# David’s Dealing with a Failing Economy

Key Passage: 2 Samuel 21
Date: June 7, 2024

Would you turn to 2 Samuel? 2 Samuel chapter 21. Second Samuel chapter 21.

We have been on the life of David going on two years; it will be pretty soon now. We are drawing close to the end of the life of David. Many will say these last couple of chapters, 2 Samuel 21 through 24, are kind of like the appendix, and the time frame they fall in is very hard to determine. I think the story we study tonight happened right after chapter 20 because the first word of chapter 21 is “Then.” So I think I would place this appendix section a little bit later on, but most would say it starts in 21. I tend to think this story happens right after.

Now we are bypassing much of chapter 20. We have kind of glanced over it a little bit. David had just come from the battle where the conflict was between the children of Israel and Absalom. Remember Absalom was killed in that. Then they came home to Jerusalem, and Sheba actually started another revolt up in the northern tribes, ten tribes, and eventually Joab kills Sheba.

Joab is one of those guys. David kind of took him off the throne, if you will, of being general several times, but three different times he kept rising back up and made it to general again. Joab seemed like a very hard, diligent man, but a mean man who murdered people. David let him be general, but of course David did not forget everything. At the end, he warned Solomon about Joab, and Solomon took care of business a bit later on. We are bypassing that and jumping over here to chapter 21. I think it happens right after this because of the first word of chapter 20. The title for tonight, for the internet, is “David’s Dealing with a Failing Economy,” dealing with the failing economy. We are going to study that out just a little bit, just a little bit of a Bible study tonight.

Would you please stand, if you are able, just out of respect for the Word of God? We would like to show respect. We are just going to read verse number one, pray, and try to dive right into this thing tonight. Second Samuel chapter 21. We will read verse number one here in just a moment. Is anybody tired out there tonight? Anybody tired? Well, we have three or four tired people. We are doing good tonight. That is very good. So you have all had your nap earlier, right? You had your naps earlier, and so we are good to go.

I was talking about food. Montel was way up front and he was on board. I am not talking about him being way in the back there. Come on now, Montel. I am teasing him. It is good to see everybody out tonight. Glad you are here in the house of the Lord. What a blessing that Tim is coming tonight. That is just great. David’s last service—I forget to tell you about that—is heading off to Pensacola Christian College tomorrow morning. His parents said he is going to lead the way, and I am going to strap him on the hood, and he is going to be heading down there. I am excited for it. That is great. By the way, Miss Tammy Woodard brought in a bag of goodies for David. David needs to share with everybody tonight, so make sure you see him after service is over. David says, “Uh-uh, that is mine, man. I am going to college. That is going to be my food for a while.”

Amen. Verse number one, chapter 21, here we go: “Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year. And David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered, It is for Saul and for his bloody house because he slew the Gibeonites.” Would you pray? This could be a little tougher scripture. Would you pray that God would just help us to rightly divide it and that he speak to our hearts? Would you do that as we pray together? Lord, we come. Thank you for your word, Lord. It is wonderful. Lord, I sometimes like what I need to write and discern, but I preach that to give that to us tonight. I believe you will, and I know you will. Thank you for that. Holy Spirit, we yield to you tonight. Would you take your word and kind of just open it up and make it real to us? Father, help us to grow and glean and learn from it tonight. We will brag on you for what you do, Lord. Thank you for it. It is in Jesus’ name we ask and believe. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. It is very interesting. He says, “Then there was a famine.” Now, famine in that day and time, even in our day and time, but much more back then—famine, three years back to back, not raining—that means epic failure. That means your economy. That would be equivalent to the stock market; we are going back to depression days, and everything is dropping, and it is famine.

Now let me just say a word about that. God often used famine or economic problems to judge or spank a nation. He often did that. He does not do it now, but I would encourage you to read Deuteronomy 28 sometimes. It is just amazing. God tells a nation—the nation of Israel here—blessings or cursings, and it is very amazing when you look at that. It is not uncommon for them to have economic failure through famine. That might not happen something like that in our day and time.

Now, I will be honest with you personally, I think Donald Trump was doing great for our economy. He was getting us energy independent; that was a blessing. Lowering our taxes—that is going to help your economy. He was trying to level the playing field with China and others, which is going to help our economy. We were not financing the U.N. the vast majority. He backed off, said, “Hey, you will have to step up here,” and so many things. I think it was very good for the economy. But maybe God does not want our economy to be blessed. Maybe God is saying, “Hey, I brought famine on my nation when they were living in sin.” America, for sure, is not a Sunday school nation anymore, if you will. Maybe God—well, dirty crooks, the election was not fair, and I agree with you—but maybe God said, “I am going to allow that to happen because America is not on fully blessed terms right now.”

I remember a couple of years ago—and it may have been, I am bad about dates—I said a couple of years ago. It may have been probably ten years ago, but I think it was the Circle K over here; it used to be Kangaroo. I believe it was a Kangaroo. And on a Friday night—I believe it was Friday—I just… I think my wife was shopping in there, so I sat out there for about three hours in the parking lot. I am joking. I do not know if she was with me or not. But I did sit in the parking lot for fifteen, twenty, thirty minutes. And I literally counted—I cannot remember the numbers—how many people came out of the Circle K with either beer, cigarettes, or lottery tickets. I was shocked. The vast, vast, vast majority came out with one of those three: alcohol, tobacco, or lottery tickets. I am just saying, friend, God is a just God. Why no justice in America? America does not need justice right now; we need mercy right now. That is what we need.

God had allowed this famine to come in for three years in Israel. Now, I love what David does about it, King David. Would we have leaders like that in our day and time? That is what it does. Verse number one: “Then there was a famine in the days of David, three years, year after year. And David inquired of the Lord.” Amen. I like that. That is the kind of leader you want. That is what you want in the White House. By the way, that shows this famine is because of sin in the land. Yes, politics and all that is important, and I have preached that Christians ought to be involved in it. They were involved in the Bible—talk to John the Baptist, Elijah, and so on. But, friend, it is much deeper than that. It is a spiritual problem in America. That is the root of it. If we get that right, that is the hope for America. But David inquires of the Lord. I love that. What a great leader. When there are economic problems and just economic fallout, he goes to the Lord in prayer. We have had a lot of great leaders in the past in America like that, in the beginning days, and praise the Lord for that.

Now, let us keep reading. Let us find out what is going on here. We are in the middle of verse number one there: “And David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered, It is for Saul and for his bloody house because he slew the Gibeonites.” Now, you say, “Wait a second, what about the Gibeonites? How do they come into this thing here?” Remember, years before, when General Joshua and they were coming into the promised land, and they took Jericho and then Ai, and God was blessing them, and fear was all over the land. Remember the Gibeonites? They put on clothes and shoes and got these old sacks, and it looked like they had traveled 10,000 miles, you know. Well, they were just a couple of mountains over, if you will. They came to the children of Israel, and Joshua said, “Hey, would you make an alliance? Would you make a treaty, a peace treaty with us?” Remember the children of Israel, their problem was they did not seek the Lord; they did not pray over it. They just very quickly said, “Man, that sounds good to us,” without inquiring of the Lord. But they vowed. They signed the peace deal.

Look over in Joshua 9, if you would, please. Joshua 9—they made this deal with them, this alliance. Then after they made the deal, just a day or two later, they came to their cities where they were from. Let us find out what happens. Look at Joshua 9. Look at just verse number 18, if you would. Joshua 9 and verse number 18. Are you there tonight, amen? Amen. Good deal. Joshua 9 and verse number 18. I know you are turning slowly because you worked your fingers to the bone today. I understand that is what it is. I resemble those remarks. Joshua 9, look at verse number 18: “And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes, the leaders of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord, that is Jehovah, by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. But they did not kill them because they had sworn by Jehovah.” It puts Jehovah’s name on it, and they made an oath.

I have heard that in time treaties do not mean a whole lot. When Iran signs a treaty, it is not worth the paper they sign, friend. You know what I am saying? It is a little different in Bible times. It would have been a bad testimony to Jehovah if Israel had not kept their word. So they did not slay them because they had made an oath. Even though they had lied to them, the children of Israel said, “It does not matter; we made an oath, and we are going to keep it.” They did that for years and years until Saul came along, the first king of Israel. The Bible does not record it; we are not sure everything about it. It is not recorded in Scripture. But we know from this text that Saul killed many of those Gibeonites. Maybe in his zeal—it looks a little bit later on, we will read it here—it looks like maybe his zeal to please the people and look good to the people caused him to kill a bunch of Gibeonites. Maybe because Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin, and that is kind of the area of the Gibeonites. Maybe Saul said, “This is my territory.” Maybe that is part of it; he was trying to kill them all off. Later on, it calls it Gibeah of Saul. But Saul killed those whom they had sworn an oath not to kill. You remember that? Okay.

So that is the problem. That is the problem. In verse number one, let me just point out one more thing here, just a little side note about verse number one. Wait a minute; we are just doing a little bit of Bible study here. Verse number one, notice what he says: “The Lord speaking and the Lord answered, It is for Saul and for his bloody house.” You remember Shimei when David had to leave Jerusalem? I remember Shimei; he was cursing David. Now, Shimei, if you will, as a follower of Saul, Shimei called David a “bloody man.” There is some truth that God said, “Hey, David, you cannot build the temple because you have been a man of war and you shed a lot of blood.” I think a lot of that is from the early days of David. By the way, you can commit a sin where a guy can sin, do some sin, and he cannot pastor anymore. God might still use him, but he is disqualified. Maybe because of some earlier things David did, it disqualified him from building the temple. But here is my point, just a little side note: I wonder if some of these Shimei things they had heard some of these things from Saul. Here is what I am pointing out: When we studied that, I believe Saul was a narcissist. There is a whole message you can check out on our YouTube channel, “Saul, the Narcissist,” a whole Wednesday that would talk about that. Typically, a narcissist, if they are guilty of something, they will portray that on someone else. You understand what I am saying? I can see the root of this—I do not know—but I can see the root of this where they are calling David the “bloody man”; it came from Saul. I do not know that because the Bible says Saul had a bloody house. Just a little side note right there.

Let us keep going as we read on in this passage here. We will look at verse number two, if you would please. Chapter 21, verse number two: “And the king called the Gibeonites.” He got on a cell phone; he had Verizon; he had good reception. He called the Gibeonites. All right. “And the king called the Gibeonites and said unto them, Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant.” I tend to think there was only a remnant left, the remnant of the Amorites, but only a remnant, because Saul maybe had killed some of them, just the fault of the Amorites. “And the children of Israel had sworn unto them, and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.” So Saul had killed them when there had been an oath that they would not be killed. God said, “Now this is the problem right here.” Verse number three: “Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the atonement that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?” David is trying to make this saying right.

Verse number four: “And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor his house, neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel.” Now, that is a little bit… Maybe they were trying to pacify David. David had all the cards in his hand; he is king. Actually, he did not have all the cards in his hand; God had all the cards in his hands. He did not let it rain, you know. But these fellows maybe thought, “We better take it easy on David.” So they said, “We do not want to kill anybody,” but they end up killing people over—you will see that. Very interesting, though. “And neither shall for us, shalt thou kill any man in Israel.” He said, “What ye shall say, that will I do for you.” The answer to the king: “The man that consumed us and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, let seven—seven is a number of completion—let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us.” Now, often when the Bible says sons, that is very broad, or sometimes older men will call their grandsons or even just a younger man, “Hey son,” you know. It is very broad, often when the Bible uses the word sons or son there. “Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

David is trying to get this saying right, you see, and trying to get the economy back on the top side. He knows the root is God’s blessing; we need God’s blessing. Verse number seven: “But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.” Now, David is a smart fellow. The whole problem here is that Saul had broken the oath. Remember, David said, “Well, I have an oath, and I want to learn from this situation. I do not want to break another oath trying to solve this problem. Two wrongs do not make a right.” So David says, “Uh-uh, I am not going to break that oath,” because Saul had broken the oath before, and David is a pretty wise man. He said, “I am not going to do that.”

By the way, look, if you will, over to Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 5, real quickly here. Keep your finger there. We will go back to Ecclesiastes 5 just to talk about a vow for a moment here and how important it is that we keep our vows. Ecclesiastes 5, and verse number 5. Ecclesiastes is a wonderful book in the Bible. Ecclesiastes chapter 5. “Under the Sun”—I believe 12 chapters, 27 times, if I remember right, “Under the Sun’s” message. It is just a wonderful book of the Bible, Ecclesiastes. Look at this, chapter number 5, verse number 5. Ecclesiastes 5:5: “Better is it that thou shouldst not vow than that thou shouldst vow and not pay.” So important. I have made two vows to the Lord over my lifetime; probably both of those were a little bit in haste. At least one of them, I wish I had not made it. I am being honest with you here, but I made it; I am going to keep it.

You always hear us talking about on vacation we ran a motorcycle, whatnot. The last street bike I had—I do not know if I had heard—I cannot remember if I had heard someone had been involved in a wreck or someone had hit him and all that—but I felt like the Lord was working on my heart, “You do not need those street bikes, Paul,” and all those things. And I told the Lord, “I will never buy another street bike.” And I have not. Now, if I had not had that vow, I may have one today. But I vowed it, and I have got to keep it. If you are not going to keep it, do not make a vow. Be very careful about making a vow to the Lord. David kept his vow that he had made with Jonathan. And Mephibosheth, he did not touch him, Jonathan’s son.

Let us keep going back over here in 2 Samuel 21. You are back over there, if you would please. We are in verse number 8. Are you all with me here? We are just kind of going down through this passage here. Verse number 8, very interesting. A lot of people will change the Bible in verse number 8. Look at this: “But the king took the two sons of Rizpah, that was Saul’s concubine, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare to Saul, Armoni, and Mephibosheth.” Now, it is not the same Mephibosheth, obviously. So two from Rizpah, and the five sons of Michal, the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel, the son of Barzillai the Meholathite."

I want you to say “Meholathite” five times in a row. I can say it five times in a row, probably every one of them would be different every time I say it, too. You say, “You know, I listen to you preach all the time. We understand that.” Now, here is the thing about the scripture here that so many say, “Well, the Bible has got a flaw in it.” They are so quick to say that, or it should have said this, and so on. You will hear it so often about this verse right here. They will say there is a mistake in my Bible. Let us talk about it for a second. Remember Michal, Saul’s youngest daughter? Remember that? David was married to her. Remember when David went and got the ark after they tried to do it the world’s way, then they did it God’s way, and they got the ark back? Remember, David danced before the Lord, and he was down there in just common clothes among the common people, and he was praising God? He was a fanatic for Jesus, amen. He was not doing this high-browed worship of God; he was just excited about serving God. Remember Michal? She was watching through the window. She said, “I am not going down there with some common people. I was raised in the king’s court. Saul is my dad, and I am married to David.” Remember she despised David? Remember that? How many remember that? If you do not know what I am talking about, good. Most of you do. So she and David had a few words. David said—well, David never went in to her as husband and wife again. So, no children. Do you understand what I am saying? Not only that, but Michal was not married to Adriel, the name mentioned here in verse 8. That was actually Michal’s sister Merab’s husband. See, you follow me? So we have problems here. And so, “Well, the Bible is messed up there.” Friend, do not get two words when people say that. There is always an answer. God’s word is always right, always, always right. There has never been a flaw in the Bible. Never has been, never will be. Do not let them change it. Every word in the Bible is so important. That is why we just stick with the old King James Bible. It will never let you down. It is always, always right.

So we are here: “Preacher, what is the deal here? What is going on? And why does the Bible say this?” Let us go back to verse number eight if you would. Verse number eight, and about halfway down there: “And the five sons”—that is very broad, I mentioned that term earlier—“of Michal, the daughter of Saul, whom”—here it is—“whom she bore—bears—that was it? No, whom she brought up for Adriel, the son of Barzillai.” Let me add to that. This is what I think. So, you see, Adriel, this guy, that would be Michal’s brother-in-law, her sister’s husband. I think, of course, they had five boys. I am not sure what happened to Merab, her sister, his wife. Maybe she was very sickly. Maybe she died. Maybe she just did not care for her kids like she ought to. But I believe Michal—by the way, Michal could not have kids because her husband would not go in to her, David. So I believe Michal said, “Hey, well, I have five boys. I can raise those boys. They will be my boys,” if you will, not biologically. But that is what the Bible—that is why I say every word is so important. So important. “Whom she brought up,” not “bare,” but “brought up.” See? And I think this was speaking of there still—still the descendants of Saul, two of his sons and five of his grandsons, see. But do not let people change the word of God, friend, and say, “Oh, well, there is a mistake in the Bible.” And the Masoretic text is not right. No, it is always right, Chris. It is always right. So do not let them get you on that there. But I believe this: I believe Michal raised these five boys as hers. All right. Because she could not have children because they would not go into her. So you understand, they got these seven—these seven descendants of Saul because of this judgment, no rain for three years. Are you all with me out there? Good.

Let us keep going. We are in verse number nine. Verse number nine: “And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord, and they fell all seven together. And were put to death in the days of harvest.” Typically, the days of harvest was March, April. It speaks of the beginning, maybe March alone here. “And were put to death in the days of harvest in the first days in the beginning of barley harvest. And Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth and spread it for her upon the rock from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven.” Typically, the autumn or fall rain—now, I am just talking about, but we do not know this—but typically the fall rain started coming in October. If you go from March or April to October, you have got about six or seven months, if it was typical. That is very interesting in the Bible. I did not mention Michal here. I am not sure. Maybe not, but maybe because they were not her biological children, she did not… I do not know, but she was not there. But I know Rizpah, this lady, this woman, she is there. For six, seven months, she is doing this. Watch what she does. Middle of verse number 10: “from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.” So get this: this mom stays with the dead bodies, maybe six, seven months. Daytime, she is making sure the vultures do not come down and eat them, all the birds. She is chasing them away. Nighttime she is making sure the wolves or whatever, animals, wild beasts, whatever, do not come in there and eat them. Can you imagine that, night and day, six, seven months? This mom is going to take care of the bodies of these people that have been hanged—her two boys and then the grandsons of Saul here.

And so let us keep reading here. “And it was told David.” Now that is something to tell. The story of Rizpah got back to David. “It was told David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.” David, I believe it moved David. I believe it just struck some chords in his heart. He had compassion. Wow, this mom has been out there for months and months, taking care of the bodies. I think David said, “What a sad thing here.” I mean, Saul killed them, and now we have had more bloodshed. David allowed—and I am not saying David did it or liked it. I believe David had some compassion after he heard about this mom losing her two boys. Verse number 11: “It was told David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son from the men of Jabez-gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa.”

You remember the battle, and the Philistines killed Saul and Jonathan, and they got their bodies, and they were going to just kind of take them as trophies, “We killed Saul and Jonathan.” So the men of Jabez-gilead, in mercy, went and stole the bodies and buried them. David is going to get these bodies and give them a family burial, a proper family burial. That is what is going on here. I believe out of compassion, David does this. Oh, where we are at here. I am sorry. Let us start verse number 12.

And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son, from the men of Jabez-gilead, which had stolen them from the streets of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa. And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son. They buried them in the country of Benjamin in Zela in the sepulchre of Kish, his father, that is Saul’s father. They performed all that the king commanded. And after that, God was entreated for the land. Now, he was given a proper burial. That statement there—let us just for a little bit talk about this saying; we will be done for the night.

“And after that, God was entreated for the land.” There was rain. The economy went up. Now, several things. It can be a difficult scripture. Several things about it. Let me just mention a couple things, about four things here. Number one, he was entreated for the land. Notice that. If you read that passage, that last part, “And after that, God was entreated for the land.” We are not talking about an individual here; we are talking about a nation. That is a little different way God deals sometimes. Then let me say this: the shedding of innocent blood is huge. I am talking about the Gibeonites that Saul had slain. That is huge to God. Twenty times the Bible uses that phrase, “innocent blood.” Saul had killed, slaughtered—I do not know how many—but he had killed many of the Gibeonites: innocent blood. God did not let that just bypass. God said, “Hey, I am going to turn your economy upside down. There is going to be no rain for three years, excuse me, because of this innocent blood.” That is a very important phrase in the Bible.

Would you look over in Psalms 106 for just a moment? Let us talk about this thing of innocent blood. I am not sure how many years earlier; I think David was around 60 years old at this point. So you are talking years and years ago when Saul had killed the Gibeonites and shed innocent blood. There is something significant biblically about this thing of innocent blood. Look in Psalms 106, would you look at verse number 38? Psalms 106 and verse number 38, if you would please, just this thing of innocent blood. Speaking of the children of Israel, they followed the enemy nations around them when they came into the promised land, and he is talking about that right here, verse number 38: “Children of Israel, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan.” Watch this. “And the land was polluted with blood.”

Now we will look at a couple other passages, but let me just say it: America since 1973 has murdered over 62 million. Can you imagine 62 million babies? Friend, that is innocent blood. And the children of Israel, when they sacrificed, they followed the enemy nations; they sacrificed their children. By the way, that is what we do in our day and time. We sacrifice our children to convenience, to save face, for money. 62 million. Can you imagine? Innocent blood. He told them the land is polluted. Can you imagine the pollution we have on our end?

Look, if you will, over to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy, chapter 19, if you would please. Deuteronomy 19—what was it that God, years and years and years later, said, “Look, if there is some pollution on the land, we have got to take care of the issue”? All these years later, and he turned the economy upside down because of the sin—what was? Innocent blood had been shed. A land is polluted as a land is polluted. Look over in Deuteronomy chapter 19, if you would. Deuteronomy 19, and would you look at verse number 10? Deuteronomy 19 and verse number 10. He is telling them, “I want you to build these cities of refuge.” If someone accidentally kills someone—manslaughter, if you will—they are chopping, and the axe head comes off and hits the fellow in the head, kills him. You have these cities of refuge you can run to. See, that is what he is speaking about; that is the context here. Look at verse number 10: “That innocent blood be not shed in the land.” He said, “I do not want that fellow that accidentally killed his neighbor, however it was.” He said, “I do not want his blood to be shed because then there will be innocent blood that is shed.” See? “That innocent blood be not shed in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.” See what a big deal it is to God? But if any man hate his neighbor and lie in wait for him and rise up against him and smite him mortally that he die and flee into one of these cities…" All right, this fellow, he is premeditated murder, and he runs to refuge. What happens? City of refuge. “Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die. Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.”

Friend, I am just talking about God many times in His Word and Scripture talks about when innocent blood… Can you imagine it? 62 million. The population of America right now is about 332 million. 62 million since 1973. We legalized it; it is just a big way. That is almost—not quite—that is almost 20% of the population of America today. Eighteen something. Almost 20% of the population of America today has been murdered, innocent blood. We are polluted or marred. Look in chapter 21 of Deuteronomy, if you would please. Deuteronomy 21, and he is speaking here if they find a dead body and they cannot find out who murdered it. What do they do about it? I just want you to see this real quickly. Deuteronomy 21, verse number 8: “Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood under thy people of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord.” I should have explained a little bit more what you are talking about. He said, “Look, if you find a body that has been murdered and there is innocent blood, you cannot find out who killed him, I want you to take a heifer, and I want you to shed his blood.” It kind of goes in line with “without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.” But this thing of innocent blood—America is marred. We have got major pollution going on.

And I am not talking about, “Hey, the biggest problem is not climate change; it is pollution of dead babies.” Let me just say a word here. You say, “Well, what do you do if maybe years ago—I remember I have met with people—and then years ago they had an abortion. What do we do now?” I want to be right. The Bible talks about when there is innocent blood, then blood needs to be shed, and that is a Bible principle of Genesis 9:6. A man says, “Blood by man shall his blood be shed”—capital punishment. That is a biblical thing, see? For it. That is what I would say: “Hey, praise the Lord for Jesus that shed his blood.” How do you get the mar off the land where innocent blood has been shed? Well, blood has got to be shed. I am so glad Jesus shed his blood. It is forgiveness and mercy. “Cast all my sins behind my back”—I love that, Isaiah 38:17. Wonderful verse. Praise the Lord, Jesus shed blood, and he could pay for that innocent blood that has been shed. “He laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

But going back to this over here, all these years later, after Saul had shed this innocent blood of the Gibeonites—we are talking 40 years ago maybe—and yet the land was polluted. By the way, it is so very, very important that we realize that when it comes to voting time. I would not want to stand before God if I voted for a pro-abortionist politician. He sees it all, and he knows it all. You say, “Well, there is that other friend.” If you find out whether they are down on abortion, you pretty much have the answer right there. Christians will give account to God one day. So I won’t vote at all. Okay, you will give an account of that also. All this thing is so very, very important. Forty years or so later, God still—he had not forgotten about this blood, innocent blood that had been shed. You understand where America’s root problems are. That is the root problem right there.

So, number one, we said it was entreated. God was entreated for the land, not an individual. Number two, we said the innocent blood is such a major offense to God. Then let me say this. Let me just try to maybe voice this: Is your fault? This is one of my thoughts when you come to this context here. It is a little bit hard to understand. It does not seem right that God allowed the children or grandchildren to pay for the sins of the fathers. It seems like a contradiction of a biblical law or rule. Deuteronomy 24:16, I will just read it for you. We are running out of time. “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sins.” Ezekiel 18: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” The context is a good dad, bad son, or vice versa. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. So what is the deal here? Why was it that God allowed that?

If you look over in Exodus, and we have got to draw this thing to a close real quickly, look over in Exodus chapter 20, if you would please. This is found in other places in the Bible, but the one that I remember the most of the Ten Commandments here is this one right here. Exodus 20 and verse number five, if you would please. Exodus 20 and verse number five of God’s word. A little bit more of a Bible study tonight. I hope you are sticking with me. Exodus 20 and verse number five. Are you all there tonight, amen? Amen. Good deal. Verse number five: “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them,” talking about these graven images. “For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting”—this is the part that is repeated elsewhere in the Bible—“visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.” Now, third—think about that. All right, son, grandson, great-grandson. Fourth, great-great-grandson. Wow. If I have a wicked grandfather, great-great-grandfather, I am in trouble.

A couple of things about it. Number one, notice it says “visiting.” Visiting. You ever hear this? Good to see them come, good to see them go. They visit. But you have a choice in the matter. You do not have to let them go in and let them sleep in your bedroom. Visiting. Now let us finish this thing out. That is the first thing you just want to notice that. But watch this: “Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that…” What is it next to yours? “…that hate me.” By the way, as far as I can tell, I never read anything in Scripture about Saul’s family getting right. Never read anything about his descendants really—Mephibosheth might be a little bit, Jonathan’s son. We do not find that. It is saying of visiting to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. Verse number six: “And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.”

Friend, here is what I am getting at. We have got to close this thing down. When the iniquities of the fathers visit to the third and fourth, I was talking to someone the other day, and they said, “Man, society is so messed up anymore. All these generational sins are just coming, and we are just such a messed up people.” And they were a little bit doomsday. Is there any hope for us? When these sins come and they visit you and they really do rock your world, it would be a little bit easy to—I am just so fed up with the rock and hate God, if you will. But you have a choice. You can hate God or you can love him. You have often heard it said: problems come, you can turn away from God and hate him, or you can turn to God. It does not say you are being perfect here, but if you love him, what is it saying? “Keep my commandments.” They love him, Lord? Yes, these sins have visited me, and it has brought some things. Bible, it is going to bring some; it is going to visit you. But you have a choice in the matter. You say, “Get out of here, man, I do not want you.” It is going to affect you. But you say, “I am going to love God. I am not going to turn my back on God.” Yes, I have problems. Yes, it has affected me. Yes. I am going to love God. I am going to do the best I can to keep his commandments. And he says, “I will give him mercy.”

“His mercy endureth forever.” Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Our heads bowed and eyes closed. I am not going to ask you to raise your hand, but would you please stand? We are going to take just a few minutes invitation. Maybe you just want to pray for our nation. Oh, we need that. We need mercy. Pray for revival. Pray for conviction. Pray for some good, godly leaders that would inquire of the Lord. Just praying for our nation. Then maybe you want to come to the Lord tonight and say, “Lord, I want to love you. Yes, I have got issues. I have got problems, but I do not want to hate God. I do not want to love it. I need your mercy. I want to keep you. I love you, Lord.” Would you just love on him a little bit tonight? That is great. You come on. Let us pray for our nation. Let us love on the Lord tonight. Father, thank you for the passage. Help us to understand it and grow from it. Thank you for your mercy. We need it, Lord. Please have mercy on America. Father, we love you. Forgive us for our sin, but Lord, would you look at those that love you and are seeking to keep your commandments? Help us to be a part of that crowd. Bless our people tonight. In Jesus’ name we ask, amen.

Original File: David’s Dealing With a Failing Economy - - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Wednesday PM 8252021