Well, let's turn our Bibles to Second Samuel, Chapter 24,
Second Samuel 24. As we come to a close in our
study of this book. Our sister prayed, thanking God
for the past few months in this book.
But if you calculate our time since we started for Samuel,
it's been close to I think three years when you combine First and
Second Samuel in our study with the natural breaks throughout
those years. So maybe let's say safely two
years in our study of the story of David and what a story it is,
right? What a man.
God preserving so much concerning His testimonies, his
trials, triumphs, tests, mountaintops and low valleys.
There isn't another character apart from the person of Jesus
Christ that takes up so much space in our Bibles.
So he is an important figure. He is crucial not understanding
not just of what and who he points to, but the practical
lessons that we must absorb as things around his life are meant
to correlate with our Christian journey.
When it comes to his battles. When it comes to his
temptations. When it comes to his devotion.
Clearly, the Holy Spirit wants to set this man up, not to be
worshipped or venerated, but to learn from, as a model and as an
example. And that is no less true in the
final chapter of Second Samuel, as we explore the concluding the
concluding verses of this man's life.
This isn't where David ends. That's in First Kings chapter
one where we see his actual. Departure from the earth.
The record of that. Nonetheless, in this specific
record we have a certain scenario that the Holy Spirit
wants us to end our thoughts on as we bring this study to a
close. Our sister prayed, But I I would
like to pray again. Lord, we thank you for Second
Samuel for the months and the weeks devoted to this
consistently. Others might feel a little bit
weary and tired of hearing of the same man over and over
again. And yet we are in a room filled
with people who want to ring out every single drop of insight
that your word would provide concerning this man.
So we thank you for the joy and the endurance in this book.
Now, Lord, as we come to the final chapter, we pray that your
voice would be loud and clear and that there would be the
fruit of your will transferred over into our lives as a result
of what this study is about. We thank you in advance for what
you will do. Thank you for what you have
done, and we give you all the glory and honor as a church
family. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Second same of 24 verse one.
Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he
incited David against them saying go number Israel and
Judah. So the king said to Job the
commander of the army who is with him go through all the
tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, a number of the
people that I may know the number of the people.
But Joab said to the king, may the Lord your God add to the
people 100 times as many as they are, while the eyes of my Lord
the king still see it. But why does my Lord the king
delight in this thing? But the King's word prevailed
against Joab and the commanders of the army.
So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the
presence of the king to number the people of Israel.
They crossed the Jordan and began from RR and from the city
that is in the middle of the valley toward Gad and onto
Yazer. Then they came to Gilead and to
Kadesh in the land of the Hittites, and they came to Dan.
And from Dan they went around to side on and came to the fortress
of Tire and to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites.
And they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beershiba.
So when they had gone through all the land, they came to
Jerusalem at the end of nine months and 20 days, and Job gave
the sum of the numbering of the people to the king.
In Israel there are 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword,
and the men of Judah were 500,000.
We have to ask two very important questions from verse
one that will help us frame the rest of this chapter.
Those questions are this. Number one, what was it that
Israel did for the anger of the Lord to be kindled against it?
And #2 what does it mean for? He being God to incite David
against them. So let's deal with the first
question. We're told here the premises
that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
Many people don't even consider that fact when they come to this
chapter. They immediately want to go to
David's sin and and asking for a senses when the whole foundation
of The thing is that no God is actually responding to a
previous sin, the sin of the nation.
The sin of the nation here is the reason for why God is about
to do what He's going to do, why David is going to do what he is
about to do. And we wonder what is it that
Israel has done. And here's the thing.
We have entered into the realm of speculation because the
scriptures are not clear about what the nation has done in
order to cause God to move in divine discipline.
But there might be a hint in a simple word, the word that opens
up this chapter. It's the very simple word again.
Again, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
Now you and I are not unfamiliar with the cycles of sin that this
nation got themselves into. Throughout centuries we've read
and studied the Book of Judges, and even early on and First
Samuel, we've seen this pattern from this nation.
And that pattern can be summarized in this idolatry and
apostasy, the worship of different gods, and ultimately
turning their backs on God. And if the word again is meant
to link us to the repetitive cycle of Israel's history, then
we can say that perhaps what is causing God to be so angry is
that the people somehow have now come to a low point in false
worship and an unfaithfulness to their God.
Now that's not certain. Some would even say no, no, no,
this is God's anger against Israel for their guilt involving
within Absalom's. What?
His revolt and their partial partnership in the rebellion of
Sheba, that also is not entirely clear.
So we're left to just say we don't know what it is, but we
can say it was enough for God to say I'm going to do something to
discipline you, I'm going to chastise you, and he's going to
chastise them by doing this. And this brings us to our second
question, inciting David against them.
What does it mean for God to incite David against them?
Again, you might come up with different answers unless you
read the rest of the chapter. When you read the rest of the
chapter as we did, what God essentially is saying, what the
Spirit is saying, is that David, as a response to the sin of the
nation, was stirred to sin, was stirred to sin in order to cause
the people to sin further. Now that sounds odd because we
read here that he incited the the God incite David descent.
We know that James tells us that God tempts no man.
And so how do we reconcile this? Because what we see here is that
David is going to commit a very grievous evil.
Yes, very good. And first Chronicles 21 verse
one. We'll get there in a moment.
We're not. We're going to read that it's
actually Satan who incites David to create a senses.
And even if you didn't have First Chronicles 21, one which
is very important, and having the understanding of what's
taking place here, what David is doing, what God is, this is an
important word. Allowing is not a foreign idea
in the Bibles. Essentially, what's taking place
here is as a response to the nation's sin, God is going to
allow David and the nation to sin further.
Why? Because in sinning further they
were incur more judgment upon themselves while also embracing
the consequences of their willful disobedience.
In other words, one way that God judges the people one of the
rods that he uses is you to sin further in your sin that when
you persist in your rebellion, God will allow you to continue
in your rebellion. Because to remain in such a
condition is judgment in itself. And it's important to see here
that when he incited David, he's not the direct agent for David
to commit sin. Our brother just read it in
First Chronicles 21. One we read that it was
actually, say, Satan, some would see this as a contradiction.
No, it's complimentary. God is sovereign.
He superintends all things, including Satan.
And when we read here in First Chronicles 21 that Satan stood
against Israel and incited David, what this is essentially
showing us is how God incited David.
The how here is in this verse, and it was by permitting Satan
removing his protection, removing his grace from David
and the nation as a whole, and giving Satan more access to his
heart and to his mind to persuade him further Into
Darkness. There's so many examples of that
throughout the old and the new, and this is just one of them.
So what you have here is a very important theological concept.
When a person or a people refuse to continue to follow God, they
will inevitably have Satan as a substitute.
Push God out. You don't have neutrality.
Push God out. You invite the evil one.
When you do that in your life, when you do that in your family,
when you do that in your marriage, when you do it as a
nation. You don't want to follow God
anymore. You don't want to honor God
anymore. Then Satan will gladly lead you
because you're a slave to something.
In this life, you're always a slave.
You're either a slave to sin, a slave to Satan, or a slave to
God and a slave to righteousness.
You're not a free man, you're a slave.
But the beauty about being a slave unto God is that that's
where true freedom lies. And so we see here that Satan,
in essence, takes the place. As God pulls away, his presence
and his activity intensifies, and that's what we read here.
David receives a thought not from the Lord, but from the evil
one, Satan. Unlike what many people believe,
Satan can't read your mind. He can't.
Some people believe that. What a tormenting way to live.
He can't read your mind. God is all knowing.
The Bible tells us that he alone knows the hearts of all men.
Satan doesn't share that prerogative or that power.
But Satan can sow into your mind, and he can plant thoughts
into your mind. And that's exactly what happens
to David here. And it shows.
Something about David does it not?
Because the temptation comes and he bites.
Now we read about the poor anemic condition of Israel, but
we also realized that David himself was in a weak place.
Spiritually speaking, David allows Satan to influence him.
David allows this thought of clear disobedience to actually
overtake him. And could it be that Israel's
weak condition is a direct result of Israel's leadership
being A poor example and not being steadfast in their own
walk with the Lord? God only knows.
But allow me to say it again. One of the ways in which God
judges a person or people is by allowing them to sin further so
they can store it for themselves more judgment, while also
enduring the consequences of the sin itself.
Just in case you doubt that, this is one of my go to verses
to show that and to prove that, it's in Proverbs 22.
Verse 14, Proverbs 2214 says that the mouth of a forbidden
woman is a deep pit. The mouth of a forbidden woman
is a deep pit, meaning a woman who is promiscuous, adulterous,
sensual is a deep pit. You get involved with a woman
like that, it's going to be very hard to escape.
That's what it means to me. Deep pit it.
You won't be able to really escape the consequences as
easily. You won't be able to escape the
the the the pain, the guilt, the shame as easily.
It's a deep pit. It's a severe thing to fall into
such a way of life. But that's not the part I'm
focused on. It says in the second part of
that verse he with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.
I remember first reading that just in my reading of Proverbs,
and it shocked me to the core. You would think it says the
mouth of a forbidden woman is a deep pit.
The one who does this, the Lord will be angry with.
It doesn't say that. It says he with whom the Lord is
angry will fall into it. In other words, in some cases,
when a person does fall into this pit, it's not because God
is angry with that particular sin, it's the fruit of a
previous sin. God, in essence, allows a person
to continue in their sin, which in many cases leads to adultery,
sensuality, or morality as a consequence of something prior.
And it made me think about so many different scenarios.
And one of the scenarios that we're familiar with,
unfortunately, is the fall of many leaders who who get
themselves involved in infidelity and sensuality.
I wonder if that is not necessary the the the sin that
disqualified. And I wonder if they were
disqualified a long time ago and that was the that was the sin
that ultimately disqualified them publicly from ministry.
But makes you wonder if there was pride in that heart, makes
you wonder if there was self exaltation or different vices
that corrupted that person. Because what we see here is one
of the ways in which God does chastise or judge is when he
says, go ahead, I remove my protective guardrails around
you, I remove my conviction, I remove my warnings, and I let
you just be. And that's what we see here with
David, Satan has greater access to his mind.
And what does Satan incite him to do?
Verse two. So the king set to Job the
commander of the army who was with him, go through all the
tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and number the people
that I may know the number of the people.
Are you serious? Out of all the things that Satan
contempt a man to do, out of all the crimes, out of all the
evils, the one thing that Satan resolves to convince David of is
to send out a nationwide report to get an update on the
population number. I mean, that sounds like that
sounds pretty innocent as it sounds so severe because there's
nothing inherently wrong with the senses.
That's true throughout the Bible.
But what we have to consider here are two things to see how
Satan is moving behind the scenes.
The motive behind the senses and the method of the senses.
The motive and the method. What is the motive do you think
according to verse two? What do you see in verse 2?
That I may know. It's all about David.
It's all for David. It's all to satisfy this
curiosity and a curiosity in order to build up
selfconfidence. I just want to know how many
people I have under my leadership in my brain.
I want to know how much we've grown.
I want to know our strength. I want to know our military
might, which is confirmed later on that David is not necessarily
interested in the wider number. He wants to know specifically
about his army. And Joe up here, I mean, out of
all the guys to protest, this job is the guy who protested.
That's how you know there's something fishy about this.
He reads David like a book, like it's all over him for why he
wants to do this, and that's why he he stands up and he says,
listen, may the Lord add to the number 100 times in your
lifetime, but why do you delight in this thing?
Why are you trying to do this? What are you?
What's your real motive here? And he's challenging David
because he can discern that. This is rooted in pride.
This is rooted in arrogance. There is something here about
David wanting to confirm and celebrate himself, and Joe AB is
the one who notices it. Joe AB and I thought to myself
reading about Joe, I said, Where was this man's courage?
Where was this man's conviction? And we'll get to that in a
moment. But this is what we're seeing
here. Pride is what is consuming
David. That was the door that Satan had
access through. Is David at the beginning of his
life, the middle of his life, or the end of his life?
The end of his life? Pride is always looking at every
point of where you're at, of every season.
When you're young and you're zealous, you can boast in that
and even in your spirituality. Even in your plans and your
dreams and the strength of the flesh and your beauty, you can
be proud. And at the end of your life,
upon the reflection of all your successes and all your endeavors
and all the things that you've done, even in the name of God,
pride is right there trying to destroy you.
Even if you have a day left to live, Pride still wants to try
to bring you down. So be on guard.
Always, always at all seasons, at all times, in all places.
Be alert. Here we see that this man in his
old age is still being threatened by pride, and
unfortunately, he's infected by it.
And first Chronicles 21 Five. That's a parallel account if you
want to flip back and forth. It'll make this study much
easier. We're told exactly what, David.
Wanted a number for it says here in Joe I've gave the some of the
numbering of the people to David and all Israel There were
1,100,000 men who drew the sword and in Judah 470,000 who drew
the sword David wanted to know specifically about.
His fighting men. And there's no sign in the text
that David is trying to get an idea of who's at his disposal
because there are neighboring nations ready to go to war.
The fact that this took several months to do shows that David is
doing this at a time of peace. Some people excuse David that
he's trying to do this to prepare himself for a potential
conflict. There is no sign of conflict.
Nine months go by and there is nothing indicating.
Potential danger. This is purely from a place of
success and wanting to relish in your success.
So there are only two strong possibilities to why David is
doing this. What do you think it is?
One of two? Or maybe you can get both.
I kind of gave a hint just now to gloat to 1, to simply just
boast and to and to realize how successful he was and to to
proclaim nationally how successful he was.
This was a way to trumpet. His own brilliance and
leadership. But what's the second reason do
you think? I think that's very true.
Here's David now putting his trust in a number of his men
rather than the strength of his God and and the Lord himself
knew the danger. God's not against numbers.
He has old book called numbers. OK, God's not against numbers.
In the book of Acts we see him counting the number of people
who are saved periodically. He's not Now what we do with
those numbers and what those numbers do to us determines what
God feels about us numbering. But yet God still realizes the
danger of numbers. And so even when it came to
Gideon as her brother brought up as an example, he reduced the
number less. The people boast in their
themselves after the victory. And God, even concerning kings
in Deuteronomy 17, gave strict protocol of what they should do
in terms of their army, in terms of their own material gain and
strength. And there should be few horses,
right? And all these specific rules, so
that constantly they would depend on their God throughout
the ages. And we hear we see here that
David potentially now loses sight of the Lord and begins to
try to draw hope and draw strength from that which God
says you don't put your trust in.
Either one of these reasons is enough for him to be headed for
trouble. These are the potential motives.
Now let's talk about the method. This is where people tend to
miss the deeper meaning of the story.
They tend to just stop their date of his operating here under
pride, self-sufficiency, self-reliance.
True, true. True.
True, but the crime is much more severe than that.
Did God give his people instructions of how they should
conduct the senses? You would know this if you were
with us 5-6 years ago, because we went through a book that
tells us plainly that there are set, detailed rules of how the
nation should go about sending out a report to be numbered.
Anybody know which book? I'm speaking about?
Exodus. So I need you to turn to Exodus
chapter 30, and let's read a few verses to understand this more
deeply. This is why you've heard me say
this. I love saying it.
You need to read the whole Bible, my friend.
Because you'll come to a story like this and you'll miss the
deeper meaning. So when you skip over Exodus,
because from 25 to 40 it's all about the Tabernacle, you're
like, I'm not interested. This doesn't relate to my life.
Then you come to the exciting book of Second Samuel and you
come to 24. You say all this is awesome, but
because you missed out on Exodus, you miss out on 2nd Sam
of 24, Exodus 30, verse 11. Another reminder for us to be
people who indulge in the whole thing.
Verse 11 reads, The Lord said to Moses, pay attention.
Now verse 12. When you take the senses of the
people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life
to the Lord. When you number them, that there
be no plague among them. When you number them, each one
who is numbered in the senses shall give this half a shekel.
According to the shekel of the sanctuary.
The shekel is 20 guerres half a shekel as an offering to the
Lord. Everyone who is numbered in the
census from 20 years old and upwards, shall give the Lord's
offering, the rich shall not give more, and the poor shall
not give less than the half shekel.
When you give the Lord's offering to make atonement for
your lives, you shall take the atonement money from the people
of Israel, and shall give it for the service of the 10th of
meeting. That it may bring the people of
Israel to remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement
for your lives. Fascinating.
I love the Bible. I love the Old Testament.
I got giddy. When I was reminded of these
verses, well, tell me, tell me some things that stand out from
the specific rules concerning the census.
What stands out to you? There's a tax associated with
the census. You could not separate the tax
from the numbering. Crucial.
Anything else? The tax has a specific purpose.
There's actually twofold purpose, but it's referred to
powerfully as the atonement money.
Oh, you see where we're going here?
Atonement money. What else stands out to you from
these verses? The money is actually an
offering to the Lord. It's an offering.
So that's one of its purposes, and we're going to get to the
purposes in a moment, but I want to see if anybody else sees any
other details, What else stands out?
Whether you're rich or you're poor, no matter what your status
was in society, every single person paid the same price.
Yes. Oh, very, very important.
Did you see what we were reading at first?
Refusal to pay the tax would invoke a plague.
If you've read Second Name of 24 in its entirety, things are
beginning to connect now, and I'll show you if you haven't
read it before, what else You had your hand up.
There is a remembrance in this act.
Well, I think we've gathered enough.
Unless Joshua back there in the sound booth.
What are you doing in the sound booth, Joshua?
Are you in charge of the life? Yes.
So there is an atoning factor to this half shekel being devoted
and dedicated from each individual.
While we have enough now to work with something, this is the two
purposes that we have concerning this tax, when the census will
go out. Number one, this tax would be a
means to provide the necessary funds to continue the service in
the Tabernacle. We read that right.
We read here that the service of the. 10th of meeting it shall be
given. For the service.
And then the second part there, verse 16, is that it may bring
the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord.
So not only would it help fund the ministry of the central
worship center of the nation, it would have an individual and
immediate act upon the hearts of the people.
And this was it. The senses would cause the
people to be humbled because of that tax.
There would be something given up by the people.
So that not that nationalism would be boosted, not not so
that the ego of the leadership would be stroked, but that the
people would be actually brought low.
And that when they were numbered, when their existence
and their participation was made known to them and to the nation,
they would in a sense, by giving up the shekel, saying as much as
I have been led here by the grace of God, as much as I am in
a place of great prosperity and blessing.
I also recognize that I am in need of atonement.
I also recognize that God owns me and that I need rescue and
that I need to be delivered and that I need covering for my sin.
That's what was being declared in that offering.
And so, yes, they would be acknowledged by this senses, but
they would also be humbled by this senses.
And that humility would be stimulated by a willingness to
give up something small but something symbolic that would
cause him to say and recall their condition and feel their
need to be delivered. And what makes us observe is
even more special, is what the Lord says in verse 15.
We we heard it already. The rich shall not give more,
and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel.
When you give the Lord's offering to make atonement.
That's a gospel truth. What this means is no matter.
Who you are among your family and society, your occupation,
every single person, by giving the same amount, would
essentially be confessing that they are all in equal need of
the same atonement. We all need deliverance.
We all need the same salvation. We all need the same rescue.
And so this census with this tax actually brought everybody on a
level ground. It brought everybody to to
realize it. Acknowledge no matter who I am
as a number in this place. Still you and I, my brother, my
sister, we all need the same thing.
We all need atonement. We all need atonement.
And and if you can make a Bible study just on the census.
So let me just give you something else to add to this to
make it even more exciting. When this original census was
given out, when this original set of instructions was
implemented, does anybody know where the tax money went in
Exodus? Anybody have an idea where did
this tax money go? Well, one the shekel was silver.
Maybe that's a hint. Any ideas?
If you're listening to this at a later time, any ideas?
You're in that general area, the Tabernacle.
Give me more specifics. Yes.
Yes, Josh, I'm pointing at you. The priest.
More specifically, you're in the realm that I'm referring to, not
the Treasury necessarily. Not the trumpets, but very good
guess. Okay, I'm impatient.
Exodus 38. You'll see it.
Exodus. 3825 we see the direct reference of this initial census
being given out and where the silver of this first generation
went to Exodus 3825, are you there?
The silver from those of the congregation who were recorded
was 100 talents and 1775 shekels by the shekel of the sanctuary.
A bake ahead that is half a shekel by the shekel of the
sanctuary for everyone who is listed in the records from 20
years old and upward for 600 and three 550,000 men.
Now here it is, verse 27, The 100 Talents of Silver.
Were forecasting the bases of the Sanctuary and the bases of
the Veil. 100 bases for the 100 talents.
A talent, a base. Where did that silver go?
To the bases that held up the boards that would make up the
edifice of the Tabernacle. Every inch of the construction
of the Tabernacle has been recorded and preserved for us in
the word of God. It's absolutely astounding to me
to see how much of the Bible contains reference, whether in
detail or by name to the Tabernacle.
I always use this as an example to contrast a thought provoking
idea. You have two chapters or chapter
and a half dedicated to the creation of the universe, the
creation of the universe, and some believe that in comparison
to that you have close to 50 chapters in the Bible that's
dedicated to the Tabernacle. Two for the universe around 50,
for a building that has no immediate relevance to us in the
New Covenant, clearly there's something important about the
Tabernacle, and every corner, every material, every way in
which it should be built has been kept for us because there's
something greater in it than for us to see what Israel use as a
means to meet with God. And here we read that the silver
that was brought from the census was utilized in order to create
the basis in which the main structure with its boards would
be able to be established and founded upon.
You don't have the basis. You don't have support.
You don't have an existing
meeting place between God and man.
It's it's the base. It's the foundation.
So remove the bases. What do you have?
A very wobbly tent. Remove the bases and what do you
have? A very shaky and unpredictable
arena. So this is this is not optional.
This is crucial, like anything else, when you're building any
size project, to have the base in place and the base by the
spirits. Insight, we're told, is used by
the material of the silver. What did the silver represent?
Atonement. It was a confession that apart
from atonement, I cannot be who God called me.
I cannot have a future. I cannot be truly a child of
God. I need my sins covered.
And the Holy Spirit takes that truth and applies it to the base
of the Tabernacle. You know why?
Because in the same way you could not have a Tabernacle
without the silver bases, you can't have a relationship with
God apart from the reality of atonement.
That's the truth. God could Tabernacle with man in
the Old Covenant on the basis of the revelation of Atonement.
Christ can only Tabernacle in your heart upon the same
reality, not with silver or gold, as Peter said, but upon
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the truth. Do you see how the Old Testament
is exciting? Do you see how you can't skip
it? You see how when you get deep,
there's meat waiting for you. So even the basis of the silver,
you think, why am I being told this?
Well, what is a silver represent?
Oh, you can't have a Tabernacle. You can't know God.
You can't meet with God. You can't have the glory of God
apart from me confessing I need to be atoned for.
It's pointing to something. Now this is making more sense
when you come to Second Samuel 20 4.
Hold on. We're still in the category not
of the motive, but of the method of the senses.
What was the danger? What was the punishment if the
people under a census did not give up their toning silver?
A plague? Come back to second.
Same of 24. Look at verse 15.
So the Lord sent what pestilence on Israel from the morning until
the appointed time, and there died of the people from Dan to
Beersheba, 70,000 men, plague. It's very likely that when Satan
tempted David, he not only tempted him to feed his pride,
but he tempted him to create his senses while ignoring the
atonement offering. And that makes sense because the
guilt didn't just come upon David.
Who did it come upon? The nation as a whole.
And so it could be that the
anger from verse one of of of God concerning the people is
that they themselves had their own pride going on and inciting
David to create this census. Without the need of the
atonement, only expose the pride that was in their hearts.
Because what you have here is a great possibility that the
people neglected their participation, their
responsibility, in giving up half a shekel when they were
counted. What was Satan trying to do?
He was trying to, in essence, cause the people to deny their
need for redemption. It was an affront to God.
It was an offense to God. It was them saying, yeah, we're
numbered. But they divorce themselves of
their need for saving, their need for redemption.
How only their sins being covered is any hope for their
future. And David wanted to blur that
message. And so we encouraged David to
create a senses, which is not inherently wrong.
But when you did it your way without this key component, oh,
you were sending a clear message to God Almighty and to your
neighbors. We don't need atonement.
Is Satan still doing the same today?
Absolutely. Satan doesn't mind you
acknowledging your existence. He doesn't mind you living it up
here. As long as you do not see your
desperate condition. He'll let you live in self
righteousness. He'll let you live in a works
based philosophy as long as you don't come to the self
realization that I need covering.
I need redemption. I need something outside of
myself to rescue me. He's doing the very same thing.
And we see here that this is the essence of the crime of Second
Samuel, Chapter 24. A census without atonement.
A census without an offering. A census without the
proclamation of the desperation of the people's spiritual
condition. And we're going to close to show
just how severe this crime was. We're just in verse 2.
How are we going to finish this? I don't know, but let's keep
going. Verse 3.
But Joe upset to the king, may the Lord your God add to the
people 100 times as many as they are, while the eyes of the Lord
still see it, my king still see it.
But why does my Lord the King delight in this thing?
Again, I said earlier, where was this man's courage and
conviction when it came to Abner?
When it came to Uriah, when it came to the people that he
murdered in cold blood? I thought to myself, where was
this man? With Amasa when he kissed them
and stabbed them and let his entrails spill out.
Because what he's saying here is righteous.
It is right, It is correct. But see, jobs problem was this
that he was willing to stand up against evil as long as that
evil did not, did not cause any of his personal interests to be
endangered if. Evil promoted his position,
protected his authority. He was for it, but when it was
outside of himself, he was willing to speak out against it.
This is what we call selective sanctification, that you are
bold and courageous on your social media and in your
conversations and in your debates with others with
cultural issues. But when it comes to sins that
you enjoy and justify, you have a different tone, don't you?
You have you have a different attitude, don't you?
That's that's a joab like spirituality.
And so as much as this is to be commended, this is also
concerning with Joe AB willing to speak out against evils that
don't pertain or affect his life.
But when it came to his life, he was more than willing to commit
evil. And it's more than just Job.
Look at verse 4. But the King's word prevailed
against Job and the commanders of the army.
So now you have other guys in high prominent positions that
are siding with Joe AB and are trying to convince the King King
don't do this. Please don't do this.
This is going to be really bad for you and really bad for all
of us. We're begging you not to do
this. But unfortunately it says here
the King's word prevailed against Job.
What do you take out of verse four?
What do you take out of verse four with Job and the commanders
of the army standing up against the King?
Look at it from a. Divine standpoint.
Look at it from God's perspective more than from a
human standpoint. Do you know what I see from
this? An act of God's mercy.
I see that as much as David has been given over to himself in
this season, God still gives him a way out.
It's almost as though God is giving him yet another chance,
another chance to escape, a furtherance into disobedience
and the the consequences and the outcomes thereof.
Do you remember what happened with David on the rooftop in
Second Samuel 11 when he inquired of Bathsheba?
The servants came back and what did they say?
They they told him that this is a married woman and she's
actually married to one of your mighty men.
Remember that. And we concluded that that was
an act of intervention, to shock David and to sober David to him,
to realize, okay, this is a married woman.
And this is not just any married woman.
This is, that should be enough. But this is one of my best
friend's wives. And so the promise there in the
New Testament that whenever we are tempted, the Lord will
always provide a way of escape that's always promised in every
situation, every scenario. And it's no less true.
Here in Second Samuel 11, David had a chance to say what am I
thinking, Thank you servants, go ahead.
And he could have smacked his head a couple times on the on
one of the walls and you would have been justified in doing so.
What am I thinking? And here we have him again in
this chapter where he has of all people, Joe AB being the voice
of reason and having the moral high ground.
Hey, don't do this like if you have if you have a job.
Telling you not to do something, you would think okay, maybe I'm
not. Maybe I'm doing something wrong
here? And he still doesn't catch it.
He still doesn't catch it. Many people in their sin,
especially in their premeditated sin, do the same thing David
does. They fail to hear the voice of
God now. I'm not talking about the
audible voice of God. I'm talking about the the
natural means of providential interruptions, providential
interruptions. So like when the sermon you hear
on that Sunday that speaks directly to your situation and
you're just like, OK, God is saying something to me and yet
you still choose to persist in your disobedience, right?
The rebuke of a friend, or when a friend texts you or calls you,
says brother, I don't know what's going on with you man.
You seem different. The Lord put you on my heart,
and I just want to Is everything OK?
Yeah, everything's fine, brother.
God is good all the time. God is good and and you're not
catching it. The Lord is even impressing it
on people who care for you to get your attention right, or the
very difficult hurdles that have been brought about on the path
as you're trying to plan your sin.
And you're not catching on that God is trying to stop you from
doing this, though you will not infringe upon your free will.
I know that word irks people, but and So what do we make of
this? It's a very clear example and
illustration of how stubborn we are in our sin.
And God tries to get our attention in many ways, and we
still choose to, in our blindness, move forward.
But I see something else here. I see something else that's
deeper than that truth. And it's this.
That when the child of God is outside of fellowship with the
Lord, clearly David was not in a good place to begin with for him
to be incited in this way, for him to be so hardened.
When the child of God is outside of fellowship with the Lord,
they are capable of making foolish decisions that even men
like Job would never entertain. When we.
Forfeit communion with God. You and I, even as Christians,
are capable of becoming something that even the world
would not tolerate. You don't believe me?
Remember what Paul said about that man in First Corinthians 5
who needed to be excommunicated from the church because his sin
was very public and it was atrocious and it was being
tolerated by the by the church. He said in verse one of First
Corinthians 5, it is actually reported that there is sexual
morality among you and of a kind that is not tolerated even among
pagans. I this is how This is why you
need to stay close to Jesus. Like very close.
Because to remove yourself from that close protection in the
presence of God can create something in you that even the
world would say. That's pretty insane.
That behavior is out of place, that kind of attitude, those
kind of decisions. Even the world can say we
wouldn't even go that far. Now I know that's becoming
increasingly difficult to believe in our age, but it's
true nonetheless. Here we have a great contrast.
You have a man like Job who was not a noble man, who was not a
man of great character and integrity.
But even Joe AB can look at David, who has been brought so
low because of his distance from God.
And he goes, I wouldn't even do that myself if that doesn't.
I mean, there are many things to motivate you to cling to Jesus
Christ. Let this be one of them.
You don't want to know what you can become when you move away
from God. I don't want to know what I can
become. People say, brother, how do you
stay devoted in your disciplines every single day?
It's not a matter of my feelings.
It's a matter of survival. Like I need this.
Not a matter. If I want this, I need it.
I don't know what I don't know. I just know myself.
I know myself. I know who Daniel can be when he
doesn't spend enough ample time with the Lord.
I know. I know what happens to my
thinking. I know what happens to my flesh.
I know what happens to my patience.
I know what happens to my attitude.
I know what I know myself. So I need to stay very close to
him. And it's not just survival
satisfaction may add. I enjoy him and I hope you do
too. So what happens?
Verse 5. This elaborate, drawn out,
detailed journey meant to emphasize the absolute length
and breadth that Job and the commanders went to in order to
satisfy their leaders. Lust.
And verse 8 tells us the exact numbering of the whole campaign.
So when they had gone through all the land, they came to
Jerusalem at the end of nine months and 20 days.
Yeah. What took them almost 10 months
would take us a few days, even here in America, Right.
So this is more than just us to get an idea of how much we'd
advance in technology. There's a lesson here.
What do you take out of that? Almost 10 months for this to be
completed? You know what I see?
Do you see the same? What?
Yeah. Well, your sin can take you and
keep you longer than you hope for sure.
Yes, that's primarily it. This nine months and 20 days was
a window for David's repentance. David had a chance to call out
to God. During this time.
David had a chance to come to a sense, say, shut this whole
thing down. What was I thinking two months
ago? And so you see here that David
persisted in his disobedience for almost a year.
And you also see God's patience to not immediately judge him and
to wait for him to come to his senses in that same period of
time. God is so patient, gloriously
patient, merciful, beyond understanding.
And so David had this time, and it's just yet another revelation
of God's mercy. It wasn't just through Job and
the commanders. It was even in the period in
which this thing was being conducted and it still didn't
click. You say, oh, oh, David, it took
you that long to realize. Okay, how about you and me, How
many sermons do we have to hear, huh?
How many years being in church? How many years being in the
ministry before we actually got it?
How many? How many this is?
This is to humble us. It's taken longer for other
people to come to their senses and their sin and their
spiritual maturity. So let's not get excited here
and say, oh, I'm glad I'm not like David.
I don't know. We might be worse than David in
many cases at the end of nine months and 20 days.
Job finally comes with the report back and let's skip over
here to verse 10. But David's heart struck him
very important word, after he had numbered the people.
And David said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I
have done. But now, O Lord, please take
away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very
foolishly, very foolishly. So when Job and the Commander
spoke up to David, his heart was not stricken.
When the nine months and 28 went by, nothing happened to him.
It wasn't only until after what we had hoped for would have
happened before, only happened after.
And again, we might say shame on you, David.
No, no, no, shame on us. Because how true is it that most
people are only ready to repent when they see what they thought
would bring them to light? Ends up disappointing them in
the end. This is a picture of the
tendency of man, even people who profess Christ, that we only
tend to feel the guilt and the conviction that we should have
felt earlier when The Mirage has been proven to be a mirage.
Because it it sounded really good when it was here, and when
we fantasized about it, and when we thought about it, and when we
had all our little schemes of how to escape it and to evade
the consequences of it, it sounded, and it looked really
good here, but only until you sipped from it and you felt what
it did to your soul. You realize this is stupid, This
didn't satisfy. This was dumb.
The shame is not worth it. The guilt is not worth it.
It's only usually until after we do the thing, do we feel our
hearts springing with conviction.
It doesn't have to be that way, but look at his language.
What stands out to you from his confession?
And David said, I have sinned greatly in what I have done.
But now, Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant,
for I have done very foolishly. Anything stand out to you it?
Helps when you have the rearview mirrors up.
Yes, Okay, that's good. That's one of the points.
Does David say remove the consequences of my iniquity?
He doesn't say that. What does he say?
Remove what? The iniquity.
That's true confession. True confession is not just you
acknowledging you're wrong, it's you actually professing and your
desire to be changed. OK, not only is this wrong, I
need you to eradicate the Presence and the power of the
sin in my life. A lot of confession is provoked
when the sin is met with consequences.
And here's the thing. Worldly sorrow looks at the
consequences and sees the consequences as the reason for
you wanting God to intervene. A True Blood bot regenerate soul
is not concerned as much as the consequences are are concerning
you more than the consecration of your own life.
The true believer when he sin says Lord, let the consequence
let the chips fall where they fall.
But I need to be changed. I don't want to be this person
again. I don't want to repeat this
vileness again. I don't want to be this.
You need to do something in me, not just for me, which is a lot
of confession. I want to get out of this
trouble. I don't want to go to jail.
I don't want to lose my friends. I want to save my money.
That's not true repentance. Repentance, says okay as much as
the consequences. There, I see it and I will deal
with it. God, you'll preserve me through
it. But Lord, this stinking heart of
mine, purify it. Remove this sin.
Not just the problems that my sin brought into my existence.
Difference, big difference. And David here is truly
repenting. See, we look at David and we
said, man, these past few weeks have been kind of troublesome.
All we've been seeing is David messing up and David
experiencing the consequences of sin.
And yet still, the Bible has the audacity to crown him as a man
after God's heart. You know why?
Partly because this He really repented when he sinned.
Not that he didn't sin, but when he did sin, he really, really
repented. Remove this iniquity, take it
away from your servant. But look at the first part.
I have sinned what greatly go to Second Samuel 12.
And this is when Nathan the Prophet confronts David for his
adultery with Bathsheba. I've mentioned this before, so
this might be a reminder for many of you.
In Second Samuel chapter 12. Look at verse 3.
David said to Nathan. I have sinned against the Lord.
What's the difference? Chapter 24 He says What?
Yeah, so he's talking directly to the Lord instead of a
prophet. The Prophet's going to show up
in a few verses here, but what? What do we see here about his
confession pertaining to his sin?
He says in verse 10 of 24 I have sinned.
What? Greatly?
When he sinned with Bathsheba, what did he say?
I have sinned? He didn't say sinned greatly
when it came to David's pride, He said I've sinned greatly when
it came to his adultery, he says I have sinned.
How many of us in here would consider David's adultery a
greater offense than his pride? I think most of us.
But for some reason, David at this time sees his pride as a
very serious offense against God.
I don't know if we would see our pride the same way.
I don't know if we would calculate spiritual sin the same
way we would tangible sin. But David here provides with an
awakened, conscious, accurate assessment of this particular
sin. Name of the sin of pride.
He realizes how vile and despicable it really is.
You remember the seven things that are abomination to God,
right? And proverb 6.
What's the first thing on the list?
Anybody remember haughty eyes? You're right.
Other transitions would say a proud look.
The number one thing on the list of things that God hates is
pride. It's the mother of all sins.
It's the womb that brings forth the offspring of many offenses.
So David here, who fell into pride not just in the fact that
he wants to know the number, but and assuming that he had the
prerogative to change God's order for the senses, feels the
weightiness of this disgusting sin.
And he says I have sinned greatly.
I have sinned greatly. If you ask God to see sin the
way he sees sin, you will know a new maturity in your walk with
the Lord. Because many people calculate
the severity of sin based on the effect it might have in the
physical, but Paul defines that there are actually.
Sins of the spirit that might not be perceivable necessarily
by the eye, but that occupy the inner man.
And those sins are just as much sinful as things that you do
with your hands, or with your mouth, or with your feet, or
with any part of your body. Ask God, I challenge you.
Ask God, Lord, let me see sin the way you see sin, and you
would find yourself confessing the way David confessed when it
comes to things like pride, you will say.
Oh wow. Lord, cleanse me right?
Not that other sins are more to be tolerated, but we begin to
see other sins that we might have not considered serious.
And So what do we see here in verse 11?
And David arose. When David arose in the morning,
the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad.
Where you been Gad? David Sears saying, go and say
to David. Thus says the Lord, three things
Ioffer you choose. One of them that I may do it to
you. Pause.
When's the last time you've seen Gad?
Any idea? God.
Where you been? God give you a hint it's not in
the neighborhood of Second Samuel.
Any idea where God was last mentioned before this?
I'll give you another hint. It was at a very low point in
David's life. I'll give you another hint.
He wasn't a king yet. Any light bulbs?
I'll give you another hint. It was in a dark hole somewhere.
OK, First Samuel chapter 22, when David was in The Cave of
Adalam. The prophet Gad enters into that
cave and gives David direction of where to go, moving forward.
In other words, you don't have to turn there.
But if you'd like to, you can read the 1st 5 verses.
The last time Gad showed up in David's life, at least in
record, it was when David needed encouragement and direction from
a very dark place in his life. David wasn't necessarily in sin.
He was a fugitive running away from Saul, who was venomously
coming after him. And the next time you see God
appear in David's life is not necessarily to bring
encouragement, but to bring correction and to bring a very
hard truth, a hard warning, a word of judgment.
True friends know how to do both.
True messengers and vessels of God know how to do both.
You know how to encourage when a St. is brought low, and you know
how to redirect, even sometimes with difficult truths, when they
have lost their way, When they have lost their way.
And it could be because I wondered, I mean why didn't God
send Nathan? Nathan confronted him with
Bathsheba and it could be because of the nature of
Davidson, which was pride. He brings forth Gad as a
messenger because the the last time you seen Gad was when David
was a very humble man. And it could be that God's very
presence would remind David of his humble beginnings.
David, do you know where you came from?
I mean, maybe, maybe his very presence would elude that not
just the message, but the person who delivered the message might
have brought extra conviction to David, and he gives them a very
difficult decision to make. Here it is in verse 13.
So God came to David. And told them, and said to him,
Shall three years of famine come to you in your land, or will you
flee? Three months before your foes
while they pursue you? Or shall there be 3 days
pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what
answer I shall return to him who sent me.
How do you pick to pick your poison?
What do you want? You want famine to come for
three years? You want to flee for three
months? I mean, David was used to that
from your enemies or Three Days Pestilence.
David's answer is brilliant and rich in wisdom.
Look at verse 14. Then David said to God, I am in
great distress. Of course you are.
Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great.
But let not let me not fall into the hand of man.
You know what his answer is? Communicating God, Whichever one
of these punishments promise God as direct agent of it, I want
that one. I don't want the chastisement
where God uses human agency to interfere, because I know man
enough that he is capable of exaggerating and inflating.
What God originally attends in His goodness, even in difficult
trials. So wherever God's hand is
directly involved, give me that option.
Because His mercy is great, His mercy is great.
When I read that, I thought to myself, when it comes to the
attributes of God, there is little debate of the fact that
His justice and His Holiness is unlike man's.
But for some reason, it's very difficult for people to believe
the same about His mercy. His Holiness, His purity, His
judgments, He's super intends, and he supersedes.
All that man is concerning justice.
But when it comes to his idea of His grace and His mercy, we kind
of struggle with that. And David here had a revelation
that many people don't have. God is merciful even in His
judgments. He knows.
He knows the exact measure. He knows the exact extent to
which I should be under his heavy hand.
You know, I was reading a book. I'm in the New Testament now,
but a few days ago I was reading the book of Zechariah, and there
was this one verse that stood out to me and helped me remember
many of the things in the Old Testament specific in the
prophets. It's in Zechariah 115 and
Zechariah. 115 The Lord says something quite insightful, he
says. And I am exceedingly angry with
the nations that are at ease. For a while I was angry, but a
little they furthered the disaster.
When God judged Israel in his final phases of discipline, he
has a tendency of using Gentile nations as the instrument of His
judgment. And when God judges nations as a
whole, not just the people of God in the Old Covenant, when he
judges nations, I believe even today he uses foreign nations to
discipline that nation. So America better be careful.
She thinks she's strong. But what we're seeing now is a
weakening from the inside, making us vulnerable, from
enemies in the outside. One of the ways in which God
brings a finality to his chastisement, to a people group
is when a foreign nation rises up and takes over with power.
And yet, though this happened with Israel, God has a word of
condemnation for those nations. God intended to use Babylon in
his Syria to discipline his people.
But look what he says about them.
For a while I was angry, but a little.
They furthered the disaster. They took it further than what I
intended. They went beyond.
And that's why he ends up turning around and disciplining
those nations. It's no wonder God says
vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
Don't take vengeance upon yourself.
You know why that is the case. One of the reasons is this.
Because we have. And impairment, when it comes to
what we believe somebody should receive in return for the wrong
that they've done to us, meaning we don't tend to give people an
even retribution. We want to give more than what
they gave us. And that's because our hearts
are warped and we're poisoned and we're embittered.
And again, our understanding of justice becomes very much foggy
because of our fallenness. And so God says.
Let then just be mine, because I know exactly what to give to
somebody else. You don't.
In fact, in Isaiah 11, there's an incredible description of
King Jesus when he rules and reigns on the earth.
It says that he will not judge with his eyes or with his ears.
He will not need to see any evidence.
He will not. He need to hear from any Lord.
He doesn't need a jury when he will be the King of the nations.
All he will need is what he is omniscience, because it is
perfect knowledge of all things. Nobody needs to make a case.
He knows how to execute perfect judgment, perfect judgment.
And so we see here that David had that revelation.
The Lord knows exactly what to prescribe to me.
I don't want this to be given over to the authority of man.
So I fall upon the mercy of God. And God receives that and brings
it back to the Lord. And So what comes, what he
intended in his word, pestilence.
Pestilence comes. And how many people died?
Who remembers the number of verse?
1570 thousand people. Here's my question in closing of
our Bible study. Is this the first time
pestilence has been released upon the nation of Israel?
I'm not talking about Egypt. I'm not talking about the 10
plagues. I'm talking about the nation of
Israel. Give me the other instances
where pestilences or plagues have been unleashed upon God's
own people. Good, very good.
Where? Very good.
One of them is in numbers, Chapter 25.
In Numbers 25 nine we read Nevertheless, those who died by
the plague were 24,000. What was the nature of sin that
caused God to bring about this plague?
Do you remember? They were mingling with the
Mobite woman and part of that was false idol worship.
So it was idolatry and sexual immorality.
Slash adultery. God released the plague.
And how many died? 24,000 There's another plague.
I believe there's a total of three, including the one and
second same of 24 with the quail.
OK, it was that a plague necessarily?
You have to find the verse and you have to show us because I
have another. I have another incidence in mind
very close to that one. Well, what happened?
Was that a plague or were those serpents that came?
It wasn't the same as a pestilence.
I'm speaking specifically with pestilence.
You got the first one right? Yes.
OK. Challenging Moses is right, but
not with Miriam. Because Miriam received leprosy,
yes, but you're you're in the lane.
Not that. No, not that.
I'm thinking of something else again, If you believe there is
something, you have to show and prove it.
But I'm thinking of another incident.
You're there. I'm not going to give you any
hints. I gave you too many hints last
time. I'm not going to share anything.
Numbers 25 when they send with the woman of Moai.
And there's another place. Yeah, you can scale through your
Bibles. Just don't Google it.
Yes. Ah, he got it.
Did you hear it? The rebellion of Cora, when Cora
rose up to challenge the authority of Moses and Aaron,
and later on in #16, Because the people, even after the earth
opened up and swallowed up Cora and the those who associated
with him, the people still tried to convict Moses and condemn it
for what had happened. And it says here number 1645.
Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who
died in the affair of Korra. Unless there's something else
I'm missing, these are the only clear, explicit records of of
pestilences or plagues being released upon the nation of
Israel. When Korra rebelled, when the
men slept with the woman of Moab, and when David created his
senses. Now, out of all three, which one
had the most casualties? David's census.
And if it is true that in this case, that number signify a
message of the severity and the seriousness of a problem, then
could it be that the reason for this overshadowing scale of
death is because the greatest crime one can commit against God
is when one denies their need for atonement?
When you don't believe, you need to be redeemed?
Yes, adultery is a problem. Yes, idolatry is heinous.
Yes, rebelling against God's established authority is
something that you don't want to provoke God in.
But when it comes to you not confessing that you need the
atonement, that's the greatest offense that you can bring to
God. When you read Second
Thessalonians chapter one, you read how the Lord will return in
vengeance on those. And it says specifically who do
not obey the gospel, who do not obey the gospel because that is
the summation of the reason for God's judgment.
When He does return, He will look for those who have
ultimately denied their need for the blood of Jesus Christ to
cover them. And perhaps when you compare the
scale of God's judgment when it came to the senses, the fact
that there was 70,000 much more in comparison to the previous
two is to indicate that's how much God's anger is kindled to
those who refused to humble themselves in the realization of
their need of salvation. May God open our eyes and keep
us in that place of acknowledging our need for Him.
And if you have not received Jesus Christ as Lord, yes, your
sin is an offense to God. But the greatest offense that
you can bring to Him is after hearing the gospel, saying no
thank you. Acknowledging your existence
apart from the reality that you need to be saved and delivered,
is the ultimate offense before holy God.
Well, we thank you for this chapter, how rich it is.
So much more can be said, but we trust that what the Spirit has
spoken to us suffices for this night.
We've received our bread. We pray that these truths would
cause us to worship you with greater delight and joy.
We pray that you would prepare us to finalize these verses in
this chapter with even more excitement to see what you have
to say. But for the time being, Lord, we
pause to reflect and to worship you because you are rich in
love, rich in mercy, rich in wisdom.
And we've experienced it today. We've tasted it today, although
received glory and honor on this Friday night, from this family
of faith in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Isn't the Bible amazing?
Filled with power. Filled with power, filled with
glory. Well, you and I can rejoice
tonight for many things. And one of the things we can
rejoice in is the fact that our atonement, our atonement is the
basis for us to meet with God. Apart from the blood, we have no
fellowship. Apart from the blood, we have no
presence. Apart from the blood, we have no
contact with the living God. But because the silver has been
set and more precious and silver is his blood, we can actually
meet with God tonight. Why don't we stand and do that
as we worship?