2 Samuel chapter 24. The title of the message this evening
is, A Great Sin, A Great Straight, and Great Mercy. A great sin,
great straight, and great mercy. First of all, we see in this
chapter here in 2 Samuel given for us a great sin. Scripture says in verse 1, And
the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He moved
David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. Now, just before this, in chapter
23, David had given a good confession, a great confession. These last words in chapter 23
and verse 5, David said, Although my house be not so with God,
yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things,
and sure. For this is all my salvation,
and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. David had
a good confession. He confessed his sin. He confessed
that God had made with him an eternal covenant and that all
his soul rested on this covenant of God's grace. This was a good
confession. Yet now in this last chapter,
of 2 Samuel, we see not the last words of David, but some of the
last works of David. And by this work of numbering
the people, we may see what David truly meant when he said, although
my house be not so with God. What David was confessing was
his sin. He was confessing that he was
still a sinner. David was a great man. David
was a great man of God. He was the sweet psalmist. I like that, the sweet psalmist,
because the psalms are sweet, aren't they? They're precious
to a believer in trouble. And David was a great king and
warrior. David was promised Consider this,
David received the promise of God that through his line should
come the Messiah. That was a great promise. Out
of all of Israel, God chose David and out of him, out of his loins
should come forth the greatest king. King Christ, King Jesus. And his kingdom would be eternal
and yet The God here, even though David was so great, God in his
word shows us that all of his saints are nothing more than
sinners saved by grace. David was no different than you
or I, in that he was a sinner saved by grace. I like that song. Not have I gotten, but what I
received. Grace hath bestowed it, and I
have believed. Boasting excluded, pride I abase. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story. To God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. That's what we see here in this
chapter is that David was just like us. A sinner saved by grace. It was free grace. Consider,
believer in Christ, it was free grace that God chose you, that
God loved you with an everlasting love. It was free grace that Christ received you by the
hand of the Father to be His people. It was by grace. He said, All
that the Father giveth me. You who believe were given to
Christ and Christ gladly received you, freely received you as His
own. The Son of God freely took responsibility
for all your salvation. That He should come that we should
come to him and that he should lose none of us. JD and I were
talking just before the service and he said he was fearful at
times to think that he could have missed this, that he could
have missed out on the love of God, the grace of God, but that
was not possible. It was not possible for you to
miss out on it because Christ took responsibility for your
salvation. He freely took all the responsibility
to save you so that none of His should be lost. But all should
come to Him. And all who come to Him, listen,
He will never cast you out. That's a promise. To you who
believe, that's a promise. He will never cast you out. I tell you, what good would it
do any of the elect if we were able to come and yet had no righteousness
or redemption to come? Would it do us any good? No. But praise be to God that He
is a God who has provided all that He requires. All that God requires of you,
God has provided for you. This is what the gospel is. It is God's free grace. Believer
rejoice in Christ for we are in Him. Jesus, our Lord, the
Scripture tells us, He is the Lord our righteousness. And what is your name? You who
believe, what is your name? His name is the Lord our righteousness.
What's your name? Your name is the Lord our righteousness. You have His name. You have His
name. Jesus is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord
who provides. He's not the Lord that makes
possible. He's the Lord that provides. See how that God demanded of
Abraham, his son, his only begotten son. The same Isaac that God said,
in Isaac shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. And
yet God said, you take your son, your only son, and you kill him
for me. And so in obedience, Abraham
raised the knife to kill his only darling son. And what did
he find? He found a ram. God had provided
a substitute. Consider what God demanded of
you and me, our darling. The darling of man is our own
soul. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. What did God demand of you? He
demanded the death of your soul, the eternal death of your soul. And yet God has promised His
elect eternal life. How can this be? Because what
God demanded, He has also provided. This is the gospel. This is the
message of grace that we, by faith, receive, gladly receive. That salvation is all of God.
That God has made Christ, whose soul is infinitely of more value
than yours or mine, And yet God has made His soul an offering
for sin. By His one offering, He hath
perfected, perfected forever them that are sanctified. This
is the message to every sinner saved by grace. This is the message
that is all our salvation. It is the message that is all
our desire. Is that not your desire? To be
found in Christ. That's my desire. That's all
my desire is to be found in Christ. Consider, believer, that God
has forever saved, redeemed, justified, and reconciled all
of His people. Consider that. Go over to 2 Timothy. Hold your place. Go over here
to 2 Timothy. Look at chapter 1, verse 9. Consider this. Consider your
salvation. Verse 9, who? God hath saved
us and called us with an holy calling, not according
to our own works, but according to His own purpose and grace. which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. See this, you sinners saved by
grace. See that God saved you even before
he called you. What's first, calling or salvation? The apostle says who saved us
and called us. Saved us. He saved us before
He called us. Now we know this, that no man
can glory in the salvation of Christ except he first by experience
be called. We know that. That you must have
faith in Christ. You must be called with a holy
calling, an effectual calling of the Spirit. that quickens
you to life and faith. Only those can rejoice in the
eternal salvation of God. Now, if you've never been called,
if you've never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, now, you can
profess to believe the doctrine of election, but you can't rejoice
in it. You can't have any hope in it. Only accept that you're
called. But we who are effectually called
consider that your faith is not the cause of your salvation,
but rather the result of it. The reason you and I believe
on Christ is because Christ hath before redeemed us. And even before that, God purposed
all our salvation in Christ. See that in what he says here
in 2 Timothy 1.9. He said, he saved us and called
us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to his own purpose and grace, which was given us. in Christ Jesus, when? Before the world began. This salvation was ours in Christ
before the world began. Now, considering all of that,
you heirs of God, you children of God, you chosen of the Father,
redeemed of the Son called of the Holy Spirit, you are His
children, and nothing can separate you from the love of God that
is in Christ Jesus. Not life, not death, not angels,
not demons, nothing shall separate us from the love of God that's
in Christ Jesus. Now, considering that, let's
go to our text. Even though the scriptures are
not slack concerning our salvation, our sure salvation, by looking
at this text, we should also know, believer, that you and
I are not exempt from sin. Any man say he has not sin, he
makes God a liar. And the truth is not in him.
Now, I know there's a bunch of people that'll run around and
tell you that they physically, actively do not sin. They are
liars. And they do not know the truth.
God reveals in His Word without question. The greatest of His
children, the most used of His children are not exempt from
sin. Therefore, David is given to
us as a great example, and he here commits a great sin. And we who are believers in Christ,
they're not exempt from sin. Rather, we are prone to sin. In 1 John 2, John tells us, he
says, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. That word, if, is better translated,
when. Because it's not a matter of
if you sin, it's just a matter of when. It's not conditional. You sin. And one of my favorite sayings by one of God's men, I thought
it was really good, he said that We cannot not sin. You cannot not sin. In other words, everything in
our fleshly nature, all we do is sin. Paul in Romans 7 verse 18, he
said, In my flesh dwelleth No good thing. Is that not clear? In my flesh. He is talking about
his nature. His Adamic nature. The nature that he was born with
is the same nature we were born with. And just because we have
been given a new nature does not eradicate the old. Matter of fact, a new nature
just magnifies it. Let me ask you this. Is it righteousness
just a desire to be righteous without action? No. No. Paul said, In my flesh dwelleth
no good thing, for to will is present with me. I want to be
righteous, but how to be righteous I find not. I don't know. I've never done a righteous thing
in my life. It's totally foreign to me. Everything
I do is mixed with sin. Therefore, what do believers
do? We cling desperately, we depend
deliberately, and completely and absolutely trust only in
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that's it. Therein is all
my righteousness before God. Therein is all my acceptance
is Jesus Christ. And even though we are constantly
sinning, the blood of Christ is continually cleansing us from
all sin. From all sin. This is the grace of God. When do we ever deserve to be
cleansed? Never. My deserving of being cleansed
only rests in Christ's merit and His blood. That's it. Grace. And believer, is it not true
with you that many times our sins are not contained within
just our thoughts or motives. Would to God that they only were. They come out. They don't stay
in. They come out and they rear their
ugly head and this is what happened here. Now look at this. David,
he numbered Israel. Now, the Lord was angry with
his people, and David didn't know this, yet God, in his sovereign
purpose, allowed David to fall, so to chasten both him and Israel. It says the Lord was angry and
his anger was kindled against Israel, and he moved David. Now,
that scripture there, move David, if you want to see the other
one, it's in 1 Chronicles 21. it rather says Satan tempted. You know, we know God doesn't
tempt with sin, so when it says God moved David, we know this
in the other context, that he used Satan as an instrument to
tempt David to number Israel. Now, what was wrong with this?
Why was this such a big sin? Well, because when David sent
Joab to number the people, he didn't go just to number the
population. Go over to verse 9, look what
he numbered. And Jacob gave the sum, Joab
gave the sum of the number of the people unto the king. And
there were in Israel 800,000, notice, valiant men that drew
the sword. And the men of Judah were 500,000. What was he numbering? Warriors. warriors, wasn't numbering people. See that David's motive for this
sin was in looking at the strength of numbers rather than trusting
the covenant of God. Remember, he said his son would
be king. His son would be the Messiah.
So David, with his words, said, I'm trusting the covenant. But
with his actions, he trusted in the valiant men of Israel
to sustain his kingdom. This was a great sin. Believer,
is this not often the sin of us? to look for comfort, assurance,
and strength by the number of our works and labors, rather
than looking to the covenant of God. Like David, we are soon, after
confessing that salvation rests in the covenant of God's grace,
we are soon moved to look at the effects and results of the
covenant, rather than the covenant itself. I found myself doing
this very thing immediately after I preached Sunday. I preached to you the covenant.
And you know what? When the Lord moved, the Lord
was effectual in the message and people were blessed. I began
trying to look for evidences that it was a blessing. rather
than trusting God's Word. Who's not done that? So many times we look at the
result, trying to look for the results instead of leaning and
drawing our assurance from the Word of God itself. Yes, we should
rejoice in the effects, When sinners are saved by grace, we
should rejoice in the effects. We know the angels do. We know
that heaven does. We should too. But we should
not lean on them or rest on them for assurance. Believer, listen. God's Word
is successful no matter what. If one come, or if one million
come, if nobody comes, God's word does exactly what God determines
it to do. Go over to Isaiah 55. Look at
it. Isaiah 55, verse 11. God says, so shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that
which I please. and it shall prosper in the thing
whereinto I sent it. I cannot tell you how many times
I have fought the message of the gospel to fall flat. I tell
you I have committed a great sin, and that I have not trusted
God's word. to do exactly what God purposed
to do. God's Word is successful 100%
of the time. It never fails. It never fails. Now then, go back to your text.
Look at the result of this great sin. David said this in verse
10. And David's heart smote him.
After that he had numbered the people, and David said unto the
Lord, I have sinned greatly. I beseech Thee in that I have
done, and now I beg Thee, O God, take away the iniquity of Thy
servant, for I have done very foolishly. For when David was up in the
morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's
seer, saying, Go and say to David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer
thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that
I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David and told
him and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto
thee in thy land, or wilt thou flee three months before thine
enemies? while they pursue thee, or that there be three days pestilence
in the land. Now advise and see what answer
I shall return unto him that sent me. And David said to Gad,
I am in a great strait. What does great sin do? It puts
us in a great strait. The word strait means a narrow
place. David could not turn to the right
or to the left. David could not escape. He was in a great strait. A narrow way David sinned. Believer, our flesh is always
set to do evil, but the man that God saves is not ever left alone,
are we? The flesh lusteth against the
spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these two are
contrary one to another. Therefore, when we sin, listen,
believer, God will not let you go far. God will not let you go far. He will not let you go without
conviction. It had been nine months since
David numbered the people, and I'm sure he felt no conviction
until the number came back. It was when the number came back
that David's heart smote him. Oh, how sin promises us its pleasure. Sin promises us comforts. It promises us relief. But when
it's finished, it brings nothing but death, sorrow. Are you such in one as David? Have you sinned greatly? Has the Lord smote your heart? But notice this, David was not
left with just a smitten heart. God also sent a man to preach
the gospel to rebuke him. This is always God's means. I believe, wasn't it you, Joanne,
that wrote that? Only one you'd stab you in the
heart and you'd thank him for it as a preacher. That's what
God does. He sends his word. I'm sure David hoped that his
confession would be enough. How many times you sin against
the Lord and then you are smitten in the heart and you're praying
that the confession will be it, that nothing else will come of
it. No, I do. I know. We pray, Lord, please,
I confess. Don't let nothing else happen. We know that's not true. We know
this, God will chasten his people. Listen, sin always, always, always
has consequences. even for the children of God,
especially for the children of God. We have consequences for
our sins. Believers, many times we're like
the Shulamite bride, we fall asleep, we become comfortable,
and we don't want to leave our bed of pride and presumption
and self-righteousness. But I'll tell you, when the Lord
puts his hand to the hole of our hearts, he moves us. And when we come to the door
and he's not there, does it not chasten our souls? David, when he heard that number
that he so longed to hear, he did not find comfort or consultation
in it. but rather ran back to the covenant. Isn't this what God does for
us? When we sin, he always moves
us. He always puts us in such a straight
that we cannot do anything but return to him. That's what he
did to David. And that's what he'll do to every
believer that sins. He will chasten his children. Do not despise his chastening
hand. Do not despise it. The Lord chasteneth whom he loveth. If you are chastened, and when,
not if, when you are chastened of him, be thankful. Yes, it's grievous. But then, if you be without chastisement,
then are you not sons, but bastards. Praise God for His chastening
hand. If we are sons of God, He will
chasten His people. But sin, but the sin of David when he
put his trust in the army of Israel rather than the covenant,
God put him in a great strait. Listen to me, whatever you put
in preeminence to God, God must take it away. Whatever or whoever you put in
the preeminence or the place of Christ, listen to me, if you
are God's children, He will take it from you. He must take it from you. If
we have said anything above Christ, are we trusting in uncertain
riches? Are we looking for strength in our family, in our comfort
in our family rather than Christ? Are we looking at the results
of God's word instead of resting in God's son? Surely God will
take the very thing we love the most and dash it to pieces. What did David love the most?
What was David trusting in? Israel. Who suffered? Israel. I'll ask you this. Has God hemmed
you in on every side? Then let us learn to do what
David did. What did David do? Look at this
quickly. He said, I'm in a great strait.
Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies
are great. Are you in such a chastening
strait? Then fall into the hand of God. Notice God gave him three things.
What did David choose? He chose God. I don't know what's best. Do
you? I don't know what's best. Do I know how to correct you?
No. I don't know how to correct myself.
Therefore, when we are chastened, let us fall into the hands of
God. And you know what God did? He
did the least. He did the least evasive thing. And you know what? He did it
until the very end. Notice that in verse 15. So the
Lord sent pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the
time appointed. And there died of the people
from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men. The Lord knows just the right
amount of pressure to put on you and me. And he'll always finish it. One thing about me and my children
a lot of times is I feel pity and maybe I let up too early
or I press too hard. God presses just right. God knows what you can bear.
and he'll put on you only what you need. May God teach us that. May God teach us that. There's great mercy in the hand
of God. I'll close with this. Go over
to Hosea. I'll close with this. Hosea chapter two. See if this is not what the Lord
was doing to David and what He does to us when we sin and He
chastens us. Verse 6 of Hosea chapter 2, Therefore,
behold, I will hedge up the way with thorns, and make a wall,
then shall she not find her paths. She shall follow after her lovers,
but she shall not overtake them. She shall seek them, but she
shall not find them. Then shall she say, I will go
and return to my first husband then, for then was it better
with me than now. You see, that's exactly what
David did when he confessed his sin. He said, I'm going to go
back to the covenant. Isn't that what we do when we
sin? When our heart smites us? Then we say, I'm going to go
back to Christ. But you know what? Does God allow that just
to go on there? No. Watch. He doesn't stop there. For she did not know that it
was I that gave her the corn and wine and oil and multiplied
her silver and gold they prepared for Baal. Therefore I will return
and take away the corn from the time thereof and the wine in
the season thereof and recover my wool and my flax given to
cover her nakedness. Now I will discover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of
my hand. Now go down to verse 14. Therefore, behold, in this pitiful
condition, he says, behold, I will allure her and bring her into
the wilderness and speak comfortably to her. I will give her her vineyards
from thence, and the valley of Achars a door of hope. Isn't this what He does when
He strips us of all that we thought would comfort us? He then in
the wilderness allures us with what? Mercy. Grace. He hedges us up so that we can
only go in one direction to Him. That's what chastening does.
It brings us and allures us to the what? Valley of Achar. What's
that? That's where Achan the sinner
was killed so that Israel might have the victory. Who was it
that was killed for us? It was Christ who has made sin
for us. Who knew no sin that you should
be made the righteousness of God in Him. He brings us again
to Christ. Isn't that where David started
in chapter 23? Isn't that where he ends now
in chapter 24? He ends right where he starts. That's what
chastening does. It brings us always back to the
feet of Christ. It brings us humbled. It brings
us stripped. And how long does this take place?
As long as we live in this body. How long can you expect to be
chastened? How long do you plan on breathing? We should be thankful. We should not despise His chastening.
We should despise our sin. That's what we should despise,
self. and praise God that he always
brings us back. He will never let us go. I'm thankful for this. I pray that God would brand this
into our hearts. by His Holy Spirit. Would to God I would learn something. And I will if God be my teacher. I pray that God bless us. Let's
stand and be dismissed in prayer.