Thank you. Thank you, John Sherry. Thank you,
Sherry. I'm called Sherry. She called
me. I called her earlier to ask about
him. She called me back at 630. Said
she was just leaving Roanoke. I'm glad you're here. You made
a special effort and I appreciate it. You played, I believe you
played Revive Us again. Did you play that? Went well
with that last song. Send a revival. Start the work
with me. 2 Samuel 21. Read the first three verses again
with me. There was a famine in the days
of David three years, year after year. David inquired of the Lord,
and the Lord answered, It's for Saul, for his bloody house, because
he slew the Gibeonites. And the king called the Gibeonites
and said unto them, jump down to verse 3, King said, What shall
I do for you? Wherewith shall I make the atonement
that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord? This is a striking
story of the Lord's judgment against the nation of Israel
for their sins against their neighbors. That's what the Gibeonites
were. They were their neighbors. In
the days of Saul, Saul and his sons broke a covenant that Joshua
swore and vowed to these Gibeonites that they would protect them,
that they would not do them any harm, that they would be their
servants. And Saul was an evil man and
his sons, and they slew many of these Gibeonites, and Israel
was part and parcel to it. The people of Israel were in
favor of it. This is about fifty years later. Fifty years later, maybe longer
than that, that the Lord sent judgment for that. Fifty years. Famine. Famine has always been
the Lord's judgment against the society, against the sins. It's
either chastening for God's people or punishment against the unbelieving
world. And the lesson there The lesson
is that God will judge a nation for their sin. God is just. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness
and justice. And every sin will receive a
just recompense and reward. Though it may take years Yet
the Lord hasn't forgot it. And it will be faithful. Vengeance
is mine, he said. I will repent. I will punish
sin. God reigns. God rules over all
the inhabitants of the world. He sees everything and everyone.
And God is just. And that's a wonderful thing.
A wonderful thing. But since God is merciful, God
is long-suffering. He put up with Israel for fifty
years, though they did not repent of this. Nobody had given it
a thought. Fifty years God had borne with
His long-suffering. The Lord is long-suffering. Scripture
says He waits to be gracious. He's not pleased with the death
of anyone. It takes no pleasure in the death
of the wicked. And the soulless of the man, if the unrighteous
man will turn from his unrighteousness, the Lord will abundantly pardon
him. That's our Lord. That's our God. He's long suffering. But there's a Scripture that
says, let mercy be shown to the wicked, to the unrighteous, and
they'll sin all the more. There's a Scripture in Ecclesiastes
8 that says, because sentence against an evil work is not speedily
executed. Therefore, the hearts of the
sons of man is fully set to do evil." In other words, God just
overlooked it or didn't see it at all. There is no God. He will punish. It may take years,
but He will. Now, this judgment was against
Israel, the people of God. that professed people of God.
They were supposed to be the people of God. But like always,
Israel, there was a remnant. Not all Israel was of Israel,
but there was a remnant. And this nation claims to be
a God-believing nation, a Christian, people call it a Christian nation,
one nation under God. But it's clear that the wrath
of God has been clearly revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness
and unrighteousness that goes on in this nation that holds
the truth, holds down the truth in unrighteousness and remains
ignorant and unrepentant. And this nation is under the
judgment of God. It's very clear. We see that
David heard it from the Lord. David heard. Why? David inquired. Are you with me? David asked
the Lord, why is this happening? And the Lord told him, it's because
of this. And we see clearly now, like
the Israelites in Egypt, they saw clearly, this is the judgment
of God against an ungodly nation. But I want us to see more than
that here. I want us to see more than a national judgment of the
people, but I want us to, I want this thing to be, to see it in
a more personal light. David was in the middle of this
famine. David was suffering through this
famine. David, it went three years. Matthew, Henry, and some
of them asked, why all of a sudden is David now asking the Lord
after three years of famine? We know that David communed with
the Lord and prayed in man, but you know, maybe the first year
he went through a drought. And he thought, well, it's just
dry times. And then the next year came by
and he thought, well, it's just really bad. And then the third
year, he thought, something's bad wrong here. And he inquired
a little bit, Lord, why? Why? You know, every child of
God goes through drought. Every child of God goes through
time, dry times, A famine, like our Lord said would be in the
last days, not of the bread, but this is part of the cause.
We have plenty. Rich and increasingly good. But
go through a famine of the hearing of the Word. It goes through
a time where we can't hear the Word. A time and a time and a
time again where we go through a drought of hearing the Word. We're going to get a blessing.
Fellowship with the Lord. with His people. Anybody? Cold,
dead, dry. And hopefully, we'll realize
it and inquire of the Lord. Why? Why? Why? I have. I do. You have. You do. And verse 1, our Lord
said, It's because of Saul and his bloody men who so forgive
me not. Now, stay with me. I'm building
that up to something. And you can go to Colossians
chapter 3. Go over to Colossians chapter
3. Saul was an evil king. Saul was an evil ruler. He was
chosen by the people, loved by the people, but he was an evil
man. He was a selfish man. He was
a godless man. He was a taker. He hated Samuel. He rejected Samuel. He hated
David. He was after David. And we've got an old man in us
that once ruled us. An old man who's an evil man
who is a taker, not a giver. He's a selfish fellow. He's a
godless fellow. He rejects the Word of God and
he hates the Christ of God. He hates all that's good. And
like Saul's sons, his offspring, his fruit from his loins, we've
got a whole lot more than seven of them. A whole lot more. Colossians 3, look at that. Colossians
3 and verse 3 through 8. He says, now thankfully Saul
was dead. Saul was dead. The Lord had Saul
put to death and now David reigns. But his sons were still around.
Are you getting the picture here? Verse 3 says, you're dead. And
your life is hid with Christ in God. Oh, thank the Lord for
that. That old man, oh my, he's dead. Christ. He was put on the cross
with Christ. And when Christ our life shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Mortify, therefore,
your members which are upon the earth. They're still here. Listen
to all these. There are more than seven here.
Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
covetousness, which is idolatry, covetousness, for which things
sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience,
and famine may come on his people. Read on. In which he also walked
some time when he lived them. But now, hold on, that's not
it. There's more. Now put off all these. Anger. Like those bloody men. Are you able to be angry? Wrath. Malice. Blasphemy. Filthy communication out of your
mind. Lying up to one another. You put off the old man with
his deed. Put on the new man. Oh, my. Mortify. Kill. There is much said about
mortifying the members in Scripture. Go back to 2 Samuel now. Go back
there. Sin. Our sins. can only be punished just as
satisfied in one way by Jesus Christ going to Calvary's tree
and burying our sin in His body on a tree. And God's wrath is
appeased. God is not angry with His people.
God is angry with the wicked every day. And though we, with
wicked hands, took and crucified the Lord of glory, are we any
better than the apostles? No, in no way. There's only one
way that sin will be punished in us, and that's by Jesus Christ
being crucified in our state. Okay? Sins that remain. Sins are many corruptions that
he just mentioned. can only be subdued the same
way. The same way. One way. We can't do one thing about it.
They've got to be hung on a tree. Are you getting the picture?
One way. Same way. They've got to be hung
on a tree. Somebody's got to pay. Somebody's got to pay. Somebody's
got to hang for all this. For all these crimes. Look, verse
1 and 2, the Lord said it's because of Saul and his bloody men, because
they slew the Gibeonites. And the king called the Gibeonites
and told them about it. Gibeonites. Gibeonites are their
neighbors. Gibeonites granted. Now, if you
go back and read the story of Joshua. Gibeonites. See, Joshua was going through
and just slaying everybody. Everybody that wasn't of the
house of Israel, he was slaying. They were enemies of the Lord.
The Amorites, all of them, the Malachites, slaying them all.
These remnants of the Amorites, these Gibeonites that lived right
there close by, they pretended to be Israelites. They masqueraded
as the people of God. They were hypocrites. They acted
the part. They said, oh no, we're Israelites
like you. And so the people made a league with them. And Joshua
promised to protect them. And then they found out later,
they're hypocrites. They're not really who they say
they are. But Joshua had made a promise. And he's not going
to go back on it. But he said, you're going to
be our servants from here on out. You're going to draw water. You're going to carry wood. You're
going to be the servants of God's people from here on out. They
weren't God's people, but they were servants to them. And they
were pretty good servants. They served Him well. They were
under the protection of Solomon and his bloody sons. You know what the Lord says for
us to do about our neighbors? Love them. He said all the law
is fulfilled in one word, love. Love the Lord, the first commandment
is for, or love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind,
soul, and strength. I am guilty. Covetousness is
idolatry. I am guilty. He said the rest
of them, the other six, love your neighbor as you love yourself. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. This was an eye-opener to me.
We've been looking at Genesis. Remember how Abraham entreated
the Lord for the Sodomites? The Sodomites? I mean, they're
about the lowest people on earth, the Sodomites, that Abraham prayed
for. That really struck me. And then
Lot called them brethren. Why did Lot plead with those
sorry, no good, wicked fellows? He was right in the middle of
it. He wasn't any better than they were. He knew it. He knew
that on the eve of his coming out was the mercy of the Lord.
The Lord was having mercy on him, so light wanted mercy on
these people. He said, Brethren, don't do this.
Remember that? He went outside and said, Brethren,
don't do this. We looked at it Sunday. Paul, who used to be
Saul of Tarsus, Saul, a Pharisee, hated the people of God. He said,
I'm the chief of sinners. I was before injurious, a persecutor,
a blasphemer. I'm less than a lead, not fit
to be called a disciple. So when he's talking about all
those Pharisees, he says brethren. He said, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel, as it might be said. Oh, they're
zealous toward God, but they're ignorant. And he had compassion
on them. He had pity on them. Who does that remind you of?
Our Lord. Our Lord says to us, and He says
to Israel all through the Scriptures, He says, you be careful to take
in the stranger. I took you in. He says, you be
careful to love them that hate you. I loved you. He says, you
do good unto all men, especially those of the household of faith,
but do good as much as life within you to everybody you come across.
I did it to you. He gives the story of the Samaritan.
Remember, our Lord is the one who gave the story of the good
Samaritan. The Pharisees said, who is my neighbor? Who do I
have to be good to? Whose wife can I not cut? And
the Lord gave the story of the Samaritan. Remember that? He
said a fellow laying in a ditch, and here came this Pharisee,
and he looked the other way, and here came this fellow, and
he looked the other way, and a Samaritan. Half-brain. which was our Lord Himself, God
and man, came by, looked on Him with mercy, and picked Him up
out of the ditch and bound His wounds and poured in oil and
ointment and made Him ride on His own ass and put Him in an
inn and gave money to the fellow at the inn and said, you care
for Him all the days until I come back and if I owe you anything,
I'll pay you. Our Lord said, you do that. I haven't loved my neighbor.
To the contrary, I have found myself over the years looking
down with even contempt upon these much angered Armenians. Anybody? The Lord is so merciful. He's submissive. I know. One time, James and John,
James and John, they were going into a town to prepare for the
Lord to come there, and that town wouldn't receive them. And
James and John said, Let's call down fire on the heads of these
people. And our Lord rebuked them sternly. He said, You don't
know what manner of spirit you are. He said, I didn't come to
destroy men's lives. I came to save them. He said,
I'm sending you out to do the same thing. You're acting wrong. Do you remember
where you came from? So what are we going to do? So
what am I going to do? I'm guilty. I've slain the Gibeonites. I haven't loved my neighbor.
I've played the Pharisee. I've passed by and looked the
other way. I haven't loved them as myself. I haven't loved them
like Christ loved me. What are we going to do? Somebody's
got to hang. Somebody's got to hang. I told
you the same thing. You've got to look at the same
place. I'm going to take the same thing. Look, verses 5 and
6. They said to the king, the man that consumed us, devised
against us that we should be destroyed, let seven of his sons
be delivered unto us, and we'll hang them unto the Lord, before
the Lord. This atonement has to be made.
Blessings restored are only restored by an atonement that has to be
made. And we can't make it. It's got to be under the law. Christ had to do it. Christ came into flesh to condemn
sin into flesh for a bunch of sorry sinners like we are. He
was made sin. Who knew no sin? That we might
be made the righteous. Oh, my. I can't enter into that
like we ought to. What it took to put away my past
sin, my present sin, and my future sin. What it took to punish my
sin and to deal with even my present corruption and what I'm
going to do in the future was no less than Jesus Christ hanging
on that cross for me. My, my. Oh, glorious love. Blessed Son of God. My, my. Sacrifice percentage. Unspeakable
gift. But he said here, look at verse
5, it said, The man that consumed us, he's got to be destroyed.
And his sons. So does this old man in us. He's
got to be destroyed. Got to be destroyed. Are you
going to destroy? And his sons. These sons of Saul, what were
they doing all this time? They were there. They were right
in the midst of Israel. They were a danger to them. These
sons of Saul were a danger. They were probably just getting
fat and sassy and feeding themselves. Selfish sons. They were no good
fellas and they had to be dealt with. And David, just like he
woke up and said, we've got to do something about these fellas.
And the Lord showed him, hang them. Hang them. Unto me. Before me. Unto me. Satisfy my justice against all
the sins of this people. My, my. Now go back to Colossians
1. Go back there. I meant to tell
you to keep that place. But in Colossians, oh my, this
is the whole story in the New Testament. Colossians 1, look
at this, verse 19. Verse 19. All of salvation is in Jesus
Christ. All our salvation, the judgment
of God against us, the wrath of God against us fell on Him. Oh my. He is our peace. All fullness
dwells in Him. Oh my. God's justice, God's mercy,
God's love, God's grace, God's everything. And He made peace,
verse 20, through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile
all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether it be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were at
some time alienated and intimated in your mind by wicked work,
yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death. He is the One who was put to death for that old bloody
fellow in you to present you holy and unblameable. Look at
chapter 2. Look at verse 10. And you're
complete in Him. Complete in Him. There were seven
sons, honey. The number seven in Scripture
is always represented right. Perfect perfection. Perfect sacrifice. Perfect sacrifice. Christ made
the perfect, complete sacrifice. All the fullness that God demanded,
all the sins of all of God's people were completely laid on
Him, and He put them away, and we're completely justified from
all things in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 11. "...in whom
you are also circumcised." Remember that? Circumcision. That's what
Christ did on the cross. removing the flesh, with a circumcision
made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ, and buried with him in
baptism, wherein also you were risen with him." Oh, my. Verse
13, like Ephesians 2, you being dead in your sins and uncircumcised
in your flesh, hath he quickened together with thee, having forgiven
you all trespasses, and blotted out the handwriting of the ordinances
against you, and nailed them to his cross. That old man was
taken care of. And what about these indwelling
sins, these sorry, these bloody men in us, these corruptions
that remain in us? Well, the only way that sin can
be subdued, and he said there, mortify your members upon the
earth. Go back to Colossians again now. The only way. The only way is
the same way sin put away, punished in Christ, sin can only be subdued
by looking to Christ and Him crucified. Listen to me now,
this is a great help. Only by seeing Christ crucified
because of those sins will those sins be subdued. The law won't
do it. The strength of sin is the law,
but the only thing that will will break this heart over sin
is seeing Christ hanging there because of it. Sin subdued the same way.
In Galatians, he says, They that are Christ's have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts thereof. How? Look at this,
verse 6. It said, Let these seven sons
be hung unto the Lord. John wrote this. In 1 John, we love 1 John. It
says, If any man say he hath not sinned, he deceives himself. I don't want to misquote all
that. Say you have not sinned, you have no sin, you deceive
yourself. The truth is not in you. If we
confess our sin. If we confess our sin. David
said this is what we're going to do about this. He said, hang
these fellows before the Lord. He said, hang them in their hometown.
Hang them where they committed all this. Hang them where they
came from so the people in that town will see the Lord's justice
against them and see that God will punish sin and see that
you are truly serious about this. David said, I'll do it. David
said, I'll do it. And he gave these men and said,
hang them. And we confess our sins and He's faithful and He's
just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
What we say, we confess our sin, we come to the Lord with our
sins, even our present corruption, and we say unto the Lord, Lord,
let the blood of Jesus Christ be propitiation on the mercy
seat for my sin. May the blood of Jesus Christ
be the payment for my sin. And Lord, these present corruptions,
would You hang them on that cross? Would you take this old man and
all his sin and all his flesh, all these works of the flesh,
and hang them? Kill them? That's what we say when we confess
our sin. I want to be done with them. Are you really serious
about that? Yes. This was a serious thing
that David did. How are we going to get rid of
that? We were in famine. Everybody's suffering. Something's got to
be done. This is a drastic measure, wasn't
it? If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive. That blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. Lord, hear my sin. Would you
crucify Him? Like the kings of old came with
ropes around their neck. Remember that? But better yet,
Lord, just slay me. I'm guilty of every crime. I'm
Magdalene. I'm the thief on the cross. I'm
all of them put together. Crucify me. Crucify this old
man with the affections and lust. Famine always came because of
sin. Listen to this. Listen to Joel
2. You know, that's the chapter where the Lord poured out His
Spirit, prophesied of it. And Joel 2 says, gather the people,
assemble them, even the children, Let the priests that minister
before the Lord weep before the altar. Let them say, spare your
people, O Lord. Don't give your people to reproach. Then will the Lord be jealous
for His land and pity His people. And the Lord will answer and
say unto His people, I'll send you corn and wine and oil and
you'll be satisfied. Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah.
I've told you there's not a more relevant book right now for us
to read than the book of Jeremiah. And from chapter 2 to the end
of it, he talks about the backsliding of his people. Some people deny
that. Some men deny it. They're afraid
to say it because they're afraid that people will take encouragement
from it. And I know people abuse that
term, but the Lord speaks about it all through that chapter. He said, My people are bent to
backsliding. To what? The world. And so they
go through famine. Famine. The Lord said, it's too
good to withhold the rain completely. This is famine. It's dry. Long,
dry spell. And the Lord said, good things
are withholding from you because of it. What do you do? Bring
the first works. Remember when He said to the
church in Ephesus in Revelation, He said, do the first works.
You've left your first life. You came as a broken-hearted
sinner and there was nothing sweeter to you than the Gospel. The world meant nothing to you.
Like Laodicea, rich and christened with good, in need of nothing.
He said, you've forgotten your wretched, miserable, poor, blind
and naked. Buy gold and try it in the fire. Repent and do it
the first time. Come back. He said, I'll heal
them of their backsliding. Every time. Oh, my. You remember old Joseph,
that is, the sons of Jacob paying, you know, they were going through
a famine. They were going through a famine.
And they came with money. And boy, Joseph said, you're
spies. You're no good. And he didn't
say the half of it, did he? Until finally, their hearts convicted
them. until they finally realize, you know what? This is our fault. And they say, it's because we
slew our brother. As soon as they said that, Joseph
said, peel their sacks. As soon as they said that, as
soon as they confessed it, Joseph was overhearing them. They didn't
know he heard them, but he heard them. As soon as they said that,
he said, peel their sacks. And I don't go through this famine
like everybody else. Confession, they say, is good
for the soul. There's only one we can confess to, and that's
Him who can put them away. That's Him whom we've sinned
against. Oh, my. Baptism is a public confession
of faith. These sorry sons of Saul were
to be hanged, crucified as it were, in the town where they
lived for all their hometown people to see. This is what the
Lord will do with sin. Because of sin. And the Israelites
deserved it. The Israelites deserved it. But
these fellows got it in their stead. And baptism is us coming
to... And you know, we ran into a fellow
recently who bucks baptism. Who claims to be a believer and
he's got something against baptism. Well, I'll tell you what, that's
a dangerous place to be. Our Lord said, if you don't confess
Me before men, He said, this is the way you do it. Baptism.
Why? Because you're coming to the
Lord, confessing your sins, saying, I deserve to die. I deserve to
be crucified. But Christ was crucified in my
stead. And yet I still want to be buried
and crucified and buried with Him and rise to walk in newness
of life. I want that old man to stay dead
and not raise his ugly head. Hanging. That's what baptism
says. And we do it in our hometown.
We do it where we live, don't we? For everybody to see. My
pastor has so much wisdom. There was a man from the church
in Ashland that was down with him in Mexico. And whenever you
see somebody being baptized, you know, you want to get in
there with them. And he was watching Walter baptize
some people in a cistern down there in Mexico. And I don't
think the fellow had yet been baptized. I think he came out
of religion. I don't think he'd ever confessed
to Christ since he heard the truth. Well, he asked Dad, he
said, I want to be baptized right here. I want to be baptized.
Dad said, no. You go home. You go home where
you committed all your crimes. before all your neighbors and
before all the people. And you confess before them.
These people don't know you. You go back to where these people
know you and you tell them, I want this old fellow dead. And all
my hope is Jesus Christ. You tell them. Where you committed
all your crime, you undo your crime by confessing Christ. That
was wisdom wasn't it? Great wisdom. And he did. One
more thing, okay? Well, you don't think I overlooked
verse 70. The king spared Mephibosheth.
I have to know the story in itself.
Oh my, the king spared Mephibosheth because of that oath, that covenant
between David and Jonathan. The son of Saul, he deserved
to die. But he was changed. Did you notice there was another
Mephibosheth? His uncle. Lefebvre's uncle. Was that his
namesake? Maybe. He was killed. Lefebvre's spare. Oh, isn't that
mercy? Isn't that mercy? But read on
down, it says, they were hanged before the Lord, all seven together,
in the beginning of the barley harvest. Oh, my. I went back
to Judges, and the last verse in Judges said every man did
that which was right in his own eyes. And in chapter 1 in Ruth,
Ruth 1, 1 says, then there was a famine. It says it was the
beginning of the barley harvest. God's Word. And it's only one
of the ways that famine is going to be eradicated is Boaz is going
to make redemption. But there's a woman here named
Rispa, verse 10, and I'll close with this. The daughter of Aya.
You read that with me and I know you're wondering. She was a concubine
of Saul. She wasn't a legitimate bride
or wife. She was a concubine. an unclean woman. She had two
sons. And David had them put to death.
He knew. He knew who she was. David knew
who he was having killed. And Rispop mourned. Oh, she mourned. Greatly mourned. Grieved over
those sons. But did David have any pity on
her? No. He didn't let that These sons were bad men. And David had them killed. Irregardless
of how their mothers loved them and what their mothers thought
of them. As a show of justice. David didn't show any pity. Here's
the point. Our flesh mourns the loss of
any of these beloved sins. Our flesh mourns that some mother
In my flesh felleth no good thing. These sons were produced by an
illegitimate, evil, sinful relationship, right? These sorry sons were
produced that way. And she was mourning over them.
And our flesh mourns the loss of these corruptions, these sins. But we're not to take any pity
on them. David took no pity on them. And
they killed. I'll tell you what he did do,
though. He went and got the bones and buried them. Got all the
bones and buried them. Our Lord said about our sins,
our sins and iniquity, I'll remember no more. And not be brought up
again. No skeletons in your closet. No skeletons. Our Lord buried
them in Jesus Christ. Buried them all. And they will
not be brought up again. Why? Because Christ died. That's
why. I hope you got something out
of that. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord, Thy Word is a marvel
to us, a wonder, amazing. It is Thy Word. Because it is
so deep and mysterious, we know it is Thy Word. Because it is
hidden and must be revealed, we know it is Thy Word. What
man knows the things of Thee, the things of God? It says the
Spirit of God revealed them. And we thank You for the things
You have revealed. The revealed things belong to
us and our children. We thank You for revealing Christ
to us, our salvation, the fullness that is in Him. O Lord, we are
Thy sons and daughters like Israel of old that You owned as Your
people, sorry as they were, sinful as they were. Lord, we've sinned
on every hand. And Lord, we deserve any and
all chastening and judgment You send our way like this nation. We're not one bit better. But
O Lord, let the blood of Christ speak on our behalf. We know
it does. We know it will. And let us be
like David, reach out to this nation of ours, these people
of ours, like Saul, Paul, the Apostle. Let us see how to propitiate
our neighbors and do good and serve them, Lord. in some way
those You've sent to do for us. We pray that we might be compassionate
on them. Lord, let us be merciful as we've
been shown mercy. This is our plea. Thank You for
Your Gospel. It's in Christ's name we've met
here tonight. Amen.