need to be saved, that we could just bring a gospel
soul winner into their life.
He would soften their heart, and that they would be willing
to believe on you.
And we just thank you for your free gift and all you give us.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
On the back, we have the note about our upcoming events.
We have July 31st, a song leading class.
And I really wanted to teach an extra aspect of some dynamics
and stuff, but I'm going to be in LA this Sunday.
So we're going to extend the song leading
class an additional Sunday.
So I'll also be here, and we're going
to do another song leading class August 7th.
So that should be one more song leading class,
and we'll kind of talk about some
of the dynamics and other aspects of song leading.
And then August 18th to the 20th,
we have our men's conference.
Pastor Aaron Thompson is coming down,
and he's going to be preaching for us.
He's also going to be preaching for us on Sunday.
So even if you can't make the men's conference,
he'll be here and be preaching for us,
and it'll be a great blessing to have him out here.
He's a really good friend of mine.
And I don't know if he gave us Dylan
or was happy to give us Dylan, but you know.
I'm just kidding.
But we know he had to give us Jasmine, so you know.
It was kind of a package deal, right?
But no, he's a great friend of ours,
and he's always been really encouraging and supportive
of our church, and we love them back.
And so I'm really excited for him
to be traveling out here to preach to us.
Also, we had the congratulations to Ever and Eve Garcia
on the birth of their baby boy, Leo Judah.
He was born July 15th, 4 48 AM, weighing 5 pounds 13 ounces
and measuring 21 inches long.
So congratulations to them.
And it's great to see that these prayer lists turn
into fruition, you know?
And you get to see the fruition of that pregnancy list.
And so praise the Lord for that.
Those are the greatest announcements.
That's pretty much all I have for announcements at this time.
Let's go ahead and go to our third song for the evening,
356, I Must Tell Jesus.
That's page 356.
I must tell Jesus all of my trials.
I cannot bear these burdens alone.
In my distress, he kindly will help me.
He ever loves and cares for his own.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can help me.
Jesus alone.
I must tell Jesus all of my troubles.
He is a kind, compassionate friend.
If I but ask him, he will deliver,
make up my troubles quickly and end.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can help me.
Jesus alone.
Tempted and tried, I need a great Savior,
one who can help my burdens to bear.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
he all my cares and sorrows will share.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
Jesus can help me burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
Oh, how the world to evil allures me.
Oh, how my heart is tempted to say.
I must tell Jesus, he can help me.
Over the world, the victory to win.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
Good job.
As the offering plates are being passed around,
turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel 13.
2 Samuel chapter 13.
The Bible reads, and 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 Shema, 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?
Wilt thou not tell me?
And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother, Absalom's
sister.
And Jonadab said unto him, lay thee down on thy bed
and make thyself sick.
And when thy father cometh to see thee, say unto him,
I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come and give me meat,
and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see it
and eat it at her hand.
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 he had made,
and brought them into the chamber to 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.
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, 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 he, she,
but being stronger than she, forced her, and laid with her.
Then Amnon hated her exceedingly,
so that the hatred wherewith he hated her
was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her.
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 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 shearers in 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 shearers,
let the king I beseech thee and his servants
go with thy servant.
And the king said to Absalom, nay my son,
let us not all now go, lest we be chargeable unto thee.
And he pressed him, howbeit he would not go,
but blessed him.
Then said Absalom, if not, I pray thee,
let my brother Amnon go with us.
And the king said unto him, why should he go with thee?
But Absalom pressed him, that he let Amnon
and all the king's sons go with him.
Now Absalom had commanded his servants saying,
mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine.
And when I say unto you, smite Amnon, then kill him.
Fear not, have not I commanded you?
Be courageous and be valiant.
And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon
as Absalom had commanded.
Then all the king's sons arose and every man
got him upon his mule and fled.
And it came to pass while they were in the way
that tidings came to David saying,
Absalom hath slain all the king's sons
and there is not one of them left.
Then the king arose and tear his garment
to lay out the earth and all his servants stood by
their clothes rent.
And Jonadab, the son of Shema, 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 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 only is 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 sons 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 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 Amahud,
king of Gishur, and David mourned for his son every day.
So Absalom fled and went to Gishur and was there three years
and the soul of king David longed to go forth into Absalom
for he was comforted concerning Amnon seeing he was dead.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you so much for this opportunity
to be in church tonight.
We pray that you bless Pastor Shelley
and the sermon that you've laid on his heart.
Lord, we pray that you would minimize distractions for us
so we can focus and apply this message to our hearts.
In Jesus name we pray, amen.
Amen.
So we're in 2 Samuel chapter number 13.
And in chapter number 12, we had David committing adultery
with his neighbor's wife.
And God had told David that essentially there
was going to be a punishment for committing that type of a sin.
And one thing that you have to think about,
and this is kind of not necessarily spelled out
in the Bible, but you see is a common pattern,
is that the sins of the father often
are mirrored by the children.
You can really see this in the kings of Israel
where the Bible often describe a king, how
he follows in the footsteps of his father,
or he does the same type of wicked sins as his father.
And it's not just them.
It's just a consistent pattern.
You can even see things like this with Abraham and even
his son Isaac.
They both kind of pretend like their wives or their sisters.
And it's weird.
It's like, why did they both do that?
It's typically, though, because monkey see, monkey do.
And a lot of the things that a parent does,
the children are going to pay attention.
They're going to notice.
They're going to see.
And when they see their father commit a wicked sin,
sometimes it emboldens them to also commit a sin like that
or even go further or do something even worse.
Sometimes there's that phrase that people
say what the parents do in moderation,
the children do in excess.
And so that's why it's really important as a parent
to think about the consequences of your actions
not only in relation to yourself but also your children.
It's not really a coincidence to me
that David, we don't really hear much about his sons, good
or bad.
All of a sudden, David commits a horrible sin.
And then the next chapter, all of a sudden,
his kids are getting into really wicked sin
and doing a lot of bad things likewise.
It could also be related from the context
if David's letting himself slip, how much more
than is he potentially slack in his parenting,
slack in his children's instruction
or being there for his children and everything like that.
So I want you to kind of keep that in mind.
Look at verse 1.
The Bible says, and 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.
One thing you have to note about David's family
is they're all very attractive, like all
of the people in the lineage of David
and, significantly, whose lineage, ultimately, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the root and offspring of David.
So that's where the attractiveness came from,
and it's going to go back to Jesus.
So some of you have this idea of Jesus being ugly or something.
That's stupid, all right?
Look at verse number 2.
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 Amnon has a strange infatuation with his sister.
It's causing him to be sick, as it were.
And it's kind of gross, but it's like he almost
wishes his sister was a harlot so that he
could be doing bad things.
But it says in verse 3, but Amnon had a friend.
So think about it this way.
Amnon is not strong enough to commit a wicked sin on his own,
but he had a friend.
But Amnon had a friend.
You know, I guarantee there's a lot of sins
out there that a lot of people commit,
and they wouldn't be able to do it by themselves,
but they had a friend.
Or I wouldn't have gone there, but I had a friend.
I wouldn't have said that, but I had a friend.
I wouldn't have stolen that, but I had a friend.
I wouldn't have drank that, but I had a friend.
And you know what, this is really
the theme of this chapter, is bad friends
and bad relationships.
And we should never think that the relationships we have
or the people we surround ourselves with
won't affect us, because it absolutely will.
I know myself included, especially in college,
depending on what crowd I'm with,
I was a completely different person.
You know, you're a certain person around mom and dad.
You're a certain person around your brothers and sisters.
You're a certain person around your friends.
You're a certain person at work.
You're a certain person in school.
Even in school itself, I remember
there were classes where if I was around my friends
or I was around people that I liked
or could get a good reaction out of,
I would be like the class clown.
I would ham it up, and I would constantly
be sarcastic and make the teacher's life miserable.
And I kind of had a bad reputation.
But there were some classes where I never spoke,
and I was very quiet and very well behaved in the class.
And it was simply for the one fact
that I didn't have any friends in the class.
I'm just kind of there by myself,
or I'm kind of out of place.
Especially in high school sometimes,
especially if you do advanced classes,
you can be in a class where you're not around a lot of people
your same age.
Like you're in a more advanced class or vice versa.
So it'd be sometimes when I'm in a class with all upper
classmates.
There's seniors or juniors, and I'm a sophomore or freshman.
And because of that environment, I kind of am more shy
or more timid.
And I just remember one time, one of my teachers,
she was like, she got onto me, and she's just like,
I don't understand you, Jonathan,
because when I talk to all my other teacher friends,
you're like the worst student, and you're so annoying,
but you never say anything in this class.
And she was like, when we talked to each other,
it was like, we couldn't even believe we were talking
about the same student.
And it was just because of the influence of the people
around me.
And really, it's not to say that you're a different person,
because you're really the same.
It's just that bad people can bring bad things out of you.
And so we have to be careful who we put in our lives
and people we surround ourselves with,
because they can bring the worst out of us.
The Bible talks about iron sharpening iron.
So what you really want to do is you
want to surround yourself with people
that are better than you, sharper than you,
are going to motivate you to do the right thing, not
that bad friend.
You'd rather be around the friend that's
going to tell you not to gossip than your gossiping gal.
And you'd rather be around the friend that'll
call you ugly and fat than the guy that says, you look good,
you want another burger, and shake.
So depending on what friend you surround yourself with,
it's going to have an immediate effect on who you are
and how you behave.
You know children.
I notice that children will often obey or disobey
very directly related to the friends that they're around.
You know, they're around certain friends.
They're kind of normal.
They're around other friends.
They're wild and rebellious.
They say things they shouldn't.
They do things they shouldn't.
And so it's very important that we recognize our inability
to sometimes prevent bad behavior when we surround
ourselves with bad people.
And really, the thing is sometimes you can't fix you.
You just have to get away from that person.
The best thing for Amnon would have never
had a friend named Jonah Dapp.
Now let's keep reading.
But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonah Dapp,
the son of Shimea, David's brother.
And Jonah Dapp was a very subtle man.
Here's another thing you have to understand.
The devil and those that are super wicked
are always very subtle, meaning that they don't come out
and stand on the street corner and protest you
with a big sign.
Obviously, they're wicked.
But the really wicked people, they
pretend like they're your friend.
They pretend like they're a fundamental Baptist.
They pretend like they're the righteous preacher,
the righteous guy, whoever.
But actually, they're extremely wicked.
And they just use really subtle tactics to get in there
and to slice and to dice and to ruin things and destroy things.
Because the devil himself transforms himself
into a minister of light, and so do all of his ministers.
So of course, we realize there's certain loot
fellows of the baser sort.
But they're pawns of the devil.
They're not the masterminds.
The masterminds are the ones who put on a big show.
And they act like, oh, I'm Mr. Spiritual.
And I do all the things that are right.
And you have to kind of pay attention.
You have to check for that subtlety.
They like to pray.
But then when they pray to daddy, you're like, OK.
Well, this guy's wicked.
I've never met a guy that prays to daddy and wasn't wicked.
All right?
But you know, they're praying.
And they make it seem like they love the Lord.
And they pretend like they're a Baptist.
And they pretend like they're righteous.
But you know what?
They're really subtle.
And they're the super wicked people.
They actually employ the certain loot fellows of the baser sort.
They actually get in there.
And they do all kinds of serious damage
because that's what the devil is really like.
So Jonah Dabb is kind of a picture
of the devil in the Bible, and especially in this story.
He says in verse 4, and he said on him,
this is Jonah Dabb speaking, why art thou long
being the king's son, lean from day to day?
Wilt thou not tell me?
And Amnon said on him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's
sister.
Jonah Dabb said on him, lay thee down on my bed,
take thyself sick.
And when thy father cometh to see thee, say on them,
I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come and give me meat
and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see it
and eat it at her hand.
Now, one thing you have to pay attention here
to is how similar Jonah Dabb and Amnon's conversation
is with that of Eve in the garden and the devil.
Because in both cases, there's someone coming along
that's being subtle.
The Bible talks about the serpent was more cunning
than any beast of the field.
And in both cases, they're kind of trying
to tempt their victim with some kind of sin
that they internally desire.
So Eve internally desires to eat of the forbidden fruit
from the tree in the midst of the garden.
And Amnon has kind of got this desire, inappropriate desire,
for his sister.
They're not going to, you know, the devil isn't going to sin,
isn't going to force you to sin.
What the devil's going to do is he's
going to kind of put the plan out there
and put the idea out there.
You know, hey, why don't you just go ahead
and take that fruit?
You know, you'll become wise.
You'll become a god.
You'll be like god.
Or hey, why don't you just entice your sister
to come over here, and here's a plan.
Here's how you can sin.
Here's a way that you could do this wicked thing.
And really, that's a lot of times
what the devil does is he just plants
a thought into your mind.
Or a bad friend, they just plant a really wicked thought
in your mind and try to suggest it to you to try and tempt you
to do it.
And it's important that you just try to not have these thoughts.
How do I not have these thoughts?
Well, number one, don't have a bad friend.
Number two, cast down imaginations
and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God.
When you start feeling like you're
going down a wrong bad path mentally,
you try to forcibly have a good thought
or do something different.
Change your surroundings.
Change your environment.
Change what you're doing.
Change the conversation.
You know, maybe you can't just run out of there screaming,
but you have somebody giving you a bad idea,
just change the conversation right away.
And this is where evil starts is it starts in the mind.
It starts with the thoughts, it starts with the planning.
He puts out this wicked idea.
Keep your finger and go to Proverbs 11 for a second.
Go to Proverbs chapter 11.
We have to be careful about the ideas that get planted
in our mind.
And you know, that's why the devil loves the television.
That's why the devil loves movies.
That's why the devil loves music,
because they have these little subtle messages,
these little subtle ideas of how to sin.
And it's sometimes inescapable.
Especially, man, you go to the gym,
and depending on what gym you go to,
they just blast wicked music.
And I mean, because I am not really
listening to it on a regular basis, now all of a sudden,
when I hear it, I actually kind of think about the lyrics.
And it's just like these lyrics of these musics
in the 80s and the 90s are very wicked,
because they're always suggesting
committing fornication, committing adultery,
going to the bar, getting drunk, that person that you've
been secretly desiring, finally going for it,
finally inviting them over, finally going across the edge.
And it's just like a bunch of Jonah dabs
just singing to you all day long.
And so you could even potentially have no friends,
but you let Zeppelin be your friend,
or you let Aerosmith be your friend.
These are the 80s and 90s, right?
I don't even know.
New music today just sucks so bad nobody even plays it.
But you just let all of these bands, ACDC, Kid Rock, Dr.
Dre, Snoop Dogg, you just let whoever it is just
be your friend, be your Jonah dab.
And they just come and whisper in your ear.
You watch the television show, and they just
have that commercial.
They have that scene.
They have whatever, and they just plant these really wicked
ideas into your mind, just constantly just overload.
And you'll end up realizing that you end up
doing these things as a result of that initial temptation,
that initial idea being thrown out there.
Look at Proverbs chapter 11, verse 27.
He that diligently seeketh good procureth favor.
But he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.
Now, here's a question.
Is Jonah dabs' suggestion to Amnon diligently seeking good?
Or is it seeking mischief against Tamar?
Because he's not saying, hey, why don't you just
ask Tamar out, which we're going to see why that's even
a problem anyways.
But he's saying, why don't you trick her and get her alone
with you in a bad situation?
And you know what, when you seek mischief against others,
God often has a sense of humor of repaying you
with the exact same thing that you did to someone else.
Go back to 2 Samuel chapter 13.
In fact, the Bible, I mean, it's so incredible
how almost every time someone seeks mischief
against God's people, God does the exact same thing to them.
You got Pharaoh throwing babies in the river,
baby boys in the river.
And then he just throws his entire army into the river.
You have Haman make the gallows for Mordecai.
And then who's hung on the gallows?
Haman.
You got the guys throwing Daniel into the lion's den.
And guess who gets thrown in the lion's den?
The guys that accused Daniel falsely,
the presidents that basically wanted to go after him.
And so often throughout the Bible,
God has a sense of humor to bring
upon the wicked their mischievous devices,
their wicked devices.
So if you're going to trick somebody in a bad situation,
maybe that's going to happen to Haman.
Look what it says in verse 6.
So Amnon lay down, made himself sick.
And when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the king,
I prayed he let Tamar my sister come and make me
a couple cakes in my sight that I may eat at her hand.
And David sent home to Tamar saying, go now
to thy brother Amnon's house and dress in meat.
Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house
and he was laid down.
And she took flour and kneaded and made cakes in his side
and baked the cakes.
And she took a pan and poured them out before him.
But he refused to eat.
And Amnon said, have out all the 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 thy hand.
And Tamar took the cakes which she had made and brought them
in the chamber to Amnon her brother."
Man, this chick is like awesome.
She'll just make food and serve you just hand and foot.
She's like a really great woman, isn't she?
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.
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, 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."
Now, in this little trap, it must
have taken Tamar by surprise.
Because in her quest to come into the room,
she's supposing he's sick.
She's supposing he can't even get off the bed or something.
That's why she has to literally hand feed this guy.
So him kind of sprouting up and grabbing her
immediately makes it clear to her there's something off.
Because, think about it, she thought he was sick.
Obviously, he's not sick, so she's thinking,
what's going on?
Took her by surprise.
Now, she tells him in verse 12 that he shouldn't do this.
And she's worried about enforcing her, probably
because of the situation.
Because it wasn't just a normal, casual conversation.
This is like a trick, some kind of a trap.
But she also says that if they did this, it would be a folly,
and he would be a fool, and their shame would never go out.
Well, there's a reason.
Keep your finger and go to Leviticus 20.
Leviticus chapter 20, our favorite book of the Bible.
No, I'm just kidding.
That's just what Alberto says, so I go with it, all right?
Leviticus chapter number 20.
But we did memorize it as a church.
Look at verse number 17.
And if man shall take his sister, his father's daughter,
or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness,
and she see his nakedness, it is a wicked thing.
And they shall be cut off in the sight of their people.
He hath uncovered his sister's nakedness.
He shall bear his iniquity.
So according to the Bible, if a brother and sister were
to have relations, they were supposed
to be kicked out and shunned from the nation.
It was a very shameful thing.
It was a folly that's not allowed
to exist in the nation of Israel.
So that's why she's bringing up these statements like,
why would we do this?
We're going to get banished.
We're going to be thrown out of the entire country
if we do such a shameful act.
This isn't New Jersey, OK?
It's not legal, right?
I guess New Jersey it is, but not here.
Go back if you would to the chapter.
I used to think Kentucky was who I should make fun of, but man.
I guess it's Jersey.
In Second Samuel chapter number 13,
one other thing I thought was interesting,
though, is she said something like, why don't you
just ask the king, because he won't withhold me from thee.
I can't say for sure why she said that,
but my thought was that she's possibly just trying
to get out of the situation.
And maybe she thinks Amnon doesn't know the law
and would be stupid enough to actually ask his father
for her marriage, which would tip off the father
that there's something really off about Amnon.
Amnon's got some perverted ideas here.
Kind of similar is Solomon and Adonijah,
because Adonijah was his brother.
And not to get too far into the weeds on this,
but Adonijah ended up asking for David's previous wife,
Abishag.
And that alerted Solomon to how wicked Adonijah was
and ended up summoning his death.
So perhaps she, in her mind, not knowing what to say,
she's just like, oh, just ask dad.
He'll figure it out.
And of course, she's appealing to her father,
because she is the daughter of David
and Amnon is the daughter of David.
So it violates Leviticus chapter number 20.
It's off limits.
Of course, it's gross to all of us
that have natural affections for someone
to be with their sister or half-sister
in this particular case.
But for whatever reason, he has this inordinate affection.
And he's allowed the devil, through the work of Jonadab,
to give him this really wicked idea.
But nevertheless, because she's weaker,
Amnon's able to have his way.
Look what it says in verse 14.
Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice,
but being stronger than she, forced her and lay with her.
Then Amnon hated her exceedingly,
so that the hatred worth he hated her
was greater than the love wherewith he had to love her.
And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone.
And she said unto them, 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.
Now, this is kind of an interesting dialogue.
He ends up being with his sister, which is super wicked.
But then that now causes him to hate her.
Why does he hate her now?
I don't know.
I mean, a couple of thoughts would be,
perhaps he despises his sister because she didn't really
want to be with him, right?
Maybe in his idea, in his mind, she was going to like him.
And I don't think that anybody really
wants to be with someone that just utterly detests them
and abhors them.
So just the fact that she wasn't really interested,
it caused him to be like, well, this is terrible.
I don't want to be with some woman that
doesn't even want to be with me.
Another thing is the fact that once you kind of lose
your virginity, sometimes you lose your luster.
And this happens a lot where guys will
lie with a woman liking her.
And then after they lied with her, they hate her.
And now they want nothing to do with her.
That's why it's important to get married and not
commit fornication because there's infatuation.
And sometimes the men that are willing to do
that are really easy to just move on and go
to the next thing.
They look at you as devalued now.
They despise them.
They're not as interested in that person.
And really, it could be because the only thing that they
had value or the only reason they liked you
was for that one reason.
And now that you've given it to them,
there's nothing they really like about you.
And so that's why it's important not to allow yourself
to be in that situation.
Honestly, I think the plan was pretty crafty,
but Tamar should have brought somebody else in there with her.
Like, why did all the men have to go out?
Or why couldn't she have taken another maiden in with her
or taken another servant with her?
It's really just best if you just
get in the habit of just never being alone
with the opposite gender, period.
This is a really wild story, but at the same time,
what if she had drugged some other people with her?
It would have changed the dialogue, changed the plan.
Remember, Amnon didn't have enough courage
to do things by himself, typically,
but this plan kind of went according as he thought.
If there had been some kind of alteration to his plan,
he may not have actually carried forth this wicked action,
or someone could have been alerted.
Another thing that's kind of interesting
here is according to the Bible, when a man forces a woman,
she's supposed to scream.
And we don't have that recorded in the Bible,
so I don't know exactly what happened here.
But obviously, she should have tried to alert people,
tried to said something really loud.
I mean, I don't know how big this house is.
I don't know how far away the servants were.
The Bible does say he kind of forced her,
but at the same time, when it comes to these situations,
we don't know exactly why.
She didn't scream or what happened.
But another thing is she's really upset
that he's now casting her way.
And I'm like, I don't get that.
But this is what I think, and this is just
my personal opinion, is that now that she's
kind of damaged goods, she may just be a virgin,
or not a virgin, she may be alone for the rest of her life,
basically never having a husband.
And just that to her is worse than being
with a pretty crappy guy, or a bad guy, or whatever.
And so to her, she's just kind of like, well, that's terrible.
You basically ruined me, and then now you
don't even want me?
It's like, that's terrible.
Why can't we at least just be together still and have
some kind of relationship?
And so it's really confusing for her.
She's just devastated.
It's all awful.
There's no good thing.
This is a horrible chapter in the Bible.
But I think there's also some significance to it spiritually.
Look at verse 18.
And she had a garment of divers colors upon her.
For with such robes were the king's daughters
that were virgins appareled.
Then his servant brought her out and bolted the door after her.
And Tamar put ashes on her head and rent
her garment of divers colors that was on her,
and laid her hand on her head and went on crying.
So all the virgins in this area have a special garment
of divers colors.
And because she's lost her virginity,
she ends up renting it, which shows that she's been defiled.
Well, this is where I think the spiritual significance kind
of comes into play.
Let's think about a couple of things.
And I'm not going to turn over.
Go to Isaiah 42.
But in Genesis 37, there's another character in our Bible
that has a divers color garment.
It's Joseph.
And when Joseph is killed, his brethren
take his garment of divers colors, dips it in blood,
and then presents it to their father as evidence
that Joseph was killed.
And when we went through the book of Genesis,
we looked at that story as being a picture of how
the divers colors is kind of a picture of the Gentiles,
all nations, and how the blood of the gospel of Jesus Christ
is for the entire world, and how that
his death was going to bring reconciliation
to the whole world, and that Jesus
died for every single person.
So we kind of keep that same picture.
What is this picture of divers colors?
Well, it's kind of a picture of the Gentiles of all the nations,
right?
But we have a different story than what we had in Joseph.
In this one, it comes under Amnon.
Amnon, if you study the Bible, is the first born of David.
So he would essentially get the inheritance.
He's the first born.
He's kind of a picture of Israel.
So you have Israel, and you have the Gentiles,
and you have the Gentiles coming under Israel,
and then Israel breaking and defiling the Gentiles.
Well, look at Isaiah chapter 42, and look at verse number 5.
And they're brethren, which technically we are brethren.
We're all brethren, in a sense.
Isaiah 42, verse 5, thus saith God the Lord,
he that created the heavens and stretched them out,
he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out
of it, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it,
and spirit to them that walk therein.
I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness,
and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee,
and give thee for a covenant of the people,
for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes,
to bring out the prisoners from the prison,
and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory,
will I not give to another, neither my praise
to graven images.
Now, I'm kind of taking a really broad perspective of the Bible
here for a second.
But if you think about it, Israel
was supposed to be a special nation chosen by God,
set apart from all the other nations,
to then be a light to shine unto all the heathen nations,
so that the gospel, so that the word of God,
could be spread abroad, and the Gentile nations
could be drawn to the Lord, desire to be saved.
Well, what did Israel do?
Israel did not follow God's commandments,
Israel did not hearken unto the Lord, and what did they do?
They called for the heathen nations to come unto them,
and to bring their false gods, and to bring their evil.
And a lot of times, it came through the sin of fornication.
We see, even in the wilderness, a lot of these people
were taking unto them strange wives, and things like that.
So they ended up committing a wicked sin
by bringing on the Gentiles unto them.
Kind of like how Amnon is bringing his sister
Tamar unto him, which is a wicked sin, and defiling them.
After the Jews and Israel took them unto them,
they ended up casting them back out, though.
And at the time of Christ, if you think about it,
who do the Jews hate more than anybody on the planet?
The Gentiles.
And as much as they loved them at first
to bring in all their idolatry, and their paganism,
and their fornication, they ended up
hating the Gentiles even more than they ever loved them.
And if you think about it, that's kind of a picture
that we have here with Amnon and Tamar,
how the children of Israel brought the heathen unto them,
defiled them, and then they cast them out,
and they caused them to just basically be
in shame and reproach, and just pure hatred for them.
Well, that's going to make God really mad at Israel.
And now he's going to have to deal with Amnon.
So it's kind of a similar, from a broad perspective,
they kind of have this same parallel.
Go to Matthew 21.
Go to Matthew chapter 21.
What should their relationship have been?
It should have been a separate relationship
where Amnon is setting a good example,
and Tamar's following in that example.
What should have been?
Israel should have been setting forth a good example
so that the Gentile nations could follow that good example
and could have gotten saved, and they shouldn't have been mixed.
They should have never been mingled together.
Same with Amnon and Tamar should have never
been mixed and mingled.
But that mingling ended up causing
a lot of sin, horrible stuff, and then
a divide that was even greater than the mixture.
In Matthew 21, we kind of see the culmination
and the punishment of Israel in Matthew chapter 21
because they didn't do what the Lord had instructed them.
Says in Matthew 21, look at verse 43.
And this is a pretty famous verse,
if you believe the Bible.
Therefore say unto you, the kingdom of God
shall be taken from you and given to a nation,
bringing forth the fruits thereof.
So just like Amnon is the first born,
and he deserves the inheritance, and he
would get all of David's kingdom,
what's going to happen?
All of that inheritance and blessing
is going to be taken from Amnon and given
to someone else that's going to actually produce them.
And so we kind of have a lot of these little pictures here
from a broad perspective.
Go view it back to 2 Samuel chapter 13.
2 Samuel chapter 13.
So again, it's a really weird story.
It's kind of gruesome.
It's hard to read.
But at the same time, the ugliness of this chapter
is the same as the ugliness of Israel towards the Lord
and what they did to the Gentiles
and how they hated the Gentiles and how they still
hate the Gentiles and cast them out
and wanted nothing to do with them.
And that was wicked.
That was even worse.
You know, it's one thing to bring
false religion in your house.
It's another thing to then throw them out.
Because think about it.
What if you brought some Catholic in your house
and you participated in some Catholic garbage,
but then eventually got them saved?
That'd be bad, but it turned out OK.
But you then throw them out, and then they still go to hell.
It's like, what good was that?
You know, at least get them saved or something.
At least help them anyway.
Yet what Amnon did to Tamar is just destroyed her
and then just cast her out and did nothing for her.
Look at verse 20.
And Absalom and 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 King David heard of all these things, he was very wroth.
So notice that Tamar ends up being desolate
in her brother's house.
And I mean, I think that's why she said being cast out
was so bad is, look, now she's just alone and just it's bad.
David's very wroth.
But you know, not only should he be wroth,
he should deal with that.
Like Deuteronomy said.
And Deuteronomy puts the death penalty
on someone that would force another person.
And not on Tamar, but on Amnon.
And you know what, that could help Tamar move on.
It's sick that we live in a culture
where rapists are not put to death so that victims
can't move on.
And you know, there's even stories.
There's tons of women that will talk
about how they were victimized.
And then eight years later, seven years later,
their perpetrator is let loose.
And they go by their house, or they text them,
or they message them just to haunt them.
Just on a daily basis.
I mean, what kind of a wicked society do we live in
when we let rapists get anything other than six feet under?
I mean, it's just bizarre.
You know, it must be a bunch of rapists
that are in charge of our government then.
Because the only way I figure it is
for you to tolerate pedophilia and rape,
you must be a pedophile and a rapist.
Because normal people hate this stuff and despise it.
It's not even hard to convince them.
You know, it'd be nice if we could get less rapists
and pedophiles in our government.
Maybe some Christians would actually run for office one day.
Look at verse 22.
And Absalom spake on his brother Amnon, neither good or bad.
For Absalom hated Amnon, because he
had forced his sister Tamar.
That's an interesting verse.
Notice that Absalom hates Amnon.
Of course he does.
Should.
But he doesn't let on that he hates him.
He doesn't let him know what his real feelings are.
This is a deceitful person.
Let's keep reading.
It says in verse 23, and it came to pass after two full years
that Absalom had sheepshears and balehazer,
which is beside Ephraim.
And Absalom invited all the king's sons.
And Absalom came to the king and said, behold now,
thy servant has sheepshears.
Let the king, I beseech thee, and his servants
go with thy servant.
And the king said to Absalom, nay, my son,
let us not all now go, lest we be chargeable unto thee.
And he pressed him, howbeit he would not go, but blessed him.
Then said Absalom, if not, I pray thee,
let my brother Amnon go with us.
And the king said unto him, why should he go with me?
But Absalom pressed him, that he let Amnon and all the king's
sons go with him.
Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now,
when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I stand,
you smite Amnon, then kill him.
Fear not, have not I commanded you?
Be courageous and be valiant.
The servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded.
Then all the king's sons arose, and every man got him up
upon his mule and fled.
That's interesting to me how Amnon and Jonadab never
want to lift a finger.
They're just always the planners, aren't they?
He knows also a bad friend is Absalom.
He knows a bad guy to serve, Absalom.
If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked,
is what the Bible says.
You know, there are some bad masters out there.
And if you are serving a bad master,
you're often wicked, too.
I used to feel bad.
Sometimes there would be a church
that gets exposed for their pastor being super wicked
or doing weird things.
And I feel bad for all the people
that are going to that church or still serving in that church.
But after a while, you start realizing
that person's wicked.
There gets a point where there's no more excuse
for serving a wicked master.
When your master says to kill someone,
there's not an excuse to say, I'm just following orders.
And we have to have integrity ourselves
to where no matter who commands us or tells us to do something,
we're not going to do it.
If they say, believe false doctrine,
we're not going to believe it.
They say, slander this person.
We're not going to slander with them.
We're not going to rail with them.
We're not going to gossip with them.
We're not going to steal with them.
We're not going to do evil with them.
There's a lot of evil people out there, a lot of evil masters,
who subvert an entire group of people
that are their servants.
And just like Jonadab subverted Amnon,
Absalom subverts his servants to end up killing Amnon.
Also, this is not praised in the Bible but condemned.
And it's really vigilante justice,
if you think about it, which is another example of why we don't
believe in vigilante justice.
While Amnon does deserve the death penalty,
it should have been sanctioned by David.
It should have been sanctioned from the king.
It should have gone through the proper channels,
not in this deceitful manner, not by lying to him
and deceiving him.
Go to Proverbs 26.
I want to go to another place before we finish this chapter.
Go to Proverbs chapter 26.
One thing you have to test for, and it's really hard,
is you have to check for people flattering you.
And if you just committed a horrible sin
against somebody's sister, and they want to be your friend
and invite you to a party, you might think twice about that.
That seems pretty inconsistent with his actions.
And flattery can sometimes be hard to detect.
But the best way is when you compare it
with people's actions.
You have to think about what someone's saying
versus what they do.
And people come up to me, and here would be an example.
Someone will come up to me after I preach
a sermon on soul winning.
And they'll be like, oh, that was the greatest sermon ever.
It really meant something to me.
But then they never go soul winning.
I think that person's flattering me.
Because if you truly believe that that sermon was really
important to you, or you really liked it,
you'd probably be motivated to actually go soul winning.
It would be weird if you think the greatest sermon you've ever
heard is about some topic that you end up
just not doing whatsoever.
And that's one example.
But it could be lots of examples.
It could be a parenting sermon.
And they, oh, that was a really good sermon.
And then they're not doing the parenting.
You start to kind of notice a pattern of like,
I think this person's flattering me, or whatever they say.
You know, we'll have guests come in.
And you know, you'll have guests walk in.
They'll just be like, that was like the greatest sermon
I've ever heard.
I've been really behind on my bills lately.
It's like, I could have probably said anything.
And they would have said it was the greatest sermon.
You know, what I should do in hindsight,
I should ask them questions about the sermon.
Oh, really?
What were the points?
What was any of the verses I turned to?
And you know, there's nothing wrong with complimenting
someone.
There's nothing wrong with saying what you like.
And really, if you're a sincere person,
you don't have to worry about flattery.
Because you won't flatter people.
You're not just going to randomly just be like,
that was the greatest sermon ever.
And you didn't like it.
Because you didn't like it.
But if it was like the greatest sermon,
and it's really going to affect you,
you'd just say it, because it really did.
And it's going to, right?
So the most important things for you is just be sincere.
But also pay attention to what other people say to you,
about you, and others.
And then match it with their actions.
See that their actions line up with what they say.
You know, they're calling all these people railers,
and they act like they're really mad about it.
But then they're constantly railing about people online,
too.
It's like, well, wait a minute.
I think there's some kind of a mismatch here.
They must not be offended by railing.
Or they say that using the F-word
is like the worst thing they've ever heard.
But then they share a clip of someone saying the F-word.
And you're like, well, that doesn't really match
with your morals, does it?
Because if you really despised it,
why would you be sharing it?
And why would you talk about it?
It's like these hypocrites, these holier than thou's,
they sometimes don't understand how much of a hypocrite
they really are, or how much of a hypocrite
they really sound like.
But you paying attention, you can sometimes
catch them in this.
You could catch Absalom and be like,
why do you really want Amnon to come?
Why are you so interested in Amnon?
Even David kind of was suspicious,
but not suspicious enough, right?
Look at Proverbs 26, verse 24.
He that hateth dissembleth with his lips,
and lieth up deceit within him.
When he speaketh fair, believe him not,
for there are seven abominations in his heart.
So you've got to pair verse 24 with 25.
What is a dissembler?
And this is not a word that we're familiar with.
To dissemble means to attack, undermine, speak against,
go against, befro-ed.
So someone that's just been kind of like talking negatively
about you, or a person, or an event, or a church, or work,
or whatever, on a regular basis, but then just all of a sudden
just changes their tune like that,
you have to realize they didn't change.
They're deceitful about it.
So if they're just sitting here just like, man,
the new IFB sucks, and I hate the new IFB,
and all these new IFB keyboard warriors, and all these people,
you know, they're just talking trash on the new IFB
like every other sentence they get.
And then all of a sudden they're just like, I love the new IFB.
They're a liar.
Because they've been dissembling for a constant period of time,
they've been attacking, and undermining,
and going against things for a really long time.
And then randomly they say something really fair.
They didn't change.
They're a deceiver.
Because if you love your wife, you're
not going to just be on a constant campaign trail
talking trash on your wife publicly.
You're not going to be ragging on your best friend.
You're not going to be ragging on your car.
If you really loved your car, you're
not going to be like, man, this piece of junk,
this thing's gross, I hate it.
And then just be like, man, it's the best car ever.
Yeah, you'll say that whenever you're
going to sell it to somebody, right?
I mean, if your car was a piece of junk and you just curse it
every day, and you're mad, and the AC won't work,
and what's that rattling?
But then someone comes along and is like, I want to buy your car.
Oh, it's great.
I love it, man.
It's really wonderful.
What is that person doing?
They're being deceitful, aren't they?
Just like, I guarantee, if we're hanging out
with Absalom in the evening hours
just drinking some Kool-Aid or whatever, drinking some tea,
it's like, hey, what do you think about Amnon?
He's probably talking trash on Amnon, at least to us.
But then all of a sudden, he's just like, oh, Amnon,
come to our party.
It's like, what?
Changed your tune on Amnon, huh?
No, he didn't change the tune.
He has seven abominations in his heart.
Whose hatred is covered by deceit,
his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation.
Whoso diggeth the pit shall fall therein,
and he that rolleth the stone, it will return upon him.
A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it,
and a flattering mouth worketh run."
Now notice in verse 24, though, it doesn't say,
he that hateth rebuketh.
He that hateth dissembleth with his lips.
You know what?
There's nothing wrong with being vocal about not
liking something.
Hey, I don't like ranch dressing.
Let me tell you something, I'm not dissembling about it.
I'm rebuking it, OK?
And some people will get mad.
They'll be like, oh, man, you're such a wicked guy
because you rebuke people.
No, the wicked person's the one that dissembles.
So with subtlety, they undermine things, they attack things.
They talk about how much they hate you,
but then when you call them on it,
it's like, well, I didn't use your name.
When did I use your name, hmm?
It's like, it's obvious you're talking about me.
Why don't you just use the name?
People that use the name and just call it out
are the straight shooters, the ones
that are vague about everything and just kind of hinting
at everything and dissembling about everything.
They're the truly wicked people.
They're the ones that have the real hatred in their heart.
Jesus didn't go around vague booking.
He's like, hey, these Pharisees right here, yeah,
they're wicked.
Oh, you lawyers?
Yeah, you too.
He's not like, there's a group of people
that make a lot of money per hour that are mostly
Jews that deal in legal-type matters.
Those are some bad people.
He's like, whoa, and you lawyers.
And you know, that is the type of people
we should be, where we call it as it is.
We say what we like.
We say what we don't like.
We're upfront about it.
If we're going to be mad at someone,
we're like, we're mad at you.
Not these vague, shifting, dissemblers, crafty,
there's these people, I don't like them.
It's like, that's junk.
And you have to be careful about these type of people
that won't just call it as it is.
Go back if you would, and we'll finish this chapter.
So some lessons we can learn from this chapter
is we need to be careful about our friends.
We need to be careful about flattery.
And we need to deal with sin appropriately.
David should have dealt with the sin appropriately,
and Absalom wouldn't have had to do it.
Look at verse 34.
All right, I don't know if we read.
Look at verse 30, I think.
And it came to pass, while they were in the way,
that Titus came to David, saying,
Absalom has slain all the king's sons,
and there is not one of them left.
Then the king arose and tear his garments and lay on the earth,
and all servants stood by with their clothes rent.
And Jona dabbed the son of Shemaiah.
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 hath been determined from the day
that he forced his sister, Tamar.
Now, think about this.
Jona dab instantly knows what happened.
So don't you think Jona dab was smart enough
to realize that when Absalom invited Amnon to a party,
there was something off?
Where was Jona dab then?
Oh, Jona dab was such a good friend
to help him get into wicked sin, but then
noticed Jona dab wasn't a cool friend to tip him off
that he's about to get killed.
And he's just like the devil.
The devil has no problem with getting you
to do some kind of a wicked sin.
But as soon as the hammer's coming,
they will be nowhere in sight to help you
when you actually get caught.
And in fact, when you get caught,
oftentimes they'll blame you.
They'll look at you.
You know, a wicked friend will not only get you in trouble,
but they'll turn on you in trouble, too.
And they'll just lie about you, throw you under the bus,
say it was your idea, shift the blame, all these type of things.
That's why you don't want to have this kind of friend.
You don't want to have friends that are telling you
to do bad stuff.
You want to have friends that are telling you to do good stuff.
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
out of the way of the hillside behind him.
And Jodab said unto the king, behold, the king's sons come,
as thy servant said, so it is.
And it came to pass, as soon as he
had made an end to speaking, that behold, the king's sons
came and lifted up their voice and wept.
And the king also and all servants wept very sore.
But Absalom fled and went to Talmai, the son of Amiud,
king of Gishur.
And David mourned for his son every day,
so Absalom fled and went to Gishur,
and was there three years.
And the soul of King David longed
to go forth unto Absalom, for he was comforted concerning
Amnon, saying he was dead.
But that's crazy.
It's like David wished that his son had died,
but he didn't do it himself.
Shows the weakness of David.
And then he ends up losing another son
because he won't do it.
Notice when you don't deal with sin appropriately,
worse things happen.
And because we live in America and it
won't deal with capital punishment type crimes,
we have worse things happening.
And people in all kinds of weird scenarios
and weird situations, and it's frustrating.
You've got a lot of baby killers wandering up and down
the streets.
And you think, well, what can we do to solve this problem?
Let's just make them angrier.
That's not solving anything.
You have to deal with evil in a society.
Otherwise, the evil is going to run rampant.
Our society is not dealing with evil.
Think about it.
When's the last time you heard anybody
that's evil or wicked getting caught or being punished
severely in our country?
Pretty much it's the exact opposite, isn't it?
We hear about Hunter Biden.
What has this guy not gotten away with?
I don't know.
We look at our government officials,
and it seems like none of them are really ever getting
in trouble.
It's very seldom.
Occasionally, they'll kill themselves, supposedly,
when they get caught with too much stuff.
It's a weird world we live in.
But I'll tell you this.
Because wickedness abounds in our society and our culture,
you must be leery of bad friends.
And they want to vicariously live through you.
They're not bold enough to do it themselves.
And often, they'll also do this.
They want to get someone more righteous than them to sin.
It's like a goal of theirs.
So because you're a Christian, because you
go to a new IMB church, your friends
will think that it's so exciting if they can get you to sin.
Whereas they sin, it's not that big a deal with them.
And I've seen it.
In college, I remember there was friends.
And they would talk about it.
And they would say, hey, when so-and-so comes over,
we're going to get him drunk.
It'd be their goal.
They'd be like, hey, we're going to get this guy to go do this sin.
And the only reason is because that person has never
done that sin before.
They'd say, hey, this guy's never drinking before.
We're going to get him to drink tonight.
We're going to take him to the bar tonight.
We're going to take him to the club tonight.
We're going to get this girl, and we're
going to get her to do x, y, and z tonight.
There's something about wickedness that
wants to defile the innocent.
And I'll tell you, the men and women in this room,
the devil wants to defile you, and even more so your children.
There is no greater joy to the wicked and the evil people
out there than to get one of your children to do wickedness.
Because if it's the world, they're like,
they were trash anyways.
But if they can take your Tamar, if they
can take your precious child and get them to do wickedly,
it'll be so much more joy to them.
That's why it's so important that you, as your parents,
you don't let your kids have bad friends.
And there will be a temptation on you,
there will be a strong temptation on you,
to let your kids go hang out with so-and-so down the street,
so-and-so cousin, so-and-so, even church member,
so-and-so buddy that works at Subway.
Don't work at Subway, all right?
So-and-so whatever, and oh, they're a Catholic.
They're still kind of Christian, right?
No, they're not.
Oh, well, they're Church of Christ.
Oh, they're Southern Baptist.
Look, me and my wife were talking about it the other day,
and we were trying to think about how many reprobates
we went to high school with.
And almost every single one of them
went to a Southern Baptist church.
That's where they grew up in.
Don't be, oh, Southern Baptist, that might be worse.
It's a preacher's kid.
Well, that could be worse, because most preachers
aren't even saved.
And you have to be really diligent with yourself,
with your children, the people that
want to get you to go to the bar.
I've even heard this.
Lots of people, they're like, my husband's abusive,
and all my friends from school are telling me to divorce him.
No, don't do it.
Those are bad friends that want to vicariously
live through you.
Oh, well, I wouldn't do these drugs, but you try them.
No, don't do drugs.
Don't try the marijuana.
Don't try, you know.
Hey, church is really lame on Wednesday nights.
No, it's not.
You're lame.
Oh, why do you have to go to church three times a week?
Because I love the Lord.
But you know, the world will always try to get you.
Don't go barbecue.
Look, we're having Heim's for lunch.
Don't let the world talk you into doing sin.
Don't let your friends talk you out of serving God.
Don't let your friends allow you to talk poorly about the people
that you shouldn't.
We have to really guard ourselves
and not let the jotadabs whisper in our ear.
And I'm preaching to the choir to a lot of people
on Wednesday night, but at the same time,
don't get lulled to sleep and think that you're safe.
The devil's after us more than anybody else.
And we have to be diligent in who we're
letting whisper in our ears.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the word of God.
Thank you for this church.
I pray that we take your commandments seriously.
I pray that we would take our spiritual walk seriously.
I pray that we take our spouse, our children,
and the relationships we have very seriously,
and that we'd be on high alert for the jotadabs,
for the absaloms, for those that want
to come and whisper in our ear, that want to flatter us,
that want to deceive us, that want to draw us away,
that don't actually care for us, but actually hate us
and want to destroy us.
Pray that we would constantly listen to the Holy Spirit
and that we'd listen to sound advice,
and we'd get good friends, and we'd listen to good sermons,
and we would not allow the tempter
to draw us away after our lusts.
Pray that you'd help strengthen us
and that you would just allow the bad people in our lives
to just fall away.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, in closing, if you would, grab your hymnals
and turn to page 327, Higher Ground.
That's page 327, Higher Ground.
OK.
I'm pressing on the upward way.
New heights I'm gaining every day.
Still praying as I'm onward bound.
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
Lord, lift me up and let me stand.
By faith on heaven's table and a higher plane that I have found.
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
My heart has no desire to stay where doubts arise
and fears dismay, though some may dwell where these abound.
My prayer, my aim is higher ground.
Lord, lift me up and let me stand.
By faith on heaven's table and a higher plane that I have found.
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
I want to live above the world, though Satan
darks at me are hurled, for faith
has caught the joyful sound, the song of saints on higher ground.
Lord, lift me up and let me stand.
By faith on heaven's table and a higher plane that I have found.
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
I want to scale the utmost height
and catch a gleam of glory bright.
But still I pray to heaven I've found.
Lord, lead me onto higher ground.
I lift me up and let me stand.
By faith on heaven's table and a higher plane that I have found.
Lord, plant my feet on higher.