David’s sinful census
Key Passage: 2 Samuel 24
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn your Bibles, if you would, to 2 Samuel, chapter 24 in God’s Word.
I was mentioning, I think it was Sunday night.
I was talking to Kelly Burgess. They in our Sunday school class have a game time every Sunday, just five or ten minutes of a game, and it’s very enjoyable. They’ve been doing it for a while now, and after a while you do something like that, you kind of got to get something new, or you’re getting tired of it. They like it, and they do a great job. I’m happy with them doing it, but…
You know, I have to do it for a while. People get tired of us and all those things. No, no, no. I said, man alive, some of these people have been here for years, and I’m sure they get tired of hearing me. They’ve already heard everything I’ve got, you know. And she made a good statement—I don’t even know she knows that I remembered it—but she said, “Well, man, you got the unsearchable, never-ending…” something along that line. Where to God to preach from?
That’s so true. Praise the Lord, we have the Bible. I’m so thankful for that. It’s Wednesday night, so we have a little bit more of a Bible study. We’re going to go through this chapter here. The title for the internet will be David’s census. We’ll call it David’s sinful census. We just had the census here in the United States not too long ago, but this is David’s sinful census.
If you’re with us, last time we covered David; we were over in chapter 22, David’s Song of Deliverance. We’re skipping a chapter; I think we’ll go back to it. The reason why we’re skipping it is because I believe this happens next if we were to follow it chronologically. The last several chapters of 2 Samuel are kind of like an appendix at the back of the book. The Bible doesn’t say it’s chronological—it’s not—but I would tend to think this happened more in sequence. We’ll go back to the last words of David and whatnot in coming weeks. So we’re in chapter 24 tonight, all right, 2 Samuel 24. We’re going to start in verse number one.
We’ll read that very briefly. We’ll jump down to a later verse and see the consequences of the sin. We’ll pray, and then we’re just going to kind of Bible study through this thing tonight. All right. I’m glad we don’t have to go through my opinion or your opinion. We get to go through God’s opinion tonight. You know what they say: opinions are like feet. We all have them, and they all stink, amen. I’m glad we have God’s opinion that doesn’t stink, amen. We’ve got the truth right there. So we’re going to just do a little Bible study tonight. Would you please stand out of respect to the Word of God? We’re in 2 Samuel 24, verse number one, where we’re going to start tonight. 2 Samuel 24, verse number one: “And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.”
Now would you jump down to verse number 15. This is the consequence for David’s sin of the census. “So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.” Seventy thousand men.
We’ll go back to verse number one. Verse number one there of 2 Samuel 24: “And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.” I believe the Bible says “again” because you remember a couple chapters ago that God had sent the famine for three years because Saul had killed the Gibeonites with whom they had made an oath that they were not going to kill, and they broke the oath. So I believe that’s why it says “again,” the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. That’s interesting—against Israel. Now, because of that, God—what does He say there?—“and he moved David against them.” All right.
If you will, keep your finger there. We’re going to turn back over also tonight to 1 Chronicles, all right? Look over 1 Chronicles, chapter number 21. Keep your finger there in 2 Samuel. We’ll kind of go back between. These are parallel scriptures talking about the same story, just a little different angle on them. So we’ll kind of jump back and forth from 2 Samuel 24 to 1 Chronicles 21.
I want you to see how the Word of the Lord words it over here in 1 Chronicles 21. Look at verse number one: “And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.” That’s super interesting. You say, “Wait a second, over here it says the Lord moved David, and over here it says Satan.” What does that mean? You put those two together. By the way, the Bible never contradicts, but you can learn so much from the different angles of the Bible. It simply means that Israel was living in sin, that they had backslid. I’m not sure what all that meant—the Bible doesn’t tell us—but because they backslid, the Lord was angry against them. And because of that, God allowed their king to be very susceptible, if you will, to the devil. Now, sometimes they’ll say, “The devil made me do it.” Very seldom is it the devil; it’s his little demons and little imps. But typically, when the devil attacks them, when they lose, besides, of course, with Jesus Christ. So, if you will, the Lord lifted His hand of protection a little bit from David. And, of course, Satan is always walking about seeking whom he may devour, Peter tells us that in the New Testament. So the devil was able to move in and persuade or tempt David, the king, to number the people. And he failed. Let me just make a note of this: The root problem, the beginning of this thing, was that the Lord was angry against Israel. Y’all get that? And because He was angry against Israel, He allowed Israel to have a king that was backslidden and made some horrible decision.
Let’s apply that to 2021 in America. Let’s take the last blunder of Mr. Biden and Afghanistan. I’m not trying to be mean here, but a five-year-old child knows: if you’re in an enemy country, before you pull the military out, you remove the civilians. You take care of them. That doesn’t take a military genius to figure that out. A five-year-old child knows better than that. But wait a second. So I think of Biden, Biden, Biden, Biden, Biden. But can I just say the root problem is much deeper than that? It’s the sin of America.
Then you get a sinful nation, and God says, “Hey, I’m going to set the leader up.” He did that with David. He lifted His hand, and the devil moved in there, and David made horrible decisions. Friend, I’m saying if America were to get right, God could give us some decent leaders. Amen. The root problem is sin. “Sin is a reproach to any people,” the Bible says. That includes America. “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Friend, that’s our root problem in America—it’s our sin.
I’m always appalled at this, but America pumps filth out around the world. Some ladies, Ms. Amy Patterson and Ms. Tereshink, teach Chinese children in China via the internet English. And China is closing that off. One of the reasons why they don’t want our very fleshly, very worldly, very sinful society to seep over into China. Now, China has its issues—communism for sure, and anti-God for sure—but China has a point in not wanting our sinful influence in there. Around the world, America has pumped filth out for years. You say, “What’s the problem with America?” The root problem is sin.
The Lord was angry against Israel, and so He moved David, and David committed a horrible sin, but the beginning of it was that God was angry with Israel. I want you to remember that; it’s very important. Oh, let me just say a note about this—I forgot I wanted to mention this. Remember when David committed adultery? We often call that his great sin. I don’t know how you compare all that, but for the most part, the punishment was on David and his family. His child died, and David had war in his household, no agreement, and whatnot. But notice this sin: though David is the one that made the bad decision, you realize Israel in many ways—70,000 Israelites—bore the punishment. It’s very important to remember: in the very beginning, the Lord was angry with Israel. You understand the difference there? I just want you to understand that as we’re reading through this story. Let’s keep going, if you would, please.
We’re in verse number two: “For the king said to Joab, the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel from Dan, even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.” Dan is up in the northern part of settled Israel at that time, even to Beersheba, which was down south. You’ll hear that often in the Old Testament, from Dan to Beersheba. It’s kind of like from Maine down to Florida, that’s kind of the saying here. “And Joab said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?” Notwithstanding, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the host. And the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel.
Just for time out here, you understand the story: God allowed the devil to move in, and David fell to sin and temptation. David tells General Joab, “Hey, go number the people.” By the way, it’s very rare that Joab’s on the right side, but he’s on the right side this time. David didn’t listen; his word prevailed, and so they numbered the people—a very sinful thing.
But just for a moment, let’s talk about why it was a sin for them to number the people. Why was it a sin? Some say—I don’t know that I found this in Scripture—but some say that David asked when he was a young king to number the people. I’m not sure that we can prove that from Scripture, but this was very sinful this time. Why is that? Actually, in Numbers, chapter one, Moses took a census. God led Moses; God told Moses to do it that time. But this time, God didn’t tell David to do it. David was doing his own account. He was the one who came up: “Hey, I’m going to number the people.” God never told him. God had told Moses very clearly—we understand this, written in the Bible—but this time, God did not tell David.
Here’s the thing: It wasn’t David’s people; it’s God’s people. God had the right if He wanted a number of the people; He could tell the leader, but He didn’t tell David to do it. David did not—when they were to take a census, the Bible tells us in Exodus 30, when they take a census, they were supposed to take an offering from each person, just a certain amount. That’s a biblical Old Testament way of doing it, according to Exodus 30, verse 12 and maybe 16. So David didn’t do it the biblical way. God never told him to do it.
Notice he did it for himself: “that I may know.” We read that. Then look down in verse number nine, if you would, very briefly here. Verse number nine: “And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand.” So part of the census was to find out their military strength. God wanted them relying on Jehovah, but David was tempted to rely on, “Let’s find out how strong our military is.” Part of it was to find out the number of the military.
Even Joab, typically not the most righteous guy in the world, didn’t walk with God for the most part, but even Joab knew this is not right. David, God didn’t tell you to do this. David, we don’t need to number; God will multiply us a hundredfold when it comes to taking care of us. So even Joab, usually an unspiritual guy, knew better than this.
We don’t know the motives of David; the Bible doesn’t tell us the motives of David. But if we read into it a little bit, most think pride, of course, and self-reliance. David wanted to find out how strong his military was so he could rely on his own means and their own physical power. Maybe some of the motives was that David had gotten too much like, “Well, they’re his people instead of God’s people,” so he could do what he wanted to do with them.
Let me just say something here: When God gives you something—whatever it may be, your possessions, your family, your health, or whatever it is—when God gives you something and puts it in your hand, hold it with an open hand. Always hold God’s blessings with an open hand. But David took it upon himself: “We’re going to number the people,” and committed a very horrible sin in relying on himself, self-reliance and his own means instead of on God.
Now, let’s keep reading. Let’s keep reading verse number five. Stick with me as we just kind of study this passage. “And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river Jabbok, and toward Jazer: Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; they came to Dan-jaan, and about to Zidon; And they came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba. So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.”
I’ve already read verse number nine. Here’s what I just want to point out for a second: Sometimes we read this and we think, well, it was just spur of the moment, David making a decision, and it’s a bad decision because the devil tempted him. But, friend, this thing lasted almost ten months long. David had plenty of time to get right. It wasn’t just one bad decision in the spur of the moment. He had almost ten months to say, “Hey, Joab, quit this thing. This isn’t of God.” But he never did. This isn’t just a quick sin; it was almost ten months long.
The same thing when David committed adultery with Bathsheba—that wasn’t just one time or a quick thing there. He had all that time to get right. And finally, finally, the prophet Nathan had to go say, “Thou art the man,” about a year or so later. But they’re saying he had plenty of time. Can I just say something about these ten months? I imagine these ten months were some of the most miserable ten months David had ever lived. He didn’t have peace. The Bible says there is no peace to the wicked. Ten months of just agony. You’ll never be happy living in sin. You never will be. It took almost ten months for them to complete this census, and David never stopped it. David never said, “We don’t need to do this,” and they just continued on.
Let’s look in verse number 10. They’ve numbered the people. David’s got the report about the 800,000 or 500,000. By the way, I don’t think it was super accurate because Joab was miserable with it, Chronicles tells us that. Look at verse number 10: “And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.”
Praise the Lord, David’s heart hadn’t gotten so hardened that it couldn’t be convicted. Friend, if your heart never gets convicted, something’s not right. We ought to be convicted because, look, friend, there’s only one that walked on water, so we all ought to be convicted from time to time. Praise the Lord, old David, he was convicted over this thing. I’m so glad he wasn’t so hard-hearted that he could not become convicted. His heart smote him, and it said it happened after. It could have happened earlier, but it did not.
Here’s the interesting thing: David finally got what he was waiting for after almost ten months. He was waiting for the census, thinking, “Man, I’m going to find out how many people I’ve got and how much military I’ve got—Marines and Army and Navy and all that.” He waited for all that for ten months, and when he finally got it, it wasn’t what he thought. He’s miserable now; he’s convicted now. I think he just got duped by the feeling, “I just got to have this census.” The very thing that he wanted so bad, once he got it, it was so empty.
Sin’s always like that. Always like that. As a teenager, I was able to go to basketball camp with Pete Maravich. How many of you know Pistol Pete Maravich? Him and his dad, Press, were there at the camp. They had basketball all day long, and Press would give us new drills and all that good stuff. Then at nighttime, Pete Maravich preached to us boys. We’d get to little chapels on the Clearwater Christian College campus, and he preached to us every night. I can basically tell you Pete Maravich’s message every night, even though we were there maybe four or five nights all week long.
Basically, this was his message: “I wanted to be one of the greatest basketball players ever. I lived my life for that.” Have you ever seen his movie? I think it’s Dare to Dream. Both are good. He lived his life to become one of the great basketball players, and he spent his life pursuing that. Of course, at LSU, he broke all kinds of records. Then he went to the NBA, and he was known as one of the greats. He was so good at passing the ball—he had passes behind his back or behind his head, and the guy over there didn’t even know the ball was coming; he hit him upside the head. He was a little bit ahead of his time.
But here’s what he’d always preach: That was the dream of his life, and he finally got it, and it was empty. It wasn’t what he thought it would be. It was in the NBA that he started doing drugs and drinking. He said, “I was just so disillusioned. I didn’t really care.” He said, “At that point, I think I could have been a better basketball player, but I just didn’t care at that point. I finally got there, and it was so empty.” That’s why I just started going to a lot of sinful things. It wasn’t until he met Jesus Christ that he found what he’d been looking for. He was finally satisfied; he finally found what he was looking for all those years. It wasn’t in being a great basketball player; it was in Jesus Christ.
Friend, the devil will do his best to deceive you if you just have that car, or you just have that sin, or you just get to this level. So many times, if you get that, that’s the thing that would lead you to be so convicted, so unhappy. David finally got the census he was after, and his heart smote him. He was just smitten, and praise the Lord, he was.
We’re in verse number 11: “For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.”
I think it’s interesting that God, in His Word, noted that David was up in the morning. I tend to think that David was up seeking the Lord; he was convicted at this point. You can meet with God any time, but can I say there’s something special about the morning time? If you can work your schedule out, there have been times I’ve worked jobs where I couldn’t, but if you work your schedule out for the morning time, you can just seek the Lord. There’s something special about that. Someone said, “I’m going to meet with the Lord before I meet with anybody else.” That’s a good practice if you can fit it in. I think David was out meeting with the Lord. He’s up in the morning, and that’s when God sent a message to his prophet for David.
Let’s keep reading this, verse number 12: “Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I will offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.” So Gad came to David and told him, and said unto him, “Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land?”
Now, I want you to keep your finger there, and I want you to go back over to 1 Chronicles, chapter number 21. I want you to jump down to verse number 12 there. These are parallel scriptures; we’re going to compare these two verses. He’s given him three options—what kind of punishment do you want? Three options. Look over here in 1 Chronicles 21, verse number 12. If you’re there, would you say amen? Amen. Good. We’re in verse number 12 there.
He’s given three options: either three years of famine. Wait a second—over here in Samuel it says seven years; over here it says three years. What’s the deal? We already said the Bible doesn’t contradict. If you remember, there was already three years of famine because Saul had killed the Gibeonites. They had to take seven of Saul’s descendants, and they were hung, and so on. Then they had some rain, a lot of rain. But then this sin, almost ten months—so, if you will, you could pretty much add another year. I think they were under God’s judgment because they had sinned, so you only have three years left. I think Chronicles over here said, “All right, three more years. You’ve already had some drought for sure.” Over here, it’s just given the whole seven years. So you understand the difference when some will say the Bible is wrong.
Now we’re back over in 2 Samuel. Keep your finger in 1 Chronicles. We’ll keep going back over there. “Or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee?” Let’s go back over here to Chronicles and see how it words it over there: “Or else three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtake thee.” Chronicles gives a lot of extra light on it. It’s not just that they’re going to pursue you; they’re going to get you, and you’re going to be killed before your enemies. So, three more years of famine, or your enemies with the sword killing you for three months.
Now back over here to Samuel: “Or that there be three days pestilence in thy land.” Now let’s jump back over to Chronicles because it’s very important how he words this one. “Or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coast of Israel.” Then, “Now therefore advise thou what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.” You see, over here in Chronicles, it explains that this pestilence is really from the Lord, a very direct connection with the Lord bringing His hand on them.
So let’s go back over here to Samuel and finish it out. “Or that there be three days pestilence in thy land.” Then David said unto Gad, “I am in great strait; let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great: let me not fall into the hand of man.” So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even unto the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.
Here’s the question: When David says right there, “I am in a great strait, let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great: let me not fall into the hand of man,” was that David saying, “I want the pestilence; let me fall into the hands of the Lord”? Or is that David saying, “Lord, I’ll let you make the decision”? I typically think David made the decision because of what Chronicles says: David said he would fall by the hand of the Lord, and of course, over there it tells us that the hand of the Lord was the pestilence. So I tend to think David chose it.
Here’s a good thing about it: David knew how merciful and gracious God is. He’d rather have something that’s very direct with God. God had used David to pen many verses in Psalms, like Psalm 86:15: “But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” David knew that about God. David said, “I don’t want to where my enemies are chasing me. I don’t want to fall into the hands of man.” I believe David said, “I want to be by the hand of the Lord,” which was the pestilence according to Chronicles. I think David made the decision. You differ on that, you can be wrong if you like to, you know. But we’re studying, I tend to think when you put the two together, David made the decision, and David had served the Lord long enough to know how merciful God is.
Let’s keep going. Y’all stay with me. We’re in a little bit more of a Bible study than typical as we study down through this passage. We’re in verse number 16.
Verse 16: “And when the angel stretched forth his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil, and said unto the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough; stay now thine hand.” The angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
Several things here. One thing is this word, this word “repent.” Be so careful with that word. You realize God repented over twenty times in the Bible. If you put a strict definition on it—that it’s turning from sin—well, God never sinned, for Him, and it’s over twenty times in the Bible. In fact, the first time the word “repents” is mentioned in the Bible, God repenting, is over in Exodus 32. So be careful with the word.
Then I want you to notice Araunah the Jebusite. I remember Jerusalem; when David became king, he went and took that city. Jerusalem was the Jebusite city, and David and his army marched, and then they took it. David made that the capital city. So this Araunah guy, he’s from the Jebusites. I tend to think that Araunah maybe was a leader of the Jebusites, maybe even a king of the Jebusites. Just keep that tucked in there; we’ll get to it in just a moment. Remember Araunah the Jebusite, and that’s where this angel that was smiting these people stopped right there.
Then David pleads with the Lord. Would you look in verse number 17? Verse number 17: “And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and have done wickedly: but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.”
Here’s the thing: The Lord was angry with Israel at the very beginning. God lifted the hand of protection. The devil moved in, and he caused David to fall. David’s the one who did the sin; remember that he made the bad decision. But these people that David was over died—70,000 of them. Here’s the sad thing: David made the wrong decision; David did the sin, but these people were paying the consequences.
Now, I understand God handed it all, but here’s the thing I just want to point out: You and I, we can choose our sin, but we can’t choose the consequences of it. That’s a sad thing. So often, it’s much easier for us to bear the consequences of our sin, but often it will be others to bear the consequences of your sin. Over the years, I’ve seen families—man, they get in church, they’re doing so good and doing great, and they drop out for a while. Then several years later, they get back in, they get back growing. But here’s the sad thing: so often their children pay the consequences for that five years or whatever they were out of church. I’ve seen it so often. The parents have enough God in them to stay right—I wouldn’t say stay right, but stay from going off the deep end into sin, if you will—but the children often pay the consequences for the parents’ backsliding time.
So David made this bad decision, but he sees the people dying all around and says, “Hey, Lord, I’m the one in sin.” He had already made the decision of sin, but he could not make the decision of what the consequences are. That will be true of mine and your decision of your sin, too.
Let’s keep going on this thing here. I want you to go back over to 1 Chronicles 21. Look at verse number 15, 1 Chronicles 21, if you would. Let’s look and see—we’re just comparing Scripture with Scripture; that’s how you study the Bible. Verse number 15: “And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented of the evil, and said unto the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand.” And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
A couple things about this. One thing: Several times in the Bible, God would give someone the ability to see with their spiritual eyes. Remember Elisha? When the army of Assyria was coming in there, his servants said, “Oh, what are we going to do? They’re surrounding us.” Elisha said, “Lord, open his eyes.” Elisha could see, and he said, “There are more for us than are against us.” God had given Elisha the ability to see into the spirit realm. Here, for just a little bit, God opened the eyes of David, and David could see into the spirit realm. He saw this angel with a sword drawn in his hand.
Let me just say this: If God would allow us to open our spiritual eyes to see the spirit realm, one thing I think we would pray like never before. There is this spiritual battlefield all around us, and you have control over that in many ways through prayer. You pray to God, but God is the leader over that spirit. But the spirit realm—I think when we go so many… I think Saturday morning before, you know, soul winners are deciding whether they go out or not—there’s a great spiritual battle in the spirit realm. You’re there witnessing to someone, whether it be at work or whatever. I think there’s a great spiritual warfare going on. Sunday morning, Saturday night, there’s a spirit battle going on whether you’re going to go to church or not. That’s when it happens. If we could see into the spirit realm, you’d realize there’s a battle. You are caught in the middle of a battle between the Lord and His angels, His ministering spirits, and the devil and his demons. God allowed David just for a moment to look in and see that spirit realm. I think we would pray much more real if we could just get a glimpse into the spirit realm. It’s all around you. You can’t see it unless God gives you the ability, and He did it several times in the Bible—Micaiah and Daniel, the fight in the spirit realm, and so on. It’s going on, friends. Your prayer is so very, very important.
Notice one other thing: Not just David was in sackcloth, but notice the elders—that’s the leaders of Israel. At the beginning of this saying, it was that God was angry against Israel, remember that? Now, David is getting right, but I like it: Not just David in sackcloth getting right, but even the elders, the leaders of Israel, are getting right. So, the punishment has done its job, if you will. You even have the leaders of Israel humbling in sackcloth and praying. If you notice that in 1 Chronicles, it sheds light on it—even the elders are getting right. What a wonderful, wonderful thing we have.
Now we’re back over in Samuel, in 2 Samuel, verse number 18. Let’s keep going. We’re about done with this chapter. We’re in verse number 18 tonight. Y’all still with me? There’s a lot of teaching tonight for a night when you’re so tired. But praise the Lord, I haven’t seen your bird a couple times, but this bird pinched him real hard, and he’s staying awake. We’re doing good tonight. Now, Tim behind that, we can’t say the same for him, you know, Tim and Mary. But at least the bird is awake there. Let’s keep going. We’re in verse number 18, verse number 18 here.
And verse number 18: “And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded.
And Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. And Araunah went out and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. By the way, Chronicles gives a lot of extra light on that; we’re not going to take time to do it. But let me just say a note here: God always gives you a path back to Him. He always gives you leadership. David sinned; he did wrong, and God sent the prophet Gad to David, saying, “This is what you do.” When you get right with God, there’s usually a lot of steps after that, getting back close to God. Hosea 10:12 is a wonderful verse we won’t look at, but maybe jot that down if you asked, “What’s a good formula for getting right with God?” It says, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.” It’s a wonderful path to getting thoroughly right with God in Hosea 10:12. That’s what God gave David—a way to get back to God, a way to get right with God.
Let’s keep reading over here. Verse number 21: “And Araunah said unto the king, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor of thee, and to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people.”
And Araunah said unto David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and the threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.” All these things did Araunah as a king give unto the king. I think he was the king of the Jebusites before. He did it as a king, given to the king. And Araunah said unto the king, “The Lord thy God accept thee.” So Araunah has been so good. David says, “I give it to you.” I think David had a good relationship with this former king of the Jebusites.
Verse number 24: “And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: for I will not offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
Time out for just a second. We won’t take time to read it, but over in Chronicles it says he bought the place for 600 shekels of gold. So you understand: he bought the threshing floor—that’s where they would take the wheat and beat it out, more like the barn, if you will—and he bought that for fifty shekels of silver, but he bought the whole place, the whole land, the area, for 600 shekels of gold, Chronicles tells us.
Verse number 25: “And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.”
This spot here is eventually where Solomon built the Temple. This very spot. Today, on this spot, the best we can tell, remember, there is the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock, and the Muslims say that’s theirs. But if you go back to Scripture, David bought that place years ago with this money. So that’s David’s, or Israel’s, descendants’ land. In the millennium reign, God will make that very clear to everyone. There’s a battle going on right now over that, and David bought that land years and years ago. We have it biblically, so it is rightfully Israel’s land.
David said, “I don’t want my Christianity to cost me nothing.” Too many people in our day and time have this casual Christianity that doesn’t cost them anything. You see Christianity so often in America: “I’ll give one hour of my week, and that’s about it.” For the most part, their Christianity doesn’t cost them anything. It’s a very casual Christianity. David said, “No, no. If I’m going to worship the Lord, if I’m going to offer up sacrifices, I want it to cost me something.”
It ought to be that when someone gets saved, their Christianity costs them something. It ought to change their music. It ought to change the places they go. It ought to change their language. It ought to change their dress. We have so many Christians who want to look so much like the world; it’s almost like they are FBI Christians, undercover Christians. No, no. I ought to have a new song, and I ought to dress differently, talk differently. Everything ought to be different. I ought to have a new spirit. I ought to be different because I want to serve my Savior that gave His life for me. David said, “I don’t want a Christianity that doesn’t cost me anything.”
We have too many Christians who just want to take salvation. God gives it to them, and praise the Lord for that; it is a gift. But they say, “I don’t want to do anything beyond this right here.” Shame on them. David said, “I want my Christianity to cost me something.”
It’s amazing in America; we haven’t really had it, but there is a potential for us to have true persecution in the church in America, and we are so fearful. Friend, there have been Christians around the world having their heads chopped off. Shame on us that we’re not willing to stand up a little bit about little things in our culture for the Lord. I’d say, “Man, I’m happy to stand up for the Lord.” I can’t remember the instance—I haven’t looked it up in years—but I remember the Mr. Pillow guy. He’s a pretty good Christian. They came at him about something before all this election thing, and they were bashing him a little bit for his Christian testimony. He said, “Man, I’ve been looking for something that I can stand up for the Lord. I’m glad to bear their approach of being called a Christian.” That’s where it ought to be for us.
David said, “I want my Christianity to cost me something.” This guy was going to offer him all the instruments, the oxen, and the threshing floor and everything he needed for free—“Just take it, David.” David said, “No, no, no. I want my Christianity…” It’s a shame that sometimes Christians just want to be so cool. We don’t want to dress differently. We don’t want to talk differently. We don’t want to carry gospel tracts. We don’t want to carry our Bible anywhere. We don’t want to be too associated with being a fanatic for Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord, I’d like to be known as a fanatic for Jesus. I’m not talking about trying to be an oddball. Friend, it’s a shame on us if I’m trying to walk so close to the world you can’t tell the difference. It ought to cost us something. It cost Jesus a lot. It cost Him His blood. He was laid in a borrowed tomb; He didn’t have His burial plot laid out. He didn’t have a place to sleep. He’s giving us all that. He’s going to pay His taxes; He didn’t have a bank account. I’m not saying it’s wrong to have all that, but I’m just saying what all Jesus went through. He said, “Hey, you’ve got to go down there, catch a fish. Look in its mouth; it’ll be muddy in there.” I’m just saying He paid it all for us. I’d be willing; I want my Christianity to cost something. Would you bow your heads, please? Heads bowed, eyes closed.
Just a Bible study tonight, but you’re there and you say, “You know, preacher, somewhere along the line in the Bible study, God spoke from the heart. I like to learn and grow from it. I don’t want it just to be a hero; I’d like to be a doer of it. God spoke to my heart somewhere along the line about something.” If that’s you tonight, you slip up a hand. Preacher, God spoke to my heart somewhere along the line about something. And if that’s you tonight, you slip up a hand. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you for letting the Word of God speak to you, just a Bible study tonight. That’s a good thing. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you so much. Would you please stand? We’ll have a word of prayer, and maybe you come and spend some time with the Lord. It’ll be a great, great time to just seek the Lord. Just try and talk to God; would you do so? Father, thank you for your Word. Lord, I pray that you take this truth from your Word and would you apply it to our lives where I need be? Bless our people in these next few minutes. Well, thank you for it, and in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Would you come as our instruments will play? We won’t be long. Would you come spend some time with the Lord?
Original File: David’s Sinful Census - Pastor Paul Chisgar Wednesday PM 91521