(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Hey man, so of course we're wrapping up that book of 2 Samuel tonight, and it's been a great book, but all good things must come to an end, I guess, right? And if you're wondering what we're going to be starting next, well, you're just going to have to come to find out, so that's how we do it here, right? But there's an interesting, it starts out here with kind of a, you know, it can be a little bit of a difficult passage. People can kind of stumble on this a little bit and see what's kind of going on in the story. Again, of course, these last few chapters are just kind of, you know, just kind of the behind the scenes type of thing going on, that is just reminding us of some other things that took place throughout David's reign. These aren't necessarily in chronological order, but if you notice there it says the first one, and again, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved against David to slay them, to say, excuse me, against them, to say, go number Israel and Judah. And if you would, keep your place there in 2 Samuel 24, but go over to 1 Chronicles chapter 21, 1 Chronicles chapter 21, which is a parallel passage here, and we'll see what's going on. But first thing I want to point out is that, you know, this was the anger of the Lord that was kindled. You know, that Israel had done something to upset the Lord. This isn't just something that God did just on a whim. This isn't something that he just felt like doing. There was a reason behind all of this, and we say, well, what exactly was it that Israel did? Well, I'm not exactly sure, but I can guarantee you they know. And it really shouldn't surprise us that Israel at this point would do something that upsets God. I mean, we just came through, you know, the times of the judges before we roll into the reign of the kings, and if you remember, throughout the judges, it was just this constant cycle of them getting right with God, getting backslidden, and then God having to punish them. And we shouldn't expect that to end just because of the fact that, you know, they've got this new system of government, and now that they have kings like the other heathen nations around them, and now they're going to serve God even better. This really shouldn't come as a surprise to us that Israel had kindled the anger of the Lord. It just goes to show you that, you know, the form of government is not the problem with man. Okay, that's not, you know, that's not the issue. The problem is man himself. Man cannot devise this perfect system of government in order that is just going to eliminate all suffering and be perfectly just. It's never going to happen. Now, obviously, some systems are better than others. You know, some systems are, you know, better, you know, pretty much any system that competes, you know, communism or socialism, you know, things of that nature. We've seen just the horrific results of that. I mean, history testifies to that. You know, and the system of government that we have right now is pretty good. I mean, you know, I dare say it's probably the best that we've ever had. You know, it gives us a lot of liberty, a lot of freedoms. But it's far from perfect, isn't it? It's certainly not ideal. And even the most ideal, even the best of governments ultimately are corrupted because of the fact that they're filled with sinful men. So, you know, we could take that from this right away, right out of this first verse is that, you know, they've got this new system, they've got the kings, they've gotten out of the judges, which is what God ordained, and they're still upsetting the Lord. They're still doing things that are kindling His wrath, making Him upset, and causing Him to have to judge His people, okay? Now, you're there in 1 Chronicles 21, parallel passage. Notice what it says in verse 1, it says, And Satan stood up against Israel, to provoke David to number Israel. So in 2 Samuel, it's the anger of the Lord that was kindled, and He moved David against them. It's the Lord that's moving David. But when we get over to 1 Chronicles 21, it says that Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel. Say, well, what's going on here? Was it the Lord, or was it Satan that caused Israel to do this? Well, it's both. And what this would show us is that Satan is just subject unto the Lord. It's not like Satan rebelled against God, and now he's just, you know, a lot of times, in Christianity, people want to paint this picture that there's just eternal struggle between the Lord and Satan. No, there isn't. Satan has always been under the Lord's thumb, he always will be under the Lord's thumb. He allows Satan to do certain things, he even uses Satan, like a tool, to accomplish his will. And that's what that should show us, is that Satan is still subject unto the Lord. In fact, he's just an instrument that God uses to judge man. I mean, it was, you know, saying, well, what's going on here? Well, the anger of the Lord was kindled, and he moved David. How did he move David? Well, he sent Satan. He stirred up Satan. He allowed Satan to do this. So, you know, that's something you have to keep in mind. And really, that should, you know, worry us a little bit. You know, the fact that if we make God upset, you know, who knows what ends he's going to go to chasing us or to punish us. Do I think God's going to send Satan after you and me personally if we get back something or something? Probably not. I don't think we're that big a deal, right? But when you're, you know, when you're King David, and you're ruling over his people, you know, this is something that Satan or the Lord might do. He might use Satan himself to judge you, right? And what this also shows us is that not only is Satan subject in the Lord, but that he actually needs the Lord's permission often to do the things that he does. Not in every instance. I think that Satan, as we'll see here in a minute, is given a little bit of free reign here on earth. But all in all, you know, he has to, in some instances, at least, he has to seek permission from the Lord. And of course, we could go back to Job and look at that. But if you would, go to 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4. And if you remember the story of Job where, you know, where God is kind of bragging on Job about, on Job to Satan saying, Have you considered my servant Job? There's none like him in all the earth. He's perfect. He's upright. And Satan says, Yea, you know, that's because you put a hedge about him. The only reason Job loves you and serves you is because you protected him. And he's saying, Hey, take that hedge of protection and we're going for him. And he'll curse you to his face. And of course, God gives him the permission, gives Satan access to Job to go and kill his family and to kill, you know, knock down his house. He's sending wind and fire and all these things. We know the story. And then even goes to the point where God permits Satan to go and strike Job himself with boils. Right? We know that story. But notice that wasn't just something that Satan could do on his own. That was something that God actually allowed him to do. That God actually used him and there was a purpose behind all of that. We understand. But we have to be reminded that Satan isn't just, you know, somehow on par with God. It's kind of like, well, who's going to win? You know, Satan isn't even close to the Lord. Now, he's more powerful than any of us. You know, we shouldn't say, you know, treat God or treat Satan like he's some, you know, just washed up has been or something like that. He's got it coming. He's still very powerful, far more powerful than any of us. And look, sometimes people can Christians can get this type of attitude. They say, well, you know, Satan's a defeated foe. You know, I remember I always think about what I heard someone say once is that, yeah, he walks about as a roaring lion. But, you know, he's a toothless lion. You can't do anything like, no, that's not true. He's got teeth. It says seeking whom he may devour, meaning he has the ability to devour. And we should never be these prideful, boastful people that think that we can somehow take on Satan just because we're saved. You know, he's a far greater foe outside of Christ. We cannot take on Satan. We cannot withstand him. But that's not to say that he isn't still a created being, that he is subject to the Lord. You know, we could go to Ezekiel where it talks about how he was, you know, created, that he was actually the covering cherub that served a purpose in heaven at one point until pride is found in him. But, you know, he does have power on the earth. That's the other thing we can learn from this. You know, where Satan's standing up against Israel, God's using and that just goes to show us that Satan has power on this earth. And again, that's another reason why man is never going to have this idyllic system. He's never going to reach this, you know, world peace or he's never going to have this perfect form of human government because lost, unsaved man never takes into account the existence of Satan. You know, we understand that as Christians, as Bible believers, that there is, you know, that Satan is real, that he does have power on this earth. If you look there in 2 Corinthians 4, look at verse 3, it says, But if our gospel be hid, it is said to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. Now, that's lowercase G there, right? That's referring to the prince of the power of the air. That's referring to Satan, the God of this world. God meaning he's like a Lord, right? He is somebody in authority, somebody that has, you know, power in this world. And we should not underestimate that. That Satan is still very real. Satan can move against people, against whole nations, as we saw here. If you would, go over to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter number 4. You know, and this should clue us in on, into, you know, how the world works. And the Bible talks about how we wrestle against principalities and powers in high places. You know, we wrestle against the rulers of darkness of this world. You know, there are spiritual wickedness in high places. Now, you know, I believe that is referring to, you know, some of the highest forms of our government. And yeah, even some of the lower ones, probably. That people do, are put in these places by the God of this world, by Satan himself. And look, you start to talk like that, people think you're some kind of conspiracy nut. Like, what do you mean Satan's, you know, responsible for that? Like, I don't know to what extent. I don't know what exactly takes place. I don't know if they're, you know, worshipping Satan directly or whatever. But they're definitely in league. And the people that get into power are at least allowed to be there by the God of this world. Because it's his to give, folks. And again, people are going to dismiss that. But if you would, look at Luke chapter 4. Did I have you go there? Luke chapter 4. This is the temptation of Christ when he's gone into the wilderness. And it says in verse 5, And the devil, taking up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, And this is a supernatural event that's taking place. To see all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. This is beyond, you say, how did he do that? Well, you know, it's beyond our understanding. One, it's God, and it's an angel, Satan. The Bible's just telling, it happened. We don't need to try to figure out the nuts and bolts of this, of how it happened. The fact is that it happened. But what I want to focus on is verse 6. Notice what the devil said. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever will I give it. So what is Satan saying here? He's saying, look, if you worship me, he's telling Jesus, look, if you worship me, I'll give you all the power. I'll cause you to reign over all these kingdoms, because it's given to me to give to whom I, that power is given to me. Let's just read it again. All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me. He's saying, it's given unto me, it's delivered unto me, to grant this power unto other people. That's what he's saying here. And to whomsoever I will give it. So, you know, you say, well, some people read that and say, well, he's lying. He's lying here. But, you know, I don't believe that he is. I don't think everything that came out of Satan's mouth is a lie. He's definitely the father of lies. But I believe that he is saying that he could do this. That this is a promise that he can make. That's why the Bible calls him the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air. That's why we wrestle against principalities and places and spiritual wickedness in high places. That's why we wrestle against those things. Because Satan ultimately rules over those things. And I believe that. You know, people can have a different opinion about that, but I believe he's telling the truth there. That was his to give. That he could give that power to whosoever he wanted. Now, it's ironic that he's offering it to the Lord who's going to take that anyway. You know, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. You know, it just shows you how, you know, short-sighted Satan is. You know, he's blinded himself. Well, you know, we can learn a few things just out of verse one there, can't we? We can learn that Satan's still subject unto the Lord. That God uses Satan to punish nations. You know, people want to, you know, say, well, you know, certain things that happen in our country aren't the judgment of God. You know, COVID, that wasn't, you know, that wasn't God's chaste thing. That was, you know, some, you know, some scientist playing fast and loose over in Wuhan or something like that. You know, that probably is where it came from. You know, that probably is what happened. But you know what? God allowed that to happen. You know, God allows these punishments. God allows man to do certain things that come back on his own head. You know, God will use those type of things. God judging mankind isn't always going to come in the form of fire and brimstone and everything else. A lot of times God just uses the devices that we're responsible for to judge us. So we can learn that. We can learn that Satan still has power on the earth. And what we need to understand, because this story gets kind of grim here, right? The story goes on and talks about how God just starts killing people in Israel. But we have to understand that Israel had provoked God. This wasn't just something he did, you know, just all of a sudden. They had provoked the Lord. And we were talking about that, how that shouldn't really surprise any of us. And it shows us that God uses the civil authority to judge people still, doesn't he? If you look there in verse 2, it says, going back to Samuel 24, it says, 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. And Joab said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God, add unto the people how many soever they be, and hundredfold, and 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 words prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the host, and the Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. So when we read this, you can see that Joab and these other captains, they're objecting. You know, David's saying, hey, go out and number the people. They've already got a bad feeling about this. They already understand that this isn't something that they should be doing. And he said, well, what's so wrong about this? What's going on here? If you would, go to 1 Samuel chapter 8, 1 Samuel chapter 8. These guys are in opposition to it, you know, and for good reason. And you say, well, what exactly is the problem? Well, you know, it's not just that I believe there was more going on here. Of course, this is just shows us that, you know, how much Israel is kind of relying on the king and their new system of government. They're not really relying on the Lord like they ought to. And David, you know, what was the purpose behind this numbering? You know, this might have been because he's thinking about how many more people he could take to be his servants. It could be that there was some kind of a draft he wanted to do, which is what God warned them would happen. He said, look, if you take a king, this is what's going to happen. That's what he said in 1 Samuel chapter 8. He said in verse 9, he said, now therefore harken unto their voice, howbeit yet protest solidly unto them, and show them the man or the king that shall reign over them. Now, if you remember, this is when they're Israel's first crying out for a king, and they want them to make unto them a king like all the other nations around them. And God comes to Samuel and says, look, they haven't rejected you, they rejected me. So this whole system of taking on a king is Israel showing that they are rejecting what God wants and want to do things their own way. So when it comes to this numbering, God is using this to kind of show them, I believe, that they've kind of gotten puffed up, that they think as a nation, that they're relying too much on this new government. But look there in verse 9, he says, now therefore harken unto their voice, howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the man or the king that shall reign over them. He's saying, look, you want a king so bad? This is what it's going to be like. He says in verse 10, and Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked him of him a king, and said, this will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots and for his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots. So what's that? That's a draft. He's saying, look, you get a king, he's just going to start drafting your sons. He's going to take them into the army and they're going to fight his battles. Verse 12, when he appointed captains over thousands and captains over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground and reap his harvest, and to make him instruments of war and instruments of chariots. He's saying, look, your sons are going to be conscripted, basically, right? So you can kind of see maybe that's what was going on here with this numbering. You know, David might have this in mind. I'm not saying that he did, but it sounds to me like that's potentially what's going on. And that's not enough. Verse 13, he'll take your daughters to be confectionaries and to be cooks and to be bakers, so he's going to put them to work in the kitchen, right? And he's going to make these guys, the sons, go fight. And when they're not busy fighting, they're going to go sow his ground and they're going to make instruments of war. They're not going to go work for you, mom and dad. They're not going to work in their villages and their local places. They're going to come serve the king. Verse 14, and he will take your fields and your vineyards and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards to give to his officers and to his servants. And he will take your men servants and your maid servants and your goodly-ass young men and your asses and put them to his work. And he will take the tenth of your sheep, and he shall be his servants. And he shall cry out in that day because of your king, which he have chosen you, and the Lord will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless, the people refuse to obey the voice of Samuel, and they say, Nay, but we will have a king over us. So, I mean, imagine that year. You know, that's some political campaign that Samuel's making right there, right? Well, what will the king be like? Well, as your king, here's what I promise to do. I'm going to take a tenth of all your goods, the best of your vineyards. I'm going to take your sons and your daughters and make them work for me. And I'm going to take your lands. You know, so that's not really a campaign promise you want to make. I mean, if we had some political candidate, that was his platform. You know, he'd be run out of town on a rail, right? But this is what's going on in the story. That's exactly what's taking place. Samuel gets up and says, Oh, you want a king? This is what he's going to be like. And you think of people and be like, you know what? Never mind. You're right. Let's just stick with what we got. We'll fight and we'll stick with the judges. But that's not what they said, is it? It says in verse 21, or excuse me, in 20, it says, verse 19, Nevertheless, the people who refused to obey the voice of Samuel said, Nay, but we will have a king over us. They said, Oh, that sounds pretty good. Let's go with that system. Let's go ahead and have all those things happen to us. And why? Well, you say, what was wrong? What was the reasoning? Who would go along with that? Well, it's because they wanted to fit in. It's because they wanted to be like all the other nations. Look at verse 20. That we may also be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. Samuel, we don't like this system that God set up. We want the kings. We just want to be like everybody else. But look, that's not what God has called us to be. God has called us to be a peculiar people, right? He's called us to be a holy nation, right? And you know, that's what we are spiritually today. And we shouldn't get saved and think, well, I'm going to serve God, but only if I can be like everybody else around me. Look, if you're going to serve God, and you're going to live for the Lord and live a godly life, you should stick out like a sore thumb. You should be different. You know, a lot of Christians, they don't want to serve God because they know it will make them stick out. Because they want to be what? They want to be like Old Testament Israel that says, I just want to be like everybody else around me. And I don't get it. I mean, why would you want to be like everybody else around you? Why would Israel want a king like this? Who's going to do all these things then? I mean, that's what all the other kings were doing. They didn't hear that and go, oh, what a shock. We had no idea. They're like, yeah, that's what kings do. They conscript people. They take lands. They help themselves. They give stuff away. You know, they tax us. You know, that's what the kings did around them. And they said, that's what we want. Why? Because we just don't want to be different, right? But here's the thing. Israel originally was meant to rely solely on the Lord. Only on the Lord. That was how they were supposed to conduct themselves. By using God's word, the system of the judges. And if you would, go over to Deuteronomy chapter 17. Deuteronomy chapter 17. You're going to Deuteronomy chapter 17. Look at verse 14. It says in Deuteronomy 17, 14, When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shall say, I will set a king over me, like as the nations that are about me. And God just saw it coming over that Deuteronomy. He's like, you're going to do this eventually. I'm not saying He's endorsing it. God just knows what man's going to do and says, when you do it, it's just like divorce. God says, you know, for this reason shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. What God's joined us together, let not man put asunder. You know, the Bible says that the Lord hateth putting away. But does that mean people aren't going to do it? No, people are still going to do it. So that's why He gave a clause and said, look, if you do it, you know, let there be a bill of divorcement. He said, because I know you're going to go ahead and do it anyway. Just like He said, you know, you should only have one wife. You know, God is against polygamy. But it happens in the Bible and God says, well, if you're going to do it anyway, here's what you do. Here's how to do it. So this is what He's saying here. Look, I don't want you to have a king, but since you're going to go ahead and do it anyway and not listen to me, He's saying, thou shalt in any wise set him a king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose. One and from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee. Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. He's saying, you're not going to bring some foreigner in, like Obama, and set him up as king. What? I had a cough. And set some foreigner up over you. Right? That isn't part of your kindred. That isn't part of your nation. And that's the law of the United States, by the way. You can't make a foreigner an immigrant president. This is where they get it from. That's what God said. He said, you're not going to bring in some foreigner, which is not thy brother, verse 16. And it goes on and says, but he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that they should multiply horses. For as much as the Lord hath said unto you, you shall henceforth return no more that way. He's saying, I don't want you to go back to the world, go back to Egypt. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away. Solomon should have read that. Neither shall he multiply, excuse me, shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. You can't just walk into Congress penniless and then walk out a millionaire when you only make a six figure income per year. Explain that. How do these Congressmen leave millionaires when they have a very reasonable small salary? Their salaries, it's like, what's going on there? Well, it's called corruption. And God's forbidding it here too. Don't go multiplying silver and gold and just make about ruling just an opportunity for you to get wealth. And it says there, and it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of the law in a book out of, which is before the priests and Levites, and it shall be with them, and he shall read therein all the days of life, that he may learn to fear the Lord as God. So when you start to see these kings start to do these exact things that God forbid and wonder why, it's because they didn't follow that community. It's because they didn't have, if they had actually followed through on this one, where they wrote out a copy of the law, look, if you had to sit down and write out the five books of Moses in my hand and make sure it was word perfect, you'd probably remember quite a bit of it. And if you took the time to put that kind of investment, you'd probably say, well, you know what? I took the time to write all that out. I might as well go ahead and do what it says. And since they didn't do that, they didn't learn to fear their God. That's why they multiplied forces. That's why they multiplied wives and gold and silver and did all these things. But notice verse 20, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, that he turned on a side of the commandment to the right hand or the left and then he prolonged his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel. So, you know, there's this principle here of what I'm getting at is this, is that God intended Israel to rely solely upon him for leadership. And he's saying, even when you reject me in the system of leadership that I've set up and we choose a king, he still needs to be relying on me, right? And not being lifted up above his brethren, not thinking too highly of himself. And I believe that's maybe what we see going on here in 2 Samuel 24 with this numbering. It's kind of lifting himself up and forgetting that it was God that put him in that position. And really you say, well, what's the point? What's the application we can make here? Well, one application is that we're supposed to do the same thing as a church. We're supposed to rely on the Lord to build the church. You know, it'd be real easy to build the church fast overnight. It happens all the time. I mean, isn't this town just full of big churches? Are they running hundreds of people? I mean, some of them, they could start tomorrow. They could start next Sunday, right? And within a few years, they could be running hundreds, maybe even thousands. Well, why not? Well, what's the deal? Why are we doing that? Because we're not relying on gimmicks. We're not relying on advertising. We're relying on God to actually build this church. And, you know, I know we've seen some exciting things this year, and we've got this new space, and we've more than doubled our space. We've set record attendance, and it's great, and I pray that it keeps happening. But at the same time, and I don't mean to be a wet blanket, but I'm just being honest here, you know, we're going to get less popular, not more, as we go along. As we continue to stick by the word of God, you know, we're going to be more, we're going to stick out. We're going to be more and more of a popular people as the world gets further and further away from the Lord, and we stick by, we're not moving where we've always been, not on the word of God, but the further they get away from the word of God, the more they're going to hate us, the less popular that we're going to be. You say, well, what should we do? Well, let's do what Israel did. Let's just be like everybody else. Let's bring in the same music that they have. You know, let's soften the message. Let's get an updated version of the Bible. Let's get some new version that's easy to understand. Right? Which is not true. Most of them are actually, sometimes you read these new verses, you're like, what are they even saying? It doesn't even make sense. Right? You know, let's just go ahead and drop our standards. Let's just be just like the world. You know, I'll get, we'll get rid of this old wool puppet, wool pulpit. I'll just get a bar stool up here. You know, I'll get that little, that little mic right here like that. You know, that little tiny mic that comes around. And I'll just share with you guys. You know, I'll just come up here on Sunday morning. We'll just, we'll go down to one service a week and we'll get a rock band and I'll start preaching like this and I'll never raise my voice again and I'll just talk to you in this nice, sweet sounding voice and I'll just share with you and we'll just talk, we'll talk only about the love of God. Right? I mean, look, am I exaggerating? I've been in those churches and that's, this is how they talk. This is what they do. Beloved, you know, and they just, and I don't want to go down with it. Right? But that's what it's like out there. And look, we all go, ugh, you know. We don't like it, but you know what? There's people out there eating it up. They love it. They go there, they feel all spiritual. No one's told them, hey, you're in sin. No one's told them, hey, you need to get right with God. No one says, there's no judgment, there's no fire, there's no brimstone. You know, everyone's saved, everyone's going to find, you know, they're not even preaching the right gospel anymore. You know, but people go there and they went to church so they feel spiritual. You know, they got their, they got their little, they got their earlobes massaged, they got their back scratched, their itching ears got scratched, and they walked out feeling spiritual. But they're no more spiritual than anybody else. You know, if anything, they're less spiritual than most people. And here's the thing, is that how we're supposed to build a church? By relying on man's gimmicks? Let's just get a big billboard. And look, if somebody out there has a billboard somewhere, that's their deal. Maybe that actually works. To me, billboards, I don't know. Billboards are for like impulsive things, don't you think? People sometimes ask me, why don't we have a better sign up on the road? Because that's not what, you know, that's not what billboards and signs like that are made for. Our sign is there for people that are trying to find us. It's not for people driving by and go, see it, and go, oh, you know what? I feel like going to church all of a sudden. I mean, that's what Taco Bell does. That's what Burger King and McDonald's, that's why they have big illuminated boards everywhere. That's why they buy billboards, hey, next exit, you know, when's the last time you had a whopper? You know, because that's impulsive, right? No one does that for church. You know, there's no impulsive. Now, it might work for some people that are looking for church and they'll put out their signs on the tent. Are you tired of boring churches? Come to a church that's exciting. You know, they'll have the picture of the purple lights and the smoke and everyone raising their hands and rocking out, right? And people go there, and look, it is exciting. It is like a rock concert in there. Man, I was in the club Saturday night and it feels like I haven't left Sunday morning. You know, they change some of the lyrics around, but it's the same beat, it's the same fog, the girls on the stage are dressed the same way, they all look like hoochie mamas up there. And we're all dancing and having a good time, right? That's out there, but look, God's not in that. God's not behind that. You can't sit there and tell me, well, you know, look how many more people. Yeah, supposing that gain is godliness. Gain does not mean godliness, friend. You know, what we're relying on here is for the Lord to build his church. And praise God he's done that. Look, it's going to be a slow burn, we're not going to blow up overnight, but I don't want to do that. People sometimes are like, don't you wish the church was bigger? I think more people means more problems. And I don't mean that in a bad way, but it's the truth, right? More people just means we have more issues to deal with, we have more to manage. I'm not against having a big church. I'll take as big a church as God wants to build here. I mean, hopefully in the next few years we can knock down some more walls or find a bigger space. I don't know. I mean, but we've got some room to grow right now. But whether it's 10 years or this is it, you know, or we don't add anymore, it's whatever God wants. But what I'm not going to do is start to rely on gimmicks and try to just be like everybody else around us in order to just, so I can sit back like David and number the people. You're like, well, you know, we're running 586 on Sunday morning now. You know? Yeah, but how did you achieve that? Did you achieve that through biblical preaching? Did you achieve that through hard preaching, through strong doctrine? Did you achieve that through separation, by having, you know, preaching about separation and godliness and sin? No. Well, then it's all for naught. Yeah, I've got hundreds of people and none of them honor God. None of them live for the Lord. Half of them aren't saved. What good is it then? It's vanity. It's just numbering people. It doesn't mean anything. You know, I'm just relying on God. I mean, isn't that what Jesus said? He said, I will build my church. Yeah. Either he meant that or he didn't. Amen. You know, and I remember, you know, just recently, you know, Pastor Anderson reminded me of that. Because, you know, you can. You can say, well, I'm building this church. I mean, what's taking so long? Why isn't there more people here? And he said, look, the church grew for him. He said, the church in Tempe grew when I stopped caring about numbers. About the time I quit caring about whether or not it's growing is when it started to grow. You know, and I thought about that for a while, and the exact same thing happened here. This space is a perfect example of that. You know, because we were over in that space and we were running about 30 or whatever. And I was like, man, it's getting kind of tight. You know, we should probably get a bigger space. But then the more I thought of, you know, you could fit 100 people in here and you did it once. It's like, yeah, I don't want to do that every Sunday. Right? But then I thought about it. I was like, you know what? He's right. We could make this work. We could knock down that part of the wall. We could put some more benches outside, encourage people to sit out there. We could make this work. And about the time I quit caring about getting a new space is when the landlord called and was like, hey, we've got a bigger space. And I was like, amen. And I told the pastor, and he's like, go for it. You know, obviously, God wants to have it. And you know what? We could use it. We need it. We've been averaging higher tendencies, and I believe we're going to continue to grow. But that's my point, is that when we stop caring so much about the numbers, that's when God started building it. Because if we just start out this thing going, well, it's all about how many people we have in church, if that's our motivation, is just to count numbers, just to number people, what are we going to do in order to achieve that? What are we willing to give up? If that's the motivation, then we're willing to compromise on things, aren't we? We'd be more tempted, well, if it's all about the numbers and having a big church, then we have to change some things around here to get more people in. But you know what? That's not the motive. I'd rather have a smaller church of zealous people who actually love God and love His word and actually want to serve Him in sincerity than twice as many people who are half in, half out, or flaky, that don't love the Lord in sincerity. So that's one application we can get out of it. Let's move on to the story, though. I know I got a lot to cover here, but we'll get through it quickly. We'll go back to 2 Samuel 24. It says in verse 5, they go out to number, of course, and they passed over Jordan and pitched an Aurora, and it just kind of describes where they went to go do the numbering. It says, verse 8, so when they had gone through the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and 20 days, so that's how long it took. And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto the king, and there were in Israel 800,000 valiant men that drew sword. So you can kind of see, you know, what is it that he counted? These valiant men that drew swords. You might kind of see what was really behind this number, because then David might have had other things in mind, like a conscription and all that, like we read about. In verse 10, and David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David's son of 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. And notice David does this before God even does anything. You know, if you do something wrong, this is a really great reaction. You don't wait for God to have to chase and you go, yeah, or to get busted. Right? When you do something wrong and you're immediately just smitten by it like David is here, that's a good sign. That's a good thing. You know, that shows you at least you have some spirituality, at least you feel bad. And he says in verse 11, For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, Seir, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things, choose one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So the other thing we understand here is that, you know, just because we feel bad about it and we do something wrong, something we shouldn't have done, we've done something sinful, right? And then we feel bad about it, that doesn't mean there isn't any consequences still. We still have to deal with sin. It's great to confess sin, it's great to forsake sin, it's great to, you know, get sin on your life, but that does not, you know, that one action alone does not avoid you having to deal with the consequences. You know, sin always has consequences whether you feel bad about it or not, you know? And that's what's going on here. God's like, You know what? I'm glad you're sorry, but here, choose these three things. One of them's going to happen. And we understand ultimately the overarching picture here is that God says, but that's a principle that's there. Excuse me. Verse 13, So Gad came to David and told him and said unto him Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in the land? Or wilt thou flee three months from before thine enemies while they pursue thee? Or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? Now advise and see what I shall answer I shall return to him that sent me. You know, and again, this is another principle that I want to point out. You know, imagine being faced with this. Imagine someone sitting down and saying, Okay, you're going to have to suffer one of these three punishments. I mean, which one would you choose? Which one sounds best? They all don't sound good, right? And look, people get themselves into situations all the time. They write to church. They reach out to us. They get themselves in these situations and they go, What should I do? You know, my husband's this. My wife's that. And it's a terrible situation. So does that mean I get to divorce them and leave them and find another spouse? Like, nope. Well, what do you mean? And here's the answer. There is no good option. You know, that's why you should be careful about the choices you make in life because you could find yourself in a position where there is no good option. You know, getting divorced, not a good option. Staying with that spouse, not a very good sounding option. But that's what that's the situation people get themselves with. The only options is to find such a way to avoid that situation. Okay? And that's a whole sermon in and of itself. And so he says, Hey, you pick one, David. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait. You know, that's what these people are like, that write and call and ask us for help. They're in a great strait and it's like, well, pick your poison. They're all going to be bitter. They're all not going to be fun. And David said unto Gad, I'm in a great strait. Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great things. And so, you know, some discernment there there is, you know, David obviously is using his head here and saying, Hey, let's take the three days pestilence. I mean, it's only three days. At least it's the shortest one. I mean, God can do a lot in three days, but notice why he's doing that. He's saying, you know, I would rather fall into the hand of the Lord than fall into the hand of my enemies, you know, because God might stop. And this is something that, that David, you know, has experienced before. You remember with David, the child's going to die, right? And what's he do? He prays and fasts all day and eventually the child dies, right? And then he gets up and he washes himself and he sits down and he eats and his servants are like, what, you know, when he was alive, he felt so bad. And all of a sudden you hear, you know, you're, you're eating and acting like everything's okay. You're going back to normal. What's the deal? And he's saying, look, well, the child was, was yet alive. There was a chance that God would spare him. So God, you know, when God is coming down on us, when God is chasing us, you know, God's, there is still a possibility for God to show mercy. You know, if we take correction well, if we, if we acknowledge it's God's hand that's chasing us, you know, God might lighten up upon us a little bit. It's just like anyone that, that, that properly disciplines their child. You know, sometimes they really got to have it. Like they've done something bad, but sometimes when you're giving it to them, you know, they're taking that spanking. It's like, you can tell that it's intense. Other times, you know, you got to really let them have it because you can tell it's not getting through, right? When they're, when they're yelling back at you as you do it. Anyone who's done it knows what I'm talking about, right? When they're taking their, and they're, they're growling back. It's like, oh really? You want to fight? You want to, you want to get into this a little bit more, huh? But you know what? Sometimes they come in and they're already sad. They're already sorry. They're already feeling terrible. It's like, well, I can, I can go a little lighter this time. Cause what's the desired effect for me to just, you know, lay into them or to get something into their heart, right? To help, you know, loosen up the foolishness that's done in their heart. Look, if it's already happening, if they're already acknowledging what they've done is wrong, you know, then I don't have to be as intense, right? I don't have to do it as a great of a punishment because the message is already getting across. And that's what David is kind of understanding here. And this is still even, you know, that's why Habakkuk prayed, you know, in wrath, because God, even in his wrath, is a merciful God. I mean, think about, you know, the great tribulation when God's pouring out his wrath upon the earth. You still have the gospel being preached. You still have the 144,000 all those years. You still have the angels of heaven and it's just obvious what's going on. And God is still preaching the gospel. We got the two witnesses. Even when God is judging the earth like he's never judged it before, God is still in his wrath remembering mercy. So that's, you know, David is at least making the choice here and saying, you know what, I'm just going to put myself in the hands of God and God will just give me a just punishment. Whatever he sees fit, that's what we need. Now, if you would, well, we'll just continue on here. And, you know, the story reminds me too that, you know, there's a purpose to this punishment. You know, obviously, God is trying to get something across to Israel. They have done something. They have provoked the Lord. And this whole story is about his way of punishing them. So look at verse 15 of that line. It says, 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. Now, when you see that Dan to Beersheba, that's talking about the whole nation, you know, from one end to the other, from Dan even to Beersheba. And it says there, there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba, 70,000 men, right? But notice how long that went. It went from morning until evening. And it says, and the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, and the Lord repented the evil and said, the angel that destroyed the people, it is enough, stay now thine hand. So God stops it, but was that, what did David choose? He chose three days pestilence in thine land. That was the option, right? And God only gives him a third of that. So David was right. David made the right decision and said, hey, I'm gonna put my hands to the Lord. You know, his mercies are great. It made, you know, it beats falling into the hand of man. You know, there's less of a chance that he's gonna be merciful. So God, even in this wrath, was merciful. Because remember, the option was three days pestilence. He gives them morning to night. You know, obviously a lot of people still died. But God, it says he repented him of the evil, verse 16, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, it is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel, Lord, was by the threshing place of Arunah the Jebusite. And David spake to the Lord when he saw the angel that smelt with the people and said, lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me and against my father's house. And Gad came to David that day and said unto him, go up and rear and alter unto the Lord on the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite. So it's great here again that David, you know, is lamenting, and he feels like he's to blame for this. And in a way he is, because he's the one that did the numbering and all of that. But I want to point out this, is that, you know, godly sorrow is not enough, is it? You know, it's not just enough to be sorry, is it? That's what, that's what's going on in this direction. And it's not just enough to be sorry, is it? That's what, that's what's going on in this direction. That's what we're about to see in this story, right? The pestilence comes, you know, God shortens the pestilence, you know, gives him one day instead of three. David sees the angel, he sees what's taking place, and he's saying, look, you know, what have they done? What have these sheep done? He's like, I'm the one that's done wickedly. You know, and he's very, he's expressing his sorrow. So God hears that and he sends, he sends Gad to him and he says, you know what? You're right. That's how the story goes, right? He's saying, I'm glad you're feeling sorry. And he tells him to do something, okay? And this is the point I want to close on. This is what the application I'll make here at the end is that, you know, godly sorrow requires action. It's not just enough to be sorry about things. You know, when we mess up, we do things we shouldn't do, and look, we all do. We sing, we make mistakes. You know, we feel bad about it. That's great. That's half the equation though. The other half of it is that God wants us to do something about it and not just to feel bad about it. To take action. Godly sorrow requires action. If you would, very quickly, turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 7. 2 Corinthians chapter 7. I'll begin in verse 9. If you remember, 2 Corinthians, it comes after 1 Corinthians, obviously, where Paul wrote that 1 Corinthians was a scathing rebuke of the church. He rewrote a letter and told him in 1 Corinthians 5 to kick out, you know, the one that had taken his own father's wife. You know, he committed such fornication that had not so much been named among the Gentiles. And he was ashamed of the church. He was rebuking the whole church for not dealing with the situation. 2 Corinthians is a follow-up where we read about how they did deal with it. They did what Paul said. They had a godly sorrow, right? He says in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, that's the context here. Verse 9, now rejoice, sorrow to repentance. Saying, I'm not rejoicing because they made you sorry. I'm rejoicing because you did something about it and you felt bad. I mean, what good would it do any of us, you know, if our kids, they did something wrong and they just said, I'm real sorry about that. And then just turned around and did it again. Would that make, well, at least they're sorry about it when they do it. You know, we want them to stop doing the godly manner, he goes on and says, that you might receive damage by us and nothing. Saying, I don't have to come and punish you more because you've taken care of it. You don't have to receive damage by us because you've already sorrowed after a godly manner. You've repented. Verse 10, for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of. Now, you know, I don't understand, we all get the gospel here, but you know, when he's talking about, you know, being saved from hell, okay? He's talking about being saved from further punishment, alright? That's another sermon. But the sorrow of the world worketh death. Look at verse 11, before behold, the self saying thing that you sorrowed after a godly sword. What carefulness it wrought in you. You know, you were like, checking yourself. I'm gonna be more careful. Yea, what clearing of yourselves. You know, you got things right. You felt sorry about your sin. You're not, this is the part I like. What indignation, you got mad about what you did wrong. That's good. Why? Cause that's gonna cause you to take action. Yea, what fear. Yea, what vehement desire. Yea, what zeal. Yea, what revenge. There's an exclamation point there. You know, godly sorrow causes us to take action and not just this half hearted, oh you know, I shouldn't do that anymore. If we're really sorry about something, it makes us mad and it makes us indignant against that sin. We get upset with ourselves. We get upset with sin. We want to clear ourselves. You know, godly sorrow makes us a zealous person. And he says, he goes on and says, in all things, you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. And how do they do that? By just feeling sorry? No, by taking action. By changing what was wrong and doing it with zeal. And you know, that's what god is wanting David to do here. If you go back to where we were, 2 Samuel 24. David's saying, he's seeing the punishment being doled out. He sees god's punishment. You know, the angel of the lord and the pestilence and he's feeling bad. And god takes the opportunity to tell him to do something. And what he does is, you know, very significant. Of course, this is how the temple of the lord is established. Okay? The location of it. And he tells him in verse 18, and Gad came to David that day and said unto him, go up, rear and alter the lord and the threshing floor of Ariunah the Jebusite. He said, if you feel bad about it, then go make me an altar. Take some action. 19, verse 19, and David, according to say, the lord of Gad, excuse me, went up as the lord commanded, and Ariunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Ariunah went out and bowed himself before the king on his face and upon the ground. And Ariunah said, wherefore is my lord the king? Come to his servant. And David said, behold unto the lord that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Ariunah said unto the lord, let my lord the king take the offer, take and offer of that which seemeth good unto him. Behold, here are the oxen for burnt sacrifice and threshing instruments and other instruments for the oxen for wood. Now, I love this guy, Ariunah. We don't really learn a lot about him. You know, he's a Jebusite. He's not of Israel. You know, but he's, it's his threshing floor that is, this is eventually his threshing floor. And what I love about him is the fact that he's not, he's not bitter about this. You know, he's not upset. And he's, and David, if you notice there, it says, he says, he's come to buy the threshing floor of thee. David didn't just show up and say, give me your threshing floor. He said, I'm here to buy it from you. And Ariunah says, no, you know what, take it. You can have it. You can have the threshing floor. Oh, And he's telling this to the king. Like, like David's some popper. Like David needs it. As if David doesn't have it. David and Ariunah both show us something here that they both want to, you know, they want to sacrifice. They want it to cost them something. That's what David goes on and says. And he says in verse 23, all these things did Ariunah as a king give unto a king. And Ariunah said unto the king, the Lord, the Lord thy God accept thee. And the king said to Ariunah, 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 cost me nothing. You know, the first time I read that that just jumped out at me, you know, and that's something I've thought about. This passage is something I thought about throughout the years is that, you know, God doesn't want us to just, we don't want to just serve God when it's easy, right? We don't want to just, you know, I'll live for the Lord when it's easy. As long as it doesn't cost anything. And look, there's a lot of people that have this mentality out there today. The vast majority of Christians are like this. You say, well, how do you know? Because, whenever it gets, you know, whenever the man of God gets up and actually preaches a hard sermon, they all turn tail. They don't speak up. You know, they'll turn to that difficult passage and just go, well, that might cost me something. You know, if I actually read that and actually preach what it says, that might upset some people. You know, that guy who drops the big offering plate might walk out. You know, the 11 o'clock news might show up. You know, that could cost me something. People might think poorly of me. Well, you know what? Then you really don't want to serve God now. Because serving God is preaching the whole counsel of the word, and if it costs you something, great. It should cost us something to serve God. And that's what David's attitude was. Look, I'm not just gonna go do the sacrifice and not have it cost me anything. That's why he's saying, I'm gonna buy it from you, Arianna. And Arianna's got the same mentality. He says, look, I'm making sure that we're both in it and have the right motives. And of course, you know, he's the king. He gets his way. David buys it from him. And it says there, and he says, so David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. And David built an altar under the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings so the Lord is a tree to land and the plague was stayed from Israel. But look, David wasn't gonna go do that and not have it cost him something. And this is the mentality in life, when it comes to the Christian life. And I'm gonna end with this alliteration, okay? Sincere service requires sacrifice. Sincere service requires sacrifice. If you wanna serve God sincerely, you're going to have to sacrifice some things. I mean, think about, you know, you think, well, am I gonna have to go buy oxen and build an altar? No. You don't have to go buy land or anything like that. You don't have to have 50 shekels of silver. I mean, doesn't church cost you something? Yeah, it costs you time. It costs you money, right? I mean, you guys could all be at home or wherever else, doing whatever you want right now, but you came here. And you know, what surprised me was something you thought, I'd rather not be there tonight. And that's fine. You know, I'm sure we don't all wanna be at church every single time it's open. Well, you know what? We go ahead anyway because we don't, we say, hey, I wanna serve God and if it means whatever it is, I'm gonna go ahead and be there. You know, that is a sacrifice. That's a form of sacrifice. Not just doing whatever I want all the time. You know, and you can think about soul-witting. You know, people that go out, you know, no matter, any time, you know, it's the same thing. You go out on a Saturday, you know, a lot of people could do a lot of other things on their Saturday mornings and come down here, climb in that van that smells like a gym locker or somebody they never met. Right? That's a sacrifice though, isn't it? You know, people get, you know, they give money, put money in the offering plate, you know, they tithe, which is the Lord's anyways, but you know, they might put more in there and say, I want a sacrifice. You know, people that are working on this building, look, we could go on and on. People that come down here and they say, hey, I'm gonna sacrifice in my time and I'm gonna help in some way. That's all a sacrifice. You know where that comes from? A place of wanting to serve God with sincerity. Not just people that are like, well, I'll serve God when it's easy. And look, I've known Christians like that. Say, oh, I want to help in the church. Great. Grab, grab a toilet wand and start scrubbing. Grab a broom and start sweeping. Grab a mop and start mopping. Grab that vacuum. Grab that duster. Do some menial task and look, we need song leaders. We need people to get involved in the spotlight ministries, too. But if that's all you're good for, then are you really that sincere about it? And I understand that that's all a sacrifice, too. Learning the songs and getting up here and all that. But look, I've known people like that. They only want to serve God when it's not gonna cost them anything, when it's gonna be easy. Well, you know what? That's not the Christian life. So you might as well just wrap it up now. You might as well just go find that purple light church where they're not gonna ask anything from you. Because that's not this church. And that's why we're, you know, another reason why we're not, you know, the most popular church in Tucson. You know, I've thought about what name, when we go independent, what should we call the church? Well, I thought, well, Laborer Baptist Church. Workman Baptist Church. Those are cool names. Then I think, no one's gonna like the sound of that. Labor Baptist Church. Workman? Yeah. I mean, isn't God worth it? God's worth the sacrifice. I mean, what are we gonna offer to God that's gonna compare to the sacrifice that he made for us? Well, I went out Saturday, I went soloing. Great. Amen. You've done that, which is your duty to do. Well, I showed up to church and managed to keep my eyes open. Well, Amen. You know, praise God for that. But that's just what your duty is, isn't it? And God's like, well, I sent my son to die for you. Jesus is saying, I suffered, bled, and died. I spent three days and three nights in hell. Jesus has spent more time in hell than any of us ever will because of his sacrifice. Yeah. And but, so many Christians today, they don't want to sacrifice anything. They don't want to be inconvenienced. They don't want to have to change anything in their life. They don't want to have to give up some sin. They don't want to have to start to get some standard in their life and you know, the poor little thing that God would actually expect something in return after he saved your soul. Not in order to save your soul. We understand that. But you know what? God, you know, we should offer our bodies a living sacrifice unto God, which is our reasonable service, the Bible says. That's your reasonable service. God isn't asking too much for you to lay it all on the altar. And that's what sincere service requires. It requires sacrifice. And you know, the Christian life is one of sacrifice. Yea, all that the Godly Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You know, if you're going to live for the Lord, you're going to have to suffer. There's going to be sacrifices that come. But here's the thing, you know, in David's case, he wouldn't make that sacrifice, right? He wouldn't bought that threshing floor and bought those oxen. He gave that 50 shekels of silver to set up that altar. Why? So that he could stay the plague of sin. You know, he said, well, what's the point of all the sacrifice? What's the point of all the service? Is because sincere sacrifice spares others. It spares other people, doesn't it? You know, you sacrifice in your time to read your Bible, to pray, to get filled with the Holy Spirit, to go out on some soul winning time and learn how to give the gospel and go through all that awkwardness and putting in that dedication. You know, that sacrifice that you make in order to do that, that's going to spare other people. That's going to save the plague of sin in their life. You know, if you make that sacrifice, you know, and you save one soul from hell, it's worth it, Fred. If you do all that, and look, soul winning's hard work. You know, when we emphasize it here, I'm not downplaying like, oh, it's nothing. Just go ahead and do it. You know, it gets easier as we go, but especially at the beginning, it's tough to learn how to talk to people, especially about their soul. You know, I've never met you before. I've talked to you about 10 seconds and I'm going to ask you about where you're from. You know, I get it, especially if we're introverted or we're not our personality. I understand. But look, it's worth it. Because when we are sincere and when we sacrifice, other people are spared. And you know, that's the mentality we have to have. Is that you've got to be like David. You know, there is a plague on this nation today. God is judging. You know? God, there might not be a literal angel out there with a sword drawn, you know, and with a pestilence. But God is judging this nation. God is judging this world. People are dying all the time and going to hell. What do you call that? That's the judgment. How is that not the judgment of God? Right? And look, it's up to us to be like King David to have this mentality of being willing to make a sacrifice. It's something that's going to cost us something. But it's worth it in the long run. You know, because it results in the salvation of other people, of people being spared from having to suffer So that's the book of 2 Samuel. There's a lot of applications we're going to make, but that's just one of them here at the end. You know, that God has Satan under his thumb. He uses Satan, you know, and that God is judging and we need to be willing to go out there and to make a sacrifice in order to spare others. Let's go ahead and pray.