2 Samuel 24, and this morning,
Lord willing, we'll be looking at this entire chapter, this
entire history that is set before us in this chapter. Verses 1-25,
we won't look at every individual verse, but we'll get a good overview
of what's going on here and what the Lord would have for us in
this passage. 2 Samuel 24, And I want to go ahead and dive
right into the message. There's a lot here. There's a
lot here for us to see and to learn. The title of the message
this morning is, Chastisement and Humility. chastisement and
humility. Now, the first thing I want us
to notice in this chapter is the sin of pride. The sin of pride. You'll see this in verse 1. It says, And the anger of the
Lord was kindled against Israel, and He moved David against them
to say, Go and number Israel and Judah. Now, here in this
text, we see again that God is angry again with Israel. This is not the first time that
the Scriptures mention this, and it's definitely not the last
time that we read this in Scripture, that the anger of the Lord was
kindled against Israel. And they at this time were no
doubt a nation of great success. The nation of Israel at this
time was at one of the highest points it had ever been. David
the king had brought peace in the land. The Lord by David had
brought peace against their enemies. They weren't at war. They were
very prosperous in this land. They were very rich in this land. They were one of the most powerful
nations at that time. And God had set them that way,
and they were successful. They were prosperous. But friends, this was most likely
the reason of God's anger. This most likely caused the nation
of Israel to grow lazy in the service of God. They became complacent
in their worship, and they were full of pride. Full of pride. This is manifest to us. How do
we know this? You can know a nation by looking
at its ruler. You want to know our nation?
You want to know how our nation is? Look at our rulers. You won't
have to see how wicked we are, just look at them. And God here
gives us through David a picture of the nation of Israel. There
David was. He was prosperous. He was doing well. He was at
peace. But David had something in his
heart which was in the heart of everyone in Israel at this
time, and it was a heart of pride. A heart of haughtiness. A heart
that was leaning on its successes. The attitude of David was the
heart of his people. And notice who moved him to this. I like this. You can't escape
this. It says, "...and the anger of
the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he..." Who? God moved
David to number the people. Now, God moved David to number
the people. Friends, it's at this we must
just bow down. It's where we can't fathom and
understand the things of God in this realm, to where He uses
men, even the sin of men, to accomplish His sovereign decrees. God moves everyone and everything
that is done in this world, whether by the hands of wicked men or
righteousness by His saints. God does it all. God moves them
all. And we know this, that God in
sovereignty and providence moved the actions of men, but we know
this, God's not chargeable with sin either. Even though David
was moved by God to do this, God was not chargeable with David's
sin. Scripture says that God does
not sin, neither does God tempt any man to sin. He cannot sin. But what has happened here is
God. God allowed David to do what
was already in David's heart to do. The pride of David was
already in his heart. The only thing God did is allow
him to do what he wanted to do. And so therefore, God is not
chargeable, although God had decreed it. And so, we come to this act of
numbering the people. Now, friends, I've read the Scriptures
in this, and I can't find an instance of where God says it's
a sin to number the people. Matter of fact, Moses numbered
the people. Joshua numbered the people of
Israel. God commanded them to do it.
So there was no sin in numbering the people. That was not the
sin. The sin is here found in verse 2. Look in verse 2 and
you'll see what I'm talking about. He says, "...for the king said
unto Joab the captain of the host which was with him, Go now
through the tribes of Israel and Dan and Beersheba, and number
ye the people." And here it is, "...that I may know the number
of the people. What was his reason? Why would
he number the people? Were they at war? Now, a general
is wise to number his soldiers if he's going to war, isn't he?
Sure he is. If you are preparing a tax on
the people, it is wise to number the people so you know how much
money you would have coming in. David was not taxing them and
he was not going to war. What was he doing? He said that
I may exalt my name by the number of the people. He wanted to count
them to see how big his kingdom was. My, oh my, look at my prosperous
kingdom that I have done. Number the people, Joab, so that
I might glory in my strength and my power." This was the attitude of Nebuchadnezzar,
wasn't it? When he stood on his balcony
and he said, I have built for the house of the kingdom by the
might of my power and for the honor of my majesty. And what
happened when that heathen king said that? God sent him out to
be a beast in the field for seven years, didn't He? He said, I'm
going to show you who's in charge. I'm going to show you that I'm
sovereign, that I put you in that place and not yourself. If He did that to a heathen king,
how much sore punishment does David deserve who is a child
of God? How much more sore punishment
do you suppose David would receive because he knew God? Friends, to you who have been
given much, much is required of you. Much is required of you. There's nothing that God has
not taught you that He is not going to expect you to perform. David knew of the sovereignty
of God, of the glory of God, and yet he still in pride would
exalt himself. And so when that number come
back, Herod Joab sent out nine months and got all the number
of the people of Israel, and when that number come back, David
didn't expect this, but it was much smaller than he thought.
It was much smaller than he thought. If you were to go back into the
time where Israel crossed over, you will realize that this number
here is only slightly double of what that number was. 430 years, and it's only slightly
double what it was when they came into the land. Friends,
that's not much increase. That's not much increase. That's
a very small increase. And this struck David in the
heart, and he recognized this by that small number. He said,
I have sinned against God in this. Look at that in verse 10.
And David's heart smote him. After he had numbered the people,
and David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that
I have done, and now beseech Thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity
of Thy servant, for I have done foolishly." David found out that he was not
as great as he thought he was. David found out he wasn't as
strong as he thought he was. You see, David had thought, well,
it must have been by the number of people that we conquered our
enemies. It must have been by the size
of our kingdom that we conquered our foes. And when that number
come back, he recognized this. There is no way that a small
number like that could conquer the other nations. No way. It
had to come from God. It had to be God. It had to be
the hand of God to make us so prosperous. We couldn't be prosperous
with that number of people. We couldn't be as mighty as we
are with that number of people. And so he was smote in his heart
and recognized that God should receive the glory and not himself. So now believer in Jesus Christ,
you who believe Christ, Children of the living God, let us here
in this place recognize that though we are justified by God,
though we are redeemed by the blood of Christ, friends, we
are not exempt from sin. We're not exempt from it. David was a man after God's own
heart, and how many sins did God confess in His Word that
David did? Friends, we're not exempt from
any sin save blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. You're not exempt
from any sin. Friends, we by this flesh are
prone to fits of pride. This old nature is in each one
of us. And we are not exempted from
sins like this. And friends, I'll tell you, we
live in an age that is very similar to the age that I've just described. You live in a time of prosperity
beyond anyone's idea of prosperity at this time. You have more in
your cupboard than the kings of that day had in their pantries.
Do you realize how far they had to travel to get spices, and
yet you go to the corner store and there it is? You have such
conveniences where you have water coming into your home. You have
vehicles to take you to and from places. We have much convenience
in this world. We have much prosperity. But
what does this prosperity do to the church? Every time in
the Scriptures it tells us that prosperity always leads to pride
and laxness in worship. It always does this to the church.
We live in such a time, believer, as this. Let us be warned. And I'm warning
every one of you who are believers in Christ, be warned. You live
in a very dangerous time. It is a time when we are tempted
to be lax in the service of God, and we are tempted to lean on
our own understanding of things, our own wisdom, our own knowledge,
and our own worship of God. We're tempted to worship God
in the way that we see fit, the way that we see best. We're tempted
to that. I was approached by a young woman
this last week, and we were talking, and she asked the question, why
is it that I would have to go to a place to worship God? Why
is it that I have to come to this place to worship God? Why
can't I worship God in my own home, in my car? I can worship
God anywhere. I don't have to go to a place
of worship. And I said, where did you find that? Would you
mind showing me in the Scriptures where you found that, please?
Because I would like to know where you got that from. You
see, what she's done is she's leaned on her own wisdom, on
her own understanding, rather than going to where God says
and doing what God says concerning worship. She was leaning on her own thoughts.
Now friends, there is no doubt that we are to that we are to
engage in private worship. There's no doubt about that.
I worship God. I worship God every day. I should.
I should worship God in my car. I should worship God in my office.
I should worship God in my home. I should worship God every day,
everywhere. He is worthy of worship everywhere. But I'll tell you this, God's
Word places more emphasis on public worship than private worship.
He does. Why? Because this is the way
God says, I'll be worshiped. You know, the nation of Israel,
when it was divided, you know why it was divided? It was divided
because the people of the north said, why do I got to go to the
south? I don't get it. Why can't I just
worship God up here? We can worship God up here just
as well as you can down there. God said, no, you can't because
my temple is down there. You see, God has always ordained
a place of worship. He has always ordained that. He has always placed His importance
on public worship. God tells us not to forsake it.
Christ tells us that where two or three are gathered together
in My name, there I am in the midst of them. It is a special
way, in a special way, that God is with us when we meet together. And those two that are gathered
together, one of those will be a preacher and the other the
congregation. I don't care if one person shows up. It doesn't
really matter. Because when we meet together,
it's me, Him, and Christ. There'll be three there when
there are two. Because Christ said, I'll be
there in a special way. Now, Christ is always with you
in your heart, is He not? Yes. But this is a special time,
a special place that He says to meet. And let me ask you then,
why are the churches of God empty? If that's what God says, why
are the churches empty? Why are God's people negligent
in the service of God? I'll tell you one word. Pride. I will serve God in my
own way. And I will not bow to His. That's
all you can say. It's pride. Pride. And there are many professors
of faith in Christ who will not come and will not bow to the
Word of God. Friends, to think that you can
worship God when and where you please, instead of how God determined,
how God has declared, is nothing more than a foul stench of pride. It is nothing more than trying
to rob God of His glory. David was trying to rob God of
His glory. And God says, I'll not have it.
I'll not have it. Proverbs 6, He tells us this,
There are six things that the Lord doth hate, yea, seven are
an abomination to Him. What's the first? A proud look. Above murder. Above murder! God says, pride I hate! I hate it. I hate the sin of
pride. We know the pride of face, don't
we? A lot of people have that. A
lot of people have pride of race, like the Jews did. But the worst
one of all is the pride of grace. Pride of grace. Friends, grace
should never make us proud. If it's taught right, it should
abase us down before the feet of the living God. It's the most
humbling doctrine in all the world, that God saved me, a wretch,
because He would. And I'll tell you, I can even
understand the pride of Nebuchadnezzar because he was a heathen king. But David was the servant of
God. He was a man taken from the sheepfold,
wasn't he? And exalted to the kingdom. David
was a man taken from a lowly place and put in a high place.
He understood that he was the elect of God. He understood the
grace of God. He understood the redemption
of Christ. He understood all of these things.
But now his heart had become proud as though he had done all
these things. Believer, we must watch and pray
against this sin. For we have been given much,
and we have been blessed to see that salvation is of grace and
mercy of God. We see His great love on us,
and yet we are prone to exalt ourselves above what we really
are. Romans 12, 3 says, For I say
through the grace given to me to every man that is among you,
not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.
How high are you to think of yourself? Believer, let us think soberly
of who we are. And all that we are or ever shall
be is owed only to the sovereign grace of God. If I have anything
good, it is from the hand of God. What then have I to be proud
of but Him? What am I to boast in but Him? Nothing. Nothing but Him is worthy
of our praise. Therefore, give God what is due
God. Give God the worship that He
deserves, that He has by His blood merited. Or else, if you are truly a child
of God, you will soon be chastened as Israel is here. If you will
not bow, child of God, if you will not get rid of your pride,
God will get rid of it for you. And that's not pleasant. It's not pleasant. This is the
second thing I want us to see, the chasting hand and mercy of
God. Look at this in verse 13 of our
text. Verse 13 says, So Gad came to David and told him and said,
Shall seven years' 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 to him that sent me." In other words, God is saying
to David, so you think you're sovereign. So you think you're
all that, David? You think that you're the one
that did this, huh? You're the one that did all this?
Well then, Mr. Sovereign, I'm going to give
you three choices. You choose. You choose. Mr. High and Mighty, he said, do you want three months
to be pursued by your enemies? Seven years famine or three days
pestilence. And David said, I'm in a great
strait. I'm not as high as I thought
I was. I'm not worthy to make such a
decision over the lives of men. He said, I would rather fall
into the hands of God. No, God, You choose. I cannot
choose. I cannot choose. He said, I would rather fall
into the hands of the Lord, for His mercies are great. He said,
I want to fall into the hands of God. I want to bow down and
do whatever He thinks is best. Believer in Christ, let us know
that God is our Father. And as such, He will chasten
his own. He will. He will chasten us for our sins. Hebrews 12, verse 5 says, Have
you forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto
children? My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor
faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son he receiveth. If ye
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what
son is he of whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye are
without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you
bastards and not sons." God only chastens sons. That's
it. He don't chasten the lost. They're not His children. They're
His by creation, but they're not His by effectual saving grace. They're not His by election.
And so God chastens His sons. He corrects His sons. He rebukes
His sons. And when we are rebuked for our
pride, for our laxness in service to God, When we are living in
sin without repentance, He will chasten us, believer. Expect
it. You will get it. Well, you say, well, pastor,
you know I'm doing all right. You know, God really hasn't really
ever chastened me. I do fine. I've never had a moment's trouble. Everything's fine and good in
my life. Bastard. You are a bastard. and you are not God's son." Remember
that guy in Pilgrim's Progress that never had any problems?
He made it to the river and he made it, got in this little boat,
went across with no problem. He had a big surprise waiting
for him. He said, you get out. And they cast him into outer
darkness. Friends, God's people are full of troubles. I was talking
to John one time, he was telling me about these people on TV.
He said, they're always smiling. I'm experiencing torments like
crazy and these people are always smiling Bastards Liars Phonies God's people suffer God's
people suffer at the hand of their God They suffer heartaches. They suffer pain. In this world
you shall have tribulation. That's what my Master said. My Master tells us that Jews
with much suffering shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. God
corrects His children. He chastens us. He rebukes us. And so when we're chastened?
Not if. It's not a matter of if, believer.
It's just a matter of when. God is going to chasten His own.
And I'll tell you what, if you're not chastened, you better worry.
You better worry if you're not chastened. Something's not right. Something's not right. God's
people are chasing. And when we are, believer, let
us approach like unto David and fall into the hands of God. Are you chasing? Fall. Just fall down. Don't run! He'll catch you. Don't stand against it. He'll
knock you down. Just fall down. Fall down into
His hands. Fall into His hands. David knew something about God
when he did that. He knew that God's mercy was
great. He said, I'm going to fall into the hands of God rather
than the hands of my enemies. God's hands are merciful. In
God's hands, there's mercy. There's mercy for sinners. Isn't
that great? That's good. And David, he wanted
to fall into God's hands because of mercy. And so when you are
chasing, friend, do what David, fall down. Fall in his loving
hands. Why should we fall into the hands
of God? Now, if you're not Christ, I
don't suggest you continue in your sin until you fall into
the hands of the living God. But those that repent and turn
to Christ, they may fall into the hands of the living God full
of mercy." Full of mercy. You know God delights in mercy.
You know that? God's not stingy with mercy.
I like that. He's not stingy. He doesn't begrudge
mercy. He doesn't sit around and say,
oh man, you mean I've got to give mercy again? No. Scripture says He delights in
mercy. He who chastens is the same One that elected us. He
who chastens is the same One that sent His Son to redeem us. He who chastens is the same One
who called us to life and faith. He that chastens us is the One
who will keep us until we are received into glory. And He that
chastens us delights in having mercy on His people. He delights
in it. Micah 7.18 says, Who is a God
likened to Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the
transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth
not His anger forever. Praise the Lord for that. Because He delighteth in mercy. There's that ETH again. What
does that mean? Present perfect tense, He delighted
in mercy. He delights in mercy and He shall
ever delight in mercy. His mercy endureth. How long? Forever. Forever. It is true God is just. It is true God will and must
call into account all the sins of men. He must judge them according
to His strict justice. That's no doubt about that. And
all who are found sinners will be cast into the wrath of God
for all eternity. That's true. Friends, God's justice
is His strange work. That's what the Scripture calls
His strange work. Oh, but His mercy, His mercy
is great. If you're here without Christ,
I tell you, you'll die in your sins. If you die without His
blood, you'll die without mercy. I tell you that. That's what
God's Word says. Oh, but all who fall on Christ
will have mercy. All who believe on Christ will
have mercy. Scripture says, if he that despised
Moses law died without mercy. How much more sore punishment
suppose ye, thought worthy, who have trodden underfoot the Son
of God, and have counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
He was sanctified an unholy thing." If you do not believe on God,
let me tell you how God views you. He views you as you stepping
on the face of His Son. He views you who would have your
works and will and your deeds to bring before God as your only
hope, as your filthy rags. What you've done is you've said
the blood of Jesus Christ is not enough. You've considered
His blood an unholy thing. And God will not have mercy on
you. if you die in that condition. You that are lost, hear me please.
Pay attention to me and listen to the words that I'm telling
you. God's Word says in Isaiah 28.20, For the bed is shorter
than a man can stretch himself on, and the covering narrower
than he can wrap himself in. Imagine a very long man on a
short bed with the narrow covers. That's very easy for us to picture,
isn't it? That's you in your own righteousness. You can't
rest in a bed that's too short and you can't cover yourself
with a cover that's too narrow. Your righteousness will not cover
you in the day of God's wrath. That is sure. The bed of your religion is not
long enough and your works is not broad enough to cover your
sins. But behold, behold, God delights in mercy now, today,
this day, this time. Behold, mercy from God, where
only Only in His Son will you find it. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. The publican said,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner, and he fell down, and God had
mercy. He fell into the arms of mercy,
and the arms of mercy caught him. And he said, that man that day
went home justified, rather than the other. Behold, God has by
His Son made the way of mercy. Behold Him and trust your soul
to His blood and righteousness, and you shall receive mercy." You who have received mercy,
believer in Christ, have you sinned? Have you been lax in the service
of God? Have you been proud and trusted
your own strength to sustain you? then let us fall into the hands
of God, and He will be merciful." That's good news. That's good
news to a chastened soul. That's good news to one who has
been rebuked and chastened by the hand of God. God delights in mercy. Now let me ask you this. Although
David repented. Although David fell into the
arms of God for mercy. Let me ask you this, did it stop
the trouble? Did his trouble stop? Absolutely not. God still carried
out His chastisement. And though you may have fallen
in the hands of God for mercy, don't expect God to stop immediately. Just hold to Christ. Just hang
on. Hang on. Look at our text, verse 15. So
the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel from the morning even
till the appointed time, and there died of the people of Amdan
to Beersheba 70,000 men. I'll tell you, it is awful to
die under the judgment of God. It is a sad thing for a sinner
to go off without Christ from this world. And friends, I'd
long for none of you to do that. And I'll tell you, some of you
probably will. No doubt, some of you, under
the sound of my voice, will not come to Christ. And it is a sad
thing. It is a sad thing. But we that have been reconciled
to God by the blood of Christ, we have a better hope than that.
Although God will and does chasten His own, He will not utterly
destroy them. Look at this in verse 16. And
the angel of the Lord stretched out His hand upon Jerusalem to
destroy it. And the Lord repented him of
the evil and said unto the angel, Destroy that destroy the people.
It is enough. And I'll tell you what, that
has great significance. That has great significance.
Look at this. The angel of the Lord had his
sword drawn. He was ready to strike Jerusalem, which is a
picture of God's elect. The sword of God's justice was
drawn and it was ready to strike. And God says, stay your hand
and put your sword up. Yes, Lord. Do you happen to know
where this took place? This was awesome. Mount Moriah. The same place where Abraham
offered Isaac as a sacrifice to God. What was God's Word to
Abraham? Abraham! Here am I. Don't hurt
the lad. It's enough. Stop. Stay thy hand. And he put away his knife. A ram caught in the thicket.
And this was not only the place Abraham offered Isaac, but this
was the place that the temple was to be built. This all pictures
Christ. Why is it that God would not
destroy us like He does millions of people? Why is it that He
would have mercy on us and not have mercy on them? Because of
Christ alone. And God looks at Christ who is
a picture of all the sacrifices, who is pictured by the sacrifices,
and God says, it is enough. His blood is enough. Jesus cried, it is finished. It's enough. It's enough. It's enough. It is only by Him the justice
of God is stayed over His people. And therefore, we confess our
sin. Now friends, I don't know if
you're a sinner. I am. If there's not a sinner in the
world, there's one right here. I confess I'm a sinner before
God. And I pray for God's grace and
mercy on me." And this leads me to my last
point, the humility of chastisement. Look what it did to David. I
want us to look at these two men. There are two men here.
Arunah and David. Now Arunah, this is where it
stopped, right there by his threshing floor. The angel of the Lord
stopped right there, and David saw where it stopped. And God
said, you go to Arunah, and you say, I want to build an altar
on his threshing floor. And so David went to Arunah,
and here's this man, he sees the king coming, and he says, He's coming and he bows himself
down to the king and he says, King, what is it you want? And
the king says, God sent me and I must build an altar on your
threshing floor. And what did he say? There it
is. There it is. And wait, wait, wait, I got some
oxen over here we can offer. Here, you can offer these oxen.
And wait, wait, I got some knives over here that you can kill them
with. I got everything. It's yours. It's yours. It's all yours. You know what
Christ says to His people? All things are yours. All things are yours! But what did David learn from
this? He said, no, no. I will not offer to God that
which costs me nothing. Friends, one who has been humbled
by the chastening hand of God will soon see that his service
to God must cost him everything. Take a look at my children. Now
friends, I love you, but I can't tell you how much I love my children. But in the sight of God, they
are as nothing to me. In comparison to God, they are
nothing. He is everything to me. To Him I owe my life and breath
and all that I have. I realize that my service to
God is going to cost me. Not for my salvation, but because
of it. It's going to cost me my time
and my money. Now, God does not need my time
and He does not need my money, but He requires it. God does not need your time and
He does not need your money, but He requires it of each and
every one that believes in Christ. He requires it of you. And not
your leftovers. You can keep those. You can keep
those. One preacher was talking one
time about his congregation. This person came up and gave
an old shirt to a missionary. He said, well, I got some old
shirts and I want to give them to a missionary. He said, no,
you keep them. I don't need your old shirts. God don't need your
leftovers. God doesn't want your leftovers,
friends. He wants your best. Is He not worthy of it? And if you don't give it, what
else is it but pride? What else is it but saying, I've
earned it, I've merited, it's mine, and I'm going to take it.
That's all it is, is pride. God demands worship. And He's not talking about bumping
your gums. That's easy. It's easy to flap
our lips and say, oh, how I love Jesus. It's altogether different
to give everything you have in service to God. God's people will. They do. And they don't do it begrudgingly. This man, he came to David and
said, whatever you want. And David said, no, I want to
buy it. Everything. It's going to cost
me. I must serve God. And I will not offer to God that
which is cheap. And neither should you. Neither
should you. Neither should I. I pray that God blesses to our
hearts. This morning we'll take of the
Lord's Supper if we have the men come prepare the Lord's table.