Amen, so I want to preach a sermon tonight entitled Ornan's Offering, Ornan's Offering.
And before we get into that part, keep something in 1 Corinthians chapter 21, and go back to
John chapter 5.
What I want to show us tonight really is a concept that we can see in scripture that
throughout the Bible we see symbols of Christ, even before his appearing in the New Testament.
Of course, there's examples of his appearing in the Old Testament with Abraham, and so
on and so forth, but there is throughout the scripture instances where we can see symbolisms
of Christ and symbolisms of salvation.
I believe we see that here in 1 Chronicles 21, but this is not a strange phenomenon.
This isn't something that should surprise us, and maybe you'll get done with the sermon
and say, well, Brother Corbin, you just kind of read all that into it.
Maybe you just kind of made that up in your own mind, and maybe, or maybe what is said
here in John chapter 5, is that where you went in John 5, is actually true.
And maybe it really is the Holy Ghost, and maybe God really does help us to see things
in the Old Testament that symbolize Christ.
And again, it's not anything new.
We could point to when Abraham told Isaac, God will provide himself a lamb, and then
we know the story that he found a ram with an R, a ram in the thicket.
So he did not fulfill that prophecy at that time.
We understand that that's a prophecy of Christ in the Old Testament.
Noah's Ark is a picture of salvation in Jesus.
It has the hole in the side, it has the upward-looking window.
God shuts the door and seals them in, just like when we get saved.
And I love that idea.
I was wanting to preach a sermon on that, about that upward-looking window.
You know, once you're saved in the Ark, there's only one way to look.
There's only one way you're going.
It's through that upper window, right?
That's another story.
The sacrifices in the Old Testament, all are symbolic of Christ, we can understand that.
The whole burnt offering, the Passover lamb.
So it shouldn't surprise us when we see in the Scriptures, when we see in stories of
the Scripture, instances that we can look at and see, hey, this is a picture of Christ.
This is a picture of salvation.
John chapter 5, verse 39, what did Jesus tell the Jews?
He said, search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they
are they which testify of me.
So he's saying, what is it that testifies of him?
The Scriptures.
Go to Luke 24, Luke 24.
In Acts 10, they said, to him give all the prophets witness, speaking of Jesus.
To him, Jesus, to him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins.
Luke 24, verse 27, Luke 24, verse 27.
When he's on the road to, I'm forgetting, I don't want to say Damascus, but I know that's
not right.
It doesn't matter.
It's Emmaus, thank you.
So he's on the road with the two disciples, right?
And what does he tell them?
And beginning at, verse 27, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded
on them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
And Moses and the prophets, he expounded all the things in the Scriptures concerning himself.
So Jesus Christ himself is telling his disciples, look, there's things in Moses, there's things
in prophets, there's the things in the Psalms that testify of me.
There's things throughout all of Scripture that testify of me.
So it should surprise us when we look even at a story like that of Ornan, that we could
see a symbology of Christ and of salvation.
Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 21, 1 Chronicles 21, did I say Corinthians again?
Bear with me, okay?
It was hot out there today this afternoon.
I had an EG, I got a little sugar in the system, don't hold it against me, went off the diet,
but I needed it, all right?
1 Chronicles 21, what we see, you say, okay, well show me, I believe you, it's there, okay,
you're saying it's there, show me.
1 Chronicles 21, we see first of all that God is destroying man, right?
And look, I understand that all illustrations fall a point at some level, right?
And in this story, what I'm gonna put out there is that David is a symbology of Christ,
Ornan is a symbol of the sinner, and what we see happening in the overall story is a
picture of salvation.
And you'll say, well, wait a minute, David's responsible for this, David's, how could he
be Christ?
How could he be a picture of Christ?
He's the one that numbered the people and incurred God's wrath to begin with.
And again, they all fall apart, but I would just remind you that we could just say, well,
that's a picture of the fact that David also represents the first man.
And the scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, and so it is written, the first Adam was
made a living soul, and we know he was the one that caused death to pass upon all men.
Just like in the story, David, through his own sin, caused the angel of the Lord to come
and destroy the people of Israel.
But we know that the last Adam was made a quickening spirit, speaking of Christ.
The first man is of the earth, earthly, and the second man is the Lord from heaven.
So yeah, David could represent both.
David could represent Adam bringing death upon all men in the beginning of the story
through his sin, and then he could also represent Christ, the second man from heaven, and we
could see a picture of salvation.
But let's get into it, I got a lot of notes tonight.
It says there in verse 14 of 1 Chronicles 21, so the Lord set pestilence upon Israel
and there fell of Israel 70,000 men, and God sent an angel into Jerusalem to destroy it.
And as he was destroying, the Lord beheld and he repented him of the evil and said to
the angel that destroyed, it is enough, stay now thine hand, and the angel of the Lord
stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Now that's going to, that Ornan the Jebusite, that's going to be important in a minute.
But we have to understand, first of all, that God is actively destroying man.
Isn't that what's going to happen to the unsaved?
Aren't they going to be destroyed?
Isn't God's wrath being poured out upon the wicked in hell?
But what we see here is David makes an intercession upon the behalf of the people, verse 16.
And David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and 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.
And David said unto God, is it not that I commanded the people to be numbered?
Even I, it is I that have sinned and done evil indeed.
But as for these sheep, what have they done?
Let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord, my God, be on me and on my father's house, but not
on thy people that they should be plagued.
So here we see David.
He is moved with compassion upon Israel, and he wants to take their place.
That's a picture of Christ.
He became sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him.
Now, I understand Christ is sinless, and this isn't a perfect picture.
But as we go on, I think it'll start to, we'll flesh it out a little bit here.
It's interesting there that when David is making this intercession on behalf of the
people in verse 17, he says there in the middle, even I it is that have sinned and
done this evil and done evil indeed.
But as for these sheep, he specifically calls them sheep.
He looks out at these people and he says these are sheep.
Now you could say, well, that's a throwback to the fact that he was a shepherd, and that's
true.
But I'd also remind us that our Lord is called the shepherd and bishop of our souls.
He also is a spiritual shepherd.
And it's interesting, if you want to go to John 10, keep something in 1 Chronicles, how
often the Lord Jesus used that term to describe people.
We would be here longer than you want to be if I went through all the verses.
But we could go to Matthew 18, for the son of man has come to save that which is lost.
How think ye if a man have in hundred sheep and one of them go astray, did he not leave
the ninety and nine and goeth into the mountains and seek that which has gone astray?
He said, fear not, little flock, is what he said in Luke chapter 12.
Matthew 25, when the son of man has come in his glory with all the holy angels with him,
he shall sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations
and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divided the sheep from the goats.
Hebrews chapter 10, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus
that great shepherd of the sheep.
John chapter 10 where you are, and there's many more folks, John chapter 10 verse 7.
Then Jesus said unto them, again, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the
sheep.
All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door.
If any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.
Verse 11, I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
So David's looking out at these people and he's saying, he sees them as sheep and what
does he want to do?
He wants to give his life for theirs, which is exactly what Jesus came here to do.
So I believe that's one parallel that we can see of David being a representation of Christ.
Now, again, I understand that Christ is sinless and David, you know, this is kind of his fault
what's going taking place, but I believe God's giving us these details and we can see these
things.
One, you know, I'll further develop this point with the fact that the Jebusites, what tribe
were the Jebusites from?
They weren't from any tribe because they weren't the children of Israel.
They're one of the seven Canaanite nations.
They're heathens, okay, and they are the descendants of Ham.
If you were, you could see that.
If you want to go over to 1 Chronicles 11, I'll keep you from moving around too much.
If you want to just pay attention tonight, I'll keep you from having to flip around too
much, but we know that the Jebusites are Canaanites, right?
That's, you see that in Genesis 9, and Noah awoke from his wine when he had knew what
his younger son had done unto him, and he said, cursed be Canaan.
Now, who was his son that had done that unto him?
It was Ham.
Shem is where you get the Hebrew line through Abraham, Japheth is where the Gentile nations
come from, and then Ham is the cursed nations of Canaan.
That's where the Jebusites come from.
Genesis chapter 7, and the sons of Ham, Cush, and Mizram, and Foot, and Canaan, and Canaan
begat Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Gergesite.
So they're one of the Canaanite nations.
And if you remember, who owned Jerusalem before David, the Jebusites?
What was Jerusalem's name before Jerusalem?
Jebus, right?
That's in 1 Chronicles 11.
Therefore, came all the elders of Israel to the king to Hebron, and David made a covenant
with them in Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel, according
the word of the Lord by Samuel.
And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus, where the Jebusites were,
the inhabitants of the land.
And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, thou shalt not come hither, nevertheless David
took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David.
So you have this ornon, the Jebusite.
What does he represent?
He represents a heathen, he represents the unsaved sinner.
He represents that which is those who are not of God's people, okay?
And some will speculate that ornon was, you know, of the kingly line that he was actually
supposed to be next, that he was going to reign there at some point, and they get that
from 2 Samuel 24, the parallel passage, because it says when David gave to Ariunah, which
is another name for ornon, he gave as a king given to a king.
You know, you could speculate about that, there might be some truth to it.
But regardless, I do believe that ornon here is a picture of the sinner, and David is a
picture of the Lord, and what we're seeing take place here is a picture of salvation.
So ornon is a picture of the lost, unsaved heathen.
And what's interesting about this, if you're willing to go along with me on this, is that
the Lord destroyed his own people, didn't he?
He destroyed 70,000 of the Israelites there in Jerusalem, right?
He's destroying them.
But who does he spare?
Where does he stop?
In Ornan the Jebusite.
You think of all the people that he would want to just go ahead and wipe out while he's
raining down a pestilence, well, why not get rid of those Jebusites that I told him to
get rid of?
Because remember, that was the command when he told them to go into that land.
They were not to leave any of them alive.
You know, Ornan the Jebusite was already on borrowed time, as far as God was concerned.
But here we have God pouring out his wrath on his own people, and then he gets to this
lost, unsaved sinner and stops.
And has his angel park it right there with the sword drawn.
And David at that point says, let it be upon me, Lord, stop, enough.
Well, actually, you know what, Lord, just go ahead and wipe out Ornan while you're at
it.
You know, those Jebusites, they fought me when I tried to take this city anyway.
Just one more and then stop, right?
No.
He's having compassion even upon a Jebusite like Ornan.
It's a great picture of salvation.
It's a great picture.
None of us is deserving of the Lord's mercy.
We all have gone astray.
There's none good.
We all deserve to suffer the wrath of God, and yet the Lord is saying, stop, enough.
I know they're not worthy.
I know they don't deserve it, but I will take their place.
I want to save them.
So the Lord destroyed his own people, but then ends up sparing a Jebusite.
I'm going to have you go to the New Testament.
Go to Galatians chapter 2, Galatians chapter 2.
I'll read to you from Ephesians 2 while you go to Galatians 2.
The Bible says in Ephesians 2, wherefore remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the
flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh,
made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without
God in the world.
Look, me and you are ... You say, well, who does Ornan and the Jebusite represent?
Me and you.
That's who he represents in the story.
People that were aliens from the promise of Christ, those that were strangers from the
covenants and the promises, those who were sometimes afar off but were made nigh by what?
By the blood of Christ.
Ornan the Jebusite was spared because David interceded on his behalf.
We are spared because Christ has interceded upon our behalf.
And David went up, it says there in verse 19, at the saying of Gad, which he spake in
the name of the Lord, and Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons with
him hid themselves.
Now Ornan was threshing wheat, and I'm back in 1 Chronicles.
But this is very interesting, and if you want to go back there, keep something in Galatians
2.
But he says that Ornan turned back when he saw the angel, and his four sons with him
hid themselves.
Now, doesn't that remind you another time when somebody else hid themselves from the
angel of the Lord, or the presence of God?
Yeah, it reminds me of Adam, doesn't it?
Adam in Genesis, what did he do when he saw, when he heard the Lord walking in the garden
in the cool of the day, he hid himself.
And the Lord, you know, asks, you know, where are you?
As if he didn't know, right?
So this is another great parallel there.
He's hiding with his four sons.
But the other one I want to point out, and you could also make a parallel with the fact
that there's an angel involved with a sword drawn.
The Lord put an angel to guard the Garden of Eden, right, with a flaming sword.
But in this cowardly, condemned state that you find Ornan in, right, with this angel
just sword drawn, ready to pour out wrath, what's he doing while this is taking place?
He's threshing wheat.
What's he doing?
He's working.
I believe that's a great picture of your lost, unsaved sinner.
People are just trying to work their way to heaven.
They're under the wrath of God and they're just busy working, trying to get there, hoping
to be good enough, hoping to outweigh the evil that they've done.
It's a great picture, I think, of the condition of a sinner.
Under the wrath of God, if they know, if they're smart enough, they'll be afraid.
Even wanting to hide from God, not wanting to acknowledge his presence, but all the while
just busy working, trying to earn their way, trying to earn their way, threshing their
wheat.
And David comes to Ornan, that's what it says there in verse 21.
And as David came to Ornan, isn't that what Christ did for us?
Christ came to us.
We didn't go up in heaven and say, hey, get down here and die for our sins.
No, he willingly came down here and died for our sins.
Just like David came to Ornan, who was hiding himself, who was busy working, trying to earn
his way.
The Bible says in Luke 19, for the son of man is come to seek and to save.
That was lost.
The son of man is come.
David came to Ornan.
Verse 21, he says, and Ornan looked and saw David and went out to the threshing floor
and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.
It's not enough for that fact that David just came.
Then we see that Ornan looked and he saw David.
And when he saw David, he went out and bowed himself to the ground.
What did Ornan do in verse 21?
He left his works, didn't he?
He left the threshing of the wheat behind.
He saw David the king coming and said, I haven't got any more time to thresh wheat.
Let me just go bow myself to the ground, to the king.
That is a picture of salvation.
He looked and he saw, and it reminds me again of when the Lord told Moses to lift up the
serpent in the wilderness.
He said, who's ever been bitten by the serpent, and I'm paraphrasing, just let him look.
Be healed, he'll live.
That's what Ornan had to do.
He had to look to David, he had to look to the king, and he had to leave his works behind.
That's what we ask the sinner to do when we go out and preach the gospel.
Stop trusting in your works.
We all know Ephesians 2, 8, and 9.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that now yourselves is the gift of God.
We know Galatians 2, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ.
We know Galatians 3, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse,
for it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all the things which are
written therein in the book of the law to do them.
But that no man is justified by the law and the sight of God, it is evident, for the just
shall live by faith.
Like it's great that the king came, didn't it?
But you know what, Ornan also had to leave the threshing of the wheat behind, and he
had to go out and fall on his face, and humble himself, and bow himself to the ground, to
the king.
That's exactly what has to take place when a person gets saved.
They have to leave their works behind and go out and humble themselves before the king,
the Lord.
Ornan looked and he saw David, and you know, I'm trying to make application here a little
bit as we go, too.
Ornan looked and he saw David, right?
That's why it's so important that we go out and show people Christ.
We have to go out and show them, or otherwise they won't see.
The God of this world had blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of
the glorious gospel should shine under them.
And make no mistake about it, and you know what, it's going to start getting hotter and
hotter out there, and the soul-winning hours are going to feel longer and longer, but don't
lose sight of what we're doing out there.
What we're doing is we're going and we're showing people Christ.
We are shining the glorious light of the gospel of Christ to people that need to see.
And if they'll see and leave their works and humble themselves, they too will be saved.
They will be spared from the wrath that is to come.
Now what's interesting, I say that's a great picture of salvation, but this illustration
doesn't end there.
I believe it goes on and it shows us that what God wants for us after we get saved.
If Ornan the Jebusite, him coming out and leaving his works behind and coming to the
king is a picture of salvation, well what does the rest of the story represent?
Because it doesn't end there.
It says in verse 22, then David said to Ornan, grant me the place of this threshing floor,
that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord, thou shalt grant it me for the full
price that the plague may be staid from the people.
Now we understand we don't work for salvation, right, we all know that.
But we work, but we do work because of salvation.
Now if we don't work, we're still saved.
But why do we do the work that we do for the Lord?
Because we are saved.
Because we want other people to be saved.
Because we want to earn rewards with the Lord.
This is a great picture of it, of the fact that we can earn gold and silver and precious
stones by serving the Lord.
The Bible says in Ephesians 2, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
God has works for us to do.
If we got saved, God has already foreordained there are works that we should do.
And it's not this, you know, mysterious will that is wholly unique to each and every one
of us.
Now I believe there's things that God has for every one of us, and there's only certain
people that only some of us can reach in our lives, I understand that.
But look, God has foreordained that there are works that we should all do.
You know there's some works that we're all just going to share in and do together because
we're saved.
Things like soul wedding, things like praying, reading our Bibles, serving a local church,
so on and so forth.
And this is a great picture here because David comes to him and says, grant me the place
of this threshing floor.
What's he saying?
Give me what's yours.
You see that threshing floor you've been doing all that work?
I want it now.
All that work you've been doing over there, give it to me.
That's what he's saying.
We offer what is ours like Ornan did to the king in order that, because he owns it, because
he deserves it.
He's worthy of it.
He says in verse 23, and Ornan said to David, take it, and say, my threshing floor?
Look, I really appreciate you coming down here, David, and wanting to do something about
this angel, but I got to make a living.
I've got too much invested in this.
I've got too much going on here.
I'm not just going to give that up for you.
And Ornan said unto David, take it to me.
Let my Lord the king do with it what is good in his own eyes.
That's what God wants to hear from me and you when he says, hey, I'm glad you got
saved.
I'm glad you came out and left your works behind and humbled yourself and got saved,
but now I want what's yours.
But now I want all that work you were doing to be for me.
I've got some works for you that I foreordain that you should walk in them.
Give it back to me.
And God wants us to hear that response that Ornan did.
Take it.
You can have it all.
And let my Lord the king do with it what is good in his eyes.
Although I give thee the oxen also for the burnt offerings and the threshing instruments
for the wood and the wheat for the meat offering, I give it all.
That's what Ornan said.
Now, did David ask for all that?
Did David ask for the wood?
Did he ask for the threshing instruments?
Did he ask for the wheat for the meat offering?
Did he ask for the oxen for a burnt offering?
Did he ask for any of that from Ornan?
No.
All he said was, I want the place of the threshing floor.
That's where I'm going to build an altar.
And I'm the king.
I've got plenty of wood and I've got plenty of wheat and I've got plenty of oxen for myself.
And you don't think Ornan didn't know that?
I think Ornan is just so happy being a Jebusite who didn't lose his head when David took over,
who didn't come under the wrath of the angel of God.
He's just so glad that he's not going to face the wrath of God that he's willing to just
give everything to the king.
And that's the attitude that we should have if we've been saved.
We should say, take it all.
I mean, who am I?
I was on my way to hell and you saved me.
You shed your blood for me.
You can have everything.
You want this?
Take it.
And you know what else, Lord?
You can have this too.
And you can have this too.
And whatever it is that you want, you can have it all.
I give it the all.
That was Ornan's offering.
Everything he had.
Beyond what was asked of him, he was willing to give it all.
And that's the attitude that we should have.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 2, but in a great house there are not only vessels
of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor.
If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified,
and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
Look, God's not going to come down today and ask for your ox, because you probably don't
have one.
Right?
Let's see.
He's going to come down and say, give me your dog.
He's not going to come down and ask you to give up some worldly possession.
Right?
Because this is a different situation.
You know what he's going to ask?
He's going to ask something a lot more precious.
He's going to ask for the vessel of your body.
He's going to want your mind.
He's going to want your heart.
He's going to want your time.
That's what he wants.
Are we going to have that reaction?
Like Ornan, I give it all.
How much time do you want, Lord?
How much do you need for me?
What is it that you want, Lord?
I give it all.
That's what he asks.
He says that we should purge ourselves that we, what, might be a vessel unto honor, sanctified,
and meet for the master's use and prepared unto every good work.
Are you still in Romans 12?
I know I had you turning earlier.
In verse 1, he says, and probably a lot of people know this, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.
See, in the story in 1 Chronicles, he wants the threshing floor, and Ornan says, well,
take the oxen, take the wood, take the wheat.
He's making a sacrifice.
But in the New Testament, when the king comes to us, what's he asking for?
He's asking for our bodies.
He's asking us to be sanctified, to live holy lives.
He's asking us to be a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service.
And people today, they go, well, God wants all that.
God wants me to remain pure until my wedding day.
God doesn't want me to drink and take drugs and watch filth.
No, he doesn't.
Don't you think that's a little extreme?
Well, the Bible calls it your reasonable service.
I mean, that's pretty reasonable to me.
When the Bible says you are not your own, you're a bot with the price, sanctify therefore
the Lord in your own body and in your members.
Seems pretty reasonable that if God was going to destroy this flesh in hell, and then he
saves it by his own mercy, through his own precious blood, whatever he wants, I give
it all.
You want me to keep a clean mind?
You want me to keep a pure heart?
That sounds pretty reasonable to me.
I think that's why Ornan had the reaction that he had.
He was just lucky to be spared.
He's like, I didn't get wiped out when you took over.
This angel's right there.
I was hiding a minute ago.
You can have everything, David.
It's all yours.
We offer something of much more value than just oxen and wood.
We offer our lives in service to the king.
Paul said in Ephesians 3, wherefore I was made a minister according to the gift of the
grace of God given unto me.
He didn't say I was drug into the ministry kicking and screaming.
I said, well, if I have to, it's my reasonable service.
I guess I'll serve God.
No, he said, I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto
me by the effectual working of his power unto me who am less than the least of all saints
and is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the
beginning the world hath been hidden God who created all things by Jesus Christ.
It sounds to me like Paul was pretty excited about getting to do what he did, saying I'm
preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ, and you know what?
God's called us to do the exact same thing.
That's what we're doing out there.
We call it door-knocking.
We call it soul-witting, but you know another biblical term we could use?
Preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ.
So Ornan is this displaced Jebusite, and he helps stay the wrath of God, too, through
his service, through his sacrifice, through his willing to just say, take it all, David.
Build your altar.
Not only the place for it, here's the wood, here's the hay, here's the oxen, here's everything
that you need to make the sacrifice, and why was that sacrifice necessary?
So that he could stay the plague from the people.
So that God's saying, look, David, you want this to stop?
Go make a sacrifice and I'll stay the plague.
And Ornan had to do his part, didn't he?
He had to make his sacrifice in order to stay the plague, to keep people from being destroyed.
He had to be willing to say, take it.
Ornan, he was a displaced Jebusite, me and you are just some lost sinner that were aliens
from God that helped, and he helped stay the wrath of God by his sacrifice.
You know, we can do the same thing, too.
If we're willing to give ourselves, to give our time, and present our bodies a living
sacrifice unto God, God will use us.
There's no measure to the amount that God can use the individual that has given over
to him.
God can use anybody to do great things for God, to go out and preach the unsearchable
riches of Christ, to preach God's word, to live for him, to raise families for him.
God can use us to have an impact on this world for Christ, but we have to be willing to do
what?
To give it all.
To say, here, you can have it, because he deserves it.
You say, well, that's great.
That's kind of a nice ending.
Yeah, but it gets better.
Isn't that a nice, we could end the story right there.
Ornan makes the sacrifice, David takes it, the wrath has stayed, end of story, everyone
slept safe and sound, and they rode off in the sunset, right?
That'd be a nice ending story, but it gets better, because after David comes, and after
Ornan sees him, and leaves his works behind, and humbles himself before the king, and offers
his, everything that he has in service to save others, God rewards him.
I mean, wouldn't that be reward enough for Ornan?
Man, I gave everything to the king, I killed my oxen, I burned my wood, I let him take
the wheat for the meat offering, and God stayed his hand, and the angel's gone, and nobody
else is dead.
Wouldn't that be reward enough, Ornan?
I mean, I would feel pretty good about that, if I just spared this entire nation, all these
people, I just saved a whole city from just being completely wiped out.
I'd say, well, I feel pretty good about myself.
I'd say, David, how about a key to the city, or something?
Maybe somebody, I expected some thank you cards, or something, right?
But that would be reward enough, but it gets better, because God rewards him.
David rewards him, and God will reward us.
Verse 24, 1 Chronicles, verse 24, if you're still there.
And the king said to Onan, nay, but I will verily buy it for the full price, for I will
not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.
And of course, that's a whole sermon right there.
Our Christianity should cost us something.
Service for God should cost us something, and that's why so few people want to serve
God, because it's going to cost them something.
And David said, look, I'm not going to offer things to the Lord, it didn't cost me anything.
I'm going to pay you, okay?
That's one way to preach it, but I'm going to preach it this way, that not only does
God accept the offering, as David accepted his offering, he rewards him for it.
Verse 25, so David gave to Onan for the place, 600 shekels of gold by weight.
I don't know what kind of threshing floor that was, but I'm impressed.
That must have been some oxen he had.
Was that threshing equipment made out of some kind of rare East Indian mahogany or something?
600 shekels of gold, but he says that's what it was worth.
Wish someone would do that for me, but you know what, here's the thing, someone is going
to do that for me.
You know, the Lord's never going to reach down and put a satchel of shekels in front
of me, but one day, he is going to reward me for my labor, and he'll reward you for
your labor.
He said, and behold, I come quickly, it's going to happen faster than you think, and
my reward is with me, I've already got it, to give to every man according as his work
shall be.
Bible says, and we know, 1 Corinthians, that if any man build upon this foundation, gold,
or precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the
day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every
man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
So I'd say it's probably worth it for us.
It's probably a good investment to offer ourselves a living sacrifice unto God and to do the
works that he has foreordained for us, because if we are willing to do that, God will reward
us.
That's what I just read to you.
That's a literal day.
That's a literal event that's going to take place where God is literally going to reward
people in heaven.
This goes on in our story.
It says in verse 26, and David built there an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings
and peace offerings and called upon the Lord, and he answered him from heaven by fire upon
the burnt offering, and I don't want to take the time to develop all this point, but you
have Ornan the Jebusite getting saved.
You have Ornan the Jebusite making an offering of what he has, saying you give it all, and
you see Ornan the Jebusite being rewarded for his offering and for giving what he has
to the Lord, but then you see the Lord responding by what?
By sending heaven.
He answered him from heaven by fire.
We think that'd be pretty cool.
That would probably scare a lot of us.
If all of a sudden just this fire came out of heaven out of nowhere and just lit up the
altar, right?
That would be a sight to behold, but you know what?
God's not going to, there's not going to some literal flame going to come down, but you
know what God will do for the person who is willing to not just get saved but serve him
is he will fill you with the Holy Ghost.
God will answer us from heaven.
When we build that altar, when we make that sacrifice, when we give all to the king, God
will fill us with the Holy Spirit when we offer what we have in his service, and I think
that heaven from prior we could develop the point about the fact that when the apostles
were first filled with the Holy Spirit the day of Pentecost, it came upon them as what?
As a flame of fire, like the tongues of a flame of fire, but I don't want to develop
that point.
I got to close.
Let me close by saying this, when we, you and I, sinners, abandon our own works like
Ornan did and offer all that we have in service to the king like Ornan did, souls are spared
from the wrath of God, works are rewarded, the Holy Spirit is given, sounds like a pretty
good trade-off to me.
I think it's a beautiful picture of salvation, I think it's a beautiful picture of the Christian
life that we see here in 1 Chronicles.
And the Lord commanded the angel and he put up his sword again into his sheath thereof.
So that's interesting, but what's the point of the sermon?
Well it's kind of twofold.
I wanted to preach this to hopefully inspire you to willingly sacrifice your life in service
to the king, to willingly to be giving of your time and your resources and your energy
to help preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, to live godly in Christ Jesus, to
present your own bodies a living sacrifice, to live holy to the Lord as we ought to.
But more than that, and hopefully you agree with me that this is a picture of Christ,
that this is a picture of salvation in service, and if you agree with me on that, hopefully
it's shown you that there are amazing things in the Bible.
And hopefully it will inspire you to read your Bible.
Read your Bible.
And yes, even books like 1 Chronicles, 1 Chronicles, first nine chapters are just this guy, this
guy and the son of this guy, what do I need to read all that for?
Well if you never read those chapters, you'll never get to this one.
And I mean there's great stuff, there's so many great nuggets in those genealogies, there's
just these little nuggets, and you say why do I have to read those names?
Well if you read them out loud, you'll become a better reader.
Take the time to enunciate, you know, maybe that's what God will put them in there for,
right?
But hopefully this will inspire you to read it.
I mean I thought when I read that, I said wow, what an amazing picture of salvation
in service.
Lord, this is amazing to me.
It reminded me of Psalms 119 where David said thy word is very pure.
When Jesus says hey, search the scriptures for anything you think you have eternal life
and they are they which testify of me, he wasn't kidding, they really do testify of
him.
And I said Jesus is right, his word is pure.
Therefore thy servant loveth it, thy servant loveth it, emphasis on servant.
Who loves the word of God the most?
The guy who's serving the Lord.
And he said open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
I mean the New Testament, it's great, and we should emphasize it, right?
It's the better testament, it's the better covenant.
But there's so many great things throughout all the scripture that if we would just take
the time to read it, to open it up, and let the Holy Spirit work in our lives, say well
I'm reading it and I don't see these type of things, I'm not moved, I'm not inspired.
You know, what's going on?
It's because thy servant loveth it.
Maybe God's not going to open your eyes and let you behold wondrous things because we're
not really serving him.
Because the Christian life is more than just getting saved.
You know, the most moving times I've had in my Christian life, the times that I've been
just in awe of the God, just brought to tears, just thanking the Lord for his goodness.
It's not been in a church service.
It's not been listening to some hymn driving down the road.
It hasn't even been when I've been out soul winning and got some soul saved.
You know when it's been?
When I was reading the book, when I'd opened up his word and God opened mine eyes and I'd
beheld something wondrous out of his law.
Those are the times I felt God the closest, like he's right there and God is speaking
to my heart when I'm listening to what he has to say in the Bible.
So I wanted to preach this tonight to one, show us the application that can be made there
that we ought to, because we're just sinners, that we're just saved by God's mercy, we should
offer what we have to the Lord and God will reward us for it.
But more than that, I was hoping to inspire you to go home and to read your Bible and
to open up and to read all of it.
First Chronicles, Second Chronicles, every chapter, every line, and look for Christ in
your Bible because he's there.
Let's go ahead and pray.