In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of investing in the things of God rather than worldly pleasures. He recalls a moment during an offering when he heard a song that made him realize the need to give more to God. The preacher warns that there will come a day when we will stand before God and realize how insignificant our lives were if we did not give Him our all. He urges the congregation to confess and make things right with God and their families, emphasizing the importance of obedience as the key to receiving blessings from the Lord.

The Word of God with me please, and turn again to the book of 2 Samuel. Alright, we'll try again. I can preach loud enough without it. It's the first time most of you have agreed all week long. Lord help us. I want to say I appreciate you being here in the service tonight, and I don't take it lightly. I haven't in any way taken this meeting lightly, understanding that I'm a member here. And each day that seems to be a heavier burden because I don't want there to be such a familiarity between myself and you that it would hinder you from hearing from the Spirit of God. And so I also don't want to raise the... allow the devil to have place in our hearts when it comes to... well, that's just Old Brother Zab. And so a very difficult position that we're both in, amen? And so I hope that you will be stronger than that, the Lord. You'll let the Lord speak to your heart, and not question the messenger, just listen to the message, amen? But I appreciate you being here. So glad that you've come to be in the services with us. It's good to see each one of you here. And there's a tightness about the service. You notice how quiet it is? And probably already some of you have thought about how hungry you are. And you can't wait to get out of here and head to McDonald's. And probably some of you have already thought you're too tired, too sleepy. And you hope it's going to be loud and lots of movement so it'll keep you awake. I don't know. Everybody's probably got things running through their mind. It's obvious when the Spirit of the Lord is quietened and quenched that there's a wandering in our hearts. And so all I know to say is when we get started here, let's pray that God will help us to focus on what God wants to do in the service. You know, if it's going to be a wall that we have to bump up against every night and we just stand here and do nothing, then we're just wasting our time. And we don't want to do that, amen? So let's pray that the Lord will move through tonight, break down the walls, and give us liberty. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Amen? And I'm sure that I probably have offended somebody this week. And I hope so, as many things as I've preached on. But I hope that your offense has caused you to go bow your knees before the Lord and make it right. And I know it's Friday. There are people who are out because they had to go buy groceries somewhere at the ball game. There's a good movie on tonight. It's date night for some people. Got to go out and have a good time with their wives. I understand that. But we're here. And the Spirit of the Lord is here. And so what we want to do is not waste an evening. And so let's strive together to receive whatever the Lord has for us in this service. Somebody has the key to the service. The key is always obedience. Always. And I caution you that that doesn't mean everybody should take turns, stand up and testify until somebody hits the right spot and we get liberty. Because God's already arranged the preaching and everything's in place. You just have to open your heart. That's the obedience. God's looking for it. Yielded hearts. Of course, we aggravated some devils last night. And they're not happy about it. In a way, it just excites me to death, doesn't it? Amen. But in the same spirit of that, knowing that we have called out the names of a few and pointed out a few things like that that are working, and then men are getting right over some things, people are telling me and telling Pastor, things are getting right with their wives, with their families, and with the Lord, and in doing so, that could be a lot of the reason there's a grievance in here tonight. He's picked out somebody and planted them right in the middle of here, and you've got an ingrown toenail or something that's just aggravating you to death. And so you're holding up the whole thing. That's basically it. Does that make sense? And so I don't know if somebody stepped on your toes or parked too close to your car at Walmart and dinged the door or what the devil used just got you aggravated. How many people had a fight on the way to church? Thank you. There's two honest people in the building. Three. Did you go tell him you needed off at 4 o'clock? I'm adding that one to my little book. And thus saith the Lord. So we had a half dozen people had a fight, right? And the rest of you are liars. No, maybe half of the rest of you are lying. I don't know. But see, things like that are set in place to irritate you. How many people had some aggravating driver whoop out in front of you, slam on the brakes in front of you, didn't go fast enough on the way to church? I'm on my own way to church. See, there's a few more of those. And you weren't even driving. It don't take much, right? Those things are put in place to aggravate you so that by the time you get here, you're sitting there and you're aggravated. And you know when you're aggravated, your blood's pumping faster, your heart's racing, and it's not near cool enough in here for that kind of activity. And so you come in and you sit and a little sweat starts to bead up on your brow and you're ready to hit the person next to you. You know, I mean, these things happen. Let's just be honest. And if we were going to be honest, it's way worse than that. But these things happen to keep us. From the time we come to the Word of God like we are right now, then we've got our minds in other places on other things and we're busy about wondering and worrying about things and we've drifted off away from where the Lord wants us. And so that's why the song service, the song service is to set our hearts in motion and to draw us to a place where we get our eyes focused upon the Lord and we're ready to listen to His preaching. And so since we missed all that, we'll have a moment of prayer and a moment when we read these scriptures and then we'll all take time, amen, to ask the Lord to please help us get our hearts focused on the things that we should be. And I hope the Lord will help each one of us. And as much as the devil is aggravated and he's planted his little irritators and aggravators, and I hope that's not you, but it is probably someone in here, and there may be more than one somebody in here, but in doing so, it robs away from the glory of God that God wants to have in His service. And we won't tend to blame now, maybe it was the songs, maybe it was the special, maybe it's that preacher, maybe it's the pastor. We won't blame everybody else, and that's not it at all. Let's open our own hearts and let's get ready for the preached Word of God, amen? And remember that if you don't say amen and back me up and help me, then I assume you're guilty and it bogs us down, it takes longer to preach. And yes, a couple of you are getting the idea. It's about the only time where women have the right to say, Am I allowed out loud? Amen. Help me out now. Just stay with me and it will help you to focus a lot better. Of course, there are those people, this always cracks me up, but there are those people who say amen at the wrong time. You ever heard that? They're not paying a bit of attention, but they just feel the need to say amen once in a while, so the preacher's up preaching hot and heavy and he says, I tell you the wicked world out there, the wicked and terrible world, they're all dying and going to hell. And rightly so. And somebody says, Amen. Timing. You've got to pay attention a little bit so that you'll know when to say amen, but try to work with it. If somebody else says amen around you, go with it. Just go with the flow. Amen. And let's work on it together. We'll enjoy ourselves. I don't mind having a good time, just as long as you notice when the laughing stops, the Spirit deals with you about something, be sure that's when you're paying attention. Amen. And we'll have a good time with the Lord. The Lord will help us. And I trust Him. I talked to Him about this today, and just a few moments ago I was talking to Him about this service. And I believe He can do something great in this service, but there is a key, and that key is obedience. Somebody needs to make sure that they're obedient to the Lord. Don't wait. If there's something wrong in your heart and life, you slip up here to the sides, get down on your knees, and go ahead and get it right, and get it right fast. Don't hesitate. Don't wait. Every moment that you're waiting, sitting there, knowing there's something in your heart, you're wasting time for the Spirit of God to have liberty. And so really, truthfully, it's up to you. Everybody has to be willing to confess and make right those things that are in our hearts. At the moment the Lord speaks to us, and you know there's something. I'm not talking about people who are, you know, so general about everything. Well, we're all sinners. None of us are perfect. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about you that sit there and know right now what's wrong in your life, and you're stubborn. You won't get up and deal with it. And so, deal with it. Try to deal with it quickly for all of our sakes, and for the namesake of the Lord, deal with it quickly. Don't let things drag on through the service and hinder the Spirit of God. Amen? And we're dealing with some very, very terrible things that probably some of you have been in Church a great while and have never heard anybody preach or say from the pulpit. And that makes it more difficult. People don't know if it's acceptable or not. Do I have the right to say those things? Does that preacher have the right and authority to speak like that? And then, of course, I'm a human, and so I'm up here doing the preaching, and once in a while the devil's up here. You know, you ever have the devil just ride you? It irritates you. And so, I'm up here preaching under unction of the Spirit of God, and the devil's up here pestering the fire out of me. And nothing personal, but once in a while I just blurt out and say, I'm just going to take you out in the yard and bust you right between the eyes. I may be talking to you or I may not be. It's according to who's irritating me the most. Don't let those things get you stoved up and all balled up and say, well, he don't have the right to say that. I have the right to say that. I don't necessarily have the right to take you out and bust you between the eyes, but don't let things like that hinder you. Last night I made a statement about the children, and some people got concerned about it and told me about it, and I'm normally more careful to say things because people try to use things against you if they get mad at you. And so I'm saying it from the pulpit now that if you do that, God's judgment will be upon you. If you use what's preached from the pulpit and then turn it around to use a worldly system against what God's doing here, God's judgment will come upon you. And so I caution you about that. And there's also a scene I didn't deal with last night that God has dealt with me through the night about, and particularly a very heavy-weighted sin that was in our auditorium last night. And I feel the Spirit of God dealing with me about it in the service even tonight. And there are other terrible sins. And that blows my mind. I never thought growing up that I'd ever be in a place where coming to church was a place we would have to be preaching such awful things. To preach terrible things like we're dealing with in a prison or in some kind of detention facility or correction facility, you understand? I mean, that seems right. Or to go stand on the street corner in New Orleans and preach some of the things that we're dealing with, that seems right. But to have to deal with them inside the church house seems so wrong and so unnecessary, but yet it is necessary. I spoke to a preacher a few moments ago in Perry, Florida. And he was asking about the meeting, how things were going. And I told him the kinds of things that people were telling me that they're making right. And he said, there's more of that than you think there is. And he said, and I'm sick and tired of it, destroying our churches and our preachers. And so I'm not happy to say these things, but I'm willing. And I'm glad that you're willing to sit there and to listen. And I hope the Lord will deal with you. Because we have the opportunity to see a great thing from the Lord. But the great thing that we're going to see will only come when we have clean hands and a pure heart. And maybe this is not the revival. But maybe this is staging us for what God will do when His wind begins to blow. And so the staging process is confession and obedience, making things right between you and God, you and your family. And get it right. We have one life to live. It's very short. Very short. Soon the Lord will come back for us. And we'll find out everything we've invested in the life pleasures around us is all a waste. You know, I think it was the first evening, Wednesday evening, when I came in. I think it was during the offering when I walked into the auditorium. I believe that's when it was. And Miss Vanessa was playing the auditory hymn. And she was playing a song, I Wish I Had Given Him More. And the songwriter said, by and by, when I look on his face, beautiful face, thorn-shadowed face, is that how it goes? By and by, when I look on his face, I'll wish I had given him more. By and by, when I look at his hands, beautiful hands, nail-driven hands. By and by, when I look at his hands, I'll wish I had given him more. There's going to come a day, and it's going to be very soon, when you and I will stand before the throne of God. And in shame, we'll look back over our life and realize how insignificant we lived. And we'll wish we had given him more. Amen. Stand with me, please, if you would. 2 Samuel, chapter number 12. And we've gone through the story so much already that we're just going to read a verse or two to bring us to the thought for this evening's service. Let's begin again, if we could, in verse number 7. Follow along while I read these verses. Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I appointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul. And I gave thee thy master's house, thy master's wives into thy bosom. And I gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah. And if it had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with a sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife. Thou hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. And now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. We'll stop reading with verse number 10. On Wednesday evening we used verse number 12 and dealt with the secret. In last evening's service, verse number 14, we dealt with the shame. And tonight, with the Lord's help from verse number 10, God help us. We'll deal with the sword. It shall never depart from thine house. Let's bow our heads in prayer, could we? I appreciate Brother Aaron Putney driving and being in the meeting with us. Brother Putney, if you would, please ask the Lord to help us to be seated. The word of Nathan, the preacher man to David. You used the sword against Uriah the Hittite. Now therefore, because of this, that's what, anytime there's a therefore, you look back in the verses previous to see what it's there for. Because of the use of the sword against Uriah the Hittite, because of taking the wife of Uriah to be his own wife, he says in verse number 10, the sword shall never depart from thine house. In verse number 13, David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Confession. Right? Nathan says, the Lord hath put away thy sin. Does that mean now that he's relieved of the previous verses? No. It simply means this in verse number 13, thou shalt not die. I said on Wednesday evening a statement that I wanted to remind you of tonight, and I hope that you'll get a hold of this. If nothing else, you'll get a hold of this statement. There are some things that are worse than death. Just moments ago, I entered into the building about the same time that Miss Price came in. She's late to the service because she was with her neighbor's family, as Miss Noble has just passed away. And in a few days, about a year ago or so, in last year's time period, Miss Noble had surgery and amputation, if my memory serves me right. And then she suffered with that. And then just days ago, in the last few short weeks, she suffered a stroke. And the stroke left her unable to function and unable to take care of herself in a very bad way. And then tonight, just a little while ago, the Lord fulfilled the Scripture in Hebrews that her appointed time had come where she stand before God. And her appointment with God is set. Now, she has met that appointment. I said to Miss Price as I looked at her, I said, I'm glad that she's not suffering as she was. In a sense there, her body is in such pain and such difficulty, in a sense there's a greater thing that has happened now because she is no longer suffering like she was just a few days ago or a few hours ago. Her body and whatever pain that she had faced and whatever she's dealing with. You see, in a sense, her death for her, for her life and for her body has become a relief. I heard a man preaching one time who was suffering from a brain tumor. Dean Shook. And he had had brain tumors removed and had gone through several surgeries and great difficulties. And he was suffering. He would preach and he would preach along 15 or 20 minutes and then he would, as if he glitched or something, would turn around and start his sermon all over, not remembering that he had preached at all. And he was going through great difficulties. And he looked at the people in the congregation and he said, he said, if you're praying for my healing, he said, I want you to know that whether God heals me in this life or in death, He will do it. And I've never looked at it just like that before. But, you know, we pray for the healing of people sometimes and we pray, Lord, heal them, Lord, heal them. And sometimes they breathe their last breath. And in fact, they're children of God and in that instant that they breathe their last breath, God has just healed them of all their diseases. So you see, in a sense, death is a relief to the body that has suffered from sin and suffered from sickness and illnesses, things that have gone on in the body, each of us dealing with our own things and our own life in different ways. And so in a sense, sometimes death is a relief from those things. But then you would say, well, then death, looking at this in the sense, death is a relief. And sometimes when you're dealing with a sinful life, death is a relief because then you enter into the perfection of God, laying aside this body of corruption and putting on an immortality and entering in the presence of God to stand action from the body present with the Lord. What a relief! But then so many people look at death in the opposite way, that death is such a harsh thing and such a terrible thing. And in fact, separation of death, the fact that a family will never be together again. Many will suffer death in these days and then coming upon the next holidays, Thanksgiving time will come, and there'll be an empty chair at someone's table. And they'll gather together with their family, but yet there'll be a spot missing. Someone there who was there at the last meal is not there anymore. And in a sense, that separation becomes a difficulty. And separation becomes a hardship for those who are left behind. Families learning how to cooperate or to operate through a season and a time they've never had to face before. Sometimes it's the person that we rely upon the most that is taken. And it becomes difficult. Sometimes death can be a miserable and terrible thing. And especially if the person who has succumbed to death, that person not knowing Jesus Christ, what a terrible, terrible thing! What a terrible thing! But looking at death in a miserable and terrible way that it is, a terrible thing that has come. Looking at it like that, there are still some things that are worse than death. There are some things that are worse than death. I want to show you, if I could please, from the Scripture, a law that is given to us that we will be using throughout this sermon tonight, through this message tonight. And I just want you to keep in mind there are some things that are worse than death. Job chapter 4, verse number 8 says, Even as I have seen they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same. A law cannot be established in the Scripture by one verse, but one verse has to be compared with another verse. Of course, we know the law of reaping and sowing in a field, that if a man is to go in the field and drop into the ground certain kernels of corn, that it will produce stalks of corn, and those stalks of corn will then produce an average of three ears upon each stalk and hundreds of kernels upon each of the three ears. And so the law of reproduction and multiplication applies that one grain of corn that falls into the ground dies can reproduce into the three and four hundreds of its same kind by just that one seed. And that is the law that is proven, and without a doubt we all understand that law that is proven through the nature that is around us. But according to Job, the law also extends to life. And the writing here that is given to us, this statement is made, Even as I have seen... Somebody must have witnessed this law in action. They that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same. Proverbs 22, verse number 8, He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity. Hosea 10, verse number 12, Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fowl of ground, for it is time to seek the Lord till He come and reign righteousness upon you. Sowing and reaping, a law that is given in the Scripture, does not just apply to nature, but applies to the life of God's people. Not just God's people, every life that ever lives. Are you all still with me? Galatians chapter 6, verse number 7, probably one of the most familiar texts of Scripture to verify this particular point is, Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. God's principle of sowing and reaping. We think to ourselves, because we know of sin and we know of grace, that we are able to confess our sins and then our sins are gone and then after we have confessed our sins, there's no ramification. I want to adjust your theology just a little bit. Our sins are gone, yes, the Lord forgives. If we confess our sins, 1 John 1 verse 9, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But to forgive us for planting corn in our field does not mean corn won't grow. Nowhere in the Scripture does God say, Listen to me, if you'll just bow your head and say, God forgive me. God will send down His thundering horses and His plows and come through your field and He will dig up your nasty seed and replace those seeds with godly seeds and bring to you new fruit. Nowhere. Nowhere in the Scripture. But it's true what He says, Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. So if we understand the law and we agree about the law, then we have to come back to our text of Scripture in 2 Samuel chapter number 12, verse number 10. The sword shall never depart from thine house. There are things worse than death. And I want to say, One thing that is worse than death is living with the outcome of the mistakes that we've made in this life. Let me show you, if I could please, the sword that never left the house of David. David sinned a great sin against God. It's not the only sin David ever sinned, but it was such an explicit sin, such a thing that was so wicked and so bad that God came in great judgment and great power in order that He may set right His name and restore glory to Himself. Without the chastening hand of God, then we would have to consider ourselves bastards and not sons. For the Lord chasteneth them that He loves. And if you are able to commit such awful sins without the judgment of God, then you have to question yourself if you're really saved. Look at your life. Am I able to commit these deeds without any kind of judgment against my life? Is God taking back the staff and the rod and is He applying it to me to correct me and to straighten me out? Or am I just free to do as I want to? Because if you're free to do what you want to, then my friend, you better check up and see what family you belong to. According to the Scripture, He chastens every son! Every son! Every son! Such a serious, serious thought that we've come upon to have come up against such adversity. If you fellows help me in prayer, God will give us liberty. Because this is such a terrible thing we're dealing with. Inside the walls of our church, we are dealing with lust. We are dealing with pride. We are dealing with jealousy. We're dealing with greed. We're dealing with terrible sins under, if I were to subnote lust and say these things have come from, we're dealing within those categories of wicked, wicked sins. Pornography is being dealt with inside our church, inside our church family, inside the families of our church. Pornography. Homosexual lifestyles being dealt with inside our church, among our church family. Terrible wickedness. Perversion. Are you listening? Perversion has crept in amongst us. It's within us. And there's a price to pay for it. There's a price to pay. The seed is being scattered out in our field. Look at the field. Would you turn around and just look around at the field? Do you see the field? Do you see the young crop? Do you see them? Can I borrow you for a moment? Do you see the young crop? Do you see them? Do you understand what's being sown in amongst our young crop? Do you see these young ones sleeping on these pews, coming up listening to these songs of faith? Do you see these young men up here with their suits and their ties on? Do you see the young crop? And within the field of our own church, our young crop, there's seeds being scattered in amongst our very own flock, our very own crop, our very own seed, our very own children. Seeds of wickedness. Seeds of ungodliness. Seeds that will no doubt one day bring us a harvest that will cause us to cry bitter tears. Look parents, almost every pew in this church has small children on it. And look at the seed that you're sowing right now, dad, mom, and ladies and gentlemen, look where it's falling. Look where it's landing. Look where it's going to come up in a few years. Look where we're going to watch the reaping of the harvest. Look where it's going to come up! There's coming a harvest day! Oh God help us! There's coming a harvest. There's coming a harvest. Your little one in the little car seat. Your little one with mom. These babies, these precious babies. We look at them and we look at a life of such promise and such, oh, the possibilities of what could possibly be here! How God could use them! We look at young men who make a prayer and seem to have a good spirit about them and we say that young man could be the next D.L. Moody! That one could be the next Charles Finney! That could be the next Charles Spurgeon! Those men could be the next men who shake the world, turn the world upside down! Yet all the while while we're talking, we're reaching in our pockets and sowing these wild seeds that are going to come up in our field one day and our children are going to be where we see that harvest come out. The eyes and the life, the face of our own children. God help us. Five things happened in the life of David that are associated with the sword that is announced by the prophet Nathan. Five terrible things happened. I call them five fields of raping that David experienced after he committed this great sin. Chapter number 13. The first terrible thing that happened in the life of David was his daughter Tamar. Tamar got raped by her brother Amnon. Amnon raped his own sister Tamar. Tamar lived with the disgust of this the rest of her life. The Bible teaches she lived as a destitute, as one who never fit in anywhere. She was completely destroyed. Her mind was destroyed. Her life was destroyed. She felt as if the purity had been taken from her and she wasn't fit to fit in anywhere. She wasn't going to be a wife one day. She wasn't going to be a mother. According to the Scriptures, she never had a profitable family. She never became a woman with children and a mother. She never got to enjoy those things because Amnon got in his heart that he loved this girl and she's beautiful to look upon. And he took her and he forced himself upon her. Would you agree with me? This is a terrible, terrible sin that has happened in the family of David. Tamar was forced upon by her brother. Her life is changed forever. This sin is a field of reaping for David's sin. Let me back up. The Spirit has reminded me. The first field. While the preacher is preaching, he looks down at David and he says, Thou art the man, and this sword will never leave your house. But before he finishes preaching, oh, Brother Donnie, he looks down at him and he says, Because of your sin, this baby that Uriah's wife has born to you will surely die. This baby is going to die. Are you listening? The preacher finished his message. He left. The Bible says he departed and went to his own house. And when he departed, the child fell sick. David went into his chamber and fell upon his face and began to fast and pray. He was under such grief, the elders of the house came in and tried to lift him up from praying and couldn't even get him up off the floor. His burden was so great and so heavy. In the other room, there's the cry of a baby who's sick and dying. And David is there in his chamber floor listening to nurses try to work with this baby, listening as they try to bring back life to this child. And he lays there and he prays and he fasts and he prays and he fasts hoping God will hear his prayer. But God's already said. God's already said this child won't live. This child is going to die. And David is on his face praying and fasting in his closet. And all the while, the preacher's message is churning in his mind and in his heart. And he's hearing the preacher as the preacher looked at him and said, The sword shall never leave your house! While he's on his face praying in his chamber, he notices the elders come into the room and they begin to talk and the servants with them and they begin to discuss. And he perceives there's been a change in the situation. And he looks up and he says to those in his room, has the child died? And in these verses following, in verse number 18, the child dies. And then they report to David, this is truly the death of the child. He receives the Word and rises up from off of his place of fasting and his place of service to God. And he washes his face and he goes about his life. They want to mock him or to question why in the world has he now found joy to come up off of his fasting? Why not fast and pray now? And David said, I can't bring the child back. I want you to see David come to a crossroads where he realizes the sword has severed something from my life that I'll never get back again. And I want you to listen to me while I try to make a spiritual application here that one of the things that happens in us sinning against the Holy God and God delivering His sword to our house because of our sin is that that sword, when it moves, it severs things from our life that we'll never be able to regain again. Thank the Lord for forgiveness and thank Him for His grace. But God, help us if that sword is ever brought to our house and left with us because that sword, when it moves, it will cut and it will sever things from our life that can never be replaced again. David loses his child that day. That's his first field of reaping. Could we draw a picture of David out in the field reaping harvest? For the first time since his sin, he's reaping a harvest and it's bloody grain from the death of his child. This innocent baby. And someone would want to look at God and say, why would God kill a baby? Oh, be careful where your finger points. Because you're the one who's dropped in the seed of the ground. Don't you look up and blame God for what's happening. Because it's not God's fault what's happening. You're the one who has tilled the soil and you're the one who has put the seed in the ground. And when the fruit starts to come up and begins to show itself in your life, don't you bow your fist up to a holy God. First field of reaping, the child dies. Oh, that's heavy. It's so heavy. God help us. The second field of reaping, Tamar, his daughter, is raped and left destitute. Her life is fruitless. Her mind is destroyed. Seeing his daughter, who is a beautiful young lady, watching her go through something so terrible. And David fell into the trickery of Amnon. He was the one who sent Tamar down there to the house. Don't you think he beat himself up about that so many times? Looking at what happened and saying, I should have paid attention. I should have watched what was going on. But oh, greater still than that, while David's walking through this field of desolation and looking at a life that's been destroyed, David's hearing the message of the preacher Nathan and the Word of God, the sword, will never leave your house. Five fields. Two down, three to go. Don't you think you could look at the life of David and say, isn't that enough? Is it not enough? He's lost a baby! Oh, God help us. I remember what it was like to stand in that hospital and to see doctors' faces and their attitude change as news began to worsen about our daughter going through the brain trauma that she went through and them losing her and putting her in life support. I remember watching them as they tried to tell us how it was going to be and the loss of a child. I remember them telling us and I remember the thoughts and things that run through. I can't imagine what those seven days were like for David as he laid there on the floor listening to nurses and listening to people try to console him and tell him everything's going to be alright. I remember standing in the hospital myself! I remember when Spurgeon was born to us five weeks early and they put him in a box and told us that there was problems, there was defectiveness, that there was things wrong with him, and there was a possibility that he wouldn't live through the day and he might not live through the night! I remember what that felt like, but oh my God! To have a servant come in the room and to look me in my face! I can't imagine what it would feel like! For them to look me in my face and say, the child is dead. But then to imagine how perverse, how ungodly, how wicked for someone to force themselves upon a young lady's life. And to look in the beautiful face of my own daughter and imagine what that would feel like! For David to receive the news that the daughter had been defiled and now her life would never be the same again! And to know it's because of the sword. The sword is at my house. The sword is at my house. Third Field. Absalom. Absalom. Tamar's brother. Absalom hears the news of what Amnon's done. He steps back and bides his time until just the right hour comes. And Amnon trains his servants to kill, slaughter Amnon while they're out in the field working. And Absalom waits for the right moment, the right hour. And cries, charge! And cries, slay Amnon! His servants rise up and they take the life of Amnon. And he dies. David has just lost his second child. The baby has died now. Amnon his son has died. Tamar has been defiled and laid destitute and her life ruined. And now Amnon out there in the field, David at the first word receives word that all thy sons have died. And David must be racing through a million ideas about what went wrong. Finally, a true faithful servant comes up to David and looks him in the face and says, only Amnon has died. And he died at the hand of Absalom. Absalom has staged this thing and set the thing in motion. Now he's in double perplexity! Amnon his son has died, but he has died at the hand of his own brother. My goodness. How often David must have said in a quiet place in the king's castle, saw the waving sword in his face. The son now to be buried. The grave opens up again. Another funeral position. Could I pause just for a moment and say something to you? We live so blessed and we see so much of the goodness and grace of God that we don't even notice His judgment around us. Do you know why you're not afraid of Him? Why you don't walk carefully in fear? Why you're not careful with your steps? It's because you've never realized His judgment. So blessed, aren't we? So blessed. Just take a moment here and pause on this third field and say, we're just so blessed we don't even see the judgment of God. Why, if God were to come in here in this service, pick someone out tonight and slay them before morning, we would have a funeral for you in just a couple of days and we would all gather around and say what a good person you were. When in fact, we're in a revival meeting dealing with the fact right now that there's none of us that are good, but wickedness, wickedness drips from us. We're in a terrible state. We're in an awful state. But we don't see the judgment of God. We would justify as preachers. We would stand up over top of a casket of a dead body and say, this is this life. And though we don't have an explanation as to why this one had to go, it was God's timing. We may not understand even in the half of why it's now and why God has taken someone's life out. And I'll just be honest with you, I've been here two years and there's not enough graves open and not enough trouble come in this church for you to realize the judgment of God. You can't even see it. You don't even realize it. You're not even paying attention. You don't even know. Oh God, help us if He ever had to wake us up. You see, preaching is designed to wake us up. The Spirit is sent to wake us up. And He cries, Awake thou that sleepest! Awake thou that sleepest! Arise, O sleeping church! Arise from thy sleep! He's crying out to us, Wake up! And we're not waking up. So you know what has to happen next? If we do not wake up, He has to come with an angel and a sword and deliver a sword to our house! And say, Fine then, here at Grace Independent Baptist Church, the sword will never leave thy house. And God help us, but hold forth if God starts to move that sword and we start rolling baby's caskets down here in front of the church and start visiting a small casket. Have you ever had to walk to the graveyard behind a three-foot casket? A baby inside? Only one or two men able to deliver that body safely to its resting place? How terrible a thing to have to see a young child like that go! But if God has to do that to wake us up, Oh God, help us! But then He opens the grave again. And Amnon is dead. You would like to say, Amnon deserved what he got! But it goes back further than Amnon's sin. It goes back to Daddy's sin. And Daddy sits in his house and remembers the preaching of the prophet Nathan. The sword shall never leave thy house. Phil 4 Amnon leaves and goes wandering and hides away from the place of David for a long time until David is finally over his mourning and longing for Absalom to come back home. By then, Absalom's heart is filled with terrible, terrible thoughts of power and might. And so a plan is formulated and Absalom returns. And when he does, he begins to draw away the heart of the people of Israel. He draws away their heart until the point where a servant runs to David and he comes to David and says, the heart of the men of Israel has been taken to Absalom. They're following after Absalom. We must flee. We must run. Because they're going to come. They're going to take our lives. They're going to take over this castle. The nation is against you. Now David, who was sat upon a throne by the hand of God, David is now on the run and he's leaving his throne and he's higher position and he's running like a coward, like a dog! He's hiding in dark caves in low places, in valleys, in the shadow of the lurking of his own son on his trail. With Absalom's heart set to kill his dad, one cave he familiarly went to was the cave of Adullam. He's dwelling in a secret place there many times, hidden away. A place where there's nothing. A place where there's no water, no enjoyment. There's no help for his soul. It's a long way from the throne room he used to sit in. It's a long way from the high palace he used to rest in. Brother Miller, it's a long way from that rooftop where he first looked upon his sin. Running like a coward, like a dog, Absalom has dethroned his own dad. And while David is on the running and running for his own life, lost the comforts of his position, removed from the authority that God had given him. I could make application to all this, but I'm hoping the Spirit of God's doing enough for you that I don't have to make all these applications. But you see, every time something happens in David, the spiritual applications of things that are removed and things that are lost, there's so much lost. There's so much price given. So much price. Do you understand? The cost is far greater than we can ever expound upon. I don't think I can even put it into words in one short sermon how many things David faces and encounters through each one of these events. But now David running, he's lost the authority that God's given. He's lost the power that God had put upon him. He's lost the purpose that God has for his life. And he's running like a dog. And while he's running, he hears the voice of a preacher in his ears. The sword shall never leave thy house. Field number five. David formulates a plan. Brings himself back. Takes over the throne. Reverses the situation. Finds out that Absalom was lying. He didn't have the forces behind him that he thought he had. David restores himself to the throne. Things seem to be going a turn of direction. David is processing all these things as he restores himself back to authority. And it seems like the blessings of God are back in his favor again. All the while, there's a son who is away. There's a son who's running. And this is not one of the fields, but I just want to stop here and say something that there has to be an unusual weight of burden upon a parent who has a child that has gone away from God after having learned the truth and known the truth and has interacted so much with the world and so much with the things of the world that he's not even able to enter into the house of God as he once did. Can you imagine what it would be like? And some of you know. Some of you are parents who know what it's like to have a child who's on the run, who's away from God, who's not living right, not acting right, not doing right. And they're not welcome around the table of God. They don't want to be here where things are good and where things are godly. And they're on the run! They're running! They're running now! Things have turned around! But the son is gone. And David loves him. He is his son. As many mistakes as he's made. You know what it's like. As many mistakes as he's made, David still loves him. But Aslan caught up in his beauty and his own cuteness. His flowing long hair was riding along through the oaks one day. And his hair catches him up in an oak tree. And the Bible says that his mule that he ride upon walked off and left him hanging in the oaks. And he's boogered up in this awful twine of oak limbs that are hanging. And he's hanging from his hair without no way of assisting himself. He's truly just tied up in the matter. And he's caught up in his own shape and his own sin. And men who are friends of the king find this as an opportunity to correct the problem. The enemy has been trying to kill the king. He's the number one wanted enemy of the kingdom. So men with a good purpose in their heart pull out darts and thrust them into the heart of Aslan while he hanged there helpless. The grave doors have opened again. The tomb is opened again. David's heart is heavy as the messengers reply the message and relay the message back to him. And they tell all the story thinking that David is going to be relieved and that David is going to take a sigh of relief and say, oh, I'm glad this is all over. I'm glad that it's all settled. But David doesn't take that approach. In chapter number 18, verse number 33, David runs to his chamber and falls upon his knees and he begins to cry, Aslan! Aslan! My son! My son Aslan! And David makes the reply that brings us back to our original thought. David says, oh, that I had died in thy place. I wish somebody had to die today. It would have been me. I wish you were not absent, my precious son. But I wish it had been me that died. David's crying out to us for time and for eternity. There is something worse than death! For death would have relieved me of this burden today. Oh, Aslan. Aslan, my son! I know you're looking from an outsider's perspective again. He got what he deserved. You just don't hear what David hears. As the preacher's vest churns in his mind again, the sword, the sword, the sword shall never, oh God, how long, how long again the message, shall never leave thy house. You don't understand the weight of your sin. Possibly the day that you're so engulfed in what you're doing that you don't see the weight of what it is. But there are others in here, and if we took the time, we're not. We're not taking the time tonight, but if we were to take the time and begin to walk around the room, there are people in this room who would stand and testify of what it feels like to walk through a field of reaping in a life they wish they had never, ever lived. In deeds they wish they had never, ever committed. Young people are often so angered at our protection and angered at our rules and regulations, they think we're just trying to rob them of the fun. And really what we're trying to rob them of is the reaping! We don't want our children. Oh, God. We don't want our children to have to walk through a field and run their fingers through the grains of blood and graves and hurts like we have. Oh, God help us. We don't want our children to have to go into the field and open up grave after grave after grave all the while reminded of the hurt and the pain and the heartache that comes along with the sword of God. Taking those little babies by the hands, their hands barely big enough to wrap around our index fingers, holding them up and supporting them while we teach them to take their first steps. None of us ever want that child to have to walk with those hands and those feet through a field of reaping where our sin has sown seed for their life. You listening? Some of you got testimonies that probably could be written right next to the life of David. We don't want to hear them. And you don't want to tell them. But when you go home in your quiet chamber, as David did, you sit and you listen. And you know there's a message from God that says the sword is never leaving. Do you remember when you backslid for those few days or months or those few years? Do you remember then watching your children reap the benefits of that backsliding and how through the years you've watched them and they won't come to the Lord and they won't come to church and they won't participate in the things of God? Do you remember those days when you lived previously and you treated God as if He was just a blessing product that you could use once in a while to enjoy the things of life and come by the church house once in a while to renew a relationship, but never truly write with God? And then you start watching children who don't want to have anything to do with God, who run from the things of God? Do you remember those days when you turned your back on God? Now you're looking at a young man or young woman in your own family who's turning their back on God. Some of you with gray hair. Those gray hairs are put there not just by age, but by pain from mistakes that have been made, heartaches, tears that have been shed. Some of you mothers know what it's like to go into a quiet room when everybody else is gone and to bow down on your knees and to pray for children who are going away. But then some of you, some of you are so much younger than that. In this congregation, I'm looking in the face of some of you who are so young that you've not yet seen it. I just want you to stop right now and take a thought of where you're living right now and ask yourself the question, do you really want to trod the path that you're picking out? Do you really want to climb up onto that high pinnacle that you have established for yourself and look out over all the things that you could grasp out your hands to? Do you really want to reach out and grab that for the few moments of joy and the few moments of happiness that you're fixing to have? Do you really want to go where you're going and to take that thing that does not belong to you? Do you really want to bring that sin into your house and have God deliver a sword into your house that you will have to watch swing and swing and touch your children's lives? Do you really want to make the decision that you're making? Do you really want to keep living where you're living? Do you truly want to keep living where you're living? Where are you living tonight? I'm not talking about sitting inside the building of this church attending a revival meeting. I'm talking about the heart. I'm looking at the heart. I'm preaching about the heart. Where's your heart at tonight? Where's your love? Where's your affections tonight? Where have you put your love? Where have you attached your heart to? What have you reached out to grasp and to pull to yourself? Do you really want to live with the mistake that you're fixing to make? Look at your life where you live right now. Look at the handfuls of seed you're holding right now. What kind of seed is that? Preacher, I'm just sowing my wild oats singing in the choir one service and swaying seed before the next. God help us! God help us! Are you listening? You've got your hand in the seed bags and you're sowing the seeds. I promise you, they're coming up one day. Those seeds are going to bring forth fruit one day. One day you're going to walk in a field and reap everything you're living this hour. Are you really willing to walk in that field when the time of harvest comes? Thank God for His grace and His mercy. Thank God for His grace and His mercy. Knowing that to us, God has extended an open door and grace to come, we can confess our sins. He's faithful just to forgive us our sins. And many of you right now can stop sowing what you're sowing. You can stop sowing right now before your field is full of wickedness. See the rest of the field lying in front of you? See the days of this next year? Do you see the days of this next week and the revival that we're in right now? Do you see what's happening and what's going on in our lives right now? Look out! Do you see the field in front of you? You'd better change seeds right now! You'd better reach for righteousness. You'd better sow some righteousness. You'd better start sowing some righteousness. You'd better start putting righteousness in your field. You'd better put some righteousness in your field! Before the hour come when you walk out on your high pinnacle and look out over your field and cry and break down, and the day will come. And all those that know it should say, Amen. The day will come when you'll be in these altars with some preacher preaching. And you'll be weeping on these altars and pulling tissues on these altars and crying. And you'll be saying, I put to God that I could have just died rather than to keep walking through these fields and reaping these harvests that I planted. God help us. God help us. Look at the young field around us. Look where we're sowing our seed. God help us. The sword. The sword. Oh, I don't ever want to hear Him say it. Oh, God, please. I don't ever want to hear Him say it. Oh, I hope you never hear Him say it. I hope you never hear Him say it! The sword will never leave thy house. I ask you tonight, you'd better seriously this moment look at your field, and you'd better seriously this moment look at the seed that you're holding in your hand, because every deed that you're committing right now is a seed that will bring forth multiple fruits in the future. You'd better look at where you're living. And I ask you again, I ask you again, is it really worth it? Do you really, really truly want to reap a harvest from those seeds that are in your hands? God help us. The death of a baby. The rape of a daughter. The death of a son. The dethroning. Losing his authority and position. And then another death. Three graves. Three graves. In these five fields of raping. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Lord, help us change the seed before judgment day comes and we're caught in our field full of sin. May God help us. Stand with me please. Heads bowed. Knives closed.