And for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to 1 Chronicles chapter 21 and
reading from our text verse 24. And King David said to Ornan,
No, 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. We read together this evening
the account of David numbering Israel and then God's giving
through Gant a choice of three things offered to David as a
punishment, as chastisement for this. David's heart smote him
that he had numbered Israel. One reason would have been because
it was through pride. It was pride that made him want
to know How many was in Israel? Another reason was the law demanded
that when the people were numbered, and generally it was only numbering
when they were going out to war, and this was not a time of war,
but that for each one that was numbered, then was paid five
shekels into the sanctuary. In one sense, then they were
redeemed. We do not read. of that happening
in this case. Whatever the reason, David's
heart smote him. He knew, his own conscience testified
after he'd done it, that he had sinned. It's a good thing for
us to remember this. It's really an example of how
God works in conviction. Yes, Joab had protested. He didn't want to do it. He didn't
actually fulfill the command. But David still went along with
it, and it's not until it was done that then his heart smote
him. Then conscience bore its work. And I say to those of you here
that know something of the work of conscience, the work that
brings us humble before God, That means that when the Lord
deals with them, instead of rising up against the Lord, we bow before
the Lord and bow before his hand. David says, let me now fall into
the hand of the Lord. It's a blessed thing to have
a tender conscience and a conscience that speaks after we have sinned. But God used this event to show
David where the temple was to be built. This is two years before
David died and he already knew that he would not build it, Solomon
his son would build it and he was preparing with all his might
before his death but as yet did not know where the temple was
to be built. So in this account it is shown
where it was to be built where the Lord appeared for him, where
he answered by fire. We would remember that when the
temple was built and dedicated by Solomon, again, the Lord answered
by fire. The sacrifice was lit the same
as it was on Mount Carmel, same as it was in the wilderness with
fire from heaven. And so David saw the Lord answered
him there. He saw he I was able to offer
the sacrifice that beautifully sets forth our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ, the same as the temple did. And of course it
was in this same place, Mount Moriah, that Abraham offered
up Isaac, his son, as well. So these things, they point to
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and the offering that He was
to make. at Jerusalem and it is three
words in this verse I've read to you as a text that is upon
my spirit. Three words that relate to the
place and the offering and that which was offered at Calvary,
offered by our Lord Jesus Christ. And the three words are buy,
which is pointing to a redeemed or purchased people. And then
secondly, full price, a particular redemption, a just balance, a
payment in full, not over, not under, but full price. And then
thirdly, we have cost. I will not take that which is
thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. Let us not the cost forget the
sufferings of our Lord. But before we look at these three
points, I want to ask another question or look at this question,
who? Who was responsible for what
happened in this chapter? You might say, well, why? David
says that I have sinned. He takes the responsibility for
what he had done, and the Lord visited upon him the chastisement,
or upon Israel. Why do we ask who is responsible? Well, at the beginning of this
chapter, we read that Satan stood up against Israel and provoke
David to number Israel. Was Satan then responsible? Satan's hand was in it. He was
the one that provoked David. What a lesson that we have here.
Satan may tempt, but until we actually follow along with his
temptations and do it, then We are not guilty, but when we go
along with it, and when we do what Satan tempts us to do, then
we are responsible for that. But then what about the account
in 2 Samuel? 2 Samuel chapter 24, we have
the same account. But in this, the beginning of
the chapter reads, and again, the anger of the Lord was kindled
against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, go
number Israel and Judah. God moved David. The Lord moved
David. What is the truth? Who was responsible
for that? As if we think of the case of
Job, where Job, Satan accused Job of serving the Lord because
he had hedged him about. And he said, touch all that he
has and he will curse thee to thy face. So the Lord gave Satan
permission to do, to try David, to try Job and to test him. And in the midst of those trials,
the Lord said to Satan, hast thou considered my servant, Joe? Thou movest me against him without
a cause. And he still retains his integrity. And there you see Satan is moving
Satan's hand, with the Lord in control and the Lord giving permission. And so we have this. You can
understand this. Satan, he rises up against Israel. He thinks he is in control. He
is like Pharaoh, who says, who is the Lord? I'm the one that's
keeping Israel in bondage. I'm the one in control here.
But the Lord says, I have hardened his heart that he will not let
the people go. I will show my might and my power
in thee. The Lord is in control. Pharaoh
thinks he's in control. Satan thinks he's in control. Satan thinks he is moving it,
but no, the Lord has a case against Israel. Israel have sinned. The Lord is angry against Israel. But even in the Lord's anger
against Israel, even in what he's going to do to chasten them
to deal with them, he's going to turn that curse into a blessing.
He's going to use that to show where the temple should be built
and to give a beautiful time of how Israel's sin, the sin
of the people of God, shall be put away, blotted out, and pardoned. Now let's think of this same
three as it were satan and our lord and david and we take that
to calvary what was the first promise the seed of the woman
shall bruise thy head and he shall bruise thy heel what was
it said of calvary was this is thine hour and the power of darkness
This is when our Lord is to be bruised, where He is to suffer,
He is to bleed and die. But who is bringing this about?
After the crucifixion, on the Day of Pentecost, we have Peter
clearly saying, He that was delivered by the determinate counsel and
full knowledge of God, It was the Lord that brought this about,
salvation of the Lord. Ye have taken and by wicked hands
crucified and slain. The people were not without guilt,
they were guilty. But the Lord was in control and
he brought it about. Same as David, just because it
was the Lord's purpose and just because Satan stood up against
Israel, didn't release David from guilt. And it didn't release
the Jews from guilt. The Jews could not say, well,
this has been all the time appointed. This was God's plan. Because it was God's plan, we're
without guilt. They didn't say that. They couldn't
say that. David didn't say that. And we're
not to say that either. The Lord shows us what is good. He shows us the right way, the
good way to walk in. And when we sin, the Lord will
chasten and correct for sin. But what an encouragement in
the Lord's dealing with sin in this case, that there is a blessing
in it. And David, he knew the Lord,
and he would rather fall into the hand of the Lord than into
the hand of man. And may that be our persuasion
and our desire as well, that we'd rather fall into the hand
of the Lord. than into the hand of man, because
the Lord is in control. And though, of course, the Lord
would still have been in control, even if he'd have used man and
used their enemies. Yet David wanted that direct
dealing with the Lord, the angel of the Lord. And of course, there's
a type there as well. We find those three days, how
much was laid upon three days in the word of God. It's a good
thing to have a third day religion. You think of the first of these
three days and death and the second death and the third death
until the end of that third day and then you find the staying
of the hand and the altar and the deliverance, the sacrifice. You think of Jonah, first day
in the whale's belly, second the same, third the same. All
thy ways, thy billows have gone over me, but the end of the third,
the Lord speaks and he's delivered. You think of Abraham going up
to Mount Moriah to offer his son in the place the Lord would
tell him of on the first day. His son is as good as dead and
he walks towards Mount Moriah and the second and the third,
it gets even more piercing. My father, defy the wood, but
where is the lamb for a burnt offering? But at the end of that
third day, Isaac is taken off the altar, the ram is in his
place, and Abraham is blessed and favoured. You and I need
a third day religion. Remember that when we come into
fiery trials, come into dark, places. Remember when our Lord
rose from the dead on the third day? Even that third day began
with such sorrow, perplexity, uncertainty. They've taken away
my Lord. I know not where they have laid
Him. We trusted that it should have been He that should have
redeemed Israel. But at the end of that day, then
were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. The Lord is
risen indeed and hath appeared. And that's what we have here,
a third day religion, a deliverance of that third day. Well, let's
come back to the three points suggested by the three words
in this verse. The three words being buy, full
price, and cost. Firstly, buy, a redeemed people. Apostle Paul says, you are not
your own, you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God
in your body and in your spirit, which are his. God's people are
a purchased people. The type was also shown in Egypt
as they were brought out of Egypt. It was through the precious blood
of Christ that they were purchased. They were redeemed. from Egypt
and right through the children of Israel were to be, and we
are to remember that it was not just that they couldn't just
walk out, they had to be a redeemed people. And may we remember that,
it's a beautiful word really, bought, bought with a price. purchase people, a people that
the one that has purchased them has purchased them for himself. The one that has redeemed them
has taken them from destruction, from death, from ruin, and brought
them to be a people that were to his praise. This people have
I formed for myself They shall show forth my praise." You know,
and I don't want to use too mean a description, but say if you
had an old car in a field and it was rusting away, it was no
good for anything you might think, and the owner of the field said
that I'm going to get a lorry, I'm going to take this away,
just completely destroy this vehicle. It's clattering up my
field, it's not worth anything at all to me. It's just ruined. But someone said, no, I'm going
to pay for that. I want that. And they bought
it. And they restored it. and they
fully restored it to its original condition, or better than its
original condition. And it's not just been bought,
but it's been redeemed, redeemed from destruction. It's been pulled
back from being discarded and completely destroyed. And when
we think of the sentence against our first parents, in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Already that
sentence of death, already it is over us, already men and women
are dying, already they are going to the second death. And yet
the Lord has worked a way of redemption to bring back from
the pit, to restore, and it begins with a purchase. to making a people his own. And we know that in that sense,
they are the Lord's in several ways. Thine they were and thou
gavest them me, given by the Father to the Son, but they were
given to him to redeem. The hymn writer says, you saw
me lost and ruined in the fall and loved me not withstanding
all. There's a warning in Scripture
that we be not a surety for a stranger. And the warning is that if we
don't know this person, and then they cannot pay, then we will
have to pay for them. And we could lose everything
that we've got. And the Israelites were warned
not to do that. But how that highlights the Lord,
when He became surety for His people, He knew that they would
cost him his heart's blood. There was no possibility that
he would escape that payment. He would have to pay. He must
make good, he must redeem them. And so when we have this word
buy, a redeemed people, a bought people, a purchased people, a
people that are the Lord's, people that are the Lord's by redemption,
a lamb slain from the foundation of the world to redeem his people. Then we have, secondly, the full
price. This comes several times in this
account. David at the very start He says
in verse 22, thou shalt grant it me for the full price. And he says that the plague may
be stayed from the people. He's joining together the full
price and the staying of the plague. And he makes it to be
something that is very necessary. In our text, King David said
to Ornan, 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. A full price. If, as some teach,
our Lord died for the whole world, for the sins of the whole world, How could that be put in such
terms of paying a full price? It'd be paying an overprice,
it'd be paying an indistinct sum, even paying for some who
would perish eternally, Judas and King Saul and others came. But when we say full price, It
has got a particular aspect to it, particular redemption. In Proverbs we have several times
the need of a just weight and a just balance. That the full
price, the right price, ought to be paid in each time. The
Jews should not have diverse weights in their bags. If they
were selling wheat, they couldn't bring out, using today's measures,
pull out a weight that had one kilogram written on it. But actually,
it only weighed 800 grams. Because they'd get the money
for a kilogram of wheat, but they'd only have to part with
800. But if they were buying, and
if they were buying from a merchant who was selling wheat to them,
And they'd pull out another weight, that would still say a kilogram,
but that would weigh 1.2 kilograms. So they'd pay for their one,
and the person selling to them would think that they'd only
parted with one kilogram, but actually they parted with 1.2. And those different weights,
those different standards, And the Lord says that that is an
abomination. We need a just weight and a just
balance, a perfect price. And that is shown in Numbers
3 as well, in the latter part of that chapter, where the children
of Israel were to be redeemed, the firstborn of the children
of Israel redeemed by the Levites. So they had to count the Levites
and count the firstborn of Israel, and they had to go one for one. where there wasn't enough Levites
to redeem the firstborn, 273, they were short, they had to
pay the five shekels according to the measure of the sanctuary
as a redemption price for each one, a one-to-one redemption,
a full price, a price that matched exactly. Now this is what David
wanted to do here. This is what was done. And that
was what was done at Calvary as well. And what an encouragement
that that is. Because there is nothing left
to pay. Christ has paid it all. There's
no balance to fill up by us. It's not Christ doing one part
and we doing ours. He's not leaving a debt that
still must be paid. It is showing a receipt for the
full amount. There is no debt left. How do
we know that? Because of the empty tomb. He
hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him
from the dead. If the full price had not been
paid, Christ could not have risen from the dead. Complete satisfaction was necessary. And that which the Lord came
to do, He did. And really one of the whole secrets
of paying that full price is the Lord knows for whom He stood. Every one of them knows their
persons, He knows their sins. He had laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. The very sins of His people,
they are known by the Lord. They are born by Him. The price
of their redemption, of their setting free, of satisfying the
law of God, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.
That is all met by the Lord, because He knows. You know, you wouldn't go and
go to a merchant and say, I want to give the full price for my
friend's debts in this certain merchant, I'll take his account
and put it on mine, but I don't want to know anything about his
affairs, I don't need to know what he owes or what his debt
is at all, I just want to settle that. So how can you settle what
you don't know? How can you pay what you do not
know is owed? The Lord knows the debt. He knows
what he has paid to set his people free. A full price is what the
law demanded, what the holiness of God demanded, what the justice
of God demanded. Paul reinforces it in Romans
8, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are
in Christ Jesus, the full price. What is the other evidence that
full price being paid? Another evidence is that those
for whom the price is paid have been set free. They are free
of that debt. They are free of that condemnation. That's why our Lord said, to
those that believed, if ye continue in my word, ye shall be my disciples
indeed, ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free. If the Son shall make you free, ye are free indeed. Freedom from sin, Satan's snares,
says the M writer. It is a purchase that does not
just belong to eternity, does not just enable the Lord to give
eternal life to his people, but to deliver them from the power
and dominion of Satan. You might say that Satan still
works, he still tempts, I still feel him, but what of our Lord? When he wrought out this price,
the first promise was thou shalt bruise his heal, for thou shalt
bruise his head, he shall bruise thy heel. And so our Lord suffered. The people of God know also what
it is to be bruised by Satan, but not destroyed by him. Satan hath desired to have you
and to sift you as we said the Lord to Peter, but I pray for
thee that thy faith fail not. Be diligent, He watchful, the
adversary of the devil, as a roaring lion, seeketh whom he may devour. But he is a destroyed enemy in
that sense. He cannot prevail against the
people of God. He has no warrant to. They are
not his. They are the Lord's. And they
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
because the full price is paid. Really, each one that is called,
each one that is born again in the Spirit, each one whose eyes
have been opened, each one that the Lord has passed by and bid
them live, is a living evidence and token of a full price paid. Otherwise they would not be free.
Don't have it over here, but over in Australia, You used to
be able to go into a store and buy something, and you'd buy
it on, I forget what term they use, but you'd agree to buy this
certain item, and you can just pay it off. It's just put aside
in another room in the store, and whenever you've got some
money, you just pay it off. So instead of getting a loan
to buy this thing, you're just slowly paying it off. So if it's
in a sale, you get the sale price, but you just keep paying it.
And when you've paid the full price, then you can go and redeem
it. You go into the store and you
give the evidence, I've fully met the price, and you can take
it out of the store and take it home. Very different thing
than just walking into the store and just taking something and
walking out, and the police overtake you and lock you up because you
haven't paid the price, or even if you'd paid half of the price
or nearly all the price, but there's still a debt on it. You
are not free to take that away. And so again, with the blessings
that Christ has purchased for his people, the blessings that
they have are very evidence that the full price has been paid
and not part paid. It is fully paid, fully satisfied. So we have then in this verse
these words, full price. But I will verily buy it for
the full price. The third word is the word cost. I will not take that which is
thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. Especially when we're thinking
of observing the Lord's Supper after this service, We have to
remember the cost of our redemption. Remember the sufferings of our
Lord. Remembering what it actually
cost Him to buy and redeem us and to set us free. We're not to forget that cost,
we're to remember what was involved in it, what was actually done. Now, if we had someone paying
our debts, and we knew that that person, to be able to do it,
that they had done many, many hours' work, that they'd laboured
in water or fire, and they'd really suffered a lot to be able
to get the money and to get the wherewithal settle our debt and
to pay what needed to be paid, we wouldn't just think about
the payment, we wouldn't just think about the money, we'd think
about what it cost them to do that, what it cost them to be
able to do it. And so with our Lord, and we
go back and we think, what did it cost? Our Lord spoke of the
Glory that he had with his father before the world was. He left
his father, he left the glory. He took on him the seed of Abraham,
something that would never, ever change. Never, ever be divested
of at all. He would always have that. We
can't really imagine that, can we? Of doing something to, well,
Perhaps there would be one little illustration. There are some
that have had a loved one that have been on dialysis and they
needed a kidney. And they've donated a kidney
to them, taken something of themselves and given it to another person
so they can live a life without being on dialysis. And what they've
actually done, for the rest of their life, they're going to
live with one kidney. And if anything happens to that,
then they're in the same position as the one that they held. And
so it is a decision or something that they've done that has affected
their body or changed how they are, and they've remained like
that. And when we think with our Lord,
the eternal God, Emmanuel, God with us, made flesh, dwelt among
us, He will always bear that human frame. He'll always be
God and man in one person. He'll always be that same Jesus,
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. And the condescension, the willingness,
His obedience, His obedience even unto death, the death of
the cross, the cost to be made like His brethren, yet sin accepted. How long shall I be with you?
How long shall I bear with you? They all forsook Him and fled.
Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind. the cost
that our Lord went through in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating
great drops of blood as the weight of His people's sin laid upon
Him, made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him, laid on Him the iniquity of us
all, sweating great drops of blood, if it be possible, Let
this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will, but thy will be
done. It's hard for us to fully enter
into the cost, what he endured, what he went through, to settle
that debt, to pay that price, and all the time be able, if
he wished, to deliver himself. This is really the meekness of
our Lord is seen. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness
is willingly submitting to something that you could easily escape
from if you would. Our Lord said in the Garden of
Gethsemane, Thinkest thou not that I may pray my Father, and
you presently give me twelve legion of angels? But how then
should the Scriptures be fulfilled? Those times he passed right through
the midst of them, even in the garden, when he said, Whom seek
ye? And they fell backward. He had that power to resist,
to deliver himself, but he didn't use that power. He didn't exercise
that power. He freely, willingly endured
those things he went through, the things that we, would, if
we could, we'd escape the cross. We'd find some other way, but
the Lord did not escape, nor did He seek to. I have power
to lay it down, I have power to take it again. The love of
the Lord to His people, to lay down His life for them, to know
that cost, to go through it, to make a vow and to fulfil that
vow, We have to remember this cost,
we have to think of that cost. Some of us may know those who
have looked after fathers or mothers or loved ones and there's
been a cost to it. They couldn't go on holidays. They've taken money they would
have spent for something else and they've spent it on them.
And they've had many hours that they perhaps haven't been with
their husband, or haven't been with their wife, because they're
looking after their aged parents. And in all these things, there's
a cost. There's things that they've been
through. And they've done it willingly, freely. Maybe sometimes
they really need to seek grace and help to be able to do it.
They struggle, because we're only mortal for sinners, but
with our Lord, just to go through what He went through. Even so,
ought we to lay down our lives for the brethren. Our Lord laid
down His life for His brethren. So dear friends, these three
words in this text, may they just remain with us As is keys
to these thoughts by a redeemed people, full price a particular
redemption and cost, let us not the cost.