Confronting a Killer

Eric gave a little introduction about me. I appreciate that. First, I’d like to say good morning to everybody and I thank you for being here.

It’s great to see some faces that I haven’t seen in a while and it just warms my heart that you decided to come join us, so thank you. Like Eric said, my name is Dan Gatz and I am a Congregational Care Pastor for One Hope Church and I volunteer as a chaplain for the Kansas Police Department and we have another chaplain here from there and I also, well my full-time job is I’m an hospice chaplain and I just want to point out that in those job titles, nowhere is a word preacher, okay? And I’d like to point that out because, you know, I’m not a preacher. I say that every time I preach just to make sure that your expectations aren’t too high, but today’s sermon is called Confronting a Killer, so let’s pray.

Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, my rock and my redeemer. I thank you for the opportunity to deliver this message of good news today. I pray your Holy Spirit be present to us and fill us as we meditate on your word.

I pray all this in Jesus’ holy name, amen. Eric mentioned also that before working in ministry, I was a law enforcement officer. I did that kind of work for more than 37 years and most of that career was with the Wichita Police Department and I spent most of my time there working on murders and suspicious deaths.

I worked hundreds of cases over the years and if you knew me years ago, I’m sure you may be surprised that I’m standing here today and no one is more surprised than me. But anyway, I interviewed and interrogated many murder suspects during that time and had tons of training on how to try to get someone to tell me the truth that in their mind the truth is the last thing they wanted to disclose. So I also worked as the chief investigator at the district attorney’s office here in Johnson County and where I supervise some of the best interrogators and investigators in the business and a couple of them are here.

I’m glad to see that, so thank you guys. Many years ago, back when I was a homicide detective, in the middle of the night, as often happened, I was sound asleep and when my phone rang, it woke me up. I answered the phone and not to my surprise, it was Lieutenant Ken Lambert and he told me there had been an arson and a woman and her two-year-old son were in critical condition.

They were being taken to the hospital. He told me the case was going to be mine if one or both of them didn’t make it, meaning that they died from the severe burns they received in the fire. Well, in that case, it would be a homicide.

Both of them ended up dying that night, but there was one survivor of the fire, the woman’s husband. The father of the two-year-old and the man’s name was David. He too was taken to the hospital but for smoke inhalation.

David told the first responders that he was awake at the time of the fire. He had just gone to the bathroom and he noticed something on fire fly through the bedroom window, laying on the bed where his wife was asleep and he immediately tried to put out the flames, but it was burning out of control already. When the fire department arrived, David was outside and his friend had garden hose through the window, apparently attempting to extinguish the flames.

But over the next couple of days, David remained in the hospital. The investigation continued and revealed that David was well-educated. He had a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Wichita State University, but he worked at a pool hall that his father-in-law owned.

We also learned that David frequented a strip club that was located just near his workplace and that he had become infatuated with one of the dancers. There were no other witnesses on the night of that fire. Well, I suspected, as you probably suspected, that David set that fire of killing his wife and his son.

But we knew we would find it very tough to prove that case without a confession. Later, my partner, Kelly Otis and I, we would sit down with David to see if we could get him to tell us the truth about what he had done. The scripture for today is 2 Samuel 11, 26 through 12, 13.

And this is a story about another David, King David. David was the king of Israel around 3,000 years ago, and he was known as a man after the very heart of God. God had chosen him to be king and unite the people of Israel, but he fell into sin.

You know, just as many of us have, the scripture we’re going to read is about how David was confronted about how he had plotted the death of Uriah to cover up his sins. Before this, King David became infatuated and lust-driven when he saw Bathsheba bathing one day. Eventually, he had her brought to him, and he had sex with her.

She got pregnant, and she was also the wife of one of King David’s best soldiers. His name is Uriah. The king made sure Uriah would be put on the front lines and ordered the commander Joab to abandon Uriah so that he would be killed.

Uriah was killed in the battle, just as David planned. King David then took Bathsheba as his own wife. Another person of note in these verses is Nathan.

Nathan was a prophet of God. He was a trusted advisor to David, and in this passage, Nathan was sent by God to confront David about what he had done. So please stand as you’re able as I read from 2 Samuel.

I’m warning you, this is a long one, so if you need to sit, please do. When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

But the thing David had done displeased the Lord. The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.

The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little youth lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup, and even slept in his arms.

It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the youth lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.

David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die. He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity. Then Nathan said to David, You are the man.

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the land of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms.

I gave you all Israel and Judah, and if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why do you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in His eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

Now therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despise me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own. This is what the Lord says. Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you.

Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel. Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.

Nathan replied, the Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. Thank you.

You may be seated. You know, Nathan may have been a prophet, but as I read this, I thought he would probably be a pretty good detective. I’m sure you’ve all seen detective movies and TV shows like The First 48, Law and Order, My Wife’s Favorite NYPD Blue, and others.

So this might be old information for most of you. But first off, when interrogating a suspect on a murder case, the goal of the detective is to get what is called the first admission. That’s our first goal, the first admission of guilt.

The other objective is, well, they’ll be watching, right? I mean, not like in the same room, but they’ll be watching through one of those, you know, those two-way gears like you see in the movies, or most likely on a TV screen and listening to what’s going on in another room. But when that first admission comes, there’s a celebration, right? They give each other high fives and they are excited to see when someone finally makes an admission of guilt. Once that happens, usually the floodgates will open and something resembling the truth will come out, and the suspect will give generally a self-serving but, you know, honest confession to the point where they admit what they’ve done.

One of the things I’ve learned when confronting a suspect on a murder case was the use of stories. We called them themes back then. These themes are used to illustrate the wrongfulness of crimes committed by others to get, you know, get their attention.

And we might compare the motivations that the suspect had with the motivations of our made-up wrongdoers. We might test them to see if there’s any remorse or guilt by, you know, that’s lying beneath the surface by seeing how they react to these stories and how these stories about others learning how their conscience was relieved when they were able to tell the truth. Well, someone who isn’t a total psychopath, well, they need some sign of hope when it comes to this, when you’re carrying the weight of the world and you feel like crashing down on you because of something you’ve done.

When feelings of guilt invade them, they begin seeking forgiveness, whether they’re aware of that or not. The more they realize they aren’t getting away with it, the more they seek forgiveness. The more they hear about others’ deeds, like their own, where confession eased that conscience, the more they’re likely to admit their crimes.

They become convinced of their sin, convicted of their sin, and need some way to lessen the punishment that is coming, or the overwhelming stress and pressure of keeping that secret becomes unbearable. Ideally, this kind of narrative of the detectives telling their stories would work to raise that level of sense of guilt and remorse for what that person had done. You see, when doing these interrogations, the detective does most of the talking, and most of you probably know that already.

They give examples of bad deeds done by others, examples of good people owning their estates, and the relief of getting it out in the open. All of this can come before straight out accusing that killer of murder. I think Nathan may have invented that technique 3,000 years ago.

He talked about the rich man who represented David, the poor man who represented Uriah, and the little you loved by the poor man who represented Bathsheba. The rich man took this you that the poor man loved, he slaughtered it and fed it to his guests. When told that story and thinking it was about someone else, well, King David, he was quick to condemn that rich man for what he had done.

His outrage at the rich man’s actions was clear. It was convincing. David believed that that rich man should pay for what he had done.

Then Nathan revealed what he was actually talking about. He said, you are that man. You know, I wonder how he delivered that statement.

You know, I’m, as a detective, may have taken a soft approach, saying it quietly in a caring voice. You are that man. And Nathan may have approached that moment with more of a direct and accusatory attack, point and figure, you are that man.

However he did it, it doesn’t really matter. Nathan followed that up with a litany of ways God had blessed him before all of this happened. He was anointed as king, he was saved from Saul, he was given the kingdom over Israel and Judah, and Nathan wasted no time transitioning to pointed accusations.

David despised the word of God, he killed Uriah and took his wife. Horrible things would happen to David’s household because of his sin. All of them were going to happen in broad daylight, in front of everyone, so everyone would know.

Well, when we’re doing interviews and interrogations, detectives look for body language. We see how people react. And this is how we know when someone is about to make that first admission.

Now, David, he’s completely broken down. I can picture David changing from his commanding and arrogant posture of a king to having his head held low. And that’s really common when someone’s about to make that first admission, that they hold their head down.

So I can picture David changing from that posture of a king to his head held low when he uttered that first admission, I have sinned against the Lord. That is the first admission of guilt. David was distraught and convicted.

His full confession and repentance are in Psalm 51, verses 1 through 12. I’m going to read that to you because I think it’s an incredible way to react, a great example for us when we have done something against God. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.

So you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb.

You taught me wisdom in that secret place. Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean. Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart of God and renew a steadfast spirit. Within me, do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.

Like King David in our lives, there are consequences for our sins. This isn’t God’s punishment necessarily, it’s just what happens when we sin. You know, these consequences, they can be drastic at times.

People go to prison, people face divorce, they’re estranged from their children and their parents, they face bankruptcy, loss of jobs, it could just be an argument with somebody. But these are the things that happen as a result of the choices that we make. But the good news is this, if we repent of those sins, turn away from our evil ways and turn toward God, he will create in us a new life full of love and forgiveness.

Jesus ate with sinners and was criticized for being with them. In Luke 5 32, Jesus said, I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. The Greek word used in the scripture for repentance is metanoe.

Repentance is about experiencing a change in our minds. It signifies a fundamental change of our mind and our heart. It’s not just a feeling of regret, but a redirection of one’s thoughts and worldview.

True repentance involves spiritual grief. Having spiritual grief in our hearts leads to a new way of thinking and living. It leads us to leave our sinful ways behind, turning from them, turning to God, living for him.

It’s dying sin so that we can live in Christ. You know, I don’t know the state of the other David’s soul. He confessed to Otis and I about starting a fire, killing his wife and son, but did he confess to God? Did he repent of those sins? I don’t know.

John Wesley was added that we can do nothing good on our own or anything to save ourselves without the help of God, without the help of the Holy Spirit. We simply aren’t capable of doing good without God. But God works on us and in us, whether we know it or not.

It is God, the Holy Spirit, who provides the knowing, the conviction of our sins. The conscious guilt we experience and feel, well, that’s from God. It’s also he who moves us to confession and ultimately repentance, which will put us in a state of grace.

1 John 1 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, search your heart, make that first admission to God and repent. Turn your life over to Jesus Christ.

He paid the price so that we might have everlasting life with him. Now, when we leave this place, go into the world and share this good news with anyone who will listen. So, let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, I ask for your blessing on all who are here. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us, convict us of our sins. Provide us with the courage to confess those sins to you.

We are weak and unable to confess and repent without your love and grace. Help us to turn from our sinful ways and live for you. I pray all this in Jesus’ name.

Amen.