“From Rape to Murder”

David Buss of the University of Texas asked his students if they had ever thought seriously about killing someone, and if so, to write out their homicidal fantasies in an essay. He was astonished to find that 91 percent of the men and 84 percent of the women had detailed, vivid homicidal fantasies. He was even more astonished to learn how many steps some of his students had already taken toward carrying them out.

Well now … Is there murder in our hearts today? Hopefully here we do not have frequent homicidal fantasies on a regular basis here. But, let us not fool ourselves, you may be surprised, the Word declares that if a person hates another there is murder in their heart already. Could it be that we are allowing our disappointment, resentment, and hurt to turn into hate? It was once written…Resentment is when you let your hurt become hate. Resentment is when you allow what is eating you to eat you up. Resentment is when you poke, stoke, feed, and fan the fire, stirring the flames and reliving the pain. Resentment is the deliberate decision to nurse the offense until it becomes a black, furry, growling grudge of hate. This hate the Bible calls murder in our hearts. Unfortunately, this is and continues to be a problem in our culture and even the church today. How should we approach this thing called hate? How do we respond to resentment? The Scriptures shines a light on the path. We will find our answer today.

David sent his servants and had an affair with Bathsheba. Just like Amnon sent for Tamar and raped her. David had Uriah murdered just like we will see today that murder happens once again. This is all a result of David’s sin. His child was gonna die and the sword would not leave his house. There will be the unfolding of the consequences just like the Lord said there will be as His discipline. Last week Tamar was raped and now we are gonna see murder. From Adultery to murder with David and now rape to murder with Amnon and Absalom. But after all, David was angry, yet no justice?

After the rape of Tamar by Amnon, David was angry. But it seems that he did not do anything about it. Absalom did not speak to Amnon about what had happened, but there was hatred in his heart because of what happened to his sister. Two years later revenge was in full bloom. It was time for a big feast and Absalom invited all of the kings sons and the king, but the king did not want to be a burden on him. Well if you are not coming can Amnon come? David got a bit suspicious, but Absalom pressed the issue and David sent all his sons including his heir, Amnon. He told his servants to wait until he gets drunk and at my signal, kill him. He assured them, that he was the one that gave the order to do it so do not be afraid. It’s all on me! And it happened and all of the guests fled with word getting to David that all of his sons were killed. David fell into despair. In comes the infamous and crafty Jonadab coming to fix the situation as the evil politician he is. “Don’t worry sire. It was not all of your sons it was just Amnon and you know Absalom had been planning to kill him since he raped his sister.” How did he know? And after it all, Absalom escaped. Then David got a report that a crowd was on its way back and it was David’s sons. And just like Jonadab said, they were all still alive and they all wept together mourning. David mourned for Amnon. After some time, David was comforted with the death of his son and he then longed to be reunited with his son Absalom.

2 Samuel 13:28–29 NLT

Absalom told his men, “Wait until Amnon gets drunk; then at my signal, kill him! Don’t be afraid. I’m the one who has given the command. Take courage and do it!” So at Absalom’s signal they murdered Amnon. Then the other sons of the king jumped on their mules and fled.

2 Samuel 13

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

1. Premeditated Murder

2. Consequence of Injustice

3. The Fruit of the Spirit

The first thing we will explore today is how deception continues to arouse sinful actions, lust to rape, and now hate to be premeditated murder. The second thing we will see is how consequences of injustice continue to push things over the edge. Finally, we will see how the gospel will change our hearts and the power and fruit of the Holy Spirit will dispel hate and murder in our hearts and fill us with love joy peace patience.

Thesis: Though sin and the deceptive pattern of this world and all of its injustices bring us to murderous schemes of hate, it is the better king, our Lord Jesus who will indeed redeem, reconcile and of course restore to life and life more abundant.

I. Premeditated Murder

- It was not a spur of the moment sin, it was planned.

A. Simply. Absalom hated his brother Amnon for what he did to his sister. But what we find is a patient display of murder. Right? 2 years to plan. When he told Tamar to be calm and not to do anything. It was almost as if he was saying. Don’t worry about a thing, cause every little thing is gonna be alright. I got this. He sure did, but it was murderous. Not spur of the moment murder, but premeditated murder. Premeditated for 2 years.

B. His hatred was so intense that he waited patiently cool, calm, and collected; giving many people around him the idea that he was ok with everything now. V22 said that he did not speak to Amnon good either good nor bad. The rage could wait. This was not a murder out of passion. It was not spur of the moment insanity. It was hatefully premeditated. It was a planned strike. There was no forgiveness in his heart. It poisoned him. He did not let it go.

- In his book. Lee: The Last Years, Charles Bracelen Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it." It is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, let bitterness take root and poison the rest of our life.

C. The time had come… two years later at the sheep shearing celebration, the plan would come to fruition 14 miles north of Jerusalem. But an interesting thing, he invited all of the kings’ sons and the king himself. Why? Would this not keep the murder from happening? Ahhh. But it was all a part of the plan.

D. You see, Absalom knew that there was a really good chance that with David and all of his officials, he would deny the request because essentially it would be too expensive, a hassle, and they would all be a burden. He urged David more after the king denied the request, but maybe the idea is that since he wanted David there and he would not dare do anything to Amnon with him there, there must not be any plan to kill Amnon. So he asked for a consolation prize. Can you send your heir apparent in your place instead? David was a bit suspicious. Why should he go?

E. Absalom did not take no for an answer. Maybe he told David that if he did not come and if the heir did not come then it would be an embarrassment to him. He kept pressing David and he finally relented. So David sent him.

F. The plan was in place. When Amnon gets drunk with wine or be merry with wine… and his inhibitions are down, kill him. You got it. But sir… it’s the heir. What if something goes wrong will we not all pay for it with our lives? Don’t you worry… Am I not the one commanding you? It’s all on me… take courage and do it! And they did it.

G. The plan was brilliant. Think about it? He did not just kill Amnon, he did it the same way he destroyed Tamar. Like Amnon, he had deceptively manipulated the king into ordering one of his children into a trap; then during a meal he had overpowered the sibling and carried out a violent and wicked and may I say, fantasy at their expense.

H. It was on. And chaos ensued. All of the people and sons fled got on their donkeys and got out of there. In all of this, Absalom escaped to stay with his grandfather.

I. Now we can all look at this story, as tragic as it is, and think “how in the world could anyone be so evil.” Some might think, “It was not good that he did that, but I can understand why he did it.” Some might think, “what’s wrong with that, he just did what was supposed to happen to him. It is justice. I would have killed him too.”

J. But other than the last example, we should all see that we are the same. Dr. Davis writes, “Absalom is not the rare exception but the universal rule. Absalom is everyman. There is no hope of escape except through the ‘goodness and generosity of God our Savior’. Apart from that, we share Absalom’s nature whether or not we duplicate his deed. Did you get that? We are the same. If we did not go as far as Absalom, it is only because of the grace of God. That is our answer for hate… the grace of God.

Titus

Titus 3:3 NLT

Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other.

L. This is how we were… Yes, many of us before Christ. And Christian, many times it is what we do now because of remaining sin in us. Woah woah woah… Shane wait. I did not commit murder. Maybe not, but you do share the same nature as Absalom, which means you are plenty capable of doing it. But, have you not committed murder?

M. We may not have actually extinguished a person’s life, but I’m sure we murdered.

1 John 3:15 NLT

Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

N. Let’s be honest with ourselves today. Do we have hate in our hearts? Resentment? Are you hearing the warning in this passage in 1 John? Sometimes when I say this, it’s like the scene in The Lord of the Rings where Gollum is talking to himself and says murderer…I’m not listening.

O. Some will say…Well Shane, I can say that I do not like that person right now, but I don’t hate them. That is a very dangerous game. This is common. But the problem…When does dislike actually become hate? Like I say, when does possibility, become probability? When does a grain of sand become a heap?

O. Bit of philosophy here. The Sorites paradox. A single grain of sand is not a heap. Nor is the addition of a single grain of sand enough to transform a non-heap into a heap: when we have a collection of grains of sand that is not a heap, then adding but one single grain will not create a heap. And yet we know that at some point we will have a heap. A man with a full head of hair is obviously not bald. Now the removal of a single hair will not turn a non-bald man into a bald one. And yet it is obvious that a continuation of that process must eventually result in baldness. When doe this happen?

P. When does dislike become hate? Let’s be honest with ourselves today. It’s a dangerous game. How many times was our sins premeditated? It was not a spur of the moment sin, it was planned. And was being planned for some time. We are like Absalom here. We have our own premeditated sin, our own premeditated murder. Hate continues to lead to awful things even if it is not murder…maybe even things worse than murder. Worse than murder?

- One of the worst cases of hatred I have ever come across is found in a will written in 1935 by a Mr. Donohoe. It says, "Unto my two daughters, Frances Marie and Denise Victoria, by reason of their unfilial attitude toward a doting father, . . . I leave the sum of $1.00 to each and a father's curse. May their lives be fraught with misery, unhappiness, and poignant sorrow. May their deaths be soon and of a lingering malignant and torturous nature." The last line of the will is so vicious I shudder to quote it. It reads, "May their souls rest in hell and suffer the torments of the condemned for eternity."

Q. Let’s be honest with ourselves today. If we do, then the gospel becomes even more beautiful. Especially when we continue the scripture in Titus.

Titus 3:4–5 NLT

But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

II. Consequence of Injustice

- David doing nothing caused Absalom to do something.

A. But there was a terrible thing that happened. David did not carry-out the justice that needed to be carried out. Most scholars agree that David did get angry, but did not discipline his son or make restitution and reconciliation. Why did David not bring Amnon to repentance? Why did he not force restoration?

B. Many times not only does the discipline of the Lord help us to grow and mature, it brings us to repentance and to have a continued heart of repentance. Amnon, could have went to Absalom and begged for forgiveness. He could have done the same with Tamar and possibly made it right. Brothers are not supposed to marry their half-sister, but Tamar seem to think it better than the desolation and destitution of life that she will now lead. Why?

C. Why would Tamar want this? In that culture, virginity was highly prized. It would have been very difficult for a woman who was not a virgin, and especially a woman who had been raped, to find a man to marry her. It seems that Tamar would have rather married Amnon than live desolate and single the rest of her life, which is what happened to her. It is said by historians - In that culture, a woman without a husband would have a very difficult time providing for herself. Unmarried women often had no choice but to sell themselves into slavery or prostitution just to survive. Reminds me of the abuse i found with the liquor commission in Hawaii.

D. Could the scheming to murder have been stopped if David would have been the just king that he really needed to be and led to repentance and restoration. Maybe so. Discipline and repentance is what the king was to enforce for this crime. Death in the law was not the penalty of rape, as we saw in the scriptures, it was restoration.

E. Restoration is what should have been given to Tamar by Amnon. But in David doing nothing, now did it cause Absalom to do something?

- A number of years ago our soccer-loving family helped host a boys' soccer team from Costa Rica. With their advanced ball-handling and passing skills, this elite team reached the finals of the tournament. In that final game they obviously possessed better skills than the other team, a big and physical American team that relied on bullying and cheap shots. Unfortunately, the officials were oblivious to every foul. They called nothing, allowing even outright "muggings." After the Costa Rican boys lost 2-1, I had to restrain myself from yelling at the inept officials. I just wanted them to notice the injustices, intervene like they're supposed to, and make a few calls. Instead, they didn't do their jobs, and the game was a disaster.

F. Surely, but we are also not to be like Absalom here. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord. We do not enact justice by our own hand. Do we take matters into our own hand in our own way? We always take matters into our own hands… it’s called sin. It is to be done by the hand of the Lord. At that time, the judicial hand of God was the king. Today, it is the civil magistrate. Our judicial system. Could our system be flawed like David was? Yes. That is why we need a better one. A better kingdom and a better king.

III. The Fruit of the Spirit

- Transformation is the answer to hate boiling in our hearts.

A. David was the king God chose. He was a man after the Heart of God. And as great a king as he was, as we can see, we still needed a better one. One that was free from sin. One that was perfectly obedient to the Father. One that was not unjust. One that was faithful to his promises. One that promises to bring justice and restoration.

B. We find this in the King of kings. Our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Christ the Son of the living God and the son of David who will sit on the throne forever. As promised by the Lord. Yes, we are like Amnon. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death. We needed a just King to bring us to repentance.

C. And he did. His kindness led us to repentance. He preached to us His Gospel. He showed us the sacrifice and he gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit.

D. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures… The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance… And now we have been transform by the power of the Holy Spirit and we have received the Spirit of adoption…

E. Not only did we find forgiveness and not only did he lead us to repentance but we are now being transformed into his likeness and our hearts will be made more and more or peacemaking instead of murder. He is transforming us and he will complete His work in us. Today Family rejoice.

F. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved… if you confess with your mouth and believe in your hearts…

G. Our king is our wise and just king who will always bring us forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation, and restoration. A peace that transcends.