Promised Consequence (Part 1)

Good morning. What is your preferred strategy for conflict resolution? Conflict resolution. We just heard just part of the conflict we were thinking about this morning. And so if you Google conflict resolution, you get a lot of similar results. Here's five strategies that I found for conflict resolution. The first is avoiding. You just pretend it doesn't exist. You keep your mind off of it, you stay away from it, avoiding. The second is accommodation. You just give in. Whoever you have conflict with, you give in, and they're happy, you're not, you accommodate the person you have conflict with. The third is compromising. This is where everybody gets a little bit of what they want, but no one's really happy. The fourth, competing, you get what you want, That's the opposite of accommodating. And then collaborating. That's when everybody is satisfied. Well, it's important to think about conflict because we all have it. And even these five strategies, these five different ideas, we probably all have a tendency towards one. Depending on the power structure or the relationship that we have a conflict, we probably act out many of these. Well, we're thinking about conflict and conflict resolution because our story is full of conflict. And it has no resolution. What we see today is lots of conflict. And we can actually even categorize the different things that are going on. Something we didn't read is Amnon, he takes his sister. His conflict is he shouldn't have her. He satisfies, he has conflict resolution by taking. He competes and takes her and then he avoids her by putting her away. David avoids conflict. He doesn't discipline his sons. He doesn't confront his sons. He doesn't seek reconciliation with his sons. Absalom is a competitor as well. He takes Amnon's life and Joab is the great compromiser. He tries to make things right according to his way. The story before this that led to Absalom's Outcast being out of the the city. He he murdered his brother and he murdered his brother because his brother raped his sister What's going on here? If you've been with us, we've been walking through Samuel. We've been waiting for David to be king for a long time And we finally have David, the right king, in the right city, with the right people, the right land, the right law, the right worship, everything's moving along. 2 Samuel 7, God makes these great promises to God. I will bless your house. I will give you borders. I will give you peace. He's obedient for the next few chapters. He actually shows kindness to Mephibosheth, an enemy. But then we have Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, and David reveals what's in his heart. He lies, he covets, he commits adultery, he commits murder. He's then confronted by God, he confesses his sin, and he's reconciled. And one of the things God says there, 2 Samuel 12, that's just the previous chapter we're looking at. He says the consequence of your sin, because it has been so egregious, it's so difficult, your sin has consequences, even though you're forgiven, there will be difficulty in your house. The sword will devour within your house. So one of the things we have to wrestle with is where's God in this story? Because at face level, if you're actually looking for his action, he isn't present as a character. But at the same time, we know because of 2 Samuel 12, everything that's happening is according to God's promise that David is going to have inner turmoil in his house. What's amazing about that, we just think about God's power for a moment. God has tied his name to David's house. God has put his chesed, his loving kindness on David's house. And now, because of David's sin, there's gonna be conflict and consequence and curse in David's house. God is bringing about his salvation, his plan, even though this chaos and conflict is taking place. So God is in control of this. David has a role too, because as we look, and if we were to have the time, and we're taking it big chunks, we have all the time we need, we see David's contributed to all this sin. Amnon acts just like his dad. Absalom acts just like his dad. That David contributes because of his own pattern that he set for his children, he also contributes by not actually addressing the conflict with his children. Most of all, God is sovereign over this. David has contributed to it. Each participant is fully responsible for their actions and will be held accountable by God. We're supposed to see just numerous warnings in this passage. Warnings of how sin, without God's grace speaking into it, without God's grace restraining, without God's grace correcting what sin does, we see dysfunction, destruction, and death. I usually try to come up with one sentence that kind of summarizes the whole passage. Since there's no God resolution, that was very difficult. Here's my one sentence resolution, or one sentence summary. We need God. That's what we should get from this passage. Because we see that when he removes his hand, when he lets us have our way according to our emotions, our thoughts, our own thoughts of justice, we see how much destruction takes place. And this is just act one of that destruction. We need God. Now let's just back up for a moment because God has taught David everything he needs to know up to this point to be a better father, to be a better king. He's confronted his sin, he's let David confess his sin, he's let David be forgiven, and he should be doing these same things towards his own sons. But David, He's a sinner just like his sons. David sins, and his sin leads to his son's disobedience. Sadly, we see like father, like son. We see David's sons learning their sinful patterns from their father. And by the way, Happy Father's Day. I don't choose passages based upon our nation's holidays. We just fall in some really awkward places sometimes. This is less awkward than the Mother's Day passage. This is actually fantastic. It's not, here's what you do, dads. It's, look at how your sin can be patterned in your children. We see David's son sinning against him. We see David's son mirroring his sin. We see David himself participating in the sin. David is not responsible for his son's sins. He's responsible for not leading them and providing for them and caring for them. It's actually interesting. The book of Samuel, there's a lot about fatherhood. Remember, it opens up. Eli, why does Samuel need to be called to be a prophet? Because Eli is not a good father. He has worthless sons. Then Samuel follows his pattern. He has worthless sons. Then David, what do we see here? He's got some pretty bad sons. Who has the one good son in the whole story? Saul. Jonathan, we see nothing negative about Jonathan. He's a sinner, we know that because he's born of Adam. But Jonathan is this incredible figure and he's born of the enemy king. It's a really interesting motif that runs throughout Samuel. Chapter 7, David received promises. Chapters 8 and 10, David has victories. Chapter 9, David shows kindness as a king. Chapters 11, 12, David messes the whole thing up because he pursues what he desires. He's not going out to battle, he's in the wrong place. And now we see the consequence for his sin playing out in his house. Chapter 13 begins. Now, Absalom. It's important, our storyteller is a fantastic storyteller. He's introducing just the right characters at just the right time to make sure we get the point. Notice the first name is Absalom, because chapter 13 begins the third king we recognize in 1 and 2 Samuel, Absalom. The Bible, this book is, these two books, 1 and 2 Samuel, it's about three kings, Saul, David, and Absalom, and this particular Section goes 13 to 18, all the way to Absalom's death. And while Absalom isn't the first sin on the scene, he's the first character because this is about Absalom. Now Absalom, David's son, he had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar. Okay, we've got three characters, Absalom, David, Tamar. And after a time, Amnon, David's other son, he loved Tamar. And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar. For she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her. But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shamia, David's brother. So that's his uncle. And Jonadab was a very crafty man. That's not a helpful description. And so Amnon has this problem. He loves his sister. In chapter seven, we looked at a word for love in Hebrew, hesed. This is not hesed. Hesed is covenant love. Hesed is making a promise love. This is emotional love. Amnon has an emotion. He has an attraction toward his half-sister, which is out of bounds. And he has such a feeling for her because of her beauty that he's made himself ill. And so Amnon seeks counsel and something else we see throughout these sections is who you find counsel from makes a big difference. He gets the strategy from his uncle, you should pretend you're sick, have her come in, make cakes, and then do with her what you will. So what does Amnon do? He lies to his dad. Dad, I would like Tamar to come in and make cakes for me. And David sends her, assuming the best about his son, Verse 10, everyone's been sent out of the room. Verse 10, Amnon says to Tamar, bring the food in the chamber that I may eat from your hand. And Amar took the cakes she made and brought them to the chamber to Amnon her brother. This seems like a sister caring for her brother. This seems like a brother wanting to have comfort from his sister. Verse 11, but when she brought them near to him, he took hold of her and said to her, come lie with me, sister. This is gross. It's disturbing. It's destructive. It sounds like David, doesn't it? He saw she was beautiful. He took her. Like father, like son. Only this is escalated because the king brings another man's wife in. This is a son trying to take his sister and hereby force, come lie with me. Tamar being the only innocent person in this entire section. She answered, no, my brother, do not violate me. For such a thing is not done in Israel. This is out of bounds. God has declared this wrong on so many levels. Do not do this outrageous thing to me. As for me, where could I carry my shame? As for you, you be an outrageous fool. Again, we see a little bit of a Nabal characteristic. He wants to rape his sister. He rapes his sister. There's something important here about chesed, and that is a covenant love, and sex is reserved for that covenant marriage relationship. It's the way we celebrate and declare love in that relationship, and here is a man who's so overwhelmed by his emotions and his feeling of attraction, he takes and violates his sister in the most shameful way, a painful way. He would not listen to her. He was stronger than she. He violated her. Verse 14. Verse 15. Amnon then hated her with a very great hatred. So the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he loved her. And I said, get up, go. This is dehumanizing in every way for how he's treating his own flesh and blood, his own sister, another human being. She now pleads with him again with wisdom and kindness. No, my brother, this is wrong in sending me away. It's greater than the wrong you've already done to me. She could not marry now because of what he has done to her according to the culture and the custom. He would not listen to him. He called the young man who served, put this woman out of my presence. He bolted the door. She changed her clothes from the clothes of a virgin to the clothes of someone who is in mourning and grieving. She lived with her brother desolate. It practically kills her. She doesn't marry, she doesn't have children. She lives a sad, difficult life now because of this one action of Amnon. What began with a sense of love, which really isn't love, That was self-indulging, that's not love. Ends with hatred. No, Amnon loves himself, and that controls the way he treats everybody else. This story presents emotional instability. Conflict within. Someone who's ruled by emotions. We see how emotional this is. What's actually amazing, if you go back and you read chapter 11 of David's sin, he's eerily, Unemotional. There's like a disinterest in him. He just keeps going through the motions of sin without showing any emotion, whereas his son Amnon, this is full of emotion. He loved so much she was sick. He hated her so much he put her away. Amnon is ruled by emotions and yet still heartless. Amnon is meant to be a warning for us. We cannot be ruled with our feelings. Our feelings need boundaries. God's good law is meant to restrict our feelings. It is there to show us these feelings are out of bounds. These feelings are not good. These feelings are against God. These feelings are against other men. These feelings are against the way God designed you and what God has for your good. Just because you feel it doesn't make it good. That's why Jesus calls us to deny ourselves. We have to see those feelings that are not according to God's good will. It's realizing God designed us to love. God designed us to love him with all our heart. God designed us to love others as we love ourselves. What's our main problem? Our chief love is love of self. We're self-indulgent. We're self-loving. We don't love others as we love ourselves. We don't even know how to love ourselves well. We go back to that James 115 passage we saw with David. What causes you to sin? You're lured and enticed by your own desires. The internal is what's wrong. Our feelings are what's wrong. What we love is what's wrong. And Christ has come to set us free from those things that are destructive. Amnon is a warning. We see someone tossed to and fro with his emotions leading the way. Let's look at Absalom. Let's look at what he does in chapter 13. It begins in verse 20. Spoiler alert, Absalom kills Amnon. Absalom murders Amnon. He waits two years. Amnon is a man ruled by passion and must have what he wants right now. He's ruled by emotions. Absalom is a plotting, planning man with control and power. He's terrifying. Look at verse 20. Tamar, his full sister, has been raped, and outcasted by his brother. She's now gonna have to live in Absalom's home. He is now taking full responsibility for it, and look at his counsel. Counsel is key through Samuel. Has Amnon, your brother, been with you? Hold your peace. Don't take it to heart. He doesn't love Tamar any more than Amnon did. Don't take it to heart. Don't worry about it. and hold your peace. I believe what he's saying there is don't take this to court like you should. Don't tell dad. Don't get justice. Live desolate because I've got something in store for Amnon. I am gonna have my justice. I don't want you to seek your justice. So she lives as a desolate woman. Verse 21, when David heard of all these things, he was very angry. That's the right response, but notice he doesn't do anything. So it's really not. He's angry, but he doesn't give correction. He doesn't protect his daughter. He doesn't correct his sons. But Absalom spoke to Ammon, neither good nor bad. He's gonna avoid him because he hated him. because he violated his sister. We see the emotionally charged language. Well, what happens next? After two full years, okay, we've got some time frames going on. Two full years later, at the time of sheep shearing, and again, this sounds like Nabal, this is a festive time, this is when men, the shearing season, they all get together, they have a feast, and there's lots of wine drinking. When they become married, Absalom says to his men, I want you to go out and we're gonna kill Amnon, and he does. Amnon's dead. Notice it's first-degree murder. It's pre-determined, pre-planned, pre-meditated taking of life. He silenced his sister. He's killed his brother. Absalom has said, I'm going to have my justice my way, which is really just vengeance. Absalom then flees to Gesher. Gesher is his mother's hometown. David has married a foreign wife, as he's not supposed to. So this is the household that is supposed to bring about the savior of the entire world. This is the household that God has said, I will bless you, you're supposed to be a blessing to all the nations, but now we see the kind of inner conflict. David's absent. He's angry, but absent. Amnon is abusing his sister. Absalom is plotting. Absalom waits for two years to kill his brother. He's then away for three years. That's some serious patience. What happens next? As we look at the end of chapter 13, this last verse is actually very difficult. And the spirit of the king longed to go out to Absalom because he was comforted about Amnon since he was dead. The word spirit isn't in the text, I'm not sure why that's added in there. The word go out, that could be he wanted to go out to Absalom because he missed him even though when he comes back, don't let him in my presence. The word go out there is often used for going out to war. Because he grieved Amnon. The way one commentator that I trust translates this better is, David longed to go out in war against Absalom because he grieved the death of Amnon. David wanted to go out to war, but he doesn't. He's grieving the death of Amnon. Now enter a new character, Joab. Joab is the general who's already murdered Abner. Joab is a strange, crafty figure himself. He's constantly trying to work to protect the kingdom, and it's not clear what he actually sees in the king's heart. Again, it may be that there is some kind of desire for Absalom that he sees, but it seems as if David is very much afraid of Absalom, and so is Joab, and concerned about him. Regardless, what Joab does is takes matters into his own hands. He finds a woman from Tekoa, a place known for wisdom, and he sent her. Look at verse two, chapter 14, verse two. Joab sent a woman with a message to David. You are supposed to be thinking of chapter 12 right here. Because God sent Nathan with a message to David. That's meant to be a parallel. There's a big difference, though. God sent a true message that brought true restoration to David, and it did have a little bit of a parable, but it ended with David confessing and his sin being put off. It ended with restoration. Here, Joab, in the place of God, not God, sends a woman. Why would he send a woman? David appears to like women. Sends a woman. to give David a story just like Nathan. The woman is sent, she comes and she gives a big sob story. Her husband's dead, she had two sons, those two sons get into a quarrel, one killed the other, probably second degree murder, maybe third, maybe just manslaughter, I'm not really sure what that would look like. David says in verse eight, okay, I've heard your story, I'll call you back. She says, no, I'm not going to accept any kind of putting off. I don't trust you, maybe, to call me back. You need to give an answer. And so David swears to her. He says, as the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground. So he's promised her that this conflict, so that her dead husband and her will not have any children if the vengeance takes place, if justice takes place, just put away the sin, ignore it as it there, and let him come back. He's given a pardon. Okay, well now it escalates. Look at verse 12. The woman said, please let your servant speak a word. He said speak. Why have you planned such a thing against the people of God? For giving in this decision, you convict yourself. The king convicts himself. Before, when Nathan told this story, he talks about the one man with the one you and the rich man who takes that you and completely just ignores the man, and then Nathan turns on it. You are that man. It's a clear moment where God is bringing conviction. She has to explain, don't you know you convict yourself? Now, notice what she does with that story. She's wanting to call David to feel conviction. There's something wrong when somebody's trying to force conviction. You're taking the place of the Holy Spirit. But here, I just want you to see some problems with her teaching, with what's going on here. First, this is not a one-for-one situation like the sheep story of Nathan. The two sons quarreling is not first degree murder like Absalom is committed. Absalom's committed something much greater than just two sons that have been quarreling and actually kills the other. It's not a one for one analogy like Nathan's story. Second, David did not banish Absalom. Absalom fled. David is not responsible for Absalom being out of the area. He may actually realize that's the safest place for him because if he comes back, he should be put to death. And then this all ends with some fantastic flattery. Look at verse 17. You, your servant. The word of my Lord, the King, will set me at rest, for my Lord, the King, is like the angel of God to discern good and evil. The Lord be with you. She flatters him. Nathan has no flattery for David. Now, we look at this. Joab's all over it, David realizes, he says, who sent you, was it Joab? She says, yes. David comes in, they discuss, he says, yes, you can bring Absalom back, but it's very important, he cannot be in my presence. He says, you can bring him back, but he cannot be in my presence. And notice, Joab doesn't trust Absalom. Absalom keeps calling Joab and he doesn't answer, so Absalom does what he does best, he burns something up, he destroys something to get attention. David says very clearly, he cannot be my presence. Go back to chapter nine, the sweet declaration of Mephibosheth. You will eat at my table always. Presence matters. Presence is personal. There's a loving kindness there. Absalom has a stiff arm. Yeah, bring him back to the city, but I don't want anything to do with him. But verse 25, at least Absalom has really nice hair. This is weird. What in the world is going on here? Why do we get this declaration here? Let me read it. Now in all Israel, there was no one so much to be praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the sole of his feet to the crown of his head, there was no blemish in him. And when he cut the hair of his head, at the end of every year, he used to cut it. When it was heavy on him, he cut it. He weighed the hair of his head, 200 shekels by the king's weight. There were born to Absalom three sons, one daughter whose name was Tamar. She was a beautiful woman. Why is this here? I believe we see some foreshadowing. Why did Israel choose Saul to begin with? He was tall and mighty and attractive. The people can't not choose according to what they see. Why was David chosen? He was handsome and ruddy, but he was chosen because of his heart. God sees better than we see, and when we look at Absalom, he looks like the kind of man we would like to see king, and he's gonna use this appearance to bring further disruption that we look at next week. He's gonna sit at the gates and have people question the king. Why all this about his hair? Well, a couple things we might learn from Absalom. Who cuts their hair and weighs it? How do we know how much his hair weighs? Because he told people. Why would you tell people? Because you want to boast about it. This is weird. We see some serious character flaw. We see a man with vanity. And that's his tragic downfall. How does he end up dying? You remember? This big weave gets caught up in the tree and he gets killed because of it. This is his tragic downfall, this vanity. He looks the part, but he doesn't have the heart for the part. Let's look right back at the end before we make some application and think about the gospel from this passage. Absalom lived two full years, so we got two years, he'd been waiting to kill Amnon, three years away in Geshur, now two years, He lived in Jerusalem without seeing his father, without talking to the father. That's some serious, awkward silence. He burns the field, Absalom calls him, and then let's look in verse 33. Then Joab went to the king, told him, and he summoned Absalom. And he came to the king, that is Absalom, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom. What just happened? Is that satisfactory? What kind of conflict resolution just happened? Is everybody happy? Are they gonna eat at the same table again? As we know, it's gonna diverge into a more aggressive rebellion against Absalom. Instead of Absalom fleeing, David's gonna have to flee. So what in the world is going on here? What do we make of this? Let's go back to 1414. Skipped over it earlier, but I believe this is a key turning point for our passage. It's a turning point. It's the only place where God is mentioned, but we gotta think about how this woman from Joab, who's only using earthly wisdom to come to what is a compromise, not a true resolution, how he's being appealed to. There's some truth in here. 1414, this is the verse for today. We must all die. Theologically accurate. We are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up. But God will not take away life, and he devises means so that the banished will not remain an outcast. If we're going to have a connection with the gospel in any way, we actually have a connection with God in this story in any way, it's here. There's two parts to what this theological declaration states. First, we must die, we're like water spilled. Okay, we must die, that's true. We know this from the Garden of Eden. God said, if you do the one thing I told you not to do, you'll die, and we now all die because of sin. Death is the consequence of sin. Okay, what about this water spilled? We are, it's a simile, like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. If I were to spill a glass of water right now, could I get that water back in the cup? No. You can't gather it back up. Once it's spilled, it goes into the ground and you can't get it back in. It's never returned the same way. We see here the woman declaring two things that are true. Sin causes death. Sin causes distance. There's death because of our sin. There's distance from God because of our sin. These are two very important starting points for how we understand who we are, what the consequence of our actions are, and how God treats sin. He must put sin to death. He must judge every sin because he is just. And he cannot be in the presence of sin. If he brings our sin into his presence, it is wrath and judgment. In our sin, there's death and there's distance. Okay, the second half. But God. These are, when you see these two words together, you gotta stop and meditate. Because God's changing a story. It's not therefore God. It's not therefore we're gonna remain in death and we're gonna remain out into the abyss. No, it's but God, he rescues, he changes the story. Notice his actions. He will not take away life. He devises means so the banished does not remain an outcast. God is the solution here. This woman is speaking some helpful wisdom. This is close enough to being right that we need to park here. But, God, this should remind you of Ephesians 2. It sounds a lot like Ephesians 2. We'll be in Ephesians 2, beginning of verse 11, Wednesday at noon. You should come. It's about reconciliation. But for the moment, let's just think about how this is like Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2.1 says, we were dead. 2.1, that's the declaration. You were dead. What does Ephesians 2.4 say? But God made you alive. What does Ephesians 2 11 say? You were separated, alienated, strangers, no hope without God. Water spilled, in other words. What does Ephesians 2 13 say? But in Christ you were brought near. Ephesians 2 is actually talking about these two problems, dead and distant. What's the solution? God. God sent his son to rise again from the dead so that you can have life in Christ. You were distant. What did God do? He sent his son so that you can be brought near. God is the solution to our biggest problem. We've been made alive. How? By the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We've been reconciled. How? By the blood of Christ. Christ died so that our sin has been put on Him, therefore God is just in judging every sin, that's why God can say, now I'm gonna give you new life, and that's why I can now bring you back in my presence, because your sin no longer stands against it, I punish it on my own son. He is just, he's punished sin. He's a justifier, he declares us righteous, so he brings us back in to his presence. Was this woman preaching the gospel to David? No. No, it's so close to being right it's dangerous. God does devise the means by which the banished can come back, and it's Jesus Christ, his death, his resurrection. Just like Nathan, Nathan went to David. What is the devised means to bring David back to God because he had ran away in sin? Confess your sin. I have sinned against the Lord. Your sin is put away from you. Now this woman says something very different, but it's so close to the truth, we gotta make sure we know that's a false gospel. She says, David, just pretend the sin doesn't exist. Avoid it. Avoid it. Don't call your son to confession of sin. Don't call yourself to confession of sin. Don't forgive, just let this problem continue. It's a complete accommodation. There's a number of false gospels in this story. One, you have to satisfy your desires like Amnon. Take and take and take. If I feel this way, it must be satisfied. It's the work of your own hands that satisfies you in the gospel of Amnon. Two, take matters into your own hands. The gospel of Absalom. Vengeance is mine, the work of my own hands. The third false gospel, ignore sin and pretend it's all gonna be okay. Let your son come down and kiss him even though you've not actually fully reconciled. That's not doing anything. No, the true gospel of Jesus Christ helps us see our sin so that we can confess our sin, so we can be forgiven of sin. So we can then be ambassadors of that forgiveness. Reconciliation, confession of sin, forgiveness of sin, and then a turning towards one another. We need to make sure we understand that. True conflict resolution in God's design. His devised means is that word reconciliation. Confession of sin, forgiveness of sin, and then turning towards a restored relationship. Church, if we get that right, we might just see the glory of Jesus Christ. If we get that right, we might actually have a meaningful, impactful message for this world that is just full of conflict and no resolution. It's important that 11 and 12 are right on the heels of 13 and 14. David has been taught the way of resolution. Confront sin, invite it to be confessed, and forgive. He does not do for his sons what God does for him. That's his failure as a father. He does not do for his sons what God did for him. Stepping back from the whole story, see God's law as good because it restrains your sin. When God says no, it's for your good. When God slaps your hand or when that friend who God sends slaps your hand, it's for your good. God's law does not keep you from anything good. Will God withhold anything good from you? If that's your question, notice Paul's answer is God didn't withhold his own son. What good thing would he withhold from you? He takes us away from sin and into his own life. That's always good. Let it change your feelings, your thoughts, your justice. When we sin, we seek God's devised means of reconciliation. It's confessing sin. I have sinned against the Lord. It's forgiveness. Your sin has been put away from you. And here's the reality that we know that David does not know that we look at other people's sins as confessed in Christ, and we see that Christ has died for it, how do we still hold them accountable? To punish them for sinning Christ died for. Church, if we get this, we actually become the ambassadors of reconciliation that Paul calls us to. David received a great reconciliation, he did not give it. ambassador. It's a word we just got to restore. It means steward. We're not owners of anything. We're recipients of every good gift, meant to be used to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Be an ambassador of reconciliation, which means you don't get to hold on to your own little grudges. You don't get to hold on to your own sin. You confess, you seek forgiveness, and you seek to be a minister of reconciliation. We need to be a church that reflects this, and our culture needs this message. If you're not a Christian, the invitation of Christ is that you can come out of your sin. It isn't to be stuck there. It isn't to know your sin and just be stuck there. No, the invitation of Christ is to see it for what it is in light of his law, is to see that he died for you so that you can be forgiven and come out. The invitation is to come out of your sin. Confess it. I have sinned against the Lord. Kids, that's your memory verse again this week. You get to double dip if you memorized it last week. I have sinned against the Lord. And that pardon, your sin, is put away from you because it's put on Christ. In light of Father's Day, I always want to mention one thing about David here. His failure begins in 11. Amnon knows his father takes, he takes. He sees his father deceiving, he deceives his father. Absalom sees his father murder, he's a murderer. We see here a pattern set. Is David responsible for his kid's sin? No. He set a pattern. He doesn't discipline his children. Dads, dads, we need to be careful, we need to make sure we're not exasperating our children, that is, getting so angry because they don't do everything we want them to do and the way we want them to do it, but it's discipline, it's saying, here's what God's word says, and here's how I want you to enjoy God's word, and recognize it's a good warning. David is a warning for us dads. Proverbs 22, six. Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. I don't think that's a promise. I think it's a warning. Train up a child in the way he should go, and he will not depart from it. That's a warning. It's actually in the middle of a bunch of other warnings. The rich rules over the power, and the bar is the slave of the lender. Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail. The context of that passage is a warning, and if we think about that rightly, it's a warning. Fathers, what are you training your children to love? Fathers, what are you training your children to prioritize? Fathers, I get you might say what's right, but do they see us do what's right? What are we training our children to love and prioritize? terrifying thing is they might just live like we do. This is why the invitation is to confess, to turn, to restore, to train them in the way of godliness, and that means confessing sin, seeking true reconciliation. Will you pray with me?