And let me just bring you up to speed with the story.
Of course, we just read the chapter,
but God is pouring out his plagues and judgment
upon the land because of the sins of David the king.
And David has been told by the prophet
that he needs to go to the threshing floor
of Arana the Jebusite and offer up an offering unto the Lord
in order to basically placate the Lord
so that the city will not be completely destroyed.
Now beginning in verse 20, the Bible reads,
"And Arana looked and saw the king
and his servants coming on toward him.
And Arana went out and bowed himself before the king
on his face upon the ground.
And Arana said, 'Wherefore is my lord the king?
Come to his servant.'
And David said, 'To buy the threshing floor of thee,
to build an altar unto the Lord,
that the plague may be stayed from the people.'
And Arana 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 threshing instruments,
and other instruments of the oxen for wood.'
All these things did Arana, as a king, give unto the king.
And Arana said unto the king, 'The Lord thy God accept thee.'
And the king said unto Arana, 'Nay,
but I will surely buy it of thee at a price.
Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God,
of that which doth cost me nothing.'
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen,
four fifty shekels of silver.
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.
And of course, this is going to be the future site of the temple
that's going to be built in that exact place.
But what I want to point out is the statement that David made in verse 24,
when he's being offered everything for free.
And when Aaron is basically telling him,
'Look, I'm going to give you animals to sacrifice.
I'm going to give you the wood even to kindle the fire.
You can have my threshing floor.
I'm not going to sell it to you.
It's free. Just take everything.'
And David says, "No, I don't want to make an offering unto the Lord of that which costs
me nothing."
So, you know, I want to sacrifice here.
I want this to cost me something.
Now, what I want to preach about this morning is the cost of serving Jesus.
You know, the cost of serving Jesus because even though we're not living under the old
covenant where we offer up sacrifices that are an animal sacrifice or a burnt offering
from our flock or from our herd, we still in the New Testament, we offer up sacrifice
and offerings to God.
The Bible over and over again in the New Testament uses this symbolically.
The Bible says, "By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.
But to do good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices, God is well
pleased."
There's a lot of good works that God wants us to do in the New Testament.
Come into the congregation, praising His name when the songs are sung, you know, giving
unto the Lord's work, going out and preaching the gospel to every creature, and being counted
among God's people.
These are the sacrifice and offerings that God wants in the New Testament.
And just as David said, "Well, I don't want to make an offering of the Lord of that which
is costing me nothing.
You know, I want to pay the full price."
This is what New Testament Christianity needs today, people that are willing to pay a price
for serving Jesus.
And today what we see is a Christianity, and if you would turn to Galatians, but we see
a Christianity that basically does not want to be inconvenienced at all, doesn't want
to sacrifice anything, and basically just wants to have it both ways.
They want to have everything that the world has to offer.
They want to have all the popularity, and they want to have no problems, no trouble,
but then they also want to serve Jesus.
But let me tell you something.
The Bible says, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
And the Bible says that...
What does the Bible say?
Well, look down in Galatians chapter five, and we'll see the Apostle Paul talking about
his ministry, and his ministry was under attack because of the things that he'd been preaching.
A lot of the Jews were going after him because he was saying that they didn't need to be
circumcised and that they didn't need to offer the sacrifices and do those things anymore
under the New Testament.
But watch what he says in chapter five, verse 11 of Galatians.
The Apostle Paul says this, "And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet
suffer persecution?
Then is the offense of the cross ceased."
Now what Paul is saying there is that at that time he was being persecuted for basically
preaching against being circumcised.
And what he's saying in that statement is that if I just change one little thing about
my preaching, I wouldn't be going through the persecution and heat that I'm going through
right now if I just change this one little thing.
But he's not going to change it.
And look what it says in chapter 6 verse 12, it says, "As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ, for neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the
law, but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
But God forbid that I should glory, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature."
So what he's saying there in verse number 12, he's saying that there are people out
there who to make a fair show in the flesh, even though in their heart they don't believe
in being circumcised, even though in their heart they don't believe that we're under
those rituals and sacrifice of the Old Testament.
He said there are people out there who will go along with it only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ.
Do you see that in verse 12?
There are people who believe right, but publicly they won't come out and say it.
They won't preach that because of the fact that they want to make a fair show in the
flesh, and they don't want the persecution.
You know what they want?
A Christianity that costs them nothing.
And today, 99% of pastors today in this city don't have the guts to preach what needs to
be preached today in the world that we live in.
Why?
Because they don't want a hundred freaks and sodomites parading outside their door.
But you know what?
There are way more people in this church than there are out there.
Hopefully the reporter that's sitting amongst us can count accurately and realize that.
But let me tell you this.
There are also hundreds of Baptist churches all over this city that believe the same thing
I believe.
They just don't have the guts to say it because they don't want to suffer persecution for
the cross of Christ.
And you know what?
It's a shame that they are so weak and cowardly to not be able to preach what needs to be
preached.
And you know what?
Christians want to have no sacrifice, they want to have no persecution, and they want
everybody to love them, but Jesus said, "Marvel not my brethren if the world hates you."