 Today we're in 2 Samuel chapter 3. We're going to be looking at the entire chapter and it really relates to vengeance, an act of vengeance that we're going to be seeing take place when we get to the conclusion of the chapter. But let's begin reading together here in 2 Samuel at chapter 3 verse 1. We'll read to verse 5 and we'll get into our study. 2 Samuel chapter 3 beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 5. Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David, but David grew stronger and stronger and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker. Sons were born to David in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon by Ahinoum the Jesrealitis. His second was Kelliub by Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. The third, Absalom the son of Maaka the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur. The fourth, Adonaiya the son of Haggit. The fifth, Shepatia the son of Abital. And the sixth, Ethereum by David's wife, Ugly, no, Egla. Every time I read that, Egla, it doesn't look like your name's ugly, but maybe it's just me. These were born to David in Hebron. So what we have here as we begin chapter 3 very basically is that David has been recognized as king. David was recognized as king by the men of Judah as we saw last time and the men of Israel had actually rallied behind another king who was the son of Saul. His name was Ishboshat which means son of shame. And so what we have is we actually have a rival kingdom going on at this time. We have the nations of Israel excluding Judah. We have the tribes of Israel following after Ishboshat, but Judah is following after the leadership of king David. Now as we saw last time, Saul's son reigned for two years. And over those two years of his reign there was division. God had declared that David was to be king over Israel. All the way back in 1 Samuel chapter 13 verse 14, God said that he had a man after his own heart that was going to be ruling and reigning as the king. In chapter 16 verse 1 in 1 Samuel, God said I've provided myself a king amongst the sons of Jesse. David was that king and David was the one who was anointed to be king. Abner was a commander over the armies of Israel. He's the one who had put Ishboshat in the place of king. And so what you have is you have problems that are taking place for the first few years of the reign of David. And it would have taken some time for a transfer of power to occur. That's why in verse 1 he speaks of a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. But David grew stronger and stronger. The house of Saul grew weaker and weaker. And so what you have is you have a continuous series of battles going on. David growing stronger and Saul's house getting weaker. Now at this time David is marrying and he's got more wives. Remember he had one wife who was the daughter of Saul, her name was Michal. And she was given to somebody else. So David has now been taking to himself wives. You see the list of wives here in verses 2 through 5. Not only do we see his lists of wives, we also see a list of sons. There are six wives who are mentioned and six sons. Now during this time David had been adding wives. We need to ask ourselves why was he doing that? During the period of David's reign and all, it was commonplace for kings to have more than one wife. It normally would represent that that king had the ability to provide for more than one woman. And so he has six women mentioned as his wives. Now that was not God's plan. If you want to look for God's plan concerning marriage, you look to Genesis chapter 2 verse 24 because there at the beginning God says a man shall leave his father, mother be joined into his wife and the two shall become one flesh. God's intention for marriage was for one man and one woman over one lifetime. That's how God created marriage. So what David is doing is he's violating what God has commanded. Now when you look in the Old Testament there are a series of books at the beginning of the Old Testament and the fifth book is the book of Deuteronomy. In the book of Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 17 you actually have some rules that regulate the behavior of kings. And there in second rather in the 17th chapter verse 17 it says neither shall he multiply wives for himself lest his heart turn away. God stated in the beginning that the king that would ultimately be reigning was not to have more than one wife. What you have here is a violation of the word of God. Now in David's life he had a son, a son by the name of Solomon. We know that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines and the Bible tells us that in his older age when he became old his wives turned his heart after other gods. And so what we have is we have David violating God's word. Genesis 224 Deuteronomy 1717 by multiplying wives for himself. And the result is going to be some real problems in the home. We see that these women are mentioned as well as their offspring. Hinoem had Amnon. Abigail had Kiliab. Now it's possible that he may have died when he was young because he's not mentioned again. You have Mark Hop who had Absalom. She was the daughter of a foreign king. You have Haggit who bore Adonijah. You have Abitah who bore Shefatia. And you have Egla who had a young man by the name or a baby by the name of Ethereum. And so he had multiple wives contrary to God's word. This is something by the way that he doesn't get away with because amongst these sons we do see Amnon. Amnon was guilty of a forcible rape of his own sister Tamar. And you also have a man by the name of Absalom who was the full brother of Tamar who ultimately killed his brother Amnon. And also went on to try and take the kingdom from his own father. So David's family suffered because of his violation of the word of God. God had stated you're not to do this. David did it. His family felt the sword from that day on. And so what we have here is we have a list of the names of the sons of David and his wives. But Michalis not mentioned here. We'll see her in just a moment. Verse 6. And now it was so. While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David that Abner was strengthening his hold on the house of Saul. You see Abner was the kingmaker. He was the one who put Ishposhet into the place of being the king. And so it's pointed out that he's strengthening his hold on the house of Saul. Saul had a concubine whose name was Ritzpah, the daughter of Ayah. And so Ishposhet said to Abner, Why have you gone into my father's concubine? Abner became very angry at the words of Ishposhet and said, Am I a dog's head that belongs to Judah? Today I show loyalty to the house of Saul, your father, to his brothers and to his friends and have not delivered you into the hand of David. And you charge me today with the fault concerning this woman. May God do so to Abner. And more also, if I do not do for David as the Lord has sworn to him to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan, which is the north to Beersheba, which is the south. And he could not answer Abner another word because he feared him. So what's going on here? For Abner to sleep with, which is what is taking place with one of the concubines, one of the women who was in the harem of Saul, for Abner to be sleeping with this woman is one of the ways to attempt to get the power of the throne. Because in sleeping with this woman who belonged to the king, he's basically taking power or usurping power for himself. He's making a claim for the throne. And so Ishposhet knows this and that's why he rebukes him. And when he rebukes him over this, notice that Abner gets vengeful over it. It says in verse 8 that he became angry at the words of Ishposhet. He said, Am I a dog's head that belongs to Judah? When he says, Am I a dog's head that belongs to Judah, it's another way of saying, Am I a traitor? Am I a worthless traitor? Now it's interesting to me. He says, I show loyalty to the house of Saul, your father, to his brothers, to his friends. I have not delivered you into the hand of David. And if you're going to listen to me today with a fault concerning this woman, he's not in any way admitting to his guilt. What he's trying to do is present himself as being somebody who's done favors and therefore this is owed to him. And he's saying to him, in essence, you know, I think I deserve this. I have shown you loyalty. I haven't delivered you to David. So what's the big deal anyway? Why are you getting so upset? And then he moves on and he says, may God do so to Abner. And more also, if I do not for David as the Lord has warned him, if I don't deliver this kingdom to him. So basically what he does is he makes a threat. He's saying, I know that David's supposed to be king and I'm going to transfer the kingdom over to him. It's interesting that he knew that David would be king but he still tried to get power. But now he's saying I'm going to transfer Israel to David's control and there's nothing you can do about it. Now as he's saying this, Abner is undoubtedly there with several of these men, his men at arms, his bodyguard. And it would seem that Ishmael probably is looking at Abner and looking around to see if there's anybody who will back him and there's nobody there who's going to back him up and that's why verse 11 tells us that he was afraid. He couldn't answer Abner another word. He feared him. This is a man that was a commander. This is a man who was a warrior. This is somebody that you didn't get angry and he got him angry. Now what this shows to me that he's a powerful warrior, that he has loyalty of his men, that he has great influence but what's dangerous about it is his power was not under anybody's authority. And when you are a powerful person and you have nobody that you're accountable to, you can be dangerous because you got nobody to answer to. Nobody's going to call you on anything. One of the wisest thing you can have is you can have people around you that you are accountable to. In ministry I have people I'm accountable to because I could start doing things the way I think I'm supposed to do it with no accountability to anybody else because I have boards, I have friends, I have co-passers that I have relationships with that I definitely have an accountability to because I don't want to be the kind of person who has power with no accountability because when you don't have it, when you don't have accountability you can do whatever is right in your own sight and you can end up doing all kinds of things that are wrong. And that's what we see taking place here. He has nobody that he's accountable to and even the king himself is afraid of him so he answers him not another word. Well as this is taking place, verse 12, Abner sent messengers on his behalf to David saying, who is the land? Saying also, make your covenant with me and indeed my hand shall be with you to bring all Israel to you. David said, good, I'll make a covenant with you but one thing I require of you you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul's daughter when you come to see my face. And so he says to him, listen and this is how this is going down, this is what he's saying here when he asks the question, who is this land? What he's saying is, God may have given you the land but I'm the one in control of it. All you have is Judah and you're there in Hebron. I have the rest of Israel under my control. You've only got the tribe of Judah recognizing you as king but seeing that God has given you the land you haven't possessed it, I have control of it we can work something out. If you give me an assurance of security I'll make your dream a reality. I'll release everything that I have any kind of influence over and I'll deliver it to you and that's what he's saying to him. Now as David hears that, notice verse 13, David says, good, I'll make a covenant with you but I'm going to require something of you. I want you to return Michal to me. Now why would he care about that? I mean David's been gone for several years, he hasn't been with Michal. Why would that be a big deal to him? Well it would restore him to a right position. It would actually right the wrong that was bestowed on him when Saul gave her to another man. When Saul gave Michal to another man it was a public act of humiliation towards David and he was disavowing David. He was saying, David is no longer part of the royal family and so David is basically saying I want my standing restored in the eyes of Israel and I want to be restored in my position in the royal house and so as he says that, well notice verse 14, David sent messengers to Ishbushet Saul's son saying, give me my wife Michal whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines and Ishbushet sent and took her from her husband from Paltial, the son of Laish. Then her husband went along with her to Bahurim weeping behind her so Abner said to him go return and he returned. And so David says listen, Saul made a demand of me. What Saul had actually demanded was a hundred foreskins of Philistine warriors. David had given him two hundred foreskins as a dowry so he's saying she belongs to me. I paid the dowry and I want her returned and so when he does that Ishbushet sent and took her from her husband from Paltial, the son of Laish. Now notice his response, the husband's response her husband went along with her to Bahurim weeping behind her and Abner finally had to say to him go return and he returned. So what is this? Well they'd been together for eight or nine years and over those eight or nine years they obviously fell in love. They loved one another. Mikhail at one time was David's only wife. She was the first wife of David. Now she would be joining a harem so it wouldn't be in her interest to come and join a group of other wives and so she's going to be treated differently. But beyond that she's in love with this man and the man's in love with her. If he weren't in love with her he wouldn't be weeping as he's following her. I find that interesting. If he didn't love her he'd probably be throwing confetti in the air and laughing and blowing these little party favors. Yeah she's gone but that's not how he's responding. How he's responding here is with tears because they've been together. They've made a family. They've made a home. He loves her with all of his heart obviously because the Jewish men would not follow in a public fashion weeping in this way if it wasn't breaking his heart. And as she's going there she's entering back into the life of David. This man Abner finally has to turn to this man as he's following all the way to the outskirts of Jerusalem and Abner finally says to him go home. Get out of here. There's nothing you can do. And he returns with a broken heart. Now that doesn't bode well for David in the future with Michal. And we'll see this later on. But in verse 17, now Abner had communicated with the elders of Israel saying in time past you were seeking for David to be king over you. Now then do it. For the Lord has spoken of David saying by the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of Israel and the hand of all their enemies. Abner also spoke in the hearing of Benjamin. Then Abner also went to speak in the hearing of David and Hebron. All that seemed good to Israel and the whole house of Benjamin. So Abner and twenty men from him came to David and Hebron. And David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. Then Abner said to David I will arise and go and gather all Israel to my Lord the king that they may make a covenant with you for all that your heart desires. So David sent Abner away and he went in peace. At that moment the servants of David and Job came from a raid and brought much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David in Hebron for he had sent him away and he had gone in peace. So Abner goes through with his promise to deliver Israel to David. He has twenty men. They make a trip to Hebron, David's home. David entertains them. And Abner declares he will gather all the people. Hand them over to David that he might be king over them. And David is agreeable to this. Everything is fine. Abner leaves in peace. But Job has shown up. Notice verse twenty three. When Job and all the troops that were with him had come they told Job saying Abner the son of Nur came to the king and he sent him away. And he has gone in peace. Job came to the king and said what have you done? He sent him away and he has already gone. Surely you realize that Abner the son of Nur came to deceive you to know you're going out and you're coming in to know all that you're doing. So he's absolutely livid because he's afraid. He's afraid that he's not going to have an opportunity to make his have his vengeance. So he tells them Abner is really there to spy on you. He's not there to help you. Now David at that time doesn't disclose to him the true plans, what's taking place. It allows him to say what he's saying but notice what happens verse twenty six. When Job had gone from David's presence he sent messengers after Abner who brought him back from the well of Seirah. David did not know it. Now when Abner had returned to Hebron Job took him aside in the gate to speak with him privately and there stabbed him in the stomach so that he died for the blood of Asa El, his brother. Vengeance. Anger. Anger was so great. His anger was so great that he could not be in any way shape or form placated by anything less than the death of Abner. Joab is so upset. Now Joab is the commander in David's army. Joab is also his nephew. Asa El who died was Joab's brother and when he and his brother came upon the body of their brother who has fallen there in their heart they said Abner is not going to get away with this. They were absolutely furious over it and what happens is you have this lust for vengeance. It's called a blood lust. During that time and before that there was something called the Avenger of Blood. If I have a brother who died at the hand of another I would take it upon myself to avenge my brother's death and if somebody killed him and I found him and killed him it would actually be an honorable thing for me to do. Because that was true because Israel was aware of that taking place they actually established what are called cities of refuge. Cities of refuge were numbered there were seven of them in the nation of Israel that were called the Cities of Refuge and the people of Israel if I accidentally killed somebody or there were some circumstances that extenuated so that somebody died at my hand I knew that the brother would come after me, that close relative would come after me. The first thing I would do is I go to the city of refuge and I went to the city of refuge as I was there I would remain there now I was safe and protected there nobody could harm me as long as I stayed within the city boundaries. Now if I walk out of that city before the high priest dies I'm there safe until the high priest dies when the high priest dies then I can go out safely but if the high priest is alive and waited for me and kills me he can do so without anything happening to him for doing that and so what we have here is we have an instance where Hebron is actually a city of refuge when Joab sends a messenger to go and get Abner I want you to notice this verse 27 notice how it says when Abner had returned to Hebron Joab took him aside in the gate to speak to him privately he didn't allow him to come into the city because if he to come into the city Joab couldn't have killed him he had to stay outside of the city and that's why he took him to the city gate but he wasn't into the city proper yet and that's why he stabbed him and I want you to notice something else he stabbed him in the stomach when Abner killed his brother Asa Al you remember with me that Asa Al was running after Abner and Abner turned and saw him and he says is that you Asa Al and he says turn aside to the right turn aside to the left don't be pursuing me to your own heart but the guy wouldn't stop running so he keeps coming after him and he finally says to him look take the armor of another young man who has fallen take his armor and get honor from that but don't come after me why are you doing this and ultimately because this young man Asa Al was as fast as a gazelle he caught up to him when he caught up to Abner Abner took the blunt end of his spear pushed it through him and hit him in the stomach and it came out his back and that's why you see the picture here he stabbed him in the stomach because even as you stab my brother in the stomach I'm stabbing you in the stomach and that's how this went down vengeance, this desire to get even drove him to the point where he was willing to kill a man a man who did not deserve to die because he didn't know all the details Joab didn't know the details of how Abner had told his brother stop pursuing me you're going to end up hurt stop pursuing me and Asa Al wouldn't turn aside and so when he killed him he killed him as a warrior kills another warrior and he wasn't guilty of the sin of murder and he wasn't guilty of manslaughter and so what we have here with Joab is vengeance is in his heart he's got this desire within him to kill and he's going to do it no matter what when people have the blood they call blood in the eye when they have that mentality there's hardly anything you can do to turn him away when they have this lust for blood when they say there's nothing nobody can talk to me about this nobody can stop me it's very difficult to deal with and that's exactly where this man was he killed this man and he did so before he could enter into the city because had he entered into the city he'd have been free and so what happens is he stabs him there and at the gate now verse 28 afterward when David heard it he said let it rest on the head of Joab and on all his father's house let there never fail to be in the house of Joab when he has a discharge or is a leper who leans on a staff or falls by the sword or who lacks bread so what he does is he pronounces basically a curse on him and he's saying I am guiltless in this but Joab is going to have to pay the penalty so Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner because he had killed their brother Asael at Gibyan in the battle and then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him tear your clothes, gird yourselves a sackcloth mourn for Abner King David followed the coffin so they buried Abner in Hebron and the king lifted up his voice the grave of Abner and all the people wept and the king sang a lament over Abner and said should Abner die as a fool dies your hands were not bound nor your feet put into fetters as a man falls before the wicked men before wicked men so you fell and all the people wept over him again David is clearing himself from this and he's telling everybody I want an open display of mourning over this tear your clothes, gird yourself a sackcloth and mourn for him and notice what he says in verse 33 when he says should Abner die as a fool dies Abner was deceived he said this man was really somebody that you should have respected this was a man who was a great man and he was deceived into this and he shouldn't have died in this manner and all the people were weeping over him now in verse 35 when all the people came to persuade David to eat food while it was still day David took a note saying God do so to me and more also take bread or anything else till the sun goes down now all the people took note of it and it pleased them since whatever the king did pleased all the people for all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king's intent to kill Abner the son of Ner remember that Abner had 20 men who followed after him they saw this open display of mourning they saw that David made Joab dress in mourner's garb which is an open humiliation of the man who killed the man they see this and what happens is the word begins to circulate throughout Israel so they understand that David was guiltless in this but as this is all going down verse 38 the king said to his servants do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel and I am weak today though anointed king and these men the sons of Zeruia are too harsh for me the Lord shall repay the evil doer according to his wickedness don't you understand what has taken place he was a great man and he shouldn't have died that way and though I am king my power has not yet been solidified and my nephews the sons of Zeruia were actually his nephews my nephews are too powerful and too influential but I want you to see this notice how he says the Lord shall repay the evil doer according to his wickedness they will be dealt with sometimes we think that we get away with things you do something that's wrong and you didn't get caught immediately and so you think you got away with it you took something out of the till you stole something from the back you did something that you know is wrong you just didn't get caught so you figure you got away with it I read about somebody who, true story who had filed a false tax filed his taxes falsely and got something like a $4,000 refund and he liked it so much that he did it again this time he was trying to get a trillion dollars and they caught him true story I mean he wrote out that he was supposed to get something like a trillion dollars back what worked for him once he thought would work for him a second time and sometimes people will do something and they didn't get caught so they think that they must have gotten away with it therefore I can do it again and nobody's going to be the wiser sometimes we do that sometimes you may do that sometimes you may you may be the kind of person who's been able to get over and get things the way you wanted them and you figure that you can't harm anybody and get away with it when I was in high school I did a lot of things it's been a long time since I've been in high school but I still remember this I did a lot of things that got me into the my counselor's office quite often I can still remember the first time I went into Mrs. Willett's office I was 14 years old and I remember walking in having a conversation with her and she said I've never heard your name before and she said that's a good thing I still remember her saying that to me and I said something back to her like oh you'll never hear my name again well I was there all the time for the next four years she and I got very close Mrs. Willett and I used to walk in and I would sit down at her table and visit with her and I always charmed her it was very just something I would do I'd sit down, hi Mrs. Willett David why are you in my office this time and I'd say well you know I don't know but you know you look nice today did you do something with your hair and I would do that and I oh yeah I say you know I have to tell you it looks great you know and I would do that all the time and we became very friendly I never got in trouble I mean I'd get in trouble with the teacher but never with my counselor and I learned how to get over and I discovered that if you smile and you charm and you act innocent very often you get away with it I can remember one of my teachers my math teacher, senior math I still remember it and he didn't send me to the office he took me to the office and so he takes me to the office and there I am standing in front of Mrs. Willett and I've got my hands folded and I've got my legs crossed and I'm sitting in front of her I've been there so many times I'm very comfortable this is my chair and as we're talking my teacher's really angry and he's saying and he this and he did this and he did this and she looks at me she says David did you do that and I smiled at her I still remember doing this I smiled and he said may I ask a question she said of course I said is it right for teachers to swear at students she says no I said he cussed at me in class just now he just swore at me in class she turned all of her anger on my teacher let him have it how dare you speak to a student that way you're not to be using language like that and he's looking at me and I've got that smile that you know that you'd like to slap off my face just smiling at me and I said you just don't know and I used to do that all the time all the time got away with it and I got to the point where I thought I could lie myself out of anything I went before the judge I remember going before a judge and lying to his face after taking that oath I swear to tell the whole truth nothing but the truth so help me God and I lied right to his face and got away with it because I was an expert liar that's what prepared me for ministry I was an expert liar I was a thief too in that funny but it's true I was a liar and a thief and God put me in the ministry I'm still amazed at that but I would lie I would lie at the blink of a hat I would lie to your face and you wouldn't know I was lying I was so good at it so good at it and I got away with it I didn't get caught I walked into a store with the stolen a jacket the jacket didn't fit me I walked into the store with the stolen jacket and I was wearing it and I walked up to a salesman and I said to him, jackets too big I'd like to exchange it for one that fits me the guy says don't tell me that you just took that off the rack I said no I didn't this was given to me as a gift I got it for my birthday and I want to exchange it for one that fits me and the guy looks at me he came back he says okay and I went and took another jacket stole that jacket too and I used to do it all the time I used to walk into stores and steal things I'd go and sell them and buy drugs I did that all the time I was very good at lying and stealing and I thought that before if I stand before God I really thought that I could charm him out of hell I thought I could God you know smile at him you know you look good for an ancient God you know I thought I could charm him you know and a lot of people to this day think the same way they think that God is going to grade on the curve that there's going to be somebody worse than you standing next by so you can point to him and say I was bad but that one's worse so you should let me get in maybe not them but me yes for sure I wasn't really I only stole a little bit I only lied once in a while I was only drunk once I only beat my wife occasionally when she deserved it I mean we'll do that we lie we cheat we steal we do all these things and we think that when we stand before God God is going to say you know what it's okay no big deal like he's a grandfather when my grandchildren do something bad I kind of just smile when they do something real bad I really smile because I think that my prayers were answered that's what I prayed for that your kid would be as bad as you were now deal with it I don't have to do anything other than love them up you will spank them God isn't a grandfather God has no grandchildren God is a father and God judges rightly when he says the Lord shall repay the evil doer according to his wickedness well Job chapter 4 verse 8 says even as I have seen those who bow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same you reap what you sow when you sow to the flesh Paul said in Galatians chapter 6 from the flesh you reap corruption when you sow to the spirit from the spirit you reap everlasting life God is a just judge according to Psalm 7 verse 11 God takes into consideration all information in our court system a person can be flat out guilty can even admit that they did something wrong and yet can still get a trial and they can go before a judge and they can plead their case even though there are tapes even though there are eyewitness accounts and they will go through the judicial system standing before a judge even though they are 100% guilty true story about a guy who was a lawyer who was defending a client and he said my client was in one of these lineups and he said that the victim was identifying who may have been the perpetrator pointed out this guy's client and said that's him he's the one who did it he and four other guys and he says and my client yelled out as he was being pointed out he's a liar there were only three of us very intellectual criminal there are a lot of people who make they think they can get away with things and our system actually allows for that so they think that when they stand before God that God is going to look at them and not have all information David is saying that's not true David is making it very clear that the Lord shall repay the evildoer according to his wickedness so bringing it to New Testament I as I read the Bible know that all sin and fall short of the glory of God that there's none righteous no not one that means that I sin in thought, word or in action when I stand before God and God says you're a sinner I can do nothing other than admit the fact I am yes I am guilty flat out I mean I can't lie to God all things are open before him he has all evidence before him so if I stand before God in my own explanation I stood before a judge and I remember saying when the judge says how do you plead I said guilty with an explanation I tried to explain the circumstances surrounding why I did what I did I'm guilty but I want to give an explanation it doesn't work that way with the Lord I can't give an explanation I can't give an excuse I have to say I'm purely guilty that's what it is when I stand before God because he's a righteous judge because he's just a judge and I stand before him I am pure guilt standing in front of God that's why I needed Jesus Christ that's why I need him because the Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin and so as I came to Christ as my Lord and Savior and I said God be merciful to me a sinner the blood of Jesus Christ washes me and cleanses me so that now I have a new creation I become the temple of the Spirit of God who dwells within me I'm not a religious person at all I become made right with God through a regeneration I've been born again now I stand before God Jesus is there with me he's my defense attorney there is an attorney that's a prosecuting attorney he's presented that way in Revelation 12 it's Satan himself who accuses the brethren day and night before the throne of God and so the enemy can say David is guilty because he's lied and he's stolen and he's been all of these things and I'm guilty but my Savior Jesus stands and says but Father he has received me my blood has cleansed him and my Father at that point says not guilty now I'm not guilty not because of righteousness that I've done any good things that I've ever done I am not guilty based on what he did on my behalf so yes God is a righteous judge God does judge but God has given to us mercy through Jesus Christ and that's why it's a wise thing to turn your heart over to the Lord because he washes you and he cleans you not only does he do that he gives you the power to live for him and he gives you a strength and he writes his law on the tablet of your heart so the things that you do that are good are done not simply because you read something from the outside but because he placed it on the inside and you begin to follow him with all of your heart because your heart has been transformed by the work of God that's what the Bible means when it says if anyone's in Christ he's a new creation old things are passed away behold all things are become new so in the time of David here he is saying my nephews are too harsh what they've done is putting them in a position of being dealt with God will repay the evil according to his wickedness David's saying but I'm not guilty of that I didn't do it in the New Testament sense God still repays the evil doer according to his wickedness but when that evil doer turns to the Lord Jesus Christ they are transformed from being an evil doer to one of God's own children and at that point we can stand before God guiltless and all of my sins have been cast aside as far as the east is from the west so far as he removed my sins from me and they're not brought back up he doesn't remind me of them because they are dealt with I've learned something from the Lord that I have exercised with my children and my children will tell you this is the truth even to this day if my children do something that is offensive to me hurt me or sinned against me we'll have a talk I'm not one of these dads who just ignores it we'll have a talk and after the talk is done and after we've dealt with the situation my kids will tell you this is the truth I'll turn to them and I'll say once again it's over it's been dealt with here and we won't repeat this anymore it's gone I don't repeat things that have been dealt with it's over I learned that from the Lord because the Lord doesn't remind me of what I've been he doesn't say don't you remember my heart condemns me but God is greater than my heart he knows all things I remember my own testimony he doesn't say you've always been a drunk you've always been a doper you're new in Jesus Christ you're brand new in him I don't bring those things up because those things have been dealt with if I didn't have a relationship with the Lord then you'd have to bring them up because that's what I'm judged on the basis of but now that I have a relationship with the Lord those things are under the blood of Jesus Christ his son he's cleansed us from all sin and we can move on into a life of righteousness because of him and that's the wisest decision anybody ever makes is to ask God to cleanse him with the blood of Christ