Fighting Indifference

Alright, turn your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 13.

2 Samuel 13 · chapter mention

And we are going to jump back in.

We have been going through the roller coaster of David's life and ups and downs.

And last week David made a full recovery, a proper confession we saw.

And so as you turn this morning to 2 Samuel chapter 13, we're going to be looking at the topic fighting indifference.

2 Samuel 13 · chapter mention

2 Samuel 13.

I met a guy named Frank Andrews.

It's been about 10 years ago.

Frank, when I met him, had ALS, which is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, called the nice man's disease, and it takes a person's life inch by inch.

When I met Frank, we had been given a project.

My mother-in-law was married to Frank at the time, and I was given a project to make all of the grandchildren's stilts with Frank.

This was going to be a Christmas present.

There's a lot of grandchildren.

And let me tell you who's never made any stilts.

Or how to even begin.

But Frank was a genius, an engineer, and with his brain and my hands and eight hours of time, a bond was formed between Frank and myself.

And uh what I had learned about ALS, that it's very typical for a person that gets ALS to, once they get in a wheelchair, they might put on 30 miles to 75 miles on a wheelchair before their life ends.

Frank was incredible.

Put 30,000 miles on two wheelchairs.

Frank took expeditions to Alaska, went um uh uh scuba diving while he had ALS, and we went camping in the smokies, and I watched Frank develop and do all this stuff with brain power.

And a lot of people with ALS become depressed and begin to lose their life because of what's going on with their body, and this is what I learned from watching Frank.

He was determined not to lose one day.

Five years ago, uh, I got to preach at Frank's funeral, and this is what I told everybody in attendance.

I said, this is what I know about Frank.

Frank was determined to do something with life that he had.

He was determined to do something.

And so today I want us to look at this message of fighting indifference.

Let's pray together.

Father, we love you, and we thank you so much for the opportunity we have today to worship you, God, to be in your presence and ask, God, that you in your word would speak to our hearts.

Draw us, God, to the truth that you have to speak.

And God, I pray for our people, Lord.

I pray, Lord, I'm in agreement with what was said this morning about revival, about this church, and about the need.

But God, we have got to have a people willing, every member to be a minister and every person to be involved.

So, God, help us to be doers and not be okay with watching.

Lord, help us to be followers and not fans.

Help us to be involved.

And God, challenge our hearts this morning with your word in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And so, beginning point this morning is this number one, is a costly infraction.

And so, looking back at David in 1 Samuel chapter 11 and 12, the infraction that we saw was due to one major thing.

1 Samuel 11 · chapter mention

David got caught in the bedroom during wartime looking at Bathsheba because of indifference.

He was in the wrong place at the wrong time because David, to be honest, got lazy when it was time to go out to battle.

That got him down a path where he looked at Bathsheba, and we saw that great sin that was committed and the hole it took for him.

And then in chapter 12 last week, we've seen that David confessed his sin, but it was costly.

I want you to know something this morning, church.

Letter A is this sin always has consequences.

God does forgive and will forgive and died to forgive our sin, but sin always produces consequences.

Look at 2 Samuel chapter 12.

2 Samuel 12 · chapter mention

Now I want you to see verse 9 and 10.

We'll get back into verse or chapter 13 in just a moment.

But it says, Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight?

You have killed Uriah the Hittite with a sword and taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed with the sword of the people of Ammon.

Now, therefore, listen to this the sword shall never depart from your house.

In effect, God's saying, You will now have consequences for sin.

And we don't like to hear that, church, but the truth is sin has consequences.

And this statement, the sword will never depart from your house.

The word never depart here is used to express the longest time possible in connection to the subject matter.

Otherwise stated, as long as David lives, he will feel the continual consequences of his sin choice.

Galatians 6 7 says, This church, be not deceived, God is not mocked.

Whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap.

And so we're told that sin has consequences, and it has in general of itself, not just your specific sin.

And David did a specific sin that has specific consequences, but sin in general has at least four consequences.

I was looking at this week.

Number one, you can write this if you want to, side notes.

Number one, sin separates us from God.

Our relationship with God is severed in the moment of sin.

So it separates us.

Number two, Scripture says, whoever commits sin is a slave to it.

You're in bondage to the thing that's tempted you and pulled you.

We're a slave.

Number three, we've seen in Romans 6.23, sin brings death.

And number four, sin separates us from the fellowship of other believers.

Sin has general consequences.

Well, Hosea 8.7 says that some reap, but some reap in the whirlwind.

And so sometimes we don't get to choose that.

In fact, there's an old evangelist named Rick Amado, and he has coined this phrase in thousands of schools across the country.

He said, You have the power of choice, but you do not have the power to choose your consequences.

You have the freedom and the power to choose, but you do not have power over the consequences that will come.

I was thinking about that this week, and uh I was reminded of some pictures.

Uh, I think the guys back here have of my son Weston, um, and there's two of them.

And the first picture is Weston upon his calling on the Lord for salvation.

They got that picture up there yet?

We'll see.

Anyway, I had a picture of Weston.

He got saved, and there's a picture of him, and he's pointing to his heart.

Well, uh, Weston asked Jesus to be his Savior was a sweet thing.

And then in this kind of world, in the church world that we live, with my kids being involved with me in ministry, what happens a lot of times, they start asking when people are getting baptized.

They say, When am I going to get baptized?

Daddy, when can I get baptized?

And I'll say, Are you a sinner?

No.

Well, you ain't ready to get baptized yet because you don't even understand why you need.

Well, you need to get in there.

And so we'll talk about this and that.

And finally there came a point where he understood, yes, I'm a sinner in need of a savior.

And so Weston got saved.

Well, uh, I don't know if they have it, but I had a second photo of Weston uh one day.

We came home from a softball game, and uh Weston got out of the shower, and he said, Mama, you wouldn't believe it.

At the softball field, you can't let me play in that sand at the softball field anymore.

I'm like, what are you talking about?

He said, That sand at the softball field makes my hair fall out.

We're looking at him, like, look down further.

He's got chunks of hair missing out of his head.

I'm like, what is going on?

Heather goes on to sort of investigate.

Weston has gotten in the shower and grabbed the razor and begun to take it on himself to just cut some of his hair out.

He had big chunks missing.

And so he had an immediate consequence because of his sin.

I couldn't let him go to school like that, so I had to shave the rest of it off.

Oh, he was so embarrassed.

He was so mortified.

The next morning, getting ready for school, you know, his hair, he's got he's got three definite sh, like, you know, missing bald spots, and then a shaved head, and he's like wanting to wear a hat to school.

We got it.

Here we go.

Y'all see that?

I think he almost put a W in there.

Look, look at the front part.

So that was the end result, the consequences.

And he's lying.

Oh, the sand at the ballpark did this, mama.

Sure.

Sure, it was the sand that did it, right?

And so I had a picture of Weston saved and a picture of Weston shaved.

And so we see immediate consequences, right?

He had this pull, this desire, a temptation to do something that looked good to him, and he thought, I wonder what'll happen.

I know other little kids in this service now that this week they've grabbed the scissors, right?

Y'all got any children like that?

Just wanted to see what it would look like.

And so they've taken and started shopping.

Immediate consequences.

Sin produces consequences, church.

That takes us to letter B this morning.

Not only does sin produce consequences, but often it produces corruption.

Yeah.

It produces corruption.

Do you remember David?

We looked at Psalms 32 last week.

David's groaning.

Remember what he said when he was a year away from the Lord?

He said, In my spirit there was groaning.

And he said, My bones became weak.

And so David, because of his sin choice, physical corruption is beginning to happen to him.

And I want you to understand some statistics.

They say 50% of all illnesses today are psychosomatic, meaning mental.

And sin, uh, you need to know that sin causes a mental stress.

If you looked up the word guilt, mental stress, right?

If you've done something wrong and you're a Christian, you should feel guilt.

Right?

You don't get to be, you don't get to get away with it.

And so you should feel guilt.

So this is a mental stress.

What happens is we induce real damage because we click on a website or we cuss a coworker or we get angry at our spouse.

And what we have done is we get all tied up because of our inner and self and our motivations.

And the inner self, this is what I know about it.

That voice in your head will keep you up tossing and turning all night long, will it not?

And so, what sinfulness does, in a fact, sinfulness is a great uh addition for insomnia.

You want to not sleep, go ahead and make sin choices.

Sinfulness, uh, somebody once said that the best pillow is a clear conscience.

You can go to sleep at night with a clear conscience.

I want you to look over at Proverbs chapter 3 and see what it says.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

Just a moment, a few chapters over, a few books over.

Proverbs 3, go to verse 7 and 8.

But that's that's just the mental aspect of the illness of a sin choice.

Sin produces a sin choice will produce physical consequences as well.

Proverbs 3, 7 and 8, look at what it says.

Don't be wise in your own eyes.

Listen to this next admonition.

Fear the Lord and depart from evil.

Fear the Lord, depart from sin, walk away from that temptation, run from that sin.

It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones.

If we want to feel right, we need to live right.

By the way, all sickness, church, comes in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

All sickness.

This world is sin-cursed and fallen and polluted.

And so what it says there is though, if you want to live better in it, it says, hello, forsake that sin.

I'm not saying all of your ailments are the result of directly sinning, but they are in fact a result of sin.

Every ailment we have is a disease that started in Genesis 3.

It was a perfect world, unpolluted, no failing, no falling, no, none of this.

And because of sin, we have physical problems.

And so what does Scripture say?

Don't miss this.

James 5, 16 says, confess your sin so that you may be healed.

James got it.

He said, confess your sin for healing.

And you remember the paralytic man that Jesus healed?

This, I love this passage.

Don't miss it.

When Jesus healed him, he was brought on a mat.

He said, My son, this is the first thing he said.

He said, My son, your sins are forgiven.

Now go and be made well.

Get your sins right, he says.

And then get your heart right, and then watch the rest change.

Walkey said this right living has a natural tendency to impart health to the body because it preserves man from circumstances that proceed from lusts.

Right living diffuses a serenity and joy which upon the body exercises a medicinal influence.

So if we live right, we should feel right.

You see, but David made a costly infraction.

And it leads to what we read there that leads to the sword in David's house.

And that takes us to point number two this morning.

Chapter 13.

We're going to read verses 1 through 5.

Point number 2 is a child's intrusion.

This is a sad portion of scripture, church.

It says this.

After this, Absalon, the son of David, had a lovely sister, whose name was Tamar.

And Amnon, the son of David, loved her.

Amnon was so distressed over his sister Tamar that he became sick, for she was a virgin, and it was improper for Amnon to do anything to her.

But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab the son of Shime, David's brother.

Now Jonadab was a very crafty man, and he said to him, Why are you, the king's son, becoming thinner day after day?

Will you not tell me?

Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.

So Jonadab said to him, Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill.

And when your father comes to see you, say to him, Please let my sister Tamar come and give me food, and prepare the food in my sight that I may see it and eat from her hand.

So letter A this morning, what we see here is Amnon's indecent lust.

An indecent lust.

Amnon is in love with his half-sister.

And I want you to see, just to unpack a little bit, turn back to Leviticus chapter 20.

Leviticus 20 · chapter mention

And there's a lot of back and forth.

I've talked and discussed with some people about in the very beginning, you see, in Genesis, where there are some brothers and sisters who get married.

But over time, if you go to the Creation Museum, this is how they explain this, body cells began to change because of pollution.

And so when you start mixing that together over time, the way that that happens, it causes deformities.

In the beginning, they had to do it to procreate, to continue.

But by the time we get to Leviticus chapter 20, verse 17, it's already being condemned.

Leviticus 20:17

It says, Leviticus 20, verse 17, if a man takes his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his, it's a wicked thing, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the people.

Leviticus 20:17

And so we see here already, this is a disgraceful thing.

It says he became sick at himself.

He got sick at his stomach at the thought he wanted something so badly, he had a perversion in his heart that he wanted to go after, and he wanted it with his half-sister Tamar.

He and his cousin Jonadab begin to plot for Amnon to be able to be alone.

By the way, caveat here, your friendships matter.

That's right.

Amnon in this moment takes the advice of someone who does not give him godly counsel.

So when you listen to certain things, it may give you a bolster of courage, sometimes to do the wrong thing.

And so Amnon listens to this cousin.

He says, Make a plot, say, come lie with me.

And this is what we know.

Amnon doesn't say, Come lie with me, and then ask her for her hand in marriage.

The very thing that should cause him to forsake his half-sister, this pursuit, is her purity.

It says she's a virgin, she's pure, she's been pure, she's been given to purity, and it's that very thing which attracts him.

He is sick to his stomach over this possibility.

And I thought about this: was it not possibly the same with David?

That Bathsheba was married to Uriah.

It didn't keep him from taking her.

Sometimes, humanly, on a human level, when we hear something, it makes us want it the way of sin.

We want it all the more when we think we shouldn't or we can't.

And that human desire, remember in the garden?

One fruit you have to say no to.

The rest, it's all yours.

But one you have to say no to, and that one that they had to say no to made them go, I have to have it.

The way of sinfulness.

David's son is repeating David's sin.

The sin sown by the Father is now harvested by his child.

And so the sword of the Lord is in that house.

And that's what it says.

I want you to look at verse 12 through 14 now.

12 through 14.

The sadness and the depth of disparity in this scripture continues.

He does the plot that him and Jonadab put together, and it says, He says, Come lie with me, sister, at the end of verse 11.

But she answered him, No, my brother, do not force me, for no such thing should be done in Israel.

Do not do this disgraceful thing.

And where could I take my shame?

And as for you, you would be like one of the fools in Israel.

Now therefore, please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.

However, he would not heed her voice.

And being stronger than her, he forced and laid with her.

She said, No, my brother.

She even pleads, Tell the king and take me.

I will marry you.

Take me in marriage.

And I don't believe Tamar wanted one bit of marrying Amnon.

In a moment of ungodly passion, for a moment, Amnon violates her.

And for a moment, the king's firstborn, the heir of the kingdom, now casts himself into a vile act and becomes the lowest in the nation and dishonors his sister.

Listen, church, in this series, we've talked about lust and we've talked about shame.

We've seen murder.

And I don't mean to just skim by this.

I don't want you to think that this is difficult, and I just want to pass it.

This is hateful, and I hate this scripture.

And for anyone here who's been hurt, I'm sorry that you've been hurt.

And it was not your fault.

It was not your wrong.

And anything that Satan tries to whisper in your ear about it is wrong.

Your value is seen by the king that you serve.

Your value is being a child of the king.

If you're a son or a daughter of the king, that is your value.

And it's not one iota by the sinfulness of ugly choices.

It's perverted, it's not love, it's lust, and it's despicable what happens in this scripture.

I want you to know God loves you.

Amen.

Each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust.

And so we see this scripture: the sword is not but fallen on David's house, but in the same vein his child.

A lot of people will say, Pastor, I hear teenagers throughout the time that I've worked with them.

What's God's will for my life?

Do you know what God's will for my life?

We have specific statements.

This is one of them.

It says in 1 Thessalonians, this is the will of God.

I may not be sure if everywhere you're supposed to be, but I know this.

Scripture says, God does not.

Want you involved in immorality.

Not one bit.

And I spoke all about that when we talked about lust.

But Christians, listen to me again.

You better be careful what you're looking at.

Careful what you allow through these eye gates.

You be careful with this phone.

You be careful when you're alone.

Be careful.

Be careful what you allow with your kids.

Be careful.

Listen, I don't watch an R-rated movie.

There's some PG 13 movies.

Look, go to plugged in.com, parents, if you want to know about a review on a movie.

Listen, be careful what you allow in through these gates, because the Bible says if you want to grow, then you better be able to control your body and don't act according to lust.

David act on lust, and now so does his son.

And that leads us to letter B.

Why don't you go to that go down to verse 22?

Now it says that Tamar goes home, and we find out through these scriptures that David finds out, uh Absalom, her brother, finds out.

In a despicable manner, Amnon sends her away.

It's all of it is very insidious, the whole thing of it.

And Absalom spoke to his brother Amnon, verse 22, neither good nor bad.

For Absalom hated Amnon because he had forced his sister Tamar.

Absalom hated him.

Letter B is Absalom's indignant retaliation.

Absalom hated his brother because of this act.

Most people here identify with the feelings of Absalom.

This emotion.

We feel like, yeah, I can see why he is angry at this.

And I want you to know, church, you have a right to your emotion, but be careful with feelings.

Because feelings give way to actions.

And we don't act on feelings, we act according to truth.

This is what we act based on, not according to feelings.

We act according to Scripture.

That's why things like Ephesians 4.26 says, be angry, but sin not.

James 1.20 says, the anger of a man does not produce the righteousness of God.

And so I'm not telling you it's wrong to be angry at sinful acts.

But what I'm telling you is it's not our place for retaliation.

It's never right to do wrong to do right.

Let me say that again.

It's never right to do wrong to do right.

Our job is not retaliation.

The Bible says, Vengeance is mine, I will repay.

And don't forget, in Ephesians, this is what it says of you and me, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to produce good works.

It doesn't say that we were produced to get back or retaliate or for vengeance or for that justice or out of jealousy or out of repayment.

So moments in life when we are tempted, James tells us another thing.

Draw nigh to God.

Cleanse your hands, purify your hearts.

Pray.

Take a moment.

Don't act.

The other week, Wyatt, I hear screaming and crying, and Weston runs in and his head's bleeding.

I'm like, oh, here we go.

Right?

Wyatt hit Weston with a broom.

I'm like, why are you fighting your little brother with a broom?

Is my question.

Like, what?

Why is that okay?

And he's like, it was it was an accident.

It's an accident.

There's so many accidents, y'all.

Accidents.

I'm like, accidents shouldn't start with brooms.

Like, that was the first bad choice.

And so I had this talk with Wyatt often, something like this.

I say, son, just because you are physically able doesn't mean you should.

I'm like, I can pick you up, Wyatt, and throw you across the room.

I'm like the hawk of this world and you're the ant man.

Like I can crush you.

But I don't.

I don't look to inflict or damage or retaliate.

And Christian, listen, your job is not retaliation.

In fact, Scripture would let us know that it's the opposite.

We are to be given to mercy and we are to be given to restoration.

I'm not saying we back away from what is right.

We stand by what is right.

We stand by truth and we speak the truth, but we speak the truth in love, Scripture says.

Not violently.

We, yes, we confront sin.

We don't scur around sin.

We talk about what we do and we do it quickly.

We don't sweep things away, but we do it with the right heart.

It says, Absalom here, neither good nor bad.

What he did in this moment in verse 22 was acted indifferent.

He didn't confront it.

In fact, he told Tamar to hold her peace, just be quiet.

Why?

Why do you think he did that?

Because he knew in his heart he was devising a means of retaliation.

So go to verse 26.

I want you to see what Absalom does.

Verse 26, and Absalom said, If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us.

He's pleading to David.

And the king said to him, Why should he go with you?

But Absalom urged him.

So let him, Amnon and all the king's sons go with him.

Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Now, doesn't this sound familiar?

Remember David's plot with Uriah?

Watch now when the Amnon's heart is merry with wine.

Everybody's answer to getting back to somebody is get him drunk.

And so Absalom says, Get him drunk, and when I say to you, strike Amnon, then kill him.

So Absalom gives this secret, right?

He says, When you hear my very secret cue, the secret phrase is strike Amnon! Like what a secret, right?

He could have said anything, right?

And then he says, kill him.

And as David ordered the death of Uriah's life because of his lust, now Absalom orders the death of his brother because of his lust against his sister.

And I'm reminded of James 1.15, church.

It says, Lust when it is finished, results in death.

Lust is never satisfied.

It's not satisfied.

And that takes us to our third point this morning.

We see a crippling in action.

Now the point of this study all throughout has been that we see the roller coaster life of David.

And up to this point, we've seen his children and their actions in this.

But I want you to see maybe one of the worst parts is this crippling in action.

And I want you to see where David was in these different pieces and parts.

Verse 21 again.

Hello?

Can you hear me?

I don't know what happened.

I'm not moving them, I'm not moving around like Pastor Danny.

Nothing told me I was dead.

You have fallen and have not.

I haven't had that happen yet.

I've been working on it though.

But when King David heard all these things, he was very angry.

But what?

He was very angry, and that's it.

That's what we get, that he was very angry.

Verse 31.

Look at what it says.

So the king arose and tore his garments and lay on the ground, and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.

This is when he heard that Amnon was killed.

He tore his clothes.

Verse 39.

And King David longed to go to Absalom after this, for he had been comforted concerning Amnon because he was dead.

But what we see in all of these incidents is in action.

Letter A is this it's a paralysis of principle.

We see a father who did nothing.

As a fighter, David was fearless.

As a father, he was feeble.

David heard these things about Tamar, and it says, he was very angry.

And for two years this goes on.

He was just very angry.

News came that Amnon was dead, and he was very sad, laid on the ground, he tore his clothes, he mourned, but what he did, he did nothing.

Now people believe that David held his own peace because of his own sin with Bathsheba.

Parents, hear me.

All parents, listen to me for a second.

If you hold your peace because you got drunk as a teenager and your child comes home drunk, then that's about the dumbest thing you can do.

If you hold your peace because you were reckless as a teenager and now your child wants to be reckless because you were, that's not smart.

If all of culture accepts it, it does not matter.

It's what this book says.

Guys, I'm gonna ask you, do we have the slides on the statistics on fatherlessness?

I want you to see some statistics.

Look up here.

The father absence crisis in America.

18.4 million children live without a biological father.

And I want you to see the next slide that shows some of the ways that affects four times greater poverty, more likely behavioral problems, and it goes down, more likely to go to prison, commit crime, drugs and alcohol.

18.4 million in our country, church.

It's high time that men stand up and step up in our homes, that we take back homes and fight against the attack of Satan.

It's not okay that David watched idly when his family was falling apart because he sinned.

Yes, we are all prone to sin, but it doesn't mean we watch it and go, Well, I did that, so it's okay for them.

We fight and attack Satan.

We shield our family from sin and Satan.

We need fathers that'll protect and provide and husbands that will protect.

We need to pray and battle on our knees, church.

The worst thing David could do was nothing.

The man who stood to Goliath does nothing when his little girl was harmed.

What a tragedy.

What an immense disappointment to Tamar, his little girl.

But what about Absalom?

Grew up hearing about stories of David and his heroism and what happened when his daddy went into battle.

And at this crucial moment, David takes no action.

He's utterly indifferent.

Which gave way to Absalom's sin.

Two years.

David had a chance for two years to write it.

David had a chance for two years to enter into that conflict.

David had a chance for two years to do something about what happened, address the issue.

But he swept it under the rug, hoping it would just go away.

David had a chance.

At least Absalom wanted justice.

I don't believe what Absalom did was right.

But at least he wanted to do something.

Two long years.

David knew, Bathsheba knew, Tamar knew, probably more in the family knew, and what do you think they thought?

Daddy doesn't even care.

He doesn't even care.

Listen to me, parents, again.

If you've messed up parenting a word, it's not too late to get it right.

It's not too late to get it right now.

If you need to apologize, if you need to state a wrong.

You might be in here and you're 80 years old.

Your child still needs your affirmation.

I'm 40 years old, and when my parents at 40 tell me that they're proud of me, I still get choked up.

I still need my daddy to tell me.

I still need my mama to tell me.

We still need that affirmation and the wisdom that they have to share.

God created that child to be parented by you.

He didn't create the child to parent you.

It's not time for a paralysis.

You parent until you die.

I want you to look at Matthew chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

I want you to see something.

Jesus is talking.

Matthew chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Verse 16 and 17.

It says, but to what shall I liken this generation?

It's like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling their companions and saying, picture it, we played the flute for you, but you didn't dance.

We mourned to you, but you didn't lament.

I want you to look at verse 21 through 24.

He's talking about here, people that have an opportunity but don't do anything with it.

Woe to you, verse 21.

Woe to you, Betheda, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than you.

And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades.

For if the mighty works, listen to this, they saw all of Jesus' mighty works were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

But I say to you, it should be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

What is he saying?

What is he saying here?

He's saying, the child plays a flute and nobody danced.

He sang a funeral song and nobody mourned.

They did nothing.

You had the chance, but didn't care.

He said, I did mighty works before your city, and you just sat back unmoved.

It was like I wasn't even there.

If this would have happened even in the wickedness of Sodom, they would have all repented.

But you saw my work.

Listen, I feel like this sometimes, church.

God could come right in here and cure cancer right now.

He could stop a car wreck on the way in.

He could heal.

He could drop the money from heaven for the new building.

He could save 50 people, and some people would say, Well, it was a little warm this morning.

Amen.

That's right.

I didn't really enjoy service.

I didn't like what he had to say.

God could so move, and yet we are right around his presence but miss him.

We do nothing about it.

He could be pounding your heart to death this morning.

And you say, God, I'm not going.

Not doing it.

God, I'm not doing it.

And God will pick you up and start moving your legs, and you'd fight against that move.

But won't miss a chance to be critical, will we?

Here's how.

Here's how.

Look at Revelation chapter 3.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

How is this even possible?

How is this possible?

How can we be so indifferent?

How could David stand idly by and watch all of this unfold?

Revelation chapter 3, I want you to look at verse 14.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write these things, says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

I know your works.

You are neither cold nor hot.

I could wish you were cold or hot.

So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

And you say I'm rich and have become wealthy and I have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

We've become lukewarm.

God Himself can't even move our hearts.

Why?

Because we have unconfessed sin.

We're trying to follow lust and temptation.

All of this unfulfillment is pulling at us.

And we are unmoved by the reality of God's goodness.

David was missing it.

David was missing it.

He became indifferent.

He didn't want to face his sin again.

He made a proper confession.

But then it drummed it back up for him.

What he had done.

And when he watched with his son, instead of entering the conflict, he watched idly by his little girl.

And then his boys massacred at one another.

That takes us to letter B.

It became a pause in protection.

A pause in protection.

I want to go back to verse number seven.

Remember, Amnon and his cousin devised this plan.

But they have to ask David.

He pretends to be ill, he lays in the bed.

And David, verse 7, sent home to Tamar, saying, Now go to your brother Amnon's house and prepare food for him.

So Tamar went.

This tells me something about David in this moment.

David was not in tune with the needs of his family.

Help us, God, as fathers.

Help us as parents.

A couple of questions from an involved parent at this moment.

Why Tamar?

Amnon?

What about this is a palace.

What about the cook?

What about a chef?

Why Tamar in this moment?

Why are you feeling ill?

What about that question?

How can I help?

As a father, you're feeling bad.

What can I do?

David, indifferent.

Does nothing.

You want your sister?

Okay.

Parents, our role is protector and provider.

Let me tell you, and I've said this before, our role is not to be best friend.

Hello.

I have a lot of hard conversations with my kids, especially these days.

And I feel like I'm the bad guy.

I just feel like constantly, like I'm the bad guy.

I gotta say this stuff to you because it's real.

But I don't need to be the best friend.

And I love them.

I love them.

I want all the good moments that best friends get to have.

But I don't get to have all those because I have to correct what's wrong.

I'm protector and provider.

Verse 26 and 27.

Look again, David's opportunity.

And what does it say?

It says that Absalom urged him to allow Amnon to come with him.

He urged him.

And in this moment, David knew what happened to Tamar.

David had to sense that his son, his real sister, was aggravated about it.

How could he not sense the tension?

Any parent here ever been in a house with your kids and you know they're at a tension?

Like it's not hidden.

It's not a shock when my kids aren't getting along.

Pretty much everybody knows.

Y'all with me?

David caved in.

And listen to me, church, we have to interject.

It's no time for a pause.

We're a no-pause church.

That's what I want you to know about CCW.

We are a no-pause church.

When you come and you take our covenant membership class, the second class at the end of it, you know what we ask you?

How then do you proceed to serve?

We ask you how you're going to get involved and serve.

If you want to be a member, it's not time for a pause because there's a lot of somebody else churches out there.

Y'all know about somebody else's church?

Somebody else's church says when there's a kid's ministry need, oh, somebody else will do that.

When there's extravaganza coming up, oh, somebody else will do that.

Oh, we need to do this, so somebody, oh somebody needs a light bill paid.

Get somebody else.

Somebody needs a meal brought to them because it's oh, somebody else will be and somebody else never shows up.

We can't look at needs at CCW and be indifferent.

We must protect and not pause.

I want you to look at the person next to you and say, No pauses.

Herschel said this indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself.

Listen to this.

Indifference to the act of evil is more insidious than evil itself.

George Bernard Shaw said, indifference is the essence of inhumanity.

David's indifference kept costing and costing and costing.

Peter had the faith to try something that most think is impossible.

Yes, he did begin to sink.

But who else in the history have ever walked on water?

He got out of the boat.

Sure.

Peter made a lot of errors.

Show me someone who does not make errors, and I'll show you someone who's not doing anything.

He does something.

And David Wilson said to me, in that old building, I'd rather somebody do something wrong than to do nothing.

So do something.

The Bible says, all through Scripture, do or work.

Do or work.

James 1.22 says, be a doer.

1 Corinthians 10.31 says, whether you eat or drink whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Philippians 2.13 says, it is God that works in you both to do and to work his good pleasure.

Ephesians says 4, it is him who is able to do more abundantly beyond all we ask or think.

According to the power that works.

Do and work.

Work and do.

Do not be indifferent.

I promise you, church, I feel like indifference is a silent enemy killing churches.

It's a silent enemy killing our churches.

I found this tragic story, and I'm about to close this week.

I watched it on video and I thought about showing it, but you couldn't stand to watch it.

I couldn't stand to watch it.

There's a young lady named Wang Yu in China, two years old.

She was walking in the marketplace, and Wang Yu was victim of a hit and run.

A van just hit her.

Twelve people they caught on surveillance camera walked by a bloody, battered child's body.

And then a second vehicle hit her.

Finally, more people walked by, and the traffic footage showed more and more in this busy marketplace.

Finally, a 58-year-old lady stopped.

And it was too late.

This child lost its life.

And everybody just simply was so busy and just walked by the need that was so apparent.

It was right there in front of them.

And it was too late.

If we believe this book to be true, here's the answer.

This is the answer that was given to the church in Revelations.

It says this, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.

And so David, he's being chastened for a sin.

Therefore, this is what he says: Be zealous and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone will hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me.

He says, I stand at the door and knock.

This is often used as a call to salvation, church.

You hear this when people want to give the gospel and say, You want to be saved?

He's standing at the door, knocking at the door of your heart.

But it's used in this passage to tell a church that they've become indifferent.

He says, if you want to fix it, I'm standing here knocking right now.

Receive this word, repent.

You don't have to be indifferent.

You don't have to watch needs.

You don't have to watch idly why people are lost and dying.

You don't have to watch needs go unmet.

He says, You can fix it.

He says, repent and then be zealous.

The only thing Edmund Burke said necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Will you commit church to do something?

I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes this morning.