This passage of Scripture may
not be too familiar to you. It may have been a long time
since you've read it. It was for me. But it's nothing
new. It's not a new message. It's
the same old message. It's the Gospel, very clearly.
Many of you, I believe, I looked out as we read it and there was
understanding in your face, recognition in your face. Same old message
of the gospel, same wonderful old message of the gospel. The gospel is the good news of
how God has in sovereign electing mercy and grace. sent his son to die for the sins
of his people and put away their sins by the sacrifice of himself. That's the gospel. That's it.
Christ came into this world to save sinners. That's what this
message is about. This will mean nothing to you.
This message will mean nothing to you unless you're a sinner. I mean, the gospel, we say that
all the time, don't we? That doesn't just mean the first
time you hear it. That means every time, if you're
able to hear it. Somehow or another, you've got
to be able to feel. And say with David, here in 1
Chronicles 21, look at verse 8. David said unto God, I have
sinned greatly because I have done this thing. But now I beseech
thee, I beg thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant, for
I have done foolishly." David is saying, I'm a great sinner.
I have sinned greatly. Everything, I've done it. It's
my fault. Would you undo what I've done? And there's only one way. Only
one. Only one. Lord, I've sinned.
I've done this. It's my iniquity. Lord, undo
what I have done. Please. This message will mean
nothing to you unless you can say that from the heart. That's
a fact. Now, Satan had moved David. Satan stood up against Israel
to provoke David to number Israel. The account there in 2 Samuel
24 says the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel again. The anger of the Lord was kindled
against Israel again. And the Lord allowed or had Satan
move in David to do this, and God killed 70,000 people. Now, the Lord was angry. Why?
Why was the Lord angry with Israel? David, as a type of our Lord. Like Moses. Remember, Moses said,
blot me out of the book. Lord, don't kill them, kill me. David says, don't bring this
on them, bring it on me. That's a wonderful type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was made sin for us. The Lord
said, if you seek Me, let them go. Let this be on Me. They are iniquitous. But David
said that in sincerity because he blamed himself. He blamed
himself. And yet, everybody was guilty. The Lord was angry with Israel.
They were all guilty. They were all guilty. Why? Why
was the Lord angry with them? They were ungrateful, unthankful,
idolatrous, covetous, boasters. Just on and on it went. They provoked Him. You know,
all through the Scriptures, all through the Psalms, all through
the New Testament rehearsing the lives of the children of
Israel, it says they provoked Him. They provoked Him. What
about me? What about you? As in the days of Noah, so shall
it be in the coming of the Son of Man. As in the days of Noah,
the Lord looked down to see if there were any. The Lord looked
down. He saw the imagination of man's heart was evil continually.
Are things any different today throughout the world? No. As in the days of Moses,
tempted him, they provoked him. Moses said, you do always err
in your heart. Skip now. In the days of David,
in the days of David, David wrote, God told him to write in Psalm
711, the Lord is angry with the wicked every day. Every day. But you know, false prophets
have told people so long now, how much God loves them, that
they believe it. They believe a lie. When the
Scripture says, when God says, He's angry with the wicked every
day. And here it says God was angry
with Israel, his professing people. Religion. Religion. They had a form of government,
denied the power thereof. Well, what about me? Never mind
Israel. What about me? David said, David,
the king, a man after God's own heart. David said, it's all my
fault. He blamed himself. God is not
unjust. God didn't kill 70,000 innocent
people. Far be it from the Lord to do
such a thing. He won't do it. He won't kill the righteous.
He won't do it. 70,000 people. Look, David took all the blame.
All the blame. Oh, my. And David, it says, saw
the death angel of the Lord hanging over Israel. And he saw it hanging
over him. He was in Israel. Ornan saw it too. Scared him.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We quote that a lot,
don't we? Because it is. You are, we are
if we have this fear of the Lord continually. Unite our hearts,
David said, to fear thy name in a day when there is no fear
of God before their eye. The transgression of the wicked
saith within my heart there is no fear of God before their eye.
Our generation, what they do and say in the name of God or
with no regard to God, says very clearly there's no fear of God
before their eyes. Our young people have got God's
name on their lips. The only name whereby they will
be saved, they're using it in vain. Oh, God's angry. Is this just a story, a Bible
story? God hasn't changed. The gospel hasn't changed. Men
haven't changed. The remedy hasn't changed. Only one place the wrath of God
is going to be stayed, the threshing floor of Ornan. Stay with me. The Lord sends the Word through
a messenger, like he did Nathan to David. And here in this text,
Gad, the seer. David had a seer. What's a seer? I don't rightly know, but it's
a man who saw something David didn't see. The Lord gave this man named
Gad eyes to see that the people didn't have. And the Lord, in
mercy and grace, opened this man up like a watchman and sent
him to his people. Bless the Lord for Gad. Bless
God for Gad, the seer. David did, didn't he? The Lord
sent him to David like he did Nathan to David. Thou art the
man. Thou art the man. If God sends His Word, He'll
send it through a man. He always has. And what it will
do, if we hear it right, He'll say, Thou art the man, the woman. And if we hear it, we'll say,
I'm the man. It's all my fault. And whoever hears it like that,
Whoever says that with David, the Lord will bring him to the
threshing floor of Onan. Stay with me. The prodigal son, you remember,
the prodigal son came home guilty. He was guilty. Presumptuous. Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. That's
all of us. His father mercifully and graciously
gave him, and he went on and didn't give a thought for God
for a long time, did he? He didn't give a thought. But when God brought him to himself,
oh, his heart smote him. And he came back. How did he
come to the Lord? How did he come home? Broken
and contrite heart. Oh, a broken and a contrite heart
thou wilt not despise. To this man will I look, to him
that is broken and of a contrite heart, and trembleth at my word.
That's the only person he looked to. And when the prodigal came
back home, he said, Father, I have sinned against the Who? Against God, against heaven.
Does that sound like David in Psalm 51? Against thee and thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. All sin is
against God, first of all. Against thee and thee only. And
the prodigal said, I've sinned against God and sinned against
you. I've sinned against you, Father,
and I'm not worthy, he said. I'm not worthy. to be one of
your sons. Just make me a servant. Just
let me serve from here on out. Give me a little spot in the
barn. I want to serve you." Do you know what the father did
for that confessing, unworthy, broken, contrite, no good, sinful
son? Do you know what the father did
for a fellow like that? Do you know what he did? Bring
the calf, the fatted calf. Bring the best robe, put it on
him. Ring, put it on him. Shoes, put
it on him. Do all this for him. Bring the
best, bring it all, everything he needs, and put it on him. That's what the Lord will do
for every single prodigal to come. And we play the prodigal
all the time. And I bet you, I know for a fact,
I know by experience, that that calf, that food, when that starving
prodigal bit into that calf is the best food he'd ever tasted
in his life. And that robe was the warmest
robe he'd ever worn. And those shoes felt so good
on his bleeding feet. And that ring meant the Father's
love to him. And he wasn't about to take it
off. That's what the Gospel means. But only to those like the Prophet. That's a fact, isn't it? It's a shame the Lord has to
bring us down, isn't it? It's a real shame that the Lord
has to bring us down. Like Psalm 107. Psalm 107. We love that number.
Because they'd get puffed up, or they'd get rich, or they'd
get this and get that, and the Lord would bring them down with
hard labor. The Lord would bring them down with their own foolishness,
and all this and that and the other. Then they'd look up, and
they were so glad. They were so grateful. Oh, and
the word of forgiveness meant so much to them. Isn't it a shame
that the Lord has to bring us to ourselves to greatly appreciate
Himself? It's such a shame. But you know,
that presumptuous brother that was still at home, who had never
erred, that brother that had never erred, that prodigal son's
brother who had never left home, he said, I've always done those
things that pleased you. The sound of that feasting was
irritating to him. Irritating. He got bitter at
his brother. He got angry at his father. See what I mean? It's me. Come, like that. Come, like that. The Lord had
Satan have David go number Israel. Why did David do that? David
did it. David wanted to do it, but the
Lord allowed it to happen. Why did he number Israel? Why?
Pride. He wanted to see how many he
had. That's exactly why. Why would you number anything?
Why would you number anything? To see how many, to how much. What's religion all about today?
What is religion all about today? Is this not the sin, but the
result of false preaching? Numbers. That's all I care about.
Numbers. How many? I had a fellow say this to me
one time. Ask me. It's always the first question.
How many? Always. Where are you preached? Central battle. Central grave.
How many? Invariably. Not what do you preach. How many? And I said to him,
I don't know. I don't know. And he said to
me, Well, how do you know if you're doing any good? That's what they equated with.
You got a lot, you did a lot of good. How many people went
in the ark? When the Lord left this earth,
the Lord Jesus Christ, greatest preacher, 120 ended up around. 120. Two people over 20 went into
Promised Land out of two million. How do you know if you're doing
any good? I don't know. I ain't doing any good. Brother Scott used to say, we
ain't running cattle here. How many? How many of you are
running on Sundays? We ain't running cattle. We're
just preaching the Word. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. I don't need to know. You know, you and I don't need
to know, do we? We can't know. Look. We can't know. Can't know. He knows. That's
all we need to know. I do know how we're doing any
good. I do know. Thanks be unto God, which always
causes us to triumph in Christ, making manifest the savor of
his knowledge about us in every way. And when we preach Christ, we're successful. We're successful. Whether one person, if it's one
person, if one person believes, there's a celebration in glory. Success. Success. And David though, we've got the
number of Israel and the pride of his heart. Pride is the worst
sin of all. Pride is the worst sin of all.
Pride is the father of all. Satan is the father of it. Pride,
Satan said, I will. It began with the I will's. Adam
and Eve said, I will. That's what pride says. Seven
things the Lord hates in Proverbs 6. Seven things the Lord hates,
abomination to him. The first thing is what? You know the scripture. Proud
look. And you tell me what characterizes
the people of this world. More than that. Pride. It says,
in the last days, men shall be lovers of their own selves. And
it goes on to say, proud, heady, boasters. Boasters. In the last
day. Pride is self-glory. Pride is self-worth. Pride is
why men hate the gospel of God's free grace so much. Because the gospel says you're
nothing. The gospel says you can do nothing.
You know nothing. You can't do anything but sin. But God. It all has to come from
above. Somebody's got to do it for you.
Worthless though you be. Men hate that. You can't figure
it out. It's a revelation. You can't know it. You're blind.
You're dead. That's what the gospel says.
Free grace. It has to all be given to you.
And men hate that. Why? Pride. Pride. But Isaiah
2 and 23 and other places said, Isaiah 23 and 9, the Lord of
hosts has purposed it to stain the pride of all glory and to
bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth. Anybody who raises
a finger and says, look what I've done, the Lord's going to
bring them down. The Lord's going to bring them
down. It's an ugly thing. Because what do we have that
we have not received? And if we received it, why would
we boast as if we did not receive it? Huh? Pride. Pride. What about us? Have we ever been
proud about anything? Are we ever proud about anything? So I'm over that. A self-righteous
fellow came home one day and said to his wife, Woman, behold,
I have overcome my pride. Oh boy. What about us? Have we ever taken credit for
anything? Taken the glory for anything? Well, the Lord had him do that. And God smote Israel. Seventy
thousand people died because of one man. What do you see here,
preacher? What do you see here? What's
this all about? I see in Romans 5, How that by one man, sin entered
into the world, and death by sin. But were they innocent?
No. All have sins. But through Adam's transgression,
the whole sons of Adam, the race of man,
died. Adam could say this from his
heart, couldn't he? It's my fault. When Adam walked
out of that garden and saw his son's brains bashed out, he said,
you know what he said. You know what he said. Because
you feel the same way. It's my fault. If I had done
it, this wouldn't have happened. Well, yes, it is. But no, it
isn't. It's my purpose. And Cain did
what he would, but he did what God determined to be done. But
Adam said right, didn't he? And David said right. But our
Lord Jesus Christ came down here and looked down at verse 17.
I already said this to you. It says, Is it not that I commanded
the people to be numbered? Even I, it is, that hath sinned
and done this evil indeed. What have they done? Let thine
hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, on my father's
house. Don't let it be on the people
that they should be playing. Against me and me only. Do this. Lay it all on me. By one man's
sin, death passed upon all sin. By one man, sin came into the
world and death passed upon all men. By one man's sin, condemnation. But you know something? There's
only one way to remove the death. Only one way to remove the condemnation. By one man. By the Lord Jesus
Christ coming. and being made sin. Bless God,
He sent Him and laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Like the
children of Israel, we weren't innocent. We sinned. But He did no sin, did He? But
God made Him to be sin. Who knew no sin? That we might
be made righteous as substitution. Substitution is what I see here.
What do you see here, preacher? Substitution. What do you see
here? I see Christ here. That's what
this is all about. Son of David. You know, we come to the Lord
and say, Lord, undo what I've done. He says, I'll do it. The Lord came. He said, a body
has to have prepared me. I come to do thy will, O God.
What is that? Undo what they've done. Undo
what Adam's done. He's brought sin and death and
hell and condemnation upon his race. Undo what he's done. He's broken fellowship with me
as sins have separated between them and me. Go, my son, to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Go and restore fellowship. Bring
them back to me. Undo what they've done. Did he
do it? He did it. He did it. But look at this. The Lord, through
Gad, this seer, told David, he said, I'll give you three options.
Now, this is amazing, isn't it? I'll give you three options.
Either three months of famine, which would have killed many,
many, many people. Probably many more than were
killed. Or the sword pursuing you. You'd all have to run for
your lives. or plagues, plagues, plagues. And you'd have to be
blind not to look and see all the sword, all of these things
that have come upon the human race. Who sent them? Who sent them? You say, Satan did it. Who did
this? God did this. God did it. The
wrath of God is revealed from heaven. against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men which hold the truth in unrighteousness. But, you know, David, unlike
David, we can't choose what the Lord will send upon us, can we? We don't want to. David didn't
really. He didn't know what to ask for.
He said, I don't know what to do. I don't know what I'd choose. None of them. None of them. None of them. But you know, the
thing here is, there are consequences of sin. The Lord has not dealt
with us after our sin. He hasn't. He has not dealt with
us. But there are consequences. There
must be. What if there were no consequences for sin? What if there were no consequences
for sin? What would we do? What would anybody do? That's
why people do what they do. They don't think there's any
consequences. God doesn't say that. That's what they say. No
consequences. What would we do? There's got
to be consequences. But as said, the Lord does not
deal with us after our sin, does He? He did Christ. What's the
consequences of sin? What's the wages of sin? Death. When God put, bruised His Son,
put Him on the cross, That's what God thinks about sin. That's what God is going to do
to sinners. Here's David's plea, verse 13.
Oh, let me fall now into the hand of the Lord. I don't know
what to do. I don't know what to choose. I wouldn't choose
any of them. But let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for
very great are His mercies. Let me not fall into the hands
of man. I pray that every day. Let me fall into the hands of
the Lord for very greater His mercy. The Lord taketh pleasure
in them that fear Him, in them that hope in His mercy." Like
David, if we confess our sins and our guilts and hope in His
mercy, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins. Hope in His mercy. He'll bring
you to the threshing floor. All right, now we're here. This
is it. This is what this whole story
is all about. The threshing floor of Ornan. You know what it is? Well, then listen up. This is
what this whole Bible is about. The threshing floor of Ornan.
What's this all about? All right? Look up here at verse 18. Well,
verse 15. God sent an angel. And he was destroying. As he
was destroying, the Lord beheld, repented of the evil, and said
to the angel, it's enough, stay your hand. And where he stopped
destroying was at the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite. What was this? The Lord said,
it's enough, stop. The Lord was killing. And he
said he was going to destroy everything, even Jerusalem. He
was going to destroy it all. But he got to this threshing
floor of Ornan, and God said, it's enough, stop. Put your sword
in your scabbard and you see. Sheathe your sword. Justice has
been satisfied. Stop right here. This is where
the sword stops slaying. What is this place? Well, as
is everything in the Scriptures, they are they which testify of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything. This was a common,
ordinary place, just a piece of ground, piece of dirt, earth. Nothing, really, just dirt. But purposed by God, purchased
by David. Verse 24, David paid a great
price for this. And when our Lord said, ask of
me, I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance. What's
he getting? When the Lord came down here to save sinners, what
did He get? Common, ordinary. As is the earthly,
so are they that are of the earth. Nothing, nobody's, but in God's
purpose and by the purchase of the Lord Jesus Christ. He purchased
these worms, these sons of Adam. Purchased many of them. Oh my. This land was owned by a heathen
man named Ornan, a heathen man, a stranger. This fellow named
Ornan, he feared the Lord. He was come to fear the Lord.
In verse 20, he saw the angel, his four sons, and they hid themselves. They were afraid. Look at verse
21. As David came to Ornan. David came to Ornan. Ornan looked
and saw David. And he fell down and bowed himself
with his face to the ground. Oh, when God Almighty reveals
to us the Lord Jesus Christ. Strangers to His covenant. Heathen, though we are. But the
Lord comes to His people. Reveals His King to us. I have
set my King on my holy hill as I am. And when we see Him, we
fear Him and follow His feet, and we kiss the Son. Blessed
be He. And we bow before Him. This was
a threshing floor. Anybody ever seen threshing?
Threshing of wheat or corn? He said the bread corn must be
bruised, must be fresh. It's a violent place. It's a
violent place. You take a stalk of wheat and
you've got chaff and you've got wheat. And the only way to bring
out the wheat from the chaff, to separate the chaff from the
wheat, it's a violent place. A violent place. It says that
Ornan was violent. And you know why preachers do
what they do? It's preaching the gospel. This
kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violence, take it by
force. And we preach a violent act on Calvary's tree, that God
Almighty slew His Son, who labored and toiled for us against sin,
against Satan. This was a place of violence,
a violent act, the only place where the chaff can be separated
from the wheat, sheep from the goats. What am I talking about? Christ
in Him crucified. What's the threshing floor of
Onan? What is everything in this book that points to Christ in
Him crucified? Paul said, I'm determined not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ in Him crucified.
They are they which testify of me. And the Lord brings a guilty
sinner to this place to say, it's all my fault. He'll bring
them to see and look to Christ in Him crucified. It's the only
place guilt can be removed. Only place peace can be restored.
Only place that we'll find comfort. Where the sword of God is bathed
in blood at Calvary, and where the sword of God is sheathed. Where God kills sinners and makes
them alive. When God Almighty killed His
Son on Calvary's tree, He said, it's enough. Oh Lord, David said, David said,
it's my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my
fault. And the Lord brought him to this
place and He said, now look, it's over. It's enough. I'm satisfied. It's enough. Anybody seen this? Anybody? It's
enough. Justice is satisfied. Oh, but
I've suffered with this. I've suffered with that. You're
looking in the wrong place. Look. God's satisfied. God satisfied. You know where
this place is. When you turn over a few scriptures
to 2 Chronicles 3, go over just a few pages, 2 Chronicles 3. You know what this place is literally?
Literally, do you know? 2 Chronicles 3, look over there
with me. You have it? 2 Chronicles 3,
it says in verse 1, Then Solomon began to build the house of the
Lord. Right after our story here, David
gave orders to build the temple. The temple is going to be built
on that very spot. Right there at that threshing
floor of Oronath. That's the spot. I'm going to
build the temple. Bring in the Ark of the Covenant.
This is where God's going to meet with Sam. Right here. Stop.
Don't look any further. This is the place. You know what
this place was literally? Look, it says this was Mount
Moriah. Anybody know about Mount Moriah? You know what happened at Mount
Moriah? The first man God called, Abraham, out of whose loins came
all the children of Israel. Huh? God brought him up one day
to a mountain and took his son, his only son whom he loved, and
offered him up there as a burnt offering. Where? On the very
spot of the threshing floor of Ornan. That's where the temple
is going to be. You see, Christ is all. It all meets in him. Everything.
This whole scripture. Everything points to Christ.
and Him crucified. See, it's a person, not a place.
This place, there's nothing holy about a piece of dirt. There's
no holy land. There's no holy water. There's
no holy Father except in heaven. No, no. It's spiritual. This is a place. I'm a person,
not a place. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of a person. Christ and Him crucified. And
look here, it says in verse 20, Oh my, I'm out of time. He came
to Ornan, David, who represents the Lord Jesus Christ. He came
to Ornan and he said, give me, verse 23, verse 22, grant me
the place of this threshing floor that I may build an altar unto
the Lord. Grant it to me for the full price that the plague
may be stayed upon the people. Ornan said, no, take it. Ornan
was so grateful. He saw the sword. He saw the deaf angel. He thought
he was going to die. Everybody else around him was
dying, Mac. Everybody was dying. Why was he different? Is he better
than they? Oh, no. Oh, no. His four sons
saw it. Bless God. And they came to them,
but they saw David coming. They were afraid. They were fearful,
but they saw David coming. It says, David came to Ornan,
and Ornan saw David. Did you hear that? It says, David
came to Ornan, and Ornan saw David. And he was so grateful, Ornan
was so grateful, he said, take it all. That was his land? That was his livelihood? That
was his living? That was his food? The threshing? That was his tractor, Mac? That
was his belt for his tractor? His implements? His barn? His
land? Take it all! Why? Lord's merciful
to me. I don't need anything. I know
if I have you, I have it all. That's what a man will do when
he hears the gospel. But David said, no, it's not
going to cost you anything. It's going to cost me everything.
I'm going to pay the full price for them. Salvation doesn't cost
us anything. We can't buy it. We're not redeemed
with corruptible things such as silver and gold or our vain
tradition received from the Father, are we? Huh? Nothing. Oh, no.
In my hands, no price I bring. But I tell you what, Christ brought
the price. A great price. Six hundred shekels of gold. Millions of dollars worth of
it in today's money. That land wasn't worth it. But
to redeem it, it cost great. Our Lord paid the full price,
didn't He? Jesus paid it all. All the debt
I owe. A great cost. Death, hell, and
judgment. And God said to the angel with
the sword, put up your sword. No more. I'm not going to die anymore.
No more death. No more death. Lord, it's my fault. It's all
my fault. It's all my fault. Every sinner
says that. Well, if you do, look. The price has been paid. The
sword has been sheathed. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the
price. Look. Look. If the guilt's not removed,
you're not looking. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. Look. Look. And Christ came and
said, put this on me. Put this on me. And God did.
And the sword was sheathed. It's over. Anybody that looks
to cry, no death, no judgment, no wrath, no condemnation. None.
Zero. None. It's over. It's over. It's over. Hallelujah. Okay, John, you've come to lead
us in singing something. What is it? Only a sinner?