Author: pastortravislv

2 Samuel 13:15 – Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up! Go!”

In the family story of King David, circumstances progressively go more tragic as his own sons begin to act out the consequences of David’s own sin with Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel 12). David’s son, Amnon, develops an extreme attraction to his half-sister, Tamar. He longs for her, tricks her, lures her to his home, and rapes her. Afterward, the Bible tells us that Amnon hated Tamar, and sent her away.

This story is ugly and awful in every way. However, since it is recorded for us in holy scripture, there is something that God intends for us to learn from it. I want to bring out one of those points: Sin deceives and destroys. Amnon was consumed with his desire for Tamar. He believed that his life would be better if he could only sleep with her. However, once he does so, it is as if the lights come on for him, and he sees the horror of what he has done. And, as the story progresses, Amnon falls victim to a murderous plot of Tamar’s brother, Absalom.

I once heard a man talking about going into a night club during the daytime. He had some sort of business to do that made him have to enter the establishment, and when he entered, he was shocked. At night, the club had been vibrant, a tableau of flashing light, glittering walls, and vibrant colors. In the light of day, the club was dirty and false, covered with spray-painted Styrofoam and cheap glitter. All of the alluring look of the club at night had been accomplished by the deception of darkness.

Just like Amnon and just like the night club, all of us can be victimized by the deceptiveness of sin if we are not careful. Amnon allowed himself to be convinced of a lie, believing that sleeping with Tamar was what he needed. He thought about her, dwelt upon her, even made himself sick longing for her. He became blind to the facts. He failed to think of the consequences of his actions. He stopped reasoning from God’s perspective, and thought as an animal, with no control of himself or his lust. But after he had done the deed, he saw what had been driving his life. He saw what he had done. And, as an irresponsible person would do, Amnon turned his hatred away from himself and his lack of godly self-control, and he hated Tamar.

Now, let’s apply this. Sin always looks good to us. If it didn’t, we would never commit it. No one sins without wanting to in some way. We always act in accord with some sort of desire within us. So, sin plays on our desires, and offers us the glitzy view of the night club at night. But one of the favorite tricks of our enemy is to draw us into sin by our own foolish desires, and then turn on the lights to reveal to us how ugly and stupid our failure really is. We then feel doubly defeated, as the pleasure of the sin is gone and a true guilt over our foolishness remains. And, if it really goes bad, we will be like Amnon, and not even allow our guilt to draw us to repentance, but will instead take out our frustration over our foolishness on others.

Is there a sin that is tempting you? Look at it in the light of scripture. See it for the ugly mirage that it truly is. See it as the temporary pleasure that will be taken from you the moment you give in to it. See it as dishonoring God, mocking the very holiness of our Lord we love so much. Ask God to allow you to see with clear, biblically driven sight. And do not give into the destructive deception of sin.

2 Samuel 12:9a – Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?

2 Samuel 12:13-14 – David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.”

This exchange between David and Nathan the prophet comes on the heels of David’s sin with Bathsheba. David committed adultery, and tried to conceal his act with murder, before God made David aware that he could not hide his actions from the Lord’s sight. And while much can be learned from this passage, I simply want to point out the significant words used for David’s sin in the passage and make an application for us.

In verse 9, Nathan says that David “despised the word of the Lord.” In verse 14, Nathan said that David “utterly scorned the Lord.” Even David, in his confession, recognized that his sin, while against many people, was ultimately a sin against the Lord.

Many times, we think of our sin that it is no big deal. Particularly, when our sin does not seem to harm another around us, we are eager to excuse our own sinfulness. We say things like, “Nobody’s perfect,” or “God will forgive me,” as though the forgiveness of God is our license to continue in our immorality. We truly fail to recognize what it is that we do when we sin. But David and Nathan saw the truth., and we should learn from them.

When we sin, we sin against God. No matter how big or how small the sin, we sin against our Lord. Even if the sin seems completely private, it is a sin that involves you turning your back on the principles and commands of God in order to do something you find more valuable at the present time. Perhaps it is gossip. Perhaps it is pornography. Perhaps it is selfish thinking. Whatever the sin, it is you “despising the word of the Lord” as did David. It is you sinning against the Lord, as David saw. It is you utterly scorning the Lord, as Nathan tells David in verse 14. Yes, these are harsh words; sin is a harsh thing. We dare not take it lightly. We dare not belittle what God has declared to be of infinite significance.

Of course I understand that all of us are sinful people. Not one of us has lived perfectly. Yet, we also must recognize that we, if we are believers, serve a holy God who demands our holiness as well. To sin against that God is significant. It is not something we can take lightly. It is not something we can “O well.” Let us learn to take holiness seriously and sin seriously in order that we might not despise the word of the Lord. And let us learn to love the grace of God purchased for us by the blood of Christ.

1 Samuel 24:4-7 – And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.

Often, Christians look for any hints they can find for making a decision that is the will of God. This is, to many, a very difficult field. Often, when we ask Christians how to determine if a particular action is the will of God, they will tell us to ask the counsel of other believers and watch for open doors, ways in which God gives us opportunity to take a particular action. Many Christians reason that, if God wants me to do something, he will open the door; but if he wants me not to do something, he will not give me the opportunity.

David’s experience in 1 Samuel 24 demonstrates for us that open doors are by no means a good way to judge the rightness or wrongness of an action. David had been running from King Saul. David even knew that he was to be the king of Israel upon Saul’s demise. Then, in an amazing turn of events, David and his men are hiding in the back of a cave where Saul goes, alone, to relieve himself. As Saul is in a most vulnerable position, David’s men tell him that the time is right. They counsel him that God has opened the door for him to take Saul’s life, and so that must be God’s will. David sneaks out, but only cuts Saul’s robe short, refusing to take Saul’s life after all.

Notice how David responded to what he had done. Once he recognized his action for what it was, David repented of sin. He knew that he was not supposed to stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed, chosen king. David should have waited for God to set things right, and not have tried to take matters into his own hands. David’s heart struck him, because, though the door was open, the act was sin.

We can learn from David’s experience that open doors and the counsel of others does not necessarily lead to the will of God. As one Christian author quips, “Open doors sometimes lead to elevator shafts.” We therefore can not judge the rightness or wrongness of an action based on an open door. We can not say that anything is God’s will for us simply because a door is open or closed.

Let us turn ourselves away from superstitious tests of the will of God, and turn to the solid ground of the word of God. Our lord has given us his commands and his precepts, his standards for living, in the Bible. The Bible is the solid, inerrant, perfect revelation of God. It has inn its pages and principles everything we need to follow God’s will. We need to turn away from superstitious tests, and turn ourselves to the hard work of truly knowing God’s word and how it applies to our lives in every situation.

Dear Lord, help me to learn from David’s experience that open doors do not always indicate that anything is your will. Sometimes you lead us away from open doors. Sometimes you lead us through apparently closed doors. Your word is the standard, not my understanding of circumstances. Let me learn to live this to your glory.

1 Samuel 12:20-22 – And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.”
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After the people of Israel demanded a king to reign over them in place of the LORD, they became convinced by God of their great sin. They feared greatly, and they asked Samuel to pray for them. Samuel’s response to the people both offered them forgiveness and directed them how to live in the future. The forgiveness is implied in the fact that the people are not going to die. The instructions are what they have to follow in order not to get into more trouble.

What I want us to learn from this is how we need to respond to God when we find ourselves failing. First, we need to recognize it when we sin, and we need to seek God’s forgiveness. The people of Israel feared that they would die, which shows that they truly grasped that they had sinned before a holy God who most certainly would have been righteous to judge them. When you sin, you need that same recognition. Any sin, even the slightest little sin, is infinitely offensive to a holy God. That God would be absolutely righteous to judge us for it, but he is gracious to forgive.

Once you have confessed your sin to God and sought his forgiveness, there is still something that you need to do. It is important that we not allow ourselves to fall into self-pity when we fail. It is important that we stand strong against falling into the same sinful patterns. It is vital that we replace the sinful activity with righteousness. That is what Samuel commanded when he told them to no longer trust in empty things that can not save them, but to serve the LORD with all their hearts. It is a simple call to stop trusting in the world and the flesh, but to instead serve God with all you have.

The final thing to do is to fully trust in God. Samuel told the people that God will not forsake his people. Why not? God will not forsake his people not out of anything they do or are. God will not forsake his people for his own name’s sake. God’s reputation is at stake in how he treats his people. He wants to be known as merciful to his people who return to him seeking forgiveness. He wants to be known as a God who blesses those who follow him with all their hearts. He will be faithful, because he will not let his name be known as unfaithful.

Dear Lord, I thank you for the truth found here in your word. When we fail, you are faithful to forgive us when we acknowledge, confess, and repent of our sins in Christ. It is not by anything we can do that you forgive us. You forgive based on the merit of Christ. I pray that you will help me to always turn from empty things, and to seek you and you only. I want to serve you with all my heart as you command.

Psalm 53:1a – The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

It fascinates me that, last night, I preached psalm 14, which is almost identical to Psalm 53. Without question, God has placed one thing in my path, on purpose, two times. And what is striking me most is the first line of both Psalms, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”

The fool, a person about whom the Bible speaks with the utmost contempt, says to himself, in his own heart or mind, that there is no God. Often, we immediately take this verse as a way for us to look down our noses at any atheists we know, calling them fools and touting our own superior understanding. But I think, if we are careful, we can find more meaning in this text. The fool says, not only outwardly, but at times inwardly, that there is no God. He may not even admit his atheism. He may not even recognize his own atheism.

So, here comes the question that stunned me: “Are you an atheist?” “Of course not!” I cry, “I’m a pastor and a seminary student! There’s no atheism here.” That is what I say with my mouth. What about my heart? What does it tell me? What will reflect my heart’s condition is my behavior. Does my heart show me as a true believer in God through action? Am I acting, with every second of my life, as one who believes that God, the true God, the God of the Bible, is with me? Or, am I saying I am a believer with my lips, but actually living as though I am the only one here. Am I living as a fool? Am I living a practical atheism?

Think of it this way. You have a major problem. Perhaps you are caught in a traffic jam and are late for a meeting. Perhaps you have just discovered that an assignment is due today when you thought it was next week. Perhaps you just received some bad news from the doctor’s office. Perhaps you are a pastor who is feeling the pressure to straighten out a thousand twisted threads in a church when you only have 2 hands. Perhaps you are a mother whose children simply will not behave. How do you live in these pressure-filled moments? Would someone who looks in at your life believe that you believe in God? Do you pray, trust God, and respond with Christlikeness? Or, like so many of us, do you get frustrated, stressed out, overwhelmed, or discouraged? Do you complain, saying, “I don’t deserve this,” and then have a pity party?

Christians, if we are honest, there are times when, if we are not careful, we will live like fools even when we say with our lips that God is there. When we live for ourselves, when we act as though we must solve all our own problems, when we fail to trust God for the future, when we look for others to blame for our problems, when we act without prayer, we live as fools, as practical atheists. Sure, we acknowledge Jesus with our lips; but, when the rubber meets the road, we deny Jesus by the way we try to handle everything on our own or refuse to try to do something that appears to be beyond our own human abilities.

Today, repent of living as a practical atheist. Turn away from the temptation to make this life all about you, your comforts, your strengths, and your weaknesses. Live like one who believes, truly believes and knows, that God is real, he is with us, and he will never forsake his children. Ask yourself, on a regular basis, “Am I living as a fool or as a believer?” Ask, “Does this action make me look like a believer or a practical atheist?” Determine to live genuine faith before your Lord.

Dear Lord, I acknowledge that there are moments, and far too many of them, when I live as though I am the only solution to my problems. I pray that you will forgive me for living in my own little world of practical atheism. Though I would never declare philosophically that you do not exist, I sometimes live as though that is what I believe. I pray that you will fill me with your Spirit, and remind me regularly of your presence. Let me live what I truly believe, that you are my God, my Creator, my Lord, my Refuge, my King, and everything I need. I trust you. Help me, I pray, to live out that trust in every aspect of life.