequences and the death of his sons far more grievous, far more painful, far more emotionally vexing than the pleasure he had. And I'm sure he would have wished that he never had done that because that's exactly how sin is. He's just like, Oh man, I just want to commit this sin. I want to drink that alcohol. I want to smoke that blunt. I want to commit this fornication. I want to do this or do that. And then when you actually do it, it's just like, your mouth is just filled with rocks and gravel. It's just not as pleasurable as you thought it was going to be. That's how it is. And you know what, this is one of the reasons why I believe that Amnon is not a reprobate because, you know, obviously reprobates are characterized by people who violate the innocent, right? You know, this is a common thing throughout the Bible, but you know, Amnon is not described as being as the son of Belial. He's not described as being the child of the devil here. But I think that one of the greatest indications is that when he does it, he actually like feels grieved over his sin. Whereas, you know, reprobates don't care. Reprobates in Judges 19 gang raped a woman all night, killed her and just left her for dead at the doorstop of her husband, of her, you know, of the guy or whatever, you know? And it's just like, they don't even care. They just move on because they're past feeling. Whereas Amnon was actually disturbed. He was angry. And the reason I believe he says, arise, go away is because basically Tamar is a reminder of this failure of his. He's like, he doesn't want her in his sight. It's a very, very tragic thing here. Okay. So he says, arise and be gone. And here's the thing is that, yeah, she can leave. She can get out of your sight, but the problem will never go away. Problem will never go away. And so, you know, he's going to, he's going to pay big time for this. Verse 16 says, and she said unto him, there is no cause. This evil in sending me away is greater than the other, that thou didst unto me, but he would not hearken unto her. Then he called the servant that ministered unto him and said, put now this woman out from me and bolt the door after her. I mean, he really thinks like she's going to try to get in, like, but he just mentally, that's what he's thinking. He's just like wanting to be as far away from me as possible. Okay. The regret, the great regret is there. He says in verse or verse 18 says, you know, of course she, she has all these, these garments of diverse colors and, and she rends them. She pours ashes on her head. She goes on crying. And so she's visibly disturbed. Obviously people are looking at her because these are the robes that the King's daughters would wear. So there's obviously, he's visibly something wrong. People can see and Absalom, her brother sees this. Look in verse number, verse 20 says, and Absalom her brother sent unto her, hath Amnon thy brother been with thee? Behold now thy peace, my sister. He is thy brother. Regard not this thing. So Tamar remained desolate in her brother's, brother Absalom's house. So Absalom was a little subtle himself. Okay. Now why is that? Because he's like, was Amnon with you? And he says, you know what, just be quiet about the whole thing. He says, be quiet. Regard not the thing. Now, why is he saying that? Is he trying to sweep it under the rug? No, he's, he's trying to play it cool because he doesn't want the King to punish Amnon. He wants to punish Amnon. Okay. So he's just like, you know, don't say anything. Just let it go. And now the gears are turning in his mind. Okay. Look at verse 21. But when the King heard of all these things, he was very Roth. But what does he do? Nothing. So David hears about his daughter being raped by his son. He's the King and he's angry, but does he do anything? No. And you know what? When sentence isn't executed speedily upon an evil work, it is, it's set in the hearts of the sons of men to do evil. When you don't punish evil doers, you don't punish a wicked act. You don't act right away. Then it gives other people a reason to behave wickedly. And that's not only true for this country. It's not only true for our state. You know, it's true even in a church setting. You know, when someone, when, when I find out or something that someone is involved in a grievous sin, if they're railing, if they are drunk, unrepentant drunkards, or, you know, whatever it may be, you know, we can't just be like, well, I'm just, you know, Oh man, they shouldn't do that. Just be Roth about it. Oh man, that's wicked. No, it's just like, we need to take care of that immediately because if there's a railer in the church who is just consistently criticizing the leadership and there's no railer right now. All right. So chill out. Okay. Everyone's like, Ooh, who's railing, you know, if there's a railer in the church, who's consistently criticizing the pastor consistently criticizing others or whatever, and it's just unrepentant about it. And the pastor does nothing that emboldens other people to do the same exact thing, believe it or not, because they know they won't be punished for it. However, when execution is when, when punishment is executed speedily, then others fear because they're just like, well, I'm going to behave myself because I don't want that to happen to me. This is a church that obviously practices church discipline. So I don't want to be on the receiving end of that. You know, I'd rather just be in the audience when someone else is getting kicked out or something, you know? And so, but David's not doing that now. Why is he not doing that? Why did he not execute justice? Well, it's probably because he was guilty of the same sin, right? I mean, he got Uriah drunk, murdered him and committed adultery. Now, obviously it's different the way he did it, you know, that she was not his half sister, but you know what? This is an attitude that he probably has of like, well, how can I punish him if I'm guilty of the same sin? What can we learn from that? Well, how about this parents, sometimes parents refuse to punish their children because they're guilty of some sin or they were guilty of some sin in the past. Like, well, I can't, you know, I can't really correct that because I was guilty of that when I was younger. But here's the thing, if you've repented of it, you got it right, and you're living a life that's pleasing unto the Lord, it's God demands you to fix that. You know, and I say that because that is common. Where parents will refuse to correct their child or correct their son, their daughter, if they're older, because, you know, they were guilty of some more grievous sin than that. And so they think it would be hypocritical to correct their children over something that was more minuscule than the sins that they committed back in the day. But you know, the Bible tells us is that if you've already removed the beam from your eye, you can see clearly to remove the mote out of someone else's. So, you know, if you're not in sin, if you've already taken care of that, if you're living righteously, well, then take care of disciplining your children. Okay. But it looks like David is following the footsteps of Eli, and yet even Samuel, because Eli and Samuel were pretty bad dads. I don't mean bad like cool. I mean, like, they're bad dads, like they just, Eli raised reprobates. And, you know, Samuel didn't, I don't think Samuel raised reprobates, but they're pretty bad too. You know, they weren't necessarily men of good reputation in Israel. And you know what, David is not necessarily being the best father here. He's not correcting his children. He's not restraining them. He's not punishing the iniquity that they've committed. Okay. Which works to Absalom's advantage. So look at verse 22, and Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon, neither good nor bad for Absalom hated Amnon because he had forced his sister Tamar. And it came to pass after two full years that Absalom had sheep shearers in Belhazor, which is beside Ephraim and Absalom invited all the king's sons. So let me give you a brief rundown what's taking place here. Absalom, this guy's patient. I mean, two full years. Now, this shows you that people can hold a grudge for a very long time. Right? I mean, I've known people that have held grudges for like years, decades. Okay. I've known women. I mean, I've known, you know, people who have just held bitterness for a very long time. Okay. Absalom is doing it because he wants the dust to settle. He wants Amnon to think he's safe. He wants maybe David and others to just kind of see, well, you know, it looks like Absalom has gotten over it. This is just a bad thing that happened and nothing more. So then he has this, it says he has sheep shearers in Belhazor. And what I'm assuming this is referring to is just, there's some sort of celebration that he's having that would be customary to have people over and his brothers, his sisters, maybe even his father. So then later, when he's about to have a celebration, so he invites his father and his father's servants to come. And David basically is just like, no, because we don't want to be chargeable to you. He's basically saying like, you know, you're going to spend too much. So then he's just like, okay, next best thing. Well, just let me invite all my brothers then. So you can see like the gears are turning. He's trying to make, he probably knows that David was not going to come because he's a king. He's busy. It's going to cost a lot. He has a lot of servants. So then he's just like, well, someone should come. So why not like my brothers? And then he says, allow Amnon to come. Now, David is privy to this and he's just kind of like, why Amnon? Why do you want Amnon to come? But Absalom is very importune towards David and he presses him, he presses him and finally he allows him to come. He gives him permission, permission, not only for Amnon to come, but all of his sons. Okay. Look down at your Bibles at verse number 28. And Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, marking 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, very valiant to just jump somebody. You know, Allah, what do you call it? Julius Caesar and just kind of just who knows what they did to pray, just stabbed him to death or something. It says in verse 29, servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded, that all the king's sons arose and ever man, got him up upon his mule and fled. So they, they murder Amnon and then all the king's sons, they basically flee. So as they're leaving, David gets word that all his sons are dead, which by the way, is another lesson for us. Okay. Sometimes people like to blow things out of proportion. Got to be careful where you get your news from me, man. It's like, everyone died. And it's just like only Amnon died. Like all your sons are dead. All of them are dead. You know, the guy doesn't know what he's talking about. And then his sons are just coming back. They're just like, you know, we escaped that. But someone obviously is very, you know, they're exaggerating here and you know what you need to be careful exaggerating so much when you, when you give some news. Okay. And make sure you're accurate. So how do you think David feels when he hears about like all his sons dying? He's like, Oh, I'm like Job. You know, he just loses all his sons. Look at verse number 32. And Jonathan, the son of Shimea, David's brother answered and said, Let not my Lord suppose that they have slain all the young men, the king's sons. For Amnon only is dead for by the appointment of Absalom, this has been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar. Now, how does he know that? Right? Now, therefore, let not my Lord the king take the thing to his heart to think that all the king's sons are dead. For Amnon only is dead. So he's there to comfort David. He's helping them. He's just like, Hey, don't take this thing to heart. They're fine. They're safe. It's only Amnon that passed away. Verse 34. But Absalom fled. And the young man that kept the watch lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, there came much people by the way of the hillside behind him. And Jonathan said unto the king, behold, the king's sons come to the king. Behold, the king's sons come as thy servant said, so it is. He's like, See, I'm right. So it's in my opinion that, you know, Jonadab is doing this to kind of gain credit or get credit with David. You know, he's there to help Amnon commit this sin. And he's also there to kind of bring tidings to Amnon is dead. Okay. And so, you know, it kind of seems as though he's doing this to just benefit himself. And it came to pass as soon as he had made an end of speaking, that behold, the king's sons came and lifted up their voice and wept and the king also and all his servants wept very sore. But Absalom fled and went to Talmai, the son of Amohad, king of Gesher, and David mourned for his son every day. So Absalom fled and went to Gesher and was there three years and the soul of the king. David longed to go forth into Absalom for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead. So this actually ends up sparking a major war between David and Absalom. Okay. Which we're going to spend a lot of the book here discussing that and talking about that. But the main thing that we can learn from chapter 13 is do not be an Amnon. Okay. And by do not be an Amnon, I mean, this is don't keep the same company that Amnon kept. And look, you know, when he says a friend, who was it? It was his cousin. Sometimes the most dangerous people that you can have around you are other family members. Now, this is not a cult. They're saying, are your family members off your life or whatever? Because many of you, your family members are here, right? I mean, not everyone, but you know, my family members are here, you know, all my kids and my wife, you know, and my mom, my mom, you know, and, you know, but some of you, you have your mom here, your dad here, you got, you're here with your brother. Do you have a sister here, brother and sister? Are there brothers and sisters here? Maybe not now. You know, that, you know, you have some, maybe you have a cousin here or something like that. But here's the thing is that sometimes we think to ourselves, well, our family members would never do that to us, right? Well, I mean, Jonathan did it to his. So we need to make sure that we suspect no one, but trust no one kind of thing and recognize like, hey, you know, I need to be careful who I divulge the deepest inner recesses thoughts of my heart and not just give them to just any Tom, Dick and Harry either, you know, don't give them to your contemporaries in church who don't know anything about life past their age. You know, you need to, you need to go someone who actually has some wisdom and maturity about that subject and, and don't, and here's the thing, don't go to multiple people until you get the, the, the advice you want either. Right? Like, I think I should do this. You asked brother Paul, brother Paul's like, nope. He's like, okay, well, thanks. Let me go ask someone else instead. Brother John, you know, I think I should do this. You think? No. All right. Hmm. Maybe, maybe your brother Ulysses will actually, you know, brother Ulysses, I think I should do this. Pastor says, you shouldn't do that. Okay. Who else can I, and you're just kind of going around until you get the answer that you want. Okay. So the way you minimize that is by first and foremost, just asking the right person right off the bat. Right. Or two, if you do have a cabinet of counselors, because in the multitude of counselors, there is safety, you know, and they're all credible, then just be happy with that one. Okay. But typically what I've learned is that when people go to different counselors, it's not because they want to do right. It's because they basically want someone to give them the answer that they want. Okay. Anyways, don't be an amnon or, or don't keep a cousin like John and Deb around. And so that's pretty much it. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the story. Please bless us, Lord, and give us wisdom. Help us as your people to avoid the evil man, Lord. And I pray, Father God, that you'd give us discretion. And I pray, Lord, that you'd also help us, Lord, as your people to, to make sure that we execute punishment speedily upon those who deserve it, Lord, and not, not seek to minimize the consequence just because we failed in a certain area in times past, Lord. If we've been forgiven of you and we've repented, we have that responsibility to make sure that we carry out justice, Lord. And I pray that you bless us as we go on our way. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. All right. We have one last song. Song number 10, Near the Cross. Song 10, Near the Cross. Everyone, all together nice and strong. Jesus, keep me near the cross. There, a precious mountain free to all a healing stream flows from Calvary's mountain. In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. Near the cross, a trembling soul, love and mercy found me. There, the bright and morning star sheds its beams around me. In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. Here, the cross, O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me. Help me walk from day to day with its shadows o'er me. Be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. Near the cross, I'll watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever till I reach the golden strand just beyond the river. In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river.